My, my...

How time flies...

Another week gone through and a hard one. I got into KC terminal and picked up meds, so that worked out. Went on over to Trenton, OH to deliver my load on Monday morning at 3 am. On Sunday I found a trailer tire going down and it had a nail in it. Tried to get it fixed at a TA truck stop, but the nail was too close to the sidewall and they couldn't. We always carry a spare on the back of the cab in a tire rack so that the company doesn't have to buy one on the road. I had just picked this one up at the Dallas terminal 4 days before since I had used the last one just before going home. I had made a special trip by the terminal just to get a new spare and it paid off.

From Trenton they sent me up the road to Richmond, IN to pick up a load of fish food going to Emporia, KS. On the way over I made a special trip back by the KC terminal to pick up another spare. They didn't have any. The tire man came a hour later that usually drops off new tires and picks up the bad ones. I checked with them again and for some reason they still didn't have any. Said to myself right then that was going to be costly. It was the first time in 6 years I ever went by a terminal and couldn't get a spare.

Dropped the load in Emporia on Tuesday and went up to Topeka to pick up a load of cat food going to Nashville, TN. Dropped that load Wednesday and then they gave me a hot load out of Springfield, TN that was already late and needed to be in Atlanta at 7 pm at a Kroger grocery warehouse. I told them I could not make that appointment and they told me to do best I could. I drove up and got the load, took a hour to get there going back up through Nashville. Load of Ole Yeller dog food. They wanted to know when I could be there and I told them 8:30 pm. It was out on the southeast side of Atlanta and I had it figured too close, but I was going to run out of hours at 9 pm and had to get there or not get there at all. I had to stop and scale out the load and got held up 20 minutes because of a line at the fuel desk at the truck stop was lined out the door. Of all times...

I got there at the customer at 8:50 pm. That 20 minutes....even though I was late they got me in the gate in about 15 minutes. I guess they needed that dog food. Whole country is out of work, but the dogs, cats and fishes are eatin'.

Got lucky and found a spot out on the street to park after unloading to sleep. I had to go over east of Atlanta in the morning and pick up a load from General Mills going to another grocery warehouse in Elloree, SC that delivered that afternoon. Found a tire on my tractor that had a leak in it. I couldn't find a nail or anything but it was low for some reason. I got the load picked up by the appointment time and since I had some extra time I stopped at a TA truck stop to get the tire repaired. Well....it was not fixable...and no spare. They had to buy a tire and they weren't happy. Guy in breakdown had the gall to tell the man at the TA shop to go out and check my tractor and make sure I did not have a spare. That statement right there tells you how much respect a truck driver gets. Like I didn't know I didn't have a spare or not. I'm still a little hot about that one. I was standing next to the guy at the counter when he read the email from our breakdown department out loud.

I still don't have a spare and not making any extra trips out of the way to get one any time soon...

I needed a shower but by the time they got the ok on the tire and got it on the truck I had to go on to make delivery. The load had so many different types of canned goods on it that it took them 8 hours to unload, sort and count in the load. It was midnight by the time I was done, they let me sleep on the yard. I had told dispatch I had to get some sleep since I had been at the customer 8 hours and only needed 10 hours sitting to be actually legal to work another 14 hours, they wanted me to take another load right then. I had not slept good the last night so I said I had to get some sleep first and I could go at 6 am. Two hours after I laid down, they beeped me with a load offer that didn't pick up until noon that day and here it was 2 am. Dummy...

Was a load of, GUESS WHAT...dog food...going to Walmart in Cullman, AL. That was delivered at 5 am this morning and then picked up a load of plumbing supplies going to Lowes DC in Findlay, OH. Got until 8 am Monday to get there, so I'm sitting outside Louisville, KY until about 3:30 am Monday and then will drive on up there. It's not dog food though, them loads are heavy.