Going in Circles

Monday, 6 p.m.: I spent a lot more time Indianapolis than I intended, so instead of making this delivery shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, I'm more likely to deliver at around noon. I already received my next work assignment, though: This next assignment is to pick up a relay that's only 44 miles away, then deliver it to the place I'm already delivering this load to. So, in other words, I have to make an 88 mile round trip that'll put me exactly back where I started. On the bright side, I should get a short-haul bonus, though I'm not sure of the exact amount. I think that I'll get an extra $.10 a mile. I'm not sure what I'll be doing after that, though they have to start sending me south soon; I'm supposed to be home by Friday night.

Monday, 7 p.m.: Well, this is annoying. My GPS program and receiver have decided they don't want to talk to one another anymore. As a result, though I know where I'm going, I don't have a very firm idea of how much further it is. Most likely, I'll be stopping tonight in Carlisle Pennsylvania at the operating center. There's only one other truckstop I can find that's close to where I'm delivering, and it's a rather small one so it's unlikely there will be parking at two in the morning. Like Illinois, Ohio has annoyingly low truck speed limit as well. Unlike Illinois, however, there are state troopers all over the place actually enforcing the speed limit. As a result, I don't dare exceed 55 mph, even though all the other trucks are. It would be nice if I could finally get into a state that allows trucks to do 65 mph.

Monday, 7:45 p.m.: Well my GPS device decided to work for about two minutes, just long enough for me to figure out where I am. Looks like there's just under 300 miles to go to get to Carlisle, PA. Since that would put me there around 2 a.m., I better find a truckstop to before long.

Monday, 8:25 p.m.: Well, this sucks. I just saw a sign that said I-70 is closed and West Virginia. I'm going to have to detour on I-470 to get around that mess. I'm already cutting it dangerously close on my driving time today; said detour could make even closer. I really hope I don't run that I don't out of hours on the middle of the highway. Apparently, the interstate's down to one lane as well. I'm down to 45 mph and still getting slower.

Monday, 8:45 p.m.: Well that detour wasn't bad at all. It actually seems slightly faster going that way than staying on 70 the whole way. I still have a ways to go before I get to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but right now I'm still looking like have a pretty good chance of making it to Carlisle for the night.

Monday, at 9:30 p.m.: I found somewhere to get something to eat. While I was out, I sent for directions, as well as figured out how much longer I have to drive. The results? I can legally drive up to five more hours, but I should be in Carlisle within four. There's just one catch: that's what the directions my GPS gave me. The other directions didn't arrive until after I got back on the interstate, and I can't read messages on the satellite system while driving. I'm fairly confident I remember how to get there, since I stopped there twice with my training engineer, but I would like to have those directions available.

Monday, 10:45 p.m.: I don't know what it was about that pizza, but I've been extremely tired ever since I stopped for dinner. I'm sure part of the problem is that I didn't get a lot of sleep last night; I only slept for about six hours. Once I get to Carlisle, I'm going in to use the bathroom if I have to, then going directly to bed. I need every minute of sleep I can get tonight. In unrelated news, for having a 65 mph speed limit, the Pennsylvania Turnpike at a whole lot of 55 mph curves.

Monday, 11:30 p.m.: I now have exactly 100 miles left to get to the operating center in Carlisle. If the next hundred miles is anything like the turnpike so far, it's going to be a very long ride. So for our I've gone through three construction zones, very nearly run off the road twice due to high-speed corners that weren't marked clearly, and gotten stuck behind some several vehicles driving far below the 65 mile an hour posted speed limit. It also doesn't help that I'm extremely tired. At least the two deliveries I have to make tomorrow can be made at any time tomorrow and don't have to be made before a certain time; if I want to sleep in I'm free to do so.

Tuesday, 12:15 a.m.: I'm down to about 50 miles to go now. I drove total of 461 miles yesterday; not bad considering how late a start I got. After getting past the point where I-70 branches off, traffic is thinned out considerably, making it much easier to drive.

Tuesday, 1:10 a.m.: I made it to Carlisle. *thud*

Tuesday, 2 p.m.: I just passed the travel center I was thinking about stopping at last night. After seeing it, I noticed two problems: One, it's unlikely I would have found parking at all. Two, I don't think I could've made it there before running out of hours last night. I'm still just over an hour away from where I'm delivering to; I just hope they have somewhere to send me after I make all these deliveries today.

Tuesday, 3:15 p.m.: I'm completely lost and I've had to pull into a shopping mall to get directions. I don't know how I missed the turn, either; there wasn't a single sign that said "Exton Bypass" anywhere and the only road that went in the right directions had a big no trucks sign. I really hope that they can get me unlost in a hurry... while I'm stopped, I just used my GPS to figure out that if I get back on US 30, I can take that back to the Interstate and go from there... good thing, too, because they won't send me directions again even though I'm still lost.

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.: I finally dropped that infernal thriller. This next one should be much easier, since I just have to go 40 miles north on the interstate and pick up the relay. As I said before, it's going to the same place I already deliver to. I still haven't received another work assignment yet, but I'm hoping they sent me one soon; I'm wondering if they just want to keep me from running out of hours. As it is, I can't work a full day tomorrow.

Tuesday, 5:35 p.m.: Well, this is unsurprising, but still a pain in the rear. I'm stuck in Philadelphia rush-hour traffic.

Tuesday, 6 p.m.: That was not nearly as bad as I feared. I'm already doing 60 mph and just 8 miles along the interstate from where I'm going. From there, it's just one turn, 3 miles, and I'm there. Seeing as I've never had a relay before, I hope I don't screw something up .

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.: Once again, I managed to get lost. I lost about half an hour trying to find the place. Also, when I was picking up the relay load, none of the paperwork was there. It took me about 10 minutes to get support shift to fax the paperwork to where it needed to go. On the bright side, I have my load, I know are I'm going, and I should be able to get there without incident this time. I still don't see how they're going to get me home, since I only have five hours left I can run. If I were picking up any hours, I could see how it would be possible, but I'll only pick up 4 1/2 hours over the next two days. Hopefully, if I have to take a 34 hour restart somewhere, I can make it to an operating center to do so.

Tuesday, 10:45 p.m.: I got a new work assignment, and I have to go to the Carlisle operating center to pick up another relay. Since that's right where I came from this morning, it's not surprising that the directions they gave me over the satellite are a minor variation on the ones they gave me to get here. Since I got lost following those directions, I have just one thing to say about them: "fuck them." I can figure out how to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; they can afford the toll. Besides, it does say in the driver's handbook that most toll roads are at driver discretion. I'm far too tired and frustrated to care about a few dollars worth of tolls. On the relatively bright side, I'm getting a day off at the operating center. The delivery I have to make is in Charlotte on Friday. However, this means there's exactly zero chance of me being in Pensacola on Friday, as I was told I would be. That isn't entirely the fault of operations; even if they sent me directly home, I would not have enough hours to get there.

Tuesday, 1:15 a.m.: As if I needed something else to go wrong, the air conditioning in the truck has decided not to work anymore. Even though I've turn the system off, it's blowing hot air. I've tried every combination of settings the unit has, and it still keeps blowing hot. I guess this means I get to drive the rest of the way with a window down.

Wednesday, 12:30 a.m.: Only about 20 miles to go now, and traffic is extremely light. Barring any on for seen problems I should be there by 1 a.m.. In the morning, I need to find out what sort of money I'm getting for this. I know I'll get a short-haul bonus for that last load I had, but I'm not sure if I get paid since I have to sit around on this next delivery. If I do get layover pay, that's an extra $80, plus $40 towards a hotel room. If not, at least I can take a shower in the operating center.

Wednesday, 1:30 a.m.: I'm in Carlisle. Since I'm taking a full 34-hour restart, I can't do any work again until 11:30 Friday morning. Thankfully, the load I'm relaying leaves me enough time to get there even after my restart. It feels kinda silly having to take a restart this close to when I'm going home, but I have to do it.