Year 2, Day 230 (All's Well That Ends... Not So Well)

When I shut down this morning in Cedar Falls, IA I was nearly out of hours, and exhausted. When I got up 8 1/2 hours later, I found out I had more hours come back (using the split-sleeper method) than I thought. So I left out for Ottawa, IL, in order to get there before 1600. It worked out, having a 2 hour break while getting unloaded. On the way up to Green Bay, I stopped at one of the Travel Oases on the I-294 Toll Road in Illinois (for Starbucks), and stopped in Oak Creek, WI to top off the tank for the reefer fuel and get the trailer washed out. About a 1/2 mile down the road a tire blew. To make a long story short, not only did I lose my remaining drive time waiting for the tire to get replaced, I also had to return to the truck stop (and being in violation of my logbook) because the brakes locked up on the axle that the tire blew on, and it may not be until Monday - maybe even Tuesday - before the service is able to get the parts to replace the caliper, disc pads, and the rotor on that tire.

As of right now, I have no idea what's going to happen with this load, and I don't want to leave an unresolved issue for another driver to deal with. No telling what's going to happen next. I would say, "what else could go wrong," but that would just be an invitation for something else to happen. Maybe I'll get an opportunity to get a bike ride in.

And Starbucks.