BACK INTO THE BOWELS OF HELL

The delivery at the Winco in Woodburn, OR went according to plan, maybe a tad bit longer for the unload, but when you get paid to sit, that takes the pain out of it.  Craig was happy to have driven north into cooler weather, and even a down pour of rain or two over the last couple of days.  Oh, I haven't mentioned that they had to stop in Medford, OR to have two tires replaced on the trailer.  I think they are on track to have something fixed or replaced on every trailer they come in contact with. 

After going empty at Winco yesterday afternoon, they drove over to the TA truck stop in Aurora, OR where they received their next assignment.  Craig was already dreading the thought of it.  A  load out of Clackamas, OR this morning, destined for 5 stops in the Phoenix, AZ area.  No offense to one of our newer followers Pat, who is from Phoenix, but Craig would prefer to never have the pleasure of delivering in your State unless it is the dead of winter, and even that is pushing it.

Craig was hoping to have his pick of the loads going into Phoenix when they arrived at the Fred Meyer DC in Clackamas this morning, but it seems like another trainer got the jump on him while delivering a load of bananas earlier this morning.  Craig got the left over load, but honestly, I doubt the other load was any easier.  These team loads always seem to have anywhere from 3 to 7 stops, so considering they only have a 5 stop load, it's not as challenging as it could have been.

What will be a challenge is having both Roy and Craig drive their full amount of driving hours available to them.  They have had the luxury of what we call "lazy trucker days" of driving over the past couple of weeks, with both of them driving about 6 or 7 hours a day.  Well today, I joked to Craig that they will have to have their "big boy trucker" pants on as each will be driving their full 11 hours of drive time, and that I hoped they were up to the challenge.  As Craig said, as long as he has his diet Pepsi on board, it won't be an issue, especially since he is taking the night shift tonight.  Let's hope he has it on ice, he's gonna need it.