Clap-clap-clap-clap, Deep in the Heart of Texas

I've been really busy over the past few days, staying primarily in Texas and Louisiana. I am fresh on the road now, after a 34-hour restart of my hours, which in reality was longer than that. After I left Dallas, I was Eastbound into Louisiana, and then Southbound from there. From mid-state, I accepted a load that took me to Laredo, Texas.


For those that don't know, LAREDO is a small border town in the Southern part of Texas with high, dusty winds and run-down streets, potholed by all the truck traffic. If you've never been to Laredo, just imagine El Paso, with more wind. If you've never been to El Paso, then just imagine an armpit.

Anyway, I'd been sitting in Laredo for a day, waiting for a load out. My Quallcomm finally beeped with a load assignment, and I let out a very Homer-esque, "Woo Hoo." The load picked up that day and delivered to Fullerton, California. Fullerton, being about 40 miles away from my home in Southern Orange County, would be a perfect chance for me to sneak home, do some laundry, and finally deposit my income tax refund checks I've been waiting on--Not to mention, I'd probably get a free dinner out of the deal at some point.

I rushed over to the Swift Yard in Laredo, dropped my empty, hooked to the loaded trailer, and brought it over to the scale. The maximum amount of weight you're allowed to put on your axles vary; You're allowed to have up to 12,000 pounds on your front, or steer axle, and 34,000 on both your drives and tandems.

I pulled onto the scale;
Steers, 11,400. Good.
Drives, 28,900. Ok so far.
Tandems, 34,500. Crap.

My trailer axles were overweight by 500 pounds, and since I was bringing the load into California, I couldn't move the tandems back any further than the 40 foot mark (which they were already at). What this means is that the people who loaded the trailer loaded the back heavier than the front, and that they'd need to fix it before it could go anywhere. For me, it meant that I wouldn't be taking the load.

While I was really looking forward to coming home, if only for an overnight visit, the next load I got was a pretty good one too. It's a nice and long one, about 1400 miles, and it will put me into Charlotte, North Carolina. I like driving in the South, especially around this time of year and earlier. It's not really hot here yet, and if I'm in the South, it means that I'm not in Wyoming or Colorado--Which I'm totally fine with.

First up on tomorrow's agenda: A shower.