I missed my pickup by two minutes, though I think they had closed earlier. The pickup was scheduled for earlier in the day but one-and-half of traffic on the Florida turnpike, two hours of unload and more traffic made it impossible to get there on time. That’s the nature of the beast.
I arrived at the shipper at 23:02 and they closed at 23:00, but the night guard was nice enough to allow me to drop my empty trailer in their yard making it easier to find parking with just the truck. At that hour on a Friday night in Tampa it was going to be impossible to find a spot at any truck stop. The shipper operates on a Monday-Friday schedule.
I was stuck in Tampa for the weekend. I decided to go to a hotel and called in advance to make sure their parking lot could accommodate a truck. It was a small parking lot but the night manager instructed me to park it next to the building.
I toyed with the idea of renting a car and visiting friends in Orlando or Miami, but I was exhausted from a hectic week. I decided to just chill in the hotel and catch up with personal stuff.
A Reset is a break of at least 34 continuous hours. After that all the DOT clocks go to their full position.
