Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bad Juju

I finished my run in to West Chicago, Illinois this morning without incident. There was a short pause after I punched in the load complete codes, then I was instructed to take the trailer in closer towards Chicago for a company called MME to use. Midwest Motor Express shares a building with Hill Bros. in Omaha and we pull freight for them regularly.

The trailer I picked up needed a washout, however. While I was getting directions for that little chore, my orders changed and now I was to run across to the north side of Chicago to pick up a load of Avon products heading to Fargo, North Dakota. Unfortunately, the load has to deliver by 10 AM tomorrow and given how far I've already driven today I don't think I can make it there legally. After a bit of back-and-forth with HQ I'm told to do my best and I head out.

I'll spare you the details of the traffic and streets. Suffice it to say plenty, and plenty tight. I had to take a couple curbs with my trailer tandems and several drivers were a bit concerned how close my big rig came to their personal vehicles. Welcome to big city driving.


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I ended the day near Portage, Wisconsin. Tomorrow morning when I cross into North Dakota will mark the 49th US state I have visited, since I nabbed Alaska a few months ago. I'm patiently waiting on my dispatch out to Hawaii to complete my tour of all the states.