Thursday, September 17, 2009

Getting Closer to Home and Vacation Time!

Woke up this morning sitting in our drop yard in Atlanta, GA around 7:00 AM. I had a great nights sleep. The temperature was in the mid-60's so I slept with the truck off most of the time. Although I did wake up twice; at 1:30 AM and at 4:30 AM with messages being sent to me over the Qualcomm about my load for today. I hate when they do that! But I was able to fall right back to sleep.

After phoning home this morning, I bobtailed down the road to Hardee's. They have THE best sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits anywhere! Then back to the drop yard.

The other driver arrived with my load about 10:15 AM, just AFTER it started to downpour! It's always fun getting out into the rain to hook up to a trailer. :( By 10:45 though I am on the road heading southbound! I jump on the I-675 to I-75 and don't stop until Florida.

Finally around 4:30 PM I stopped at a Pilot Travel Center in Ocala, FL. I wasn't really in the mood for a burger and that Pilot had an Arby's. I was thinking an Arby's chicken sandwich sounded pretty good. But then their sweet tea isn't as good as McDonald's. As it turns out, this exit had a McDonald's right next door also! I parked the truck and was headed over to McD's. The plan was to get the sweet tea first, then go over to the Arby's for the chicken sandwich. Once I was in McDonald's though I just settled for the McD's chicken club. Oh well...

Now back on the road and continuing south on I-75 into Tampa. Just as I entered the city I exit the highway and in just a half mile or so I'm at the Con-Way Freight terminal making my delivery. I checked in, dropped the trailer and hooked up to an empty. Now I wait.

I had asked several times today to see if I could get a pre-assigned load so that I would know where I'm going next. If my next load picked up tomorrow anywhere near the direction of Orlando, I would have gone tonight and slept at home! But not knowing in which direction I'm heading to next I have to stay here in Tampa.

What I don't want to do is go home now to start my vacation. Not until next week anyway. So I'm hoping for the next few days they'll have me running around FL-GA for some short runs. At least I'll get some miles and maybe end with a decent pay check. We shall see right?

Anyway, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.