Gone With the Wind

What a crazy day! The wind was a bitch to deal with. Gusts of up to 50 mph (and I seemed to find each gust). Unloaded in Michigan this morning and the wind was already crazy by then. And of course it was a tarped load so after unloading I had to fight the tarp. After about 2 hours of fighting with it another trucker finally gave me some assistance to get it at least half-assed folded...enough for me to put it away anyway.

Then on to the next shipper which was no more than 20 minutes away. THANKFULLY they used drive-in bays (meaning I could pull the whole truck in to get loaded and tarp). That was a relief. I was not looking forward to tarping in the wind. Got it done (and bought 4 boxes of Thin Mints from the lady in the shipping office) and got underway. Now I got to fight the wind on the I-75. I was all over the lane the whole way. Slowed down to keep it a little more manageable. I had to stop several times to fix the tarp because the wind was doing a number on it. And of course due to slower speeds and having to stop several times...I ran out of hours before I could get to the receiver.

Next challenge...truck stop parking. The Pilot I found does not have a very large parking area with pretty limited spaces and narrow drives between them.  It was an absolute cluster-fuck. I wish I'd taken a picture so you could see the position I found myself in. It took about 45 minutes before I could even start backing into a spot. I am so very grateful to the three men who stepped up to help me get into my spot (and they did the same for several others as well so it had nothing to do with helping a female in distress). It's really not something you see everyday and it really means a lot to me to see these men out there in the windy cold helping direct fellow truckers into parking spots. It's a shame not more truckers are as helpful (like when I was trying to park in these docks that are platforms on each side of the trailer...with only inches to spare and not one trucker would step up to say "hey...let me help you with that").

I'm exhausted from fighting the wind all day. I'm sure Sugarcreek will be disappointed I didn't get the load to the receiver tonight...but it is what it is. I take my safety seriously and I don't care if it means the receiver has to wait one more day for their load.

So it's goodnight my friends (and mom). Really hoping the wind will be so much better behaved tomorrow morning.