It was a good load, that would get me out of Columbus, Ohio, and take me to Central New Jersey. I really was looking forward to it. I had the morning to myself, since it was an afternoon pickup. Everything was working as planned. Even the trailer I brought in for servicing was ready to go. The traffic was still light, and I got to the shipper early. They even had me in the door right after I checked in. But that would be it. My good start ended there.

As I set my rig up and backed into the dock door, I smelled something familiar, but first dismissed it, since this was and industrial area. Then, as I shut the engine down, and was ready to keep up with my paperwork, that familiar smell of rotten eggs was a little stronger. I knew the smell, and went right for the battery compartment.

       I opened the cover, and that smell was strong. One of the batteries was boiling. I found the bad one right away, as the acid was leaking out the side of the battery, and onto both of the battery cables. I moved the cables to one side, but had to call in to get authorization to disconnect the ground wire. Once I got approval, I got all the lines away from the battery, and had to let the load be reassigned. Strangely enough, the customer had issues with the order, so there was another delay. In a sense, it gave everything a chance to just sit for some time.

Once loaded, I headed back to the same yard I had spent a 34 hour break in, and disconnected the load, and got the paperwork ready for the driver it would be reassigned to. The shop was closed, and I would have to wait until the morning to see if this would be a quick replacement.

I was off to a bad work day, with no monies to be made for the next few days (it can be awhile for the shop to even roll the truck in to service). But, after awhile, I realized how fortunate I was. The pickup location was only 22 miles away. I have driven to pick up load (deadhead) over 200 miles from wherever I startup. The whole thing could have caught on fire, somewhere down the road. Although I would not be making money; this would be another lucky day.