Double Whammy

Yep... two gifts in one. Pictures and now this (or this and then pictures...whatever)!

So today was a rather interesting day. I woke up in Knoxville, headed south to towards Chattanooga...actually to a town called Cleveland, TN. I delivered a load of Chep pallets to the P&G/Duracell place there. Things were going great until I got stuck sitting and waiting for my next load assignment.

For some reason or another our box planning department, which is responsible for assigning empty trailers to drivers when needed for a load assignment, decided not to do it's job for me in any semblance of a timely manner today. When a driver is without an empty trailer and requires one to either be live loaded or swap for a pre-loaded trailer, then box planning must find an empty for the driver to acquire. When the dispatcher has put a new assignment on a driver, the macro's can't be sent over the Qualcomm until the box planners do their job of assigning a trailer pick up location.

So after 35 minutes I called in asking if there was some particular reason that box planning was dragging their feet. I was assured that the problem would be resolved in about 15 minutes. That was fine and dandy, except I'd already waited 35 nearly 40 minutes. Ok... so back to patience I go.

I waited another half hour and just as I was dialing in to my manager again, the Qualcomm started beeping with my next assignment. FINALLY! Of course, after all this waiting I was expecting to see that box planning was sending me to some faraway land to acquire an empty trailer. I had assumed wrong of course. They instructed me to pick up the only available empty at the P&G/Duracell place...one which I really didn't want to even consider taking because it was so old and rickety looking.

But to save myself any more hassle I drove over to the empty and checked it out. Sound as a pound structurally. But it was FILTHY inside. I spent the better part of another half hour just picking up the trash and sweeping the trailer out before taking off with it.

Finally I was headed to my next pick-up location down in Chattsworth, GA. I arrived to find that the place was a little hole in the wall down a very narrow residential road which got my guts all twisted for the 5 minutes it took to get from the main highway to the facility.

I got loaded up and was ready to roll after about an hour, which was greatly appreciated. Then it was off again, northbound! woo hoo Or well... it should've been woo hoo. Instead of trusting my gut instincts, I instead followed my companies driving directions to get out of dodge. If I'd had my druthers, I'd druther have gone back the way I came, even though it would've been slightly out of route.

But then I'd not have gotten the chance to embark upon the adventure of the week!

So I followed the directions to take US-411 north towards Knoxville. At some point I was supposed to turn right on a "Old Copper Road" and then another series of rights and lefts until I found myself on I-75 north. Well... I never found "Old Copper Road" and thus, just kept going. I knew that US-411 eventually found a few other highways and by-ways that led into Knoxville. So I checked the atlas at a stop light, noted a few route numbers in my brain and kept on rolling north.

Well... that was a bad decision. I ended up driving 1) through downtown Maryville, TN which was a little awkward but not too bad; 2) not making a continuation of US-411 because the turn was toooooo tight and narrow from the "detour" I made through the city; 3) subsequently ending up on US-321 straight into the damn Smokey Mountains.

Yep... when I arrived at a stop light where the ONLY FRIGGIN SIGN warning truckers that US-321 is not an advisable route I freaked out a little. The sign warned of narrow passages and switch back turns. CRAP!

Well... seeing no other route available except turning back and going the way I came I decided again against my better judgement to keep on trucking. North bound I go'ed. It wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated, but it wasn't that great either.

Truckers, do not try this at home! haha

There was only one true switch back turn and I am still thankful that there was no on-coming traffic in that turn! I had one close call in a fairly tight turn I was taking at about 15 MPH when an on-coming car had to stop so I could finish the turn and allow her enough room to safely pass. Danged mountain roads!

I was a little white knuckled, but the worst of it lasted only about 8-10 miles. And honestly, even though it was a little stressing and distressing to traverse, it was at least a beautiful drive!

I also got to get my first taste of the tourism side of the Smokies as I passed through Seiverville, TN. WOW... I wanna go back and visit! Seriously... how cool is most of the stuff down there? Any tips from folks who've spent time there? I am making a point to try to convince the ol' man that our mini-cation this year should be to the Smokies.

Anywho.. I finally found my way back to a real live interstate when I hit I-40 off of Hwy. 66. I made my way to the place I'd hoped to spend the night and still had about an hour of daylight to spare. And here I sit... blogging and relaxing and preparing for tomorrow.

Which may well turn into it's own little adventure as I venture back up the I-77 corridor into Charleston, WV. I hear the snow has already started falling again and 2-4 inches are expected over night. FUN FUN!