May 31, 2008. Saturday.
Work on Saturday? What the heck? Ok, no. Not surprised at all. Knew it was the way things are - but what kind of Red Blooded American boy would I be if I didn't whine about something? Especially coming from M-F whitecollarland?
Left the rest stop at 07:30. The crack of ohmygod in the morning. This is - again - not unexpected or known about, but it's fun to whine.
Amazingly, the reefer didn't bother me at all last night. From the stories I've been reading online, I rather expected it to be some form of hammering monster, battering my poor ears with volume sufficient to make a locomotive weep. 'Taint the case. I was aware of it cranking up a couple times, but I went right back to sleep. Found that, rather than annoying, it's a GOOD thing - provides 'white noise' - so the sound of truck tires whining by on the highway 150 feet away didn't disturb me all night.
Total sleep, about 7 hours. Ambient temp when we stopped was in the mid-80s - and so was the humidity. bleagh! Mugged without a person being around!
Still, opened the upper vents and got a cross-breeze going. Wasn't much, but eventually dropped off. To sleep, not the bunk.
by 13:15, we were in a Pilot in East St Louis. I've done all the driving so far today - which is cool. I need far more practice than my trainer, after all. Rolling scale in Missouri.. I like that. No stopping, and minimal down-shifting. Ok, yeah. Lazy bastard - and I NEED to work on my down-shifting.
Fueled an hour into the drive, took a break three hours later. No biggie, but there's this down-shifting again.
Anyway - parked in East St Louis, trainer went off to spend time with a friend. Expects to be back on the road at 19:00 so I'll time my shower for that.
Driving through St Louis was interesting for a newbie. Heaviest traffic I've encountered so far, and hills big enough and steep enough to make down-shifting a requirement. At least from 8th to 7th a couple times. Oooooh! big shift!
I finally got a few done without leaving tranny parts on the highway.
Dammit - frelling modem on the laptop is complete toast. Can't use it to keep everybody up to date on my exploits. Called home. Talked to everybody - mostly Megalon and Mom. Mom says Godzilla and Damon were.. less than happy with my departure Friday. "Depression" was used. Rather surprised me, to be honest. Godzilla is the most independent minded 16 year old I've ever known, and Damon is.. well, almost 40.
I did expect a problem with Megalon, though. Quite type, but he feels things rather deeply. Turns out he was ok - until The Incident. Mom bought some pizzas from Papa Murhpy's. The fridge being full, Damon put the pies in the oven to keep them away from the dogs (who definitely know better than to snag stuff off the counter. While people are awake). Everybody forgot they were in there, so when the oven was pre-heated, they got slagged. Megalon was most distressed.
Kept call short - phone won't charge from the USB port on the laptop. It SAYS it is, but even after hours plugged in, the charge indicator has not increased. I am annoyed.
Trainer returned from dinner at 20:00-ish. Plugged his phone in to charge. Holy Shit! I can use his charger on my phone. Plan is now to call home every other day. Don't want to bore the rats TOO much.
20:15 - eastbound on I-64. Trainer driving. He drove for an hour or so, then stopped in Nashville, TN. The word 'Podunk' was invented for this place. We're taking our time. Load's not scheduled for delivery until midnight tomorrow night and it's only about 500 miles.
Gonna play solitaire since I can't get online, and I left my Railroad Tycoon II disk at home. Dammit
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