CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

                                                                      Photo from google images

Over the past several days, we have become quite the creatures of the night.  This is the third consecutive night that we have gotten up around 1am to either drive or make a delivery.  Surprisingly, we seemed to have adapted quite well, as we have slept well, and relatively long enough (6-7 hours),  prior to the alarm waking us in the middle of the night. 

Craig has been using up every available driving hour since we came back out after vacation.  Before we made our delivery in Tolleson, AZ we had our preplan sent to us, picking up a loaded trailer of bananas in the company yard in Bloomington, CA and taking them to Puyallup, WA.  Only problem was that we had over 300  miles to drive to even get to the trailer.  Doing the math, we informed dispatch that we could only get as far as Dunnigan, CA this morning, and then run out of hours.

So we took off from Arizona as soon as we were unloaded from the Albertson's DC in Tolleson, and drove to Bloomington, where we did an Indy 500 pit stop, dropping our empty trailer and then hooking up to our loaded trailer, and hit the road with what little driving time Craig had left to get us as far as Wheeler Ridge, CA.  We took the mandatory 10 hour break, and even managed to watch some of the play off game between the Giants and Phillies, before having to get some sleep, and be pleasantly surprised this morning to awake at 1am to see that the Giants had won.

We decided, since we had to get up so early yet again, to do a quick stop in Buttonwillow, CA at the Denny's to fortify our bodies with some hot coffee and a bite to eat off their $2 $4 $6 $8 menu.  I've mentioned this before, but what a deal that is.  For a total of $6 dollars, we both had more than enough to satisfy our appetites and leave feeling full and happy!

We plan to get into Dunnigan, CA by 9am this morning to do a swap with a team who will be able to make the 5am appointment time in Puyallup, WA  Monday morning.  In return, we inherit a trailer of meat which has 5 deliveries attached to it.  Looking at the dispatch details, we will once again have to get up at  midnight tonight to drive into Stockton, CA and make two of the five deliveries starting at 3am.  With only about 5 hours left on Craig's 70 hour clock, we should just manage those deliveries before shutting down in French Camp Monday morning, to set up for the final 3 deliveries on Tuesday, in Manteca, Paso Robles, and finally in San Luis Obispo, CA. Maybe by then we'll be back on a more normal schedule.