Pompano Beach to Gainesville, FL

Woke up this morning to a lite rain in Pompano Beach, FL behind the Pet Meds warehouse around 6AM. Wasn't a whole lot going on until they finally started unloading around 8:30. It didn't take them long and by 10:00 AM I already had my next load and was headed north.

Back tracked the same way I came down here, I-95 north to SR710 to SR70 to US441 north. Once I got to Yeehaw Junction though, I went west on SR60 over to Lakeland, FL. I arrived at the Sam's DC at 1:45 PM.

I dropped my empty trailer there and picked up a 45,000 lb loaded trailer. A quick exchange, but the loaded trailers tandems were slid all the way to the rear. And I could not get them to move at all. After playing with it for 1/2 an hour, I gave up.

I drove a few miles up I-4 to the Love's to scale out. Great! It shows 29,000 lbs on the trailer but 36,000 lbs on the drives! That's 2,000 lbs overweight on the drives and I can't adjust the trailer tandems. That means taking the slow route up US27 into Ocala before jumping onto I-75 north into Gainesville. Oh well, I got plenty of time to get there.

Along the way, I finally stop at a McDonald's on the corner of I-4 and US27 for my first and only meal of the day at 3:45 PM. So would that be called Brunchinner?

Arrived at the Sam's store in Gainesville, FL at 7:15 PM. Now I sit and wait. The night crew comes in at 9PM. That's when I should be able to drop my load and hook to an empty.

That's it for now. See ya tomorrow.

Last Post Before Vacation

A poor day! Literally! I was planning on working through this weekend and taking my vacation Monday through Monday. However, I woke up here in Tampa this morning. Waited and waited, finally getting a load assigned to me around 10:00 AM. I drove 43 miles to Auburndale, FL picked up a load of bleach and left there at 1PM. I then drove it 11 miles to the Publix DC in Lakeland. They would not accept it early and my appointment time was for 4PM.

I drove 2 blocks over to an old truck stop. The truck stop itself is closed now, but the parking is still available. I really wanted to get a shower and do laundry but that will have to wait still longer. There was a small restaurant that recently opened there so at least I got something to eat!

Finally around 3:30 I drive back over to Publix. It's now 5:30 and they're STILL unloading the trailer!

After several conversations today with my dispatcher, they don't want to send me very far away from home since I want to get home Monday. Hence the short trips. Thinking about the 54 miles today (earned $20, which I ate half of that for lunch), and tomorrows load probably being Lakeland to Gainesville with a late night delivery ($40-$45) I decided that just going home would be better! So I'll be taking off for 10 days instead of 7. As soon as they ever get me unloaded that is...

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and following along. If you've browsed and never left a comment, please click the comments button below and at least say hi. I'd love to know who's following along. See you back on the 29th. That's when I'll be returning.