STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21507: Jessup Gibberish

May 31, 2006 on 7:37 am | In On The Road |

On Friday, the 26th, I left Lake Havasu City at about 0930 to begin my long trek eastward. There are any number of routes I can take. Swift has me routed over some US and State highways through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This is probably the shortest route, but not the most practical. It takes up valuable time driving through all the small towns along the route, and time is of the essense on this trip. The delivery time is at 0500 (0700 local) on Tuesday, the 30th. I have already informed my DM that this is in jeopardy. I will have a “short” day on Monday because I’ll run out of hours (70 hour rule). On Tuesday, I will pick-up 8.5 hours at midnight. I will have to drive the rest of the way to Washington D.C. After that, I should be able to get the load there by mid morning, but not by 0700.
At any rate, the route I chose basically follows old Route 66 (I-15, I-40, I-44) into St. Louis, MO. There i’ll take I-64 east to Charleston, WV. In Charleston, I connect with I-79 north. At Morgantown, I take I-68 east, which turns into I-70 east. At the junction of I-270, I take I-270 south to I-495 east on into Washington, D.C. This route, according to Microsoft Streets and Trips is 2640 miles. That’s 31 miles farther than the 2609 paid miles, but the route is far more practical.
I stopped in Winslow, AZ for lunch and a quick MMM break. At 1430, I drove to Albuquerque, NM. I was going to fuel here, but fuel is cheaper in Oklahoma City, and I have enough to get there, so I didn’t bother. At 1930, I drove to San Jon, NM where I stopped for the night. I drove 692 miles today in 11 hours. That’s about as far as I can ‘legally log’ in one day.
On Saturday I left San Jon at 0830 and drove to Amarillo. I had brunch here. At 1100, I departed Amarillo and drove to Oklahoma City, OK. I fueled and gave the MMM a quick stroll. At 1545, I left and drove to Joplin, MO. I took a short break here, then drove to Richland, MO where I called it a day. I had another good day driving 676 miles in 11 hours. I’m a bit over 1/2 way to my destination. Not bad considering the horrendous start to this trip on Thursday.
On Sunday, I left Richland at 0800. I drove to Mt. Vernon, IL, via St. Louis, MO where I took this ‘drive-by’ snapshot of the world famous Arch while passing through.

If you absolutely, positively have to be in Illinois, Mt. Vernon is not a bad place to stop. At one exit, there is a TA truckstop, a nice ‘local’ truckstop called Huck’s, which has a real nice restaurant, and a ‘Wally World’. In addition there is a Lowes home center, and a couple of “chain” restaurants. I parked in Huck’s, walked the MMM, then went to Wally World for some necessities. At 1300, I drove to Waddy, KY. After a nice Dinner Buffet, I became lethargic, so I decided to stop here for the night. When I started the day, I had only 15 hours available for the next 2 days, so even if I did drive a full 11 hours today, i’d still have a short day tomorrow. There is a nice field behind the truckstop. Plenty of room for an untethered MMM romp (or two). I only drove 490 miles today in 7.5 hours.
On Memorial Day, before leaving, I “memorialized” the MMM’s 6th B’day with a little party. At 0800, I left and drove to Winfield, WV. Here, I took a nice long break for brunch and a shower. At noon, I drove to Grantsville, MD, where I had to stop for the day due to the 70-hour rule. I only had 7 hours available to drive today and I used 6.75 of them. I could have used the remaining 15-minutes, but there was nowhere else to stop in the immediate vacinity that would meet my minimun requirements for Hygene. This was a pretty pitiful excuse for a truckstop, but at least i’ll have running water in the AM to perform my quotidian ‘toilette’. I made up for the lost time on this trip by limiting my daily ‘down-time’ the the minimum 10 hours. I’m still about 165 miles away from Washington, D.C. I’ll have to get an early start in the AM. I can leave about 0230 and still make the 0500 appointment on time, if traffic cooperates that is. I drove 407 miles in 6.75 hours.
On the 30th, I left at the above mentioned 0230 and began my drive. I have 8.5 hours available today, but only 5.5 for tomorrow, and 8 for the day after. Consequently, after I make the delivery, i’m going to drive to the closest truckstop (Jessup, MD) and take 34-hours off to re-start my 70-hour clock. Everything was going smoothly until I made the transition onto I-270. At this point, I ran into the morning rush hour. Oh well, I gave it the ‘good ole college try’. I made it to the consignee at 0615 (1.25 hours late). It was of no consequence as this turned out to be a drop/hook delivery. However, there was nothing onto which to hook. This is actually a blessing in disguise, at least for the immediate future. The truckstop in Jessup is crowded and cramped. It is also under construction. Arriving ‘bob-tail’ will greatly enhance my chances of securing a parking place. The bad thing is that i’ll need to find an empty on Thursday when i’m once again ready to roll.