Busy weekend

I haven't had many busy weekends this summer but boy howdy this last one made up for it.

That light load of PetSmart stuff was due in Denver Sunday morning at 0500 local time. I drove from Grants, New Mexico to Denver on Saturday and parked across the street from one of my favorite restaurants: Claim Jumper.

Now, I used to live in southern California and was a regular devotee of CJ but since I've been in the midwest it has literally been years since I stepped inside. The menu and portion sizes were as I remembered (huge), the quality great and the ambiance the same. If you haven't been to one yet and you have a chance, give it a try it really is that good. This was the something special I referenced in my last post.

Anyway, I remembered that there was a closed Circuit City across the street from Denver's CJ so I parked there along with a lot of other cars and trucks. Colorado is doing work on the 470 West route and it was backed up big time when I arrived, but not so much at 0400 the next morning. Not at all, really.

The PetSmart guy had my trailer unloaded by 0530 and I was on my way to my next stop: the Sierra Trading Outpost distribution center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A couple hours of driving got me there, then the long wait began.

Our company takes a trailer full of their products heading to the UPS distribution hub in south Chicago every evening. My dispatch said it would be ready to go by 1700, but the warehouse folks told me it would be 1900. Since it is almost 950 miles due east to Chicago and it has to be there the following day by 1500, a solo driver like myself can't get it there legally. Thus, we t-call the load at our HQ in Omaha and another driver takes over.

The load was ready at 1900, which is really 2000 central time. So, I've been up since 0400 that morning and now it is almost nighttime and I have to drive another 500 miles. My least favorite part of trucking, by far.

I did nap a bit and had some chocolate on hand (for medicinal purposes only, mind you). Chocolate has caffeine so it is a mild stimulant and since I don't smoke or drink colas it is one of the few pick-me-ups I have access to.

The hours slowly went by and I kept myself entertained listening to an audio book that covers all the kings and queens of England from William the Conqueror in 1066 to the present. Fascinating stuff if you enjoy history -- for instance, I didn't realize there have been fewer kings and queens than US presidents! They have us beat hands down in the colorful character department however.

I had to stop midway to Omaha for a 45-minute power nap, then it was back on the road and listening to more court intrigue and such. By the time I was approaching Lincoln, about an hour away from Omaha, I started running into intermittent heavy fog. Fog is about the worst thing you can drive in and I slowed down and added nearly an hour to my travel time to be safe.

Finally, about 0430 I arrived at our company yard and hand off the trailer to the new driver then hit the sack.


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