Another wasted day... almost

So I arrived back at the consignee for the load the following morning before 0800 and waited. Eventually, the workers arrived and I queued up with a handful of other drivers and they went over our paperwork. One of the guys ahead of me in line was a bit miffed that they wouldn't take his load that day, and I commiserated on our shared lament.

My turn arrives and I talk with one of the supervisors. "Sorry. This load is heading to Tyson and their receiving inspector won't be in until tomorrow."

He called in to verify this with the Tyson folks as I waited, fuming. "Edgar," he said, "is the man your people have to lean on."

I trudged back out to my truck, commiserating with myself this time, and sent in a text message with the details to our folks in the rear with the gear at HQ. Various encouraging messages flowed back and I waited, using my time patiently putting the final touches on my generic meatpacking plant voodoo doll.

Knock, knock, knock goes my door. "Put it in to door 16, we'll take your load," the man said. Even though this meant backing up in an "S" pattern through a tight parking lot filled with trucks, I got right on it. The head lumper was there to see if I wanted to partake of his services and I couldn't nod my head fast enough.

An hour or so later the load was taken away and I was off to a nearby truckstop for a shower and a meal. Both much needed.

When I returned to my truck my next load was waiting on the satellite unit. I'm to pick up a load in El Paso and take it to a suburb of Dallas, Texas for tomorrow morning. It was already past noon and the distance was a cool 640 miles, or roughly ten hours of driving.


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I was a bit tired from the morning's activities but I had to get loaded and moving quickly so I could make the destination around midnight to get some sack time before I deliver in the morning.