Sunday, July 19, 2009

A do run run run, a do run run


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Since I unloaded in North Plate, Nebraska on Friday afternoon I've been running pretty hard. First, I got sent an hour east to Lexington, Nebraska to pick up a load of meat heading to Emporia, Kansas that I had to get there that night. The following morning, Saturday, I got a short dinky load that at first I thought was going to screw me: 240 loaded miles and a delivery of 0200 on Monday. After conferring with The Powers That Be it was made clear that the load could be dropped at any time.

So, off to Wichita, switch trailers for a full one and run it up to Crete, Nebraska. Along the way was another preplan, this time to bobtail across town to the Purina plant in Crete and grab a preloaded trailer heading to Ottawa, Illinois.

Scary satellite info: the load weight might be 45,900 or so. Even in a van trailer this is pushing it, so I was glad to find once I arrived the actual loaded weight was 44,000 or so. I made use of the scale at the plant to get the weight legal then headed off into the early evening darkness, ending up in Shelby, Iowa.

This morning I simply got up and drove the rest of the 365 miles to Ottawa. Along the way another beep from the QualComm: drop the trailer at the consignee and grab an empty, then call in for a dispatch Monday morning (tomorrow) at 0800.