Day 2 with Esther by my side.

We started out about 9:30 this morning and drove like there was no tomorrow. I did about twenty minutes of paperwork and trip planning this morning before I ever logged on duty, and then after a fifteen minute pre-trip we hit the road. Today was a beautiful day and it was going to be one of those fortunate days in a truck drivers life where all I really had to do was drive. I'm already loaded and we know we aren't going to get to our destination until tomorrow any way, so we can just churn out the miles and enjoy a day with out having other duties like tarping and load securement.

We enjoyed visiting with each other while driving today and after only two days on the road I begin to notice my daughter is picking up the truck drivers jargon. After the sun had gone down I saw a brightly lit O/O's truck coming our way on the interstate, and my daughter said "hey look dad, here comes a chicken truck!" This is turning out to be a fun time for us both.

I had planned our trip to get us into position so that we could get into Cincinnati before noon tomorrow, and it worked out well. We took the D.O.T.'s precious 30 minute break and later on top of that we took an hour break to eat at a restaurant. We rolled into the Love's truck stop at Horse Cave Kentucky around midnight tonight logging just under 650 miles today. That makes two days in a row so far that I've worked until midnight - but a professional truck driver is willing to do what ever it takes to make things happen out here, and that is what sets him apart from his peers in this arena.

We had the added bonus today of getting a pre-planned load assignment from my DM which will be shooting us on another jaunt of around 1,000 miles from Cincinnati to Syracuse, New York. My dispatcher is really good about this kind of thing - he usually has a plan working for me way before I've finished the one I'm currently executing. I'm really exhausted tonight, but we had a great day and will have plenty to keep us busy and earning money over the weekend now. Had we drug our feet today and taken our time, knowing that we have plenty of time tomorrow to get there without considering leaving enough time available so we can grab another load on Friday for a Monday delivery, we would probably have been stuck at the truck stop T.V. lounge with the other John Wayne fans watching re-runs and spending way too much money on snacks and drinks.

My dispatcher knows how I think and work, so he feels free to put the work out there knowing I'm a step ahead and ready for him to get me something. I'm not bragging, but rather trying to teach anyone who will listen, how you make more money than your fellow drivers in this business. If they're confident that you will handle it they will give you the stuff that will keep you rolling. I just started back on the road on Wednesday, tomorrow is Friday, and all we need now is another 800 mile load and we will be right at 3,000 miles for this week.

Things are looking good for this week, but it's quite possible we could hit a snag somewhere along the way. We'll keep on working steady and hope everything works out well for the rest of our journey this week.