Home Time!

The rule is one day off for each week out.  In the 48 state, or reefer division, which I run in, the minimum time out before home time is granted is three weeks.  With that in mind, I looked very much forward to home time. I hadn't seen my family is so long! 

After my first trip to the midwest with unwanted tater tots, and finding a shipper in the downtown Cincinnati in the early morning hours, I was routed back to Denver, and from there immediately out to Portland, near to a company terminal there for routine maintenance on my truck.  Once I was unloaded, and my truck maintenance work done, I picked up a load of beer in Portland and took it to the mountains of Washington for delivery. From there, I picked up a load of apples at two different locations and headed out to Indiana for delivery.  In addition to home time, I had also scheduled a doctor's appointment to take care of some routine medical necessities.  

When I was dispatched with the apples to Indiana, the dispatch said I'd be swapped out with another driver so I could get my home time worked out.  Once loaded, I left Washington, worked my way through Idaho and into Montana, wondering the whole time when I would get the bird chirp, and new directions.  Finally, the directions came to continue to the our terminal in Indiana, where I would be given a load back to Utah, and from Utah another load back to Denver.  I added up all the days it would take to make that trip, and could easily see that would have me miss my doctor's appointment by at least two days, especially since I live five hours from Denver. 

The situation grew from bad to worse when I arrived in the terminal in Indiana, and unhooked the loaded container of apples. Anytime a live reefer trailer is disconnected from a truck, it sends alarms to the truck ---which for me isn't a problem, because I'm the one who unhooked the trailer, but it also sends alarms to home office.  Almost immediately, I received a call from my Driver Manager, "Why did you unhook?"  "Because I'm here at the terminal for the swap," I replied. "Sorry, forgot to tell you; there's been a change of plans. Go ahead and deliver the load of apples to the destination tomorrow. Then, we'll get you a load back to Denver."  My home time schedule was going from bad to worse.  Finally however, I did get home.  Oh the comforts of family and home!  But I knew it would end soon.  In the big row of shiny trucks in Denver, one of them had a name, Bruce, and I was his driver.  It was time to back to work.

Washington Apple Country

The mighty Columbia

Wyoming prairie, Uintah Mountains