Interesting day.
Up early - 4:00, jolted out of deep sleep by the ridiculous phone alarm - annoying as all get out but that's the intended effect - get to work, hook up trailer to the plant, loaded out on the highway.

As usual, I'm really not all that good with the first or second load, it's just way too early for me. I went to bed around 8:45 last night, it's just the earliest I can manage to get myself into bed and sleeping.  Driving I was thinking of how long a day it was going to be - or at least until I get X amount of miles done and can take a refreshing 30 to 40 minute nap. 

85 miles up the road, the phone rings.  It's the new dispatcher.  Hi Ben, I had to call to let you know that Mapleton cancelled the load.  I had this feeling yesterday it would cancel, but I had hoped I could get up there and then they would have me wait in a hotel and get paid detention pay.  But 85 miles? out of 750? Nope.

So I was instructed to take the trailer back to the yard and then we would go from there.  Flip a - safe - u turn and heading back, another phone call. Take it to the plant, get new paperwork and take it on up to Oklahoma instead.  Now that was more like it. At least not waste the day.  So all the way back to the plant and then all the way up here to the plant in OK.

And, there are now 4 loaded trailers sitting here and no empties.  I saw the last driver going the opposite direction shortly before I got here, I had the expectation that there would be no empties and they don't unload them at night.  Not at this plant anyway, lots of plants will unload them 24 hours a day, they don't care what time you get there.  Dropped the trailer and now sitting in the parking lot until probably late tomorrow morning. 

I had the thought of driving to Bartlesville and staying at a decent hotel I've stayed at many times up here - but it's 25 miles away and I decided against it.  I think it jeopardizes detention pay if you leave the plant.  I'll take the pay and stay in Hotel Truck Sleeper.  At least the restaurant across the street is open again.  Diner style food, decent, good prices had a pork chop and some greens.  Oh, it used to be we didn't get detention pay up here, hence staying at a hotel wasn't an issue.  If I wanted to anyway. There are no hotels in this little town I'm in now, it's a very small town. 

I'm not sure how they managed to get us detention pay here, it doesn't happen often.  Regardless, with that, I will make more in 2 days here than the 3 day trip to Mapleton I was going to take.  I find it odd that a new plant with all new equipment is already having issues.  They used to have trouble all the time, I figured replacing everything would eliminate all of that. 

Well, a call came into me this morning, anyway, while I was at the plant.  It was Taylor. Phoenix had gone into the bathroom and told dad that there was water all over the place.  Taylor said it was coming from the air conditioner.  So they were going to call an AC service out.  Yes, I thought, that thing needs replaced, but the problem doesn't need an HVAC repair person as she was going to do.  Pay hundreds of dollars?  I told her this happened once before. Pull the PVC off the drain, it is very likely clogged and simply needs cleaned out.  Yes, that was the problem and tho they really need to seriously consider replacing the central ac/heat, this situation didn't need additional money paid out for a simple repair. 

But I'm glad they are considering replacing it. It was deemed near dead by an AC guy last year.  It's rusted out and it continues to have problems.  At some point, they'll have to replace it. 
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Anyway, I'm stone dead tired.  Just caught up with me finally. Time to go to sleep.