Georgia (tornadoes) on my mind

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I spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday getting work done on the truck. I had no luck getting a load until late Thursday morning when one popped up from nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa to Atlanta. A thousand miles and enough time to get it there with a few hours to spare. Spiffy.

I stopped last night at the first rest area east of St Louis and was surprised to find it was 95% full (and 100% full once I parked). The hour was a bit late for me but I've used that rest area before and that is the first time I ever recall it being full of trucks.

Today's journey was made ever so much more fun with dark storm clouds, lashing rain and at least a hundred lightning strikes in my range of vision. Entering Georgia I came across several electronic billboards warning that tornado warnings were posted until 10 PM for most of northern Georgia. Lovely.

The folks back at HQ had an odd set of instructions for me. After arriving at the consignee, I was to get the trailer unloaded then pick it up and move it a few hundred feet and drop it at the same location, then bobtail south about ten miles and pick up an empty van trailer for my next load. "Why," I asked, "can't I simply drop off the loaded trailer at the consignee?"

Some blather came back about us not having a trailer pool there. Naturally, I ignored the directive and once I arrived I asked if they really needed me to stay to supervise the unloading, to which they replied: "Oh hell no."

Naturally, I beat feet out of there as soon as possible and found a nearby warehouse complex Available For Lease (according to the sign) to sit at until morning.