Friday, 2:50 p.m.: I'm now a Wal-Mart distribution center in London, Kentucky, waiting for them to unload my trailer. I still haven't gotten a new work assignment yet, so I'm hoping one comes in before they finish unloading. Since I am rather low on hours (I can only work 10 hours today), so they may just ask me to shut down early today. That is, they may give me a load that has an appointment for tomorrow morning, or at the very least can't be picked up until tomorrow morning even though it's not a live load. In any case, while I wait here, I'm going to catch a quick nap; I didn't sleep very well last night for some reason.
Friday, 4:45 p.m.: I got done at the Wal-Mart well ahead of schedule, so I just drove down about 10 miles to a truckstop. I got lucky with parking; there was a pull through space right near the fuel island available. At this point, I'm not sure if I even care whether or not I get another work assignment today. If I don't get one, I'll just have an extra four hours tomorrow, pretty much guaranteeing I can't run out. Obviously, getting work assignment means I make money, which is never a bad thing.
Friday, 4:50 p.m.: I have work. Worse, I have to drive up back to Ohio, which I always hate doing. However, this pickup has to be made by 5 p.m. the morrow, so I don't have to leave tonight. Therefore, I'm calling it a night right now and I'll drive up there in the morning. If the computer's correct, it shouldn't be more than 175 miles, which means it'll be just over a three-hour drive.
Saturday, 12:05 p.m.: I'm now on my way to Cincinnati to pick up this load. I got started a little later than I intended, but it really doesn't matter, given how much time I have spare on this run. As such, I'll be stopping tonight in Indianapolis and taking a very long break to meet with friends there, spend tomorrow night in Edwardsville, Illinois, and deliver this around 8 p.m. on Monday. That leaves me about 16 hours to run on Tuesday, so I'm not going to be at any imminent risk of running out of hours. If I decide to leave Indianapolis for Edwardsville earlier than I'm currently planning on (I'll be staying nearly a full day at each), I could make delivery significantly earlier. There's only one advantage to getting there early: I can get on a new run that much earlier. But, given how my hours are running right now, I might not even have the hours to take it anywhere. I have the budget my time effectively.
Saturday, 3:35 p.m.: once again, a load that was supposed be drop and hook has turned into a live load. When I went in to pick up the paperwork for this load, they said the trailer hasn't even got in the door yet, much less been loaded. So now I have no idea how long I'm going to be stuck sitting here, but it looks unlikely I'll that be out of here in less than an hour. This is particularly infuriating as I was told on my work assignment to get here anytime between one and five o'clock (Eastern time) today. Is it really that hard for people to do what they say they're going to do?
Saturday, 3:50 p.m.: I just double checked on it, it turns out they're running just about four hours behind today. They are only now starting on the one o'clock appointments, even though it's nearly 5 o'clock now. Mine should be ready in 30 to 45 minutes, so I'll double check with the gate guard in half an hour. If it's anything more than half an hour, I'll earn $15 in detention pay, as I'll have been here over two hours.
Saturday, 7:40 p.m.: so, after about five minutes less than eternity, I'm on my way with this load. Frustratingly, I had to backtrack almost 20 miles to find the nearest scale, since the customer wouldn't let me axle out my load on their scale. "We don't do axle weights," the guard said, completely un-sympathetically. I now have just barely enough time left on my 14 hours to make Indianapolis tonight; it's a good thing I wasn't planning on going any further.
Saturday, 11:30 p.m.: I'm finally parked in Indianapolis, after spending a full hour looping around a lot trying to find once parking space I could actually pull into. It turns out they have exactly 1 person on staff here so nobody could tell the people who parked inappropriately to move so people could actually use the parking spaces as they were intended. As such, I'm literally parked in the last space in the very back of the facility, probably a quarter mile walk from the front office. Again, I have to ask why people can't do what they're supposed to, since that would make my day so much easier.
Sunday, 7:15 p.m.: After a longer stay in Indianapolis than I intended, I'm back on the road again. Even though I'm four hours behind my original plan, I'm still on schedule, as I didn't intend to leave Evansville before 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm tempted to just tell them I'll be available first thing Tuesday morning, since I'll be practically out of hours by the time I deliver this load tomorrow night anyway.
Sunday, 8:20 p.m.: It's been raining off and on since I left Indianapolis. When I got to a weigh station, I could barely see the directional arrow indicating which lane I needed to take. Thankfully, I got it right. Why'd I get pulled in? Well, I have 33,700 pounds on my trailer tandems, so that's awfully close to the legal limit. And, of course, the DOT is never going to pass up an opportunity to write a ticket, so my weight is close enough to warrant an extra look.
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