From Baton Rouge to West Memphis

Welcome to my little blog about a day in the life of a truck driver. Today I awoke at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, LA around 6:00 AM. Heading out about 6:30, I arrived in Baton Rouge at my next pickup location at 7:00. After checking in, I was told that they get started about 8:00 which was my appointment time.

Sitting in my truck until around 8:20 though and still nobody coming out to get me, I decided to see what I can find out. I walk back to the office and there's nobody around. After about 5 minutes I decided to go back and wait in the truck again. About 8:45 I decided to give it another try. Finally I found somebody who looks like they may know what's going on. Well I was wrong. I asked him what time do they start loading here. He said 8:00. So I look at my watch and then back at him. He then proceeds to tell me that the person in charge of shipping goes over to the main office at 8:00 to get paperwork and usually gets back around 8:30. I look at my watch again, 8:45. He says What time is it?" as he turns to look at his clock on the wall. I said 8:45. Then he again proceeds to say, "well he's usually back by now. It may be closer to 9:00." By the time everything was done, loaded, and paperwork signed it was 10:40!

Finally I'm on my way! South on I-110 to I-10 to east on I-12. I quick stop at the Pilot in Denham Springs at exit 10 to weigh out. The 45,000 pounds of plastic beads balanced out perfect and I'm on my way again.

Continuing east on I-12 to I-55 northbound, I make a quick stop in Mississippi at a McDonald's. Just a quarter pounder and a sweet tea.

Next it's non-stop to West Memphis, Arkansas. This load is actually going up into Ontario Canada, but I don't go to Canada so I'm dropping it off at one of our terminals. From there someone else will take it all the way up into Canada.

After checking in with Dispatch, I bobtailed on over to my favorite Mexican restaurant. Margarita's here in West Memphis has got to be THE BEST Mexican restaurant in the country! I love coming here. Tonight I choose the Enchiladas Supremos. It contains one each of beef, chicken, bean, and cheese enchiladas topped with a sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese. It was too good and filling that I passed up on my usual Fried Cheesecake dessert.

Anyway, back to our terminal and that's where I now sit. Probably won't get a load out of here until tomorrow. Until then, see you on the highways...

From Northern Alabama to Southern Louisiana

Oops! I missed a day yesterday. Sorry about that. So here's a quick update on yesterday. It started out in Hoover, AL at 5:00 AM. I was on a Michael's Arts & Crafts run with 4 stores. The first in Hoover, 2 in Birmingham, and the last one up in Huntsville. Each of the unloads took approximately 1 hour and while they unloaded I managed to find 6 geocaches at the various shopping centers.

After the last store unloaded there in Huntsville, I left the truck at the dock and walked around to Logan's Roadhouse to finally get a bite to eat for what turned out to be my ONLY meal of the day. But it was a good one! Baby back ribs, sweet potato, and a salad.

Then I drove back down to the southern side of Birmingham to be ready for my next load this morning.

Today was another 5:00 AM start. It was a Con-Way Freight load going to Laredo, TX. However the Freight loads typically must keep moving. So I was only taking it to Sulphur, LA where I would swap trailers with another driver who would continue it further. After a quick stop for breakfast at a Hardee's along I-59 southbound, then west on I-10, I arrived in Sulphur at 2:00 PM. I swapped trailers with the other driver, taking his empty.

I already had my next load assignment and had some time to spare so of course I looked up some geocaches. There was one less than 500' from where I parked so I grabbed the GPSr and found it.

My next pickup is back in Baton Rouge in the morning. It's about 135 miles east along I-10, so I wanted get closer to there tonight. I also wanted to find a shower and dinner. I then head back east and stopped in Beaux Bridge, LA at a Pilot Travel Center. There I quickly fueled up and showered. 30 minutes later and I'm off again.

Just a little further east on I-10 is the Tiger Truck Stop. It gets its name because they have had a tiger in a cage at the east end of the parking lot for over 20 years. The current tiger "Tony" was born there at the truck stop in 2000. Anyway, I stopped here because they have a great restaurant. And this is where I sleep tonight.

Tomorrow I pick up a load in Baton Rouge and head to West Memphis, AR. Until then, thanks for stopping by. See you on the road...