Onward to Illinois

I woke up where I stopped last night; always a plus. After a quick 25-minute drive I arrived at the shipper for today's load and they got me loaded three hours ahead of schedule. It is, indeed, a load of light fixtures for a Wal-Mart under construction but going off of the address data on the Bill of Lading I think this delivery is headed for a warehouse. Hopefully, better than the last time I delivered such a load.

I waited until 1000 to brave the traffic around Atlanta, but the roads were still packed. My dispatcher told me to get some fuel in Dalton, Georgia off of exit 421... except there is no exit 421 in the state of Georgia (and the two Dalton Pilot stations are off of exits 326 and 328). I chose the one with edible food -- Arby's vs. McDonalds -- and then ran up through Chattanooga and Nashville where I narrowly avoided a wreck. A car had pulled on to the interstate, merged in front of me then decided to slam on his brakes and get back off immediately. Hope it was worth it, buddy.

Just after shutting down my cell phone beeped with a new message. It turns out a guy I chatted with a few weeks ago in Carthage, Missouri at the underground storage facility decided to hook up with Hill Bros and mentioned my name when he did so. Ironically, this guy I recruited got assigned a Volvo on his first day. Sigh.

I suppose the recruitment bonus does take some of the sting away, though.

The next pre-plan came in as well. After I drop this load in Illinois I'm to turn around back to Kentucky and pick up a load heading back through Illinois to Kansas. It should have enough time for me to take a 34-hour restart in Springfield, Missouri.


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