Another long day today. Like I said in yesterdays post, I didn't do much of anything. Sitting around in the truck all day except twice when it came time to eat. That also means I don't burn much energy, so I don't need much sleep. I awoke this morning around 3:00 AM, fully rested and not able to fall back to sleep. I hate when that happens.
Anyway, the crew from the Michael's store arrived about 5:00 AM and began to unload their half of the trailer. The Michael's loads half to be unloaded by hand for the most part. They only put 2 wrapped pallets at the tail end just to hold the rest of it in place. The rest of the 6000+ boxes are just stacked inside the trailer. They usually have a crew of 5-6 store employees who unload by hand. I normally help out too because it just makes things go faster and I can move on to the next stop.
After they started unloading here though, I went back to the truck to catch up my log book from yesterday and get my GPS software ready for the next stop. Then as soon as they're done, I can take off. However, they closed the little side door and I couldn't get inside to help out. Oh well. So I just continued in the truck and waited.
They finished up about 7:00 AM and I was off to Mandeville, LA which was 134 miles away to another Michael's store for the rest of the load. After a quick fuel stop and a run to McDonald's for breakfast, I arrived at the 2nd Michael's store at 10:00 AM. This one was tight backing into their loading dock. I just don't get some of these architects who design these buildings sometimes. What were they thinking?
Anyway, their crew wasn't due in until 10:30 so I had to wait a while yet. That's OK because I looked up online and there was a geocache in this shopping center parking lot. So I went and found it before they arrived. This time I was able to help also and that lasted until about 12:30 when we finally finished. Signed the paperwork, swept out the trailer, and off to pickup the next load.
I arrived in Baton Rouge, LA about 1:45 PM to pick up my next load going to Baytown, TX. They got me loaded pretty quick. They loaded 26 giant bags of Polypropylene weighing in at a total of 41,000 lbs! For you and me that's 26 giants bags of tiny plastic balls that look like BB's. I haul them off to Baytown where they get melted down and formed into something useful.
The problem I ran into today was scaling the load. In other words, going to a truck stop the have the truck/trailer combo weighed. On loads that heavy, I need to make sure that the weight of the drive tires (the eight wheels at the back of the tractor) and the weight of the tandems (the eight wheels at the back of the trailer) do not exceed 34,000 lbs per set. It can be a hefty fine if they do! I should know I've had to pay it TWICE!
Anyway, normally this isn't a problem. But the first truck stop I come to has a line at the scales. I'm 4th in line before everyone begins to realize that the guy who's sitting on the scale's is broken down. So that wasted about 15 minutes to get back on the interstate. At the next exit for truck stops, there were 2 located there. Neither had scales! But they did have a restaurant and by now I'm starving again.
So I ate at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, LA which is so named because they have a rather large cage off to the side of the fuel island with a real live tiger in it. Almost like a mini zoo, but just the one animal and it wasn't a petting zoo. At least I wasn't going to try and pet the tiger!
Speaking of eating, I had their special of the day; BBQ pork ribs and smoked sausage, BBQ beans, green beans, mashed potatoes and some really good corn bread all washed down with some good ole southern sweet tea. It was sooo good! And they also had some home made pies. Even though I was stuffed from the dinner, I got a slice of coconut cream and the chocolate cream pies to go. I'll probably eat them tomorrow. Can't wait!
So now I'm back driving down the highway several miles and come upon another exit with 3 truck stops. One even had a scale, but it was broken. More wasted time. Continuing on down the highway and I finally found a truck stop with a scale just 1 mile before the weigh station! Whew that was close. As it turned out, the trailer balanced out OK and I would've been alright. But you never know for sure and like I said I've been burnt twice before costing almost $200 EACH TIME!
Now I'm parked at a rest area in Texas near the town of Hamshire. I could have driven the remaining 40 miles or so to Baytown, but my 14 hour clock has expired. For those none truckers who don't know what the 11-14-70 hour clocks are, leave a question in the comments below and I'll explain them.
Anyway, the loads not due until 9:00 tomorrow so I have time in the morning to deliver. The downside for today, with all the time wasted looking for a scale I didn't get time to stop for a shower. I was hoping to stay the night at a truck stop further down the interstate at my exit, but I ran out of time.
The life of a truck driver. See ya tomorrow. Good night.
