I HATE CHICAGO.

Forgive my lack of coming up with a more imaginative title for this post but this speaks the truth. It all started where on Friday I was asked if I wanted to work over Thanksgiving. I said yes because I wanted off on December 5th instead. But I was gonna need a reset so I could work through next week. No problem. So after 34 hours I was sent to Wisconsin. A good run that I have done many times. before I get there I get my next load. This surprises me because my dispatcher was on vacation which usually spells trouble. I was picking up in Neenah, WI to Youngstown OH. It delivered wednesday am. My pick up time was at 1 pm. Well that would make it tight so I try to get loaded early. Then I get my next assignment. It picked up in Perrysville, OH which was two hours away from Youngstown. It was going to Midlothian, TX with a sunday am delivery. This meant that if I pulled it off I would have Thankgiving at home.

Now in my paper log days this would have been no problem. But with e-logs I was sweating it. Only one thing could ruin my master plan. Chicago. My routing had me going straight down 94 through Milwaukee and then into Chicago. With my flashbacks of holiday driving through Baltimore/Washington DC last year I shuddered at the thought of Chicago traffic for the holiday. Now I pondered at the thought of I43 to I39 and going WAY around but I figured I was screwed once I got to I80 east anyways. So I go for it. Milwaukee was smooth sailing. So much so that I had my hopes up. Maybe I can just stay ahead of the storm. NOPE. All my hope was shattered once I hit near the airport. ( I was going down I290 because I thought that 94 would not be much better.)

Let me explain Chicago drivers to you. They are so tired of all the construction zones and gridlock traffic jams that they have become very impatient and are willing ready to risk life and limb to get the spot in front of you. When I am not in a hurry it's quite entertaining for me in a twisted way but today I need to GO! Then It starts to rain while dusk settles in the Windy city. Traffic was stop and go for a long time. Every now and then there would be a break but then a sea of brake lights would have me backing it down before we could get it rolling again.


So I get to the end of my 14 hours. I am still 67 miles away with a 5am appointment. I didn't get shut down until 11pm. So I have grab line 5 (off duty driving) at 4am. I get to the reciever. If they take forever to unload me I can blame them for not getting me out in time for the next pick up. I can't log in until 945 am and I had to be in Perrysville by 10 am? Yeah that wasn't gonna happen. This place had been known to take like up to 8 hours to unload before. The one time I needed them to take their time they had me done within a couple of hours. Great.

So now these were my choices. Drive off duty but taking a huge chance at maxing that out so it would screw up my hours. Second choice was to call dispatch and see if they could move the pick up appointment. After a phone call explaining the situation they were switched me with another load that picked up the same place with a later pick up time. BUT (here is the kicker...) it was due FRIDAY AT 5 AM.

Instead of being home for a couple of days, this gave me a whole 2 hour window to have thanksgiving with my family. And you know what? I was thankful for that because I know that a lot of drivers didn't even get that. My family was grateful as well.

I still hate Chicago. BTW.

Chicago Blues and the Land of Cheese

Well this week was tiring. I wasn't gonna leave until Monday but the Sunday Dispatcher needed a load covered due to another driver's garage getting burned down. It was a familiar run to South Bend , IN. and was a better run than my original destination of Shreveport, LA so I took it.

If I left around 3pm I would be alright.When I got to the yard my truck was in the shop. I was told it would be ready in 30 minutes so I went to the c-store down the road, got some coffee and last minute trip stuff. I came back and waited. THREE HOURS LATER my truck was done. On top of that my E-log was messed up and was showing I only had 8 hours to drive and I needed 10 to get to my destination. Great. Well that can't be fixed until Monday morning so I start a paper log and start my drive. I was gonna have to drive until 4am just to make it on time now. This was probably one of the longest, hardest drives I have ever done. I hate the unexpected.

Monday I pull in about 4am to the Pilot next door to the customer and hit the sack. About 9am I wake up go deliver and then go back to bed. I slept hard until my Qualcomm went off. around noon. I had a pick up in Chicago. Blech. Now I get this assignment at 12. I cant leave until 1300 hours. It was a 93 mile deadhead and I have to be there at 14:45. If I averaged 60 miles an hour it would still be tight. But look where I am going. I rolled in at 1530 thanks to construction. Once I got to this place I realized I had been here before back when I first started driving. I had sat for two hours waiting for a load that had been cancelled. Hopefully history won't repeat itself. I get a dock right away but waited 4 more hours until I was loaded. The only good part was that this load was going to Springfield and I just missed the worst of Chicago rush hour. Bad part was there wasn't enough hours to make it back to Springfield on time after my mandatory 10 hour break. I had to deliver at 1400. After just 2 hours on the road I went to bed. I was still worn out from my all nighter and since the load was gonna be late I might as well get some rest.

Tuesday AM I woke up and decided to try the DOT 8-2 split. My computer told me at 8 hours in the sleeper birth I gained 8.5 hours to drive. I went for it. I pulled into Springfield to the customer at exactly 13:47. After the delivery I get back to the yard and I get to sleep at home for the night.

Wednesday I am on my way to Appleton, WI. I was well rested and the drive was uneventful. Found a nice truck stop on US41 and after some dinner and a couple of phone conversations I went to bed.

Thursday I get to the customer and make my delivery. My next pick up was just 5 miles away and it was a two stop load. First stop is in Topka, KS for a Friday open window appointment. The second stop goes to OKC for Monday. My cool trucking company allowed me to come back to the yard so I don't have to spend a weekend in OKC.

Friday I deliver and was home in time to take the family out for dinner. Oh yeah almost forgot. Monday e-log fixed it self and everything was fine. Stupid computers.