ONE MORE NIGHT OF DRIVING

After unloading at Fred Meyers on Tuesday morning, we were advised to drop our trailer there and await our next dispatch. Suffice it to say, neither one of us got much sleep waiting to hear the chirp of the QualComm with our next assignment. But long about noon, it did chirp and we were given not the pre plan that they had notified us of earlier, but a new dispatch which would be ready by 7pm and with two deliveries in Spokane the next morning.

One thing we have learned with the Fred Meyer loads, is that they will take you well ahead of your appointment time. What we weren't sure of, since our delivery times were 6am and 8am on Wednesday morning, was if they would taken them after midnight. With the load being ready by 6pm, we scaled out and headed towards our first stop.
After fueling at the yard, we arrived at our first drop around 1am. Craig went in search of an employee, and was told that they would love to unload us, however, that the person who had the keys to the dock doors wouldn't arrive until 4am. They further said we could back into the dock and await their arrival. We both climbed into bed and set the alarm for a nice 3 hour nap.

When the alarm went off, we tried to clear the fog from our brains, acclimate where we were and what we were doing, and then checked in to start the unloading process. We only had to drop 4 pallets, which was done in quick order, and we were off to our last drop well ahead of the 8am appointment time, and certainly within the 14 hour work clock.

By 6am we were at the yard, and were told to check back in at 1pm for any load assignments. We had decided to take another nap before heading out and doing some errands. We were able to pick up our new glasses, head up to our P.O. Box and pick up our errant payroll check, and swing by our house for a quick 30 minute walk through. We then decided to just head back to the yard to sleep in the truck in the event we had an early morning dispatch.

Craig called into the office while we were on our way back and was informed it would be sometime today before we would be dispatched on our next load. We both sighed a sigh of relief knowing that we would be able to get back into a "normal" sleep pattern again. This morning, after a good solid 10 hours of much needed sleep, we got up, took showers and did laundry, and then promptly received our next assignment.
As I write this, we are at the Lamb-Weston facility in Prosser, WA awaiting almost 45,000 pounds of frozen french fries. We had an interesting time getting into the facility with the road work that was being done right in front of their loading docks. This load will deliver in San Bernardino, CA at Stater Brothers on Sunday. It should be a nice easy drive south, with absolutely no night driving. The only way to celebrate that is a stop by the Starbucks down the street before we hit the Interstate........mmmmmm I can almost taste that latte now!