Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

Him: "nobody will notice, nobody really checks to see if that yellow light comes on" (even though it probably trips the yellow trailer idiot light on the dash)

 

I did surprise my travel agent when he called. Since I started driving, I have always lived in FL, so I learned to be flexible with my hometime. Getting home used to be a whole lot tougher than it is now, but I am still willing to postpone hometime as needed. When we talked this morning, I mentioned that to him, and even told him that if I am set for hometime and a productive load is available going to the opposite end of the country, all he needs to do is ask if I want to take it. He said that it's rare to hear that from a driver, most of his drivers will get upset if they aren't home on or before the date they requested. I guess I am a just a freight mercenary (or a freight w###e depending on how you look at it)

 

Made it to the W. Memphis yard around 3:30(central). Went to sleep. Woke up to see my next preplan. After I drop this load on the SW side of Atlanta, I head to Chattanooga to pick up tomorrow going to Hazelton PA for Sunday afternoon. This will put me in the low 11,000's for the month. Considering I sat for 3 days in Cali because of scheduling snafus, and a lack of long freight because of the Easter holiday, I am not gonna complain one bit. I still have a decent shot at topping 13k if the stars and the freight align right. Not bad for my first full month back.

The reason I went thru W. Memphis was, by the time I got hooked to this relay load, it was mayhem in the Dallas area, and given my dwindling hours on my 70, I decided that going thru the woods to Texarkana and then thru Memphis was a better option. It only adds about 25 miles (on a 1000+ mile trip) and it kept me out of the rush hour in the DFW area, plus I wouldn't be bouncing across LA and western MS's rough arse roads with 43k of Red Bull.

 

As expensive as that stuff is, I am surprised it wasn't one of those ''must travel 200 miles before stopping" loads or had an escort protecting it.

 

Managed to get the load dropped before midnight last night. But I got there later than expected. Mother nature decided to drop some serious rain starting just west of Talladega. Apparently there is a race there this weekend? I bet the folks in the tent part if the campground there were wishing they could afford an RV. Got to the receiver and was initially told that they didn't have my drop on the schedule, so I had to pull up out of the way and call Lincoln. While I was on hold, the security guy came up and said that he spoke to the receiving supervisor and got the authorization to drop, however they didn't have any Shaffer empties. By the time I got to my drop slot, the skys opened up again. I emptied out and told Lincoln about the empty situation and they said to head to Marietta (which was my plan all along), they said there were empties there. So, I floated my way up to the yard. Bobtail around Atlanta during a heavy rain storm isn't my favorite thing to do after pushing 900+ miles in 28 hours with a heavy load. I get to Marietta and make 1 round thru the yard and didn't find any empties. Tired and running low on my 14 (and 70) I backed into a bobtail spot, told Lincoln that there were no available empties, put on my jammies and hit the hay. They don't want my next load in Hazelton until after 16:00 tomorrow, so I have some time for a trailer easter egg hunt, and I get 10 hours tonight but I only get 1 3/4 hours back tomorrow night, so the beginning of my week is gonna be slow.