Missed a few days

I'm not keeping up here, been busy for a change. Actually going to run out of hours tonight, at a bad time as usual.

From Atlanta they sent me down to Columbus, GA to pick up a load from Keebler going to Kelloggs distributor in Gardner, IL. That is south of Chicago on I-55. Got in there on Sunday, was a strange situation. One of the deals where you go in and drop your load and pick up an empty, write on the bills the time and date you dropped it and leave because no one there on Sunday. Problem arose with dealing with weekend dispatch. You can't break Kelloggs seals for any reason and they won't ok it, but the load had to be dropped in the dock, had to break seal to open door and back it in. Sunday dispatcher told me to back the trailer in and drop with doors closed. So I did. I go down to their drop lot pick up an empty trailer and about to leave and the owner of the place drives in, checks the dock comes over and tells me I'm supposed to open the doors and drop in door. Duh!!

Well I told him you sign the bill with seal intact and I will do that. So I dropped empty pulled out the loaded trailer broke seal laid in back, backed in and dropped, pulled out another empty from another dock door, because he asked me to, dropped it in lot, and got my empty back. Now I'm ready to go to a Wal Mart DC near Peru, IL to pick up a load going to Wal Mart DC in Midway, TN which is near Greeneville.

I go in and get the load and get near Bloomington, IL for the night, and down to Middlesboro, KY the next night. This is just below Cumberland Gap, the junction of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee where Daniel Boone widened an Indian trail through the Cumberland Mountains to get to the other side, where the question came from, why did the chicken cross the road?

No cell signal in Middlesboro so did not get on computer. Delivered to Wal Mart the next morning and got a load to pick up at Conagra in Newport, TN going to South Portland, ME. Got the load and made it to Harrisonburg, VA for the night and got up the next morning to try to make it up close to the Connecticut/Massachusetts line. I don't deliver until 10 pm Thursday night, so need to get close enough to drive on in there just before appointment.

Everything going fine until get in to New Jersey and they start talking about the George Washington bridge being closed. Come to find out there was a fuel spill on the upper deck. The deck east bound crosses on, my direction. So have to make hasty decision to go another direction, not a lot of choices to get across the Hudson River in a truck without going many miles. I ran up I-287 north around and across the Tappan Zee bridge north of the GW bridge. Supposed to bring me back down to I-95 which will get me back on my route going up to Maine. Well now they say there was accident up near Milbury, CT, and that it happened over night with fatalities and the freeway had been closed for 12 hours and was still closed. Can imagine what a mess that was going to be. So another route change on the fly. Took I-684 north to I-84 and took that into Hartford, CT, and back on route again. Made it to Sturbridge, MA, about the last truck stop in the northeast before Boston.

The tricky part is that I leave here at 5pm headed up to South Portland, ME. Will be about 3 hour drive or 166 miles through evening traffic and rain. Will have 5 hours to make it so will see. Once unloaded the problem begins, it will be near midnight and only truck stops in Maine are about 50 miles further north. Imagine that. South Maine where all the people and businesses are, no place to park. Go up in the freeking woods with all the meese, and they are speckled around up there.

Usually when I come up here will get a load of paper out up around Bangor, or that direction. If they give me something with a direction that will be great. If they don't will be roaming around Maine til morning. Unless the customer will let me park there after unloaded. Looking at lot from Google Earth, don't look like a possibility. Kind of small. Will see....stay tuned.

Sorry Eric, couldn't find a Zaxbys with truck parking. Why I have to eat turkey sandwiches every day. I did see a sign for one though.