Before commenting on today's events, I must comment on yesterday's events.
The trip from Knoxville to Charleston was uneventful. It started drizzling in Charleston and later turned to periods of steady rain. It was neat to deliver the load of sand to the organization who ordered it. They are called Water Missions International and their mission statement says "Changing Lives through Sustainable Water Systems." The sand I delivered was part of their filtration process which in turn was going to help the Asian Tsunami victims. It's a great feeling knowing that you are a part of the process that helps people--whether it be in a venture such as this organization or people needing everyday supplies in this country. Trucking helps you glimpse the process of how manufacturing connects to businesses and consumers alike via the transportation industry. Anyways, I'll me informing MorningStar Christian Church where I attend about a possible missions organizaition to consider supporting.
Water Missions International just moved in to a new location. They are co-locating for a while with a church that either bought or is leasing the property for one of their future satellite campuses. Seacoast Church is doing some very interesting things as did Saddleback Church, Willow Creek Community Church, and Elm Brook Church when they first got going. Anyway, they were without a deck plate (the location is an old grocery store in a mini shopping mall) so, I needed to host the truck up on some wooden ramps we gerry-rigged together so that the truck and the dock were even. Then we constructed a platform of 2x4's and plywood to fit between the truck and the dock so that the fork lift wouldn't get stuck in the hole between the trailer and dock. It was quite fun actually for us (the organization's workers assembled that day was a hodge-podge of people from a various walks-of-life to help move the organization into the building) to put our heads together and figure a way to unload the trailer.
I also was able to see a friend who used to live in Milwaukee, WI and is now living in Charleston (and who happens to attend SeaCoast Church). It was good to get caught up with him briefly as I waited for the paperwork to be faxed to the organization (somehow the paperwork was misplaced and a new copy needed to be faxed to the company located a short distance from where I was)
My next load was less than 15-minutes away. Everything went great until I tried to move the trailer tandems to balance the weight of the loaded trailer. I spend well-over-an-hour attempting to get the trailer tandems to move (even the wisdom of my company's maintenance department and the additional brains and muscle of other drivers close by were all for naught). So, since there weren't any major truck stops who could fix the problem around the Charleston area, I took a few back roads to get to a truck stop where repairs could be made. By the time I got there, I was out-of-hours so I would have to wait until the morning to get the repairs done. I was also too drained of energy to type up the day's events. 'Course, the truck stop had problems with it's wireless Internet connection anyway so any comments I would have made wouldn't have made it online until this evening.
This morning, the repairs took less than one-half hour to complete. The maintenance person made a few adjustments and the tandems were moving again. So, I was on the road by 9:00 AM. I told my dispatcher that I could deliver the load in late afternoon and off I went. When I arrived, I found out my dispatcher had contacted the receiver and rescheduled the load for delivery tomorrow without telling me. So much for keeping drivers informed of changes in the itinerary. So I headed to a nearby truck stop where I will have a good night's rest and then some (the load is not scheduled for delivery until tomorrow at noon).
No problems whatsoever with getting online wirelessly in the parking lot at this truck stop this evening (whoa--it's getting a bit windy all of a sudden--the truck is swaying back and forth. The breeze feels good as it's unseasonably warm today and tonight--it's got to be in the mid-70's around 7:00 PM). Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever experienced problems getting online in truck stops in the East (whoa2--here comes the first drops of rain predicted for tonight; the cool-down begins). So maybe the eastern part of the US is a bit more with it when it comes to wireless technology.
miles driven = 370
5:34:04 PM
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