Saturday, March 22, 2008

Early start, early finish


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I went to bed early last night after eating a hearty meal and awoke at 0300. I decided I would hit the road a little earlier than I had planned and got running.

Along the side of I-80 I saw a sign for a Super Wal-Mart and pulled in. I needed to replenish my water, fresh fruits and vegetables, and get some cookies and such as well. This particular location, in Lexington, Nebraska, is extremely trucker-friendly with lots of parking nearby, even for big rigs. I joined several dozen other parked trucks and did my shopping. Way to go Lexington!

The rest of the drive to just outside Denver was punctuated by several snow showers but nothing that lasted more than 15 minutes or so. The high plains around Denver itself were warm with mostly clear skies and no snow to be seen anywhere.

I looked over my deliveries in the morning and I'm glad I did. The way the Hill Bros dispatch system works is the reverse of that I'm used to, so instead of just sending me information on each stop as I complete them they send me the information on my last stop first, then the others as separate messages. I had the two stops mixed up in my mind which would have been a problem since the first stop is loaded at the back of my trailer. I'm sorted out now and I'll drive about 10 miles to the first store just before 0200 tomorrow morning.