You know you're in the south when....

...you see a sign that says,"Liquor, Live Bait, and Ammo". Seriously... to me that just sounds like a really bad combination.... or maybe a really fun night. Either way... definitely a southern thang.

I survived 106 degree weather in Arkansas the past two days... that was a miracle. I thought for sure I'd die any moment. The heat is still stifling even up here just north of St. Louis, MO. But they say after the storms that are gonna roll through tonight that relief will finally come. Of course, just in time for me to head north into Wisconsin.

I haven't had any real challenges the past few days other than just coping with the heat. I don't do well in extreme heat... add in 100% humidity and I'm sorely miserable. But I managed. yay.

I also had a nice stop over at our West Memphis, AR terminal where while I was there I had the pleasure of visiting a dentist for a proper cleaning and check-up, which was grossly over due. My company has contracted with American Mobile Dental, a mostly full service dental "bus" to serve our drivers. For right now it's just set up at the W. Memphis terminal as a trial run to see how it goes over. I found it a very novel idea myself, being that it's hard to make and (harder to) KEEP any sort of medical appointments as an over-the-road truck driver.

Having the dentist be where YOU are is definitely awesome. It was a very unique experience still a little rough around the edges, as they were really just getting started and settling into things. But I have to admit that for the first time in many many years I didn't have any problem with sitting in that snazzy dentists' chair and opening up wide. And my smile is all the better for it! See... :D

Ha!

Anywho. After a trip to the dentist and spending the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and surfing the Internet I finally hit the road headed for Bald Knob, AR where I would spend the night. I had a load to deliver at the Wal-Mart/Sams DC in Searcy at promptly 6 am the next morning (this morning actually) and wanted to be closer so I could sleep a little longer. If I'd left from W. Memphis I'd have had to have gotten up at like 3am. And that's sooo not happening!

So this morning I got up and headed over to Searcy. Things were going smoothly at first. I arrived a few minutes early, got sent straight to a dock door and was ready to go. The DC requires that you unhook from your trailer while you're being unloaded, so after taking care of that I kicked off my shoes and settled into my bed to catch a few more zzz's since the heat didn't promote a good nights sleep the night before.

I was just lolling off when I heard my door number being called over the CB asking for my presence on the docks. So I got up and put my shoes on and went inside. My load had shifted some during transit. It was just pallets of trash cans and some of them had toppled over en route, not surprising and almost expected. The load had been sealed when I picked it up and instead of asking to have it unsealed so I could see if it needed to be strapped or load locked, I just hurried along and got on the road. The result was that my presence was requested so that I could aid in unloading all of the pieces that had jumped off the pallets.

It was hot, and sweaty work but I did it and even managed to get paid a little for it! A little work never hurts, I suppose. After I helped with the suicidal trash cans, I was dismissed to allow for the rest of the work to be done by fork lift. I was content to exit and cool off in the A/C in my truck.

After the load was completely removed from my trailer I realized that I didn't have a follow on load so I called my dispatcher to see if he was looking for something for me. Turns out he was just sending over the messages when I called him for my next load. And so I'm headed to Appleton, WI. After dropping a load off there I will pick up an empty and head to Green Bay. There I will hang out with my dispatcher a little and maybe have a chance to finally meet with the powers that be at headquarters.

I've really been wanting to introduce myself to the big wigs since I took the tour of HQ back in the spring. They weren't there the day I was, so I had to fore go that part of the tour. But I think I'll get my chance this time. I may even have my manager call ahead and make sure that at least one of them is gonna be there, schedule an appointment or something.

I just figure after one year with the company, it's high time to make myself known to the higher ups. It never hurts... and hey... it just might help!

Tonite I'm sitting at our St. Louis terminal watching a storm rage on outside. Lightening and thunder and winds and rain... I love storms.... when they don't involve tornado's!

Here's a sample...



And now I'm off to relax.