Yesterday I took the day off in Youngstown, OH so I could take a 34 hour reset so if I happen to get a good, long run in a few days I'll have plenty of hours to use.
Today I drove the rest of the way through Ohio, then through Indiana and Illinois and ended up in southern Wisconsin. I wanted to stop at a truck stop a few miles away from my destination in De Forest but there was a big traffic jam just as I entered Wisconsin stretching six or seven miles in length due to construction so I called it quits early.
A few correspondents were confused about my last post so I will explain in a bit more depth. I was given an assignment on Friday morning that would force me to load then move that load about 1,100 miles to Wisconsin with the proviso that I couldn't deliver early. If I could have delivered early I would have dropped it off in less than two days, so either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. This would have meant two days of about 550 miles each (two times 550 equals 1,100 after all), a very nice use of my time. Doing the same distance in five days comes out to 220 miles per day, or a very poor use of my time.
Worse, this load has a second drop in Indiana which means after I wait and wait and wait until Tuesday morning, I have to run back through Chicagoland for a total of about 380 miles then wait to deliver Wednesday morning.
Worse yet, almost all the miles I'm driving in Indiana and Illinois are at 55 MPH which really grates on your nerves after a while. Not as bad as California, but still.
And to think my dispatcher was talking to me about getting more miles when we talked last week, suggesting I get on the board faster so I'm available earlier. I haven't delayed getting on the board in months and have never done that habitually.
