It's Tuesday, it's cold, and it's still sleeting, freezing rain, and a little snowy in Joplin, MO.
Trapper braved the cold by himself this morning. I was perfectly happy in the truck. We're still at CFI/ConWay headquarters in Joplin, MO so he decided to get our permit book updated and hang out in the driver's building for a while.
My "alone" time consisted of house duties and drinking coffee.
Finally ready to brave the cold myself, I caught up with him in the driver's lounge. One television is on the Weather Channel and of course that's where I was. I'm glad we left Arkansas when we did and I'm very thankful we are no where close to Paducah, KY!
Everyone in the lounge had "tales of the road" to tell. Interstates being closed, trucks off the road, and near misses! One driver comes in and announces to everyone that a truck was leaving the yard, turned onto the street, and the trailer slid half way off the 5th wheel. Not good... and right in front of headquarters!
Again, I'm glad we are where we are. So, after finding Trapper we headed to the cafeteria for breakfast and then I received the tour of the complex. I've only been to this building one other time and this time I was able to see the infamous "war room".
The war room looks like the room from which they monitor the space shuttle. There are super large wide screens on the walls with weather maps, truck information, and safety reminders. We were also able to call our fleet manager and introduce ourselves. This is quite an impressive operation!
We returned to the truck and were greeted with a beep from the qualcomm.... it read... "come to local dispatch."
Trapper went to check out the dispatch and came back with the news that we're being dead headed to Kansas City, MO to sit and wait on a load. They are anticipating needing trucks in that area tomorrow due to the pressure the ice storm has put on the schedules.
As I was checking the Missouri DOT website all I saw was blue and pink on the interstates. Green means that particular stretch of roadway is clear. I'm not really looking forward to this 160 miles. I'll have the death grip on the arm rest again!
Off to Kansas City!
We arrived at the drop yard around 4:30 pm and as we were trying to decide what we were going to do... go to a truck stop, rest area, drop the trailer, keep the trailer... and about that time big brother (the qualcomm) beeps us.
I quickly check and see that we're being sent to LaVergne, TN. I looked on the map... that's right... straight through St. Louis, MO.... straight through Paducah, KY... to Nashville....
Knowing we didn't have the hours to complete this trip as planned, Trapper called dispatch and they moved the arrival time back for us and allowed time for road conditions.
I just thought I was nervous before...
We only drove about 100 miles and decided to shut down. Luckily we "made" a spot at a rest area and called it a night. The road conditions were getting worse, it was dark, and not worth risking it.
After all, we're carrying kidney beans not a heart transplant.
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