There to here

Does this look like a question mark to you:


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That is what I drove yesterday and today.

I began in Elm Creek, Nebraska and had to get started early-early to make my 0600 appointment in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I arrived shortly before 0530 to find another Hill Bros truck backed up to the dock and a Crete truck waiting. After going inside to make sure I was on the list, I went back to my truck and waited. And waited. And... you get the picture.

The Hill Bros truck was done in under an hour from the time I got there but the Crete guy took forever. It wasn't until 0810, more than two hours after my appointment time, that I finally bumped the dock and I was unloaded about an hour later. I put in for detention pay (my second one, the first being this one) so we'll see what I get for them eventually.

My dispatcher gave me a tentative pre-plan down to Fort Worth, Texas, even though he was aware the shop had sent my truck a message earlier to get its scheduled maintenance done. Apparently they had too much freight in the area and not enough trucks, so maintenance waits and loads get moved. I was deadheaded across the border into Omaha to a meatpacking plant to get a load of yummy "beef scraps". The last load I pulled like this went to a Sara Lee plant to make hot dogs or something, just so you know.

Anyway, my dispatcher told me it was a simple drop and hook with a preloaded trailer. The folks at the plant collectively said "Huh?" and had me back into a door for a live load. At least they were fairly quick about it.

I ran back across the river to Council Bluffs and scaled the load with no problem and got running south for the last six hours of my day until I had to stop. This happened near Emporia, Kansas which has to win the prize for the most jacked up interchange I've ever seen. It has been under construction (destruction?) for a while now and it is a colossal mess. I thought my GPS was going to take a dump on me, it was that bad.

Anyway, I spent the night at the Flying J there and got running again as soon as possible down to Fort Worth, Texas. I was to grab 50 gallons of fuel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on the way and inadvertently pumped 64 before I remembered it wasn't a fill-up. Ah well.

It was fairly windy all the way and very much so in the DFW metroplex area. Found my consignee without any trouble and after a couple hours the truck was unloaded and I made my way over to a local truckstop. I am at the bitter end of my logbook now and can't move until tomorrow when I get back ten hours I can use to run with.