Uptight Chemical Plant in Mt. Vernon

I am forcing myself to retype this entire entry to the blog. I had the whole thing done but some glitch caused it to disappear. Grrr!

We sat several days in New York after the routine maintenance debacle. Finally we received an acceptable load offer that would pick up in Waterloo, Ny. The load was delivering in Garret, Indiana. We're originally from Indiana so it felt like a homecoming going back there.

We weren't there very long before our next load offer came in so we didn't get to do any visiting with family members. The next load picked up in Fremont, Indiana and delivered in Lebanon, Tn. Again, a routine pickup and delivery.

One of the cute little 1000 Islands in Canada

Not too long after delivery, we received another load offer that we accepted. This time we were picking up in Mt. Vernon, In and the load would be going to Waterloo, Ontario. I knew we wouldn't be able to stay out of Canda for long.

I was on the night shift on the drive to Mt. Vernon. I had a little bit of trouble finding the place but eventually I got us there. The shipper was a very large chemical plant. This was our first time picking up at a place like this. Apparently chemical plants run a pretty tight ship and security is heightened. I pulled up at the guard shack and was immediately made to feel like a criminal. There were two guards. The first one came up to the drivers window and started a rapid fire q&a session. Did we have any cameras, cell phones with cameras, drugs, weapons, pets, etc. While that was going on, the second guard was running a mirror all underneath our truck. I don't know what he was looking for, but apparently we checked out okay. We were directed to our dock with strict orders not to be outside the truck unneccessarily, and to wear our seat belts at all times while driving.

We got to the dock, backed in, and went inside to check in. The person on duty was very unfriendly and directed us to sit in the waiting room and wait until we were told our truck was loaded. We were not allowed to go back out to our truck until they said we were done. May not sound like a big deal, but when both the driver and the co-driver are forced to sit and wait inside, that means that no one is being allowed to get any rest. Why the government, who is supposed to be so concerned about the sleep that drivers get, allows this practice to go on, is beyond me. All I could think about was all the miles we were going to have to drive and how it was going to suck because we were going to be tired.

The loading took over two hours. Ridiculous, considering we were only picking up two pallets of freight. We were the only ones in the waiting room so I am assuming there were not a lot of other trucks being loaded, so I don't know what the hold up was. At long last, we were allowed back out to our truck and we headed back to the exit. We had to go through the two guards again and were given a pardon and allowed to leave.

Back to Canada we go.