I arrived this morning at my consignee around 0500 only to find out their warehouse operation doesn't open until 0700. So I waited in my truck, browsing the web and having breakfast.
A while later, I went back to the security shack and watched an informative video about plant safety, then got sent back to the warehouse area, where I waited some more.
Finally, someone got around to my paperwork and it was determined that I needed to get offloaded at a separate warehouse a few miles away. This is a problem, as CFI requires us to call in any time a shipper or receiver wants to change where we load or unload. While I was waiting for permission from the folks in the rear with the gear, two other CFI trucks pulled up, an owner-operator and a finisher with a student. We chatted for an hour or so and finally pestered HQ again until it was grudgingly decided that we could actually unload where the consignee wanted us to.
After a short drive we turned down a muddy, dirty side street next to a dirty, muddy "parking lot" which served as the truck parking for a nearby riverboat casino. The warehouse in question had an unusual indoors mobile dock which required us to back in partway, let them unload the last two pallets at the very back of the trailer then back up to the mobile ramp that the forklifts used for the rest of the cargo.
I went in first and it was difficult to get aligned with the dock because the interior of the warehouse was poorly lit, and it was bright outside. Not to mention, you had to be careful moving from side to side so as not to rip the side of the warehouse off, as the door was only a few feet wider than the trailer. I'm sure the student had a fun time trying this one.
Eventually I was unloaded and after another few hours got deadheaded over to Baton Rouge to pick up a load bound for Ohio. Here is a map of today's driving:
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