Arrived Rochelle. Lessee.. where should we start? Nice rainy morning all through the rest of Ohio and Indiana. That was a plus. Just about the only one I can think of, though. Got trapped in an “exit only” lane just before Chicago. Forced onto the wrong highway. Had to take surface streets back to the interstate. Instructions from toll worker-lady were accurate, though.
Back on the interstate, 6 cars all decide they need the same spot in the right hand lane for an exit. Fortunately, nobody actually made contact, but cars and trucks were all over the shoulders and various lanes there for a moment. I'd be fractionally less pissed about it if I had been a truck or two back from the fracas, instead of point man.
Finally get to Rochelle, and the road I'm routed down has a detour. Yeah, you can smell the trouble already, can't you? It routes you through half the town, then dumps you back on the road you came from. This is good. But it doesn't tell you which way certain streets or businesses are. Since construction is so close to the end of the detour, in MY way of thinking, the turn I need is farther along the original road.
Guess again, Bozo. Turns out that at the end of the detour (where you have a left/right choice to make), you should turn LEFT, not right. Head back toward the construction. The road I'm looking for is right there at the construction barriers. Or, rather, about 100 feet north. Can't see or read the street sign from the stop sign.. and there's no other indicator.
A trip that should have taken about 6 to 7 hours took almost 11. On top of all that, I forgot to tell Dan about the OOS last Friday. I thought I had, but if he's got no note of it, I must not have told him.
These Americold folks here are fast. Had the seal off the trailer before I'd even shut the truck off. Had me in a door 10 minutes later, and had me completely unloaded an hour after I arrived.
Got another load already...pre-plan, any way. Pick up paper in Milwaukee and take it back to Denver. Not sure I can do it legally. I have 2.25 hours of drive time left to go about 120 miles. Kinda thin. Then I have to have it to Denver by Friday afternoon... 16:00 at the end of today, I'll have about 19 or 20 hours of duty time available to get to Denver.. about 1100 miles from Milwaukee. I don't think I can do it legally. Damn. Planning at 55MPH I'm about an hour over my available time. Given that I'll have no time to cheat with after I pick up the load (that is, I can't get started toward Denver on today's hours), I'm pretty sure I can't do this load as proposed.
Just let Sharla know. Could deliver Saturday, but you know they aren't gonna be open. So, the question before the jury is: reschedule this load, or offer a different load?
Huh, didn't expect that. They insist I can make it. I can make it to pick up, but I'm pretty darn sure I can't get to Denver Friday.
Turns out, I didn't get to the shipper in time, anyway. Miles and miles of construction, followed by a multi-car accident on I-43 at Exit 7A, followed by inaccurate directions. Arrived only 15 minutes late, though.
Dammit! I did everything... looked,GOAL, went slow.. mirrored like a madman.. and I STILL hit a friggin' post. I could see it in my mirror, there were inches to spare, but I hit it anyway. Apparently the top of the door sticks out a bit more than the bottom. Broke the top hinge on one door, bent the two hinges below it. Door closes, though, so breakdown says “run with it”
I'm not the only one in the hours position. As I was reporting to breakdown, another May driver came in. He, too, was victim of the piss-poor instructions. He, too, doesn't have the hours to deliver Friday. He, too, was told to run with it anyway.
And I STILL don't know why a trip that should have taken 6 or 7 hours took 9. I was dead-on my expectations yesterday, cranked out 600 miles. Today was about 450. Traffic wasn't a mess (except for a little stupidity here and there), and I know I didn't spend an hour on the detour through Rochelle..so where did it go? I looked under the bed, they're not there, either.
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