It's... cold, as one might expect this time of year. Specifically, the overnight low was -12, the high is just 8, and the low tonight is going to be well below zero once again. The weather getting up here was fine, except for a small stint between the NY State Line and Buffalo; for a while, visibility was less than 100 feet. And yet, due to the light traffic, I barreled on at 35 mph. I could barely see the road, but at least I knew I was between the metal posts on the sides of the highway and, on at least one occasion, resorted to just riding the rumble strip to ensure I knew where I was on the road.
Since I had anticipated that conditions were going to be worse than they proved to be, I arrived at the shipper more than three hours early. I was assigned a dock immediately, got unloaded shortly thereafter, and sent on my way in less than half the time I was told to expect. Since the parking they normally had for trucks was completely covered in several inches of snow, I went 10 miles back to the previous exit, and spent 45 minutes trying to park at a TA. There were two spots that would have been easy to straight-line back into... and two trucks in front of me who took those spaces. I ended up nearly taking out an above-ground fuel storage tank, got caught in a snowdrift, and experienced total frustration at trying to simply get the truck parked.
But here I am, waiting for my next load, and hoping that I get assigned something before the weekend shift comes in. If they're the ones assigning loads, I'll very likely be stuck in the northeast for the weekend, getting lots of short runs with obnoxious delivery appointments. If I can somehow luck out and get a load while first shift is in, I may be able to head somewhere with temperatures in the double digits. I'd particularly like to head to Indianapolis - I haven't been through there in a while - but I'll settle for anything that's south or west of New York.
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