Still in the South

After delivering in Irving Monday morning I was given a load out of Wilmer, TX on the south side of Dallas that went to Brookhaven, MS. They asked me if I could get it there in the same day. After checking my hours I told dispatch that I could if I didn't get an abnormal delay in loading. I rushed over to the customer and it took 2 hours to get loaded. By my calculations that was all I could give up and still make the 420 miles to Brookhaven before my hours ran out for the day.

I had to drive non stop to Brookhaven, stopping only for 15 minutes in Greenwood, LA to get fuel. I made it to the customer with 15 minutes left on my 14 hours for the day. From there I picked up a load from Georgia Pacific in Monticello, MS 20 miles from Brookhaven the next morning going back to GP in Waxahachie, TX. Seems they can't find me a load to Texas when I need to get home. Here I got 2 in 4 days.

The load didn't deliver until Wednesday night at 10pm and I picked the load up Tuesday morning. So the drive back was slower. After making the delivery my next load was over in Mineola, TX the next morning going to a WalMart DC in Robert, LA. I made it to Port Allen, LA that afternoon and stopped there because there was a truck wreck over on I-12 that had traffic backed up, and I had to go that way to get to my drop the next morning.

The next morning I got up and started out for my 1 hour drive to Robert, LA and found out that the accident the day before was a hazmat load and the freeway was still shut down. I made the decision to make a u-turn from I-12 and go back to I-10 east toward New Orleans where I picked up I-55 north to Hammond and over to my delivery appointment at 10:30am. Going that way was 30 miles further but turned out to be a good decision. The back up was over 10 miles long and was taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get through it. I made my appointment with 30 minutes to spare.

After unloading I was given a load out of Port Allen, LA where I had spent the night going to northern Illinois. I had 1 1/2 hours to get back over there before they closed. They had given me a fuel stop in Hammond on the way so I had to stop to get that done. I was supposed to fuel at the same truck stop on the way to deliver in Robert, but I passed it up because it would have made me late. As it was it almost made me late to pick up the next load. I did make it though. Problem was I was supposed to go right back out I-12 to get to I-55 north, right back through the accident. Didn't do it this time either. From Port Allen I took off north through the sticks into southern Mississippi. It was all 2 lane road up to McComb, MS, but wasn't much traffic. Except for several trucks that had the same idea I did. Go figure. It was actually about 15 miles or so shorter going this way, but a much slower pace.