October 11- back in Denver and I'm not dead yet

Man, I must have been more tired than I thought. Slept 11 hours. Weather changed over night, which might account for the sinus headache that awakened me.

Set off on the road at about 14:30... should check my log to see. No biggie. No surprises, only the occasional driver who thinks his vehicle is much shorter than it really is. Nice gray dismal day. Hit the Denver yard and parked the rig, turned the key off at exactly 19:00.

I have been known to complain about idjit drivers who take up more than one parking space. Let it be known that I do not exempt May drivers from that category. In fact, what brings this to mind at the moment is one of our very own drivers who has parked in such a way as to make the space next to him unusable. I will grant that the spaces are small, but that's no excuse. In our own yard, the only other driver he's going to inconvenience is another May driver.

Yard is full, too. Only 3 empty slots – if you count one at the end of the row where drivers are parking their cars these days.

Every time I come back, something has been re-arranged.

Anyway, now I sit and await my steel chariot. This weekend, I WILL manage a 34 (assuming, as I said, I have a job Monday) Delivery on this load is scheduled for 07:00.

October 10 - Good shop and a moonscape

Shock and awe. No start. Worked with breakdown for an hour or so before they opted to turn it over to the local shop. Current guess is the starter relay. Myself, I'm not sure that's the issue, but what do I know?

Ha! I was right. Shop dude jumped across the starter contacts. Starter is definitely getting juice, so it's the item at fault. Shop has the repair estimate in to Brooks, waiting for a reply. I'm going to take advantage of the lull to finally take a shower.

Took a LONG shower. Just about an hour long. Run-out-of-hot-water long. Got back to the truck just in time for the shop dude to get started on the .. starter. Took Brooks a bit to ok the operation.

I let Sharla know via phone, since the shop has the batteries disconnected. Load is resched for monday morning at 07:00. Getting shut down by 20:00 Saturday will give me a 34...

Stopped for the night at North Plattte Flying J. 20:00 and the place is packed. There's a dirt lot just to the south that seems to be handling overflow. No problem, except SOME drivers – as usual – park with no consideration for others. One, in particular, is taking up a bit more than one “stall”. Fortunately, there's still room for me to squeeze in.. though it's snug. I made sure the guy on my right has room to get out of his cab, though. But the moron on my left (well, at least as much a moron as I am) is going to find it more difficult to get his truck out.

I should point out that this lot is.. um.. unimproved. It rather looks like a lunar landscape, to be honest. In fact, a Werner truck just pulled in and sank out of sight in one of the craters. I'm pretty sure he's ok, though – his lights are still moving around down there.

October 9 - rewinding the rubber band, missing my online time

No problems getting OUT of Milwaukee, though finding a scale is interesting. Finally found one in South Beloit (well, saw one in Beloit, but had essentially passed it). I gave things a little thought this morning when sliding tandems, so it's not just luck... but I admit a lot of luck is involved. Drives and trailer tandems are within 120 pounds of each other. That'll go to hell if I have to slide the tandems the 18 inches or so to make it legal in CA...

Stopped at a rest area in Iowa, to.. um... rest. Came back out and darn truck won't start. Got electrics, so it's not the batteries again. It's acting as though the anti-theft device were missing. Breakdown suggest that it might be the starter. Supposedly, they get stuck when they're hot. Gonna give it an hour and try again.

No joy. Facetiously, I asked breakdown if I should smack the starter with my tire thumper. I was floored when they said “yes. A couple taps might loosen it up.” By jimminey, it worked. I heard the starter engage, and could see the fan move a few inches. But still no start. Voltmeter still says about 13v. Breakdown is sending a fixit wagon. Second time in less than a week I've been fixed.

They promised me an ETA ASAP. I think I amused them when I responded “no hurry, I'm not going anywhere”

Made sure my DM knows about the breakdown, too.

This sucks, but at least I don't have to go pee in the woods.

Wrecker is on the way. Apparently we're gonna try a “pull start”. Probably the same process as in a car, but .. well, we'll see.

It is, except with an 8-speed you start in third, not second. And of course, the first thing I did was kill it. Talk about embarrassing! Fortunately I was still hooked to the tow, so it was a simple matter to start it again. I made sure it was ok to drive – breakdown wants the engine to run at least 4 hours. Idling or driving or a combination. Good. Des Moines is about 2 hours away – that's where I'm due to fuel, and spend the night.

Made it. Barely. Pulled into the Pilot with 5 minutes to go on my clock. Hit the parking lot and of course one of the first things I encounter is some complete moron in a Swift truck. Couldn't be bothered to park in a stall, he had to park in a driving lane at the end of a row. To make matters worse, he parked outside somebody else who was ALREADY parked illegally. There is just about one truck-width left to drive through.

I'm sorry, I don't care how long he's been here, there are plenty of open stalls now. Even if there weren't any when he stopped, he should have moved later on.

Had to apologize to Gamera – really wanted to be online for him tonight, but truck issues put me here instead of 10 minutes down the road at a Flying J.

Ran for 4 and a half hours. 2.5 to get here, then two just idling. Should make breakdown happy. Got my alarm set for 04:00. I expect I will get CLOSE to home tomorrow, but not close enough to make the delivery. Google maps says it's 660 miles or so. I have 11 hours. I'd have to average 60 mph to make it. We all know that's not gonna happen. Brighton is 650 miles...Roggins is 600. I think that's a reasonable target. 10.5 usable hours.. gotta pretrip, then fuel... IF the damn truck even starts.

October 8 - Handbasket arrives, one stop to go

Arrived Rochelle. Lessee.. where should we start? Nice rainy morning all through the rest of Ohio and Indiana. That was a plus. Just about the only one I can think of, though. Got trapped in an “exit only” lane just before Chicago. Forced onto the wrong highway. Had to take surface streets back to the interstate. Instructions from toll worker-lady were accurate, though.

Back on the interstate, 6 cars all decide they need the same spot in the right hand lane for an exit. Fortunately, nobody actually made contact, but cars and trucks were all over the shoulders and various lanes there for a moment. I'd be fractionally less pissed about it if I had been a truck or two back from the fracas, instead of point man.

Finally get to Rochelle, and the road I'm routed down has a detour. Yeah, you can smell the trouble already, can't you? It routes you through half the town, then dumps you back on the road you came from. This is good. But it doesn't tell you which way certain streets or businesses are. Since construction is so close to the end of the detour, in MY way of thinking, the turn I need is farther along the original road.

Guess again, Bozo. Turns out that at the end of the detour (where you have a left/right choice to make), you should turn LEFT, not right. Head back toward the construction. The road I'm looking for is right there at the construction barriers. Or, rather, about 100 feet north. Can't see or read the street sign from the stop sign.. and there's no other indicator.

A trip that should have taken about 6 to 7 hours took almost 11. On top of all that, I forgot to tell Dan about the OOS last Friday. I thought I had, but if he's got no note of it, I must not have told him.

These Americold folks here are fast. Had the seal off the trailer before I'd even shut the truck off. Had me in a door 10 minutes later, and had me completely unloaded an hour after I arrived.

Got another load already...pre-plan, any way. Pick up paper in Milwaukee and take it back to Denver. Not sure I can do it legally. I have 2.25 hours of drive time left to go about 120 miles. Kinda thin. Then I have to have it to Denver by Friday afternoon... 16:00 at the end of today, I'll have about 19 or 20 hours of duty time available to get to Denver.. about 1100 miles from Milwaukee. I don't think I can do it legally. Damn. Planning at 55MPH I'm about an hour over my available time. Given that I'll have no time to cheat with after I pick up the load (that is, I can't get started toward Denver on today's hours), I'm pretty sure I can't do this load as proposed.

Just let Sharla know. Could deliver Saturday, but you know they aren't gonna be open. So, the question before the jury is: reschedule this load, or offer a different load?

Huh, didn't expect that. They insist I can make it. I can make it to pick up, but I'm pretty darn sure I can't get to Denver Friday.

Turns out, I didn't get to the shipper in time, anyway. Miles and miles of construction, followed by a multi-car accident on I-43 at Exit 7A, followed by inaccurate directions. Arrived only 15 minutes late, though.

Dammit! I did everything... looked,GOAL, went slow.. mirrored like a madman.. and I STILL hit a friggin' post. I could see it in my mirror, there were inches to spare, but I hit it anyway. Apparently the top of the door sticks out a bit more than the bottom. Broke the top hinge on one door, bent the two hinges below it. Door closes, though, so breakdown says “run with it”

I'm not the only one in the hours position. As I was reporting to breakdown, another May driver came in. He, too, was victim of the piss-poor instructions. He, too, doesn't have the hours to deliver Friday. He, too, was told to run with it anyway.

And I STILL don't know why a trip that should have taken 6 or 7 hours took 9. I was dead-on my expectations yesterday, cranked out 600 miles. Today was about 450. Traffic wasn't a mess (except for a little stupidity here and there), and I know I didn't spend an hour on the detour through Rochelle..so where did it go? I looked under the bed, they're not there, either.

October 7 - hazardous waste onboard

Mostly uneventful day. 612 miles, 12 hours, Got as far as Avon, OH (just west of Cleveland). Leaves me with about7 hours to get to Rochelle. Still looks like 10:00 as I guesstimated yesterday. Actually had to take a nap today. Long about noon I was feeling a bit washed. Decided to hit a rest area and see if maybe I could get 15 or 20 minutes of sleep. Being careful (no,not paranoid) I made sure to set my alarm. Set it for 45 minutes .. I may have been asleep before I ever put the clock down. Had no idea I was THAT tired.

Oh, if you use one, don't drop your open pee bottle in the truck.

October 6 - Fallen ladies, priming the pump, no more hot water

no problem finding this place, corrected instructions are fine. Problem is the size of the parking... or, rather, maneuvering area. Nobody is having an easy time of it. One of the other drivers here commented that it's supposed to be a “drop the trailer and let the hostler plant it in the door” operation. I should look into that, though it's obviously too late for me today.

Costs $300 to have them unload. That makes THIS place the most expensive I've run into, and I've been here for 3 hours now. In the door for about 2 hours. Gonna make getting to my next appointment on time a bit difficult if this takes much longer.

Lady from Marten was out helping another driver (different company) put his trailer in the door. The paving here is in pretty good shape, mostly. Problem is, there are a few holes of significant depth. She found one by the simple expedient of stepping into it. Not a big deal, but when she fell, she injured her hand. Aside from the expected cuts and scrapes, it appears she broke her right pinkie. If not broken,she at least dislocated it: she's unable to move the finger at all. The safety officer has taken her down to the nearest hospital. She didn't want to go, but the EMT managed to convince her that putting off real attention might cause her to lose use of the finger.

Safety officer said that they have already contracted with pavers to come out today. Myself, I'm not sure I buy into it. It's certainly not for an over-all paving. At best it would be for spot-work.

Despite the fact that I knew it was coming, today was still not a day you write home about. Maybe a stiff letter to your congressman day, or a letter to the editor of the New York Times or some other whine-sheet.

Ran out of reefer fuel while unloading. No place in town can accommodate big trucks. I notify dispatch that I'm on my way to the next shipper, but I need reefer fuel before I get there. I'm driving along MA 2 (a beautiful drive this time of year) looking for someplace I can get a few gallons of diesel.

Ain't happening. Oh, there are places that sell diesel – for cars. No way can I get my rig around those pumps or under the awning.

I'm halfway to Newburyport when dispatch comes back asking me to clarify. Huh? How much more clear can you be than “I need reefer fuel before I get to the shipper”???. I explain the tank is dry. Moments later, I get a fuel stop on my Qualcomm. Some place in New York. Yeah, that's gonna work.

Anyway, we go round and round a few times. I finally find a truck stop in Peabody, MA (just outside Boston). I tank up the reefer and spend a half hour priming the fuel pump. It's easy work, but there are two four letter words in that sentence fragment. Nobody ever complains about 'easy'..

Get the box cooling,and head off to the shipper. Directions on Qualcomm are wrong. Lo and behold,the directions from the shipper are wrong, too. Not that either gives bad info.. but neither gives ALL the info you need to find the place. And the shipper can't be bothered to answer the phone. Not even the receptionist answers.

Found it. Pulled up in front of a couple docked trailers and went looking for Shipping department (these folks separate shipping from receiving). Only visible door goes to .. I dunno. Looks like a cross between a garage and a bakery. But it's not Shipping. I follow a paved “road” around the building. Aha! Another set of docks with trailers backed in. It's a cramped back,but nothing nearly so bad as that place this morning.

I'm feeling really twisted about the fuel thing. It's made me over two hours late for my appointment. Small consolation: apparently, just as I was hitting the dock, staff was finishing assembling the order. I'd have been there until 16:00 or so anyway.

Finally, back on the road. North on I-95 to 110, then across to I-495. 110 and 495 need some explanation. You see, my routing from May – from Brattleboro to Newburyport – included a segment that said, essentially, 'take 495 to 110, then take 110 to 95'. Clear enough,right? It is. But what's NOT clear is that 110 essentially follows 495 northeast, crossing under it numerous times. When it's not crossing under 495, it's meandering through some colonial town where the streets were “designed” to deal with horses and oxcarts.

Finally, I said more bad words (it's been a day where I'd embarrass a longshoreman) and just jumped back on 495. at the north end of 495, what do I find? “110 to I-95 south”. The idea would have been to simply ignore all the other exits to 110 from 495 and hit this one. Would have saved me about 2 hours driving and fewer hairs would have emulated stock brokers on Black Tuesday.

Heading back west, steps are retraced. North on I-95, across on 110 to 495, and south.

Half way across on 110 (which, being a NOT Interstate Highway, is surrounded by driveways and streets), some member of the YN generation (say it out loud, you'll get it) has his new Trans Am nosed out into traffic at a McDonald's. Passing cars have to move over across the center line to pass.

Not an option for me. Immediately after his position, the road splits around a median. Cars can fit back through that gap. No way 76 feet of truck and trailer can. Well, not without going over butt-head's hood or expensive DOT signage (yeah, guess what my choice would be)

I opted to come to a shuddering stop about 6 inches from his left front fender. He just gave me one of those “WTF is wrong with you?” looks. I just sat there, letting traffic build up behind me. It was great, I was too close for him to make his left turn. Eventually he caught on and peeled right, racing off into the night and pulling a U-turn at the light a block away.

The drivers around here.. I'd forgotten about them. You go other places (Atlanta, California, etc) and they can be aggressive as hell. It's a pain to deal with, for sure. Here.. here, I think the driving psyche is damaged. Each and every single driver, from the moped up to the transit buses and truckers is absolutely sure he's the only driver on the road. In the astronomically improbable event that somebody else might be on the road at the same time, no worries: that other guy will stop for me.

No wonder there are no roundabouts up here. Drivers are too self-centered to understand going around something else.

Stopped for the night in Strubridge or some such place. Pilot truck stop. Packed, as I expected it to be. But I got my revenge on the day. As I was creeping up one of the parking lots, two flatbedders literally shot out of adjoining stalls. Yeah, you betcha, I grabbed one. Had some help,fortunately. Pretty fried from the day. Help was in a hurry to grab second spot. At firs, I thought it was cuz he was tired, too. But discovered that he was watching TV, so he must have been trying to catch the start of his show.

Went inside, sent off last weeks trip sheets. Then I went up stairs and used every last drop of hot water in Strubridge. Oh, man, that was nice. While I was in there, I heard various thumping and shouting in the hallway. My first thought was “Oh, Great, a fire!” (heap as much sarcasm as possible into that sentence)

My second though was “Tough. I deserve this, I earned this, and I'm gonna by damn TAKE this shower”. Images of firefighters pulling me and my shampoo-lathered hair from the building did flash through my head. They weren't gruesome enough to change my mind.

October 5 - No more stink like billy goat. This week

Laundry first thing. No more complaining about how much it costs in truck stops. Local places are insane. Truck stop might cost me 6 bucks for everything. Here, it was 5 bucks just to wash. Another 3 bucks or so to dry. On the other side of the coin, it was done in about half the time.

Made sure the truck would start when I got back. Just a little paranoia creeping into my psyche?

Did a little work on the computer – preliminary skeleton of my version of “the Trucker's Bible”. I'm using a spreadsheet here on the laptop, but if I keep at this, in the long run, it's going to get cumbersome quickly. Writing a bit of an application on the tower to plug data into a MySQL database. Eventually will add in a GUI, but for my personal needs, simple text is fine.

Think a cold is coming on. Will wander down to the store later and see if Cold Eze is available.

I'm sure this happens with regularity, but it's the first time for me: Some guy with his kids wanted to check out the inside of the truck (blame it on the kids-but they were patently un-interested). 4-year old boy in a Robin costume and Spiderman slippers reminded me a lot of my older boy at that age. Long, blond, never-been-cut, hair, and into everything. Except the truck. Really didn't like it at all. Dad was asking reasonable, but expectedly un-knowledgeable questions. More about comfort and travel than anything else.

At a guess, I'd say he's divorced with the kids for a weekend.

Currently peeling an orange and getting ready to return to re-reading Kathy Reichs' “Bones to Ashes”.

Horribly domestic and boring, but tough. You don't like it, you come over here and write this yourself.

Lol – just settling back and I looked out the front. Just in time to see a UPS van trundle by. Nothing odd about that, right? Except, in addition to the traditional brown paint, this one had muscle car flames coming back from the hood and both wheel wells. Damn near choked on my orange slice. Haven't seen such a good example of sarcasm and irony in forever.

Just took a good look at my next run. From Newburyport, MA (way up north east) to Rochelle, IL. Since I smoked my 34 yesterday by not finding the dead truck 2 hours earlier, I had to check and recheck my daily hours. So, yeah, I can make it. If my appointment at C&S is for 0500 Mountain time, I can conclude my 34 and have no worries. If it's for local time, I still have the hours to get to Rochelle. Just no 34. Close, but no Havana.

Another 3 days (essentially) with the reefer going. Wheee-haw!

Gah – just occurred to me. Yeah, timely. This next run is going to cost a zillion bux in tolls. The run out here was close to $100 – or more. I'll dig through the receipts in a bit. Going back, I get the feeling I'll be spending more time on toll roads (more properly known as “Troll Roads”).

October 4 - Brattleboro - Nice, but you don't want your sister to marry one

Ok, might not have made it on time. This Vermont Hwy 9 is nuts – on the order of tasered spaghetti. The speed limit most of the way is 50mph, but even in daylight I don't think I'd have gone much faster than I did tonight.

Add in the fact that the local directions are outdated and arriving on time in the morning would have been.. . Well, let's just say “unlikely”. Yes, I sent in corrections.

I'm spending the night at a Citgo “truck stop” just off exit 3 on I-91. I dunno if they'll let me stay two more nights – nobody here at 03:00 to ask.

May hit one of the local motels, though.

One bit of good news: this place has a Radio Shack! Woot woot!

And there's something about cell phones – aside from the fact that mine can't connect to any network. There's a sign on the door of the Mobil station's “store” next door: “Please turn off cell phones”. On the way back to the truck from my walk, I passed a few moments in conversation with a local. He works at McDonald's... his manager wouldn't allow him to use his cell phone to call for his ride. Weird.

Now it's almost 05:00, I'm gonna try to get some sleep.

Did some tinkering with the tower today – there's a Radio Shack just a hundred meters or so down the road. Got a gender bender for the video cable. Got back to the truck and I can't get into the passenger side “closet” outside. None of my keys seem to work – though they worked fine when I put my keyboard and printer IN there. Ambled back to Radio Shack and picked up a wireless keyboard/mouse. Not exhorbitant, but more than I really wanted to spend. Still, got it set up and it's nice.

Put it all away and made ready to buzz down the road a bit to do some laundry. Damn truck won't start. Thought at first I'd forgotten the anti-theft device, but no, it's fine. Voltmeter showing only 10 to 10.5V. That's an issue.

Brattleboro Towing happened to be here at the Citgo, gave him $20 to jump it. Joy was not forthcoming. Even tried jumping straight to the starter, though on further thought, if I don't have enough juice to close the starter selenoid, jumping to the starter won't do much good.

Thanked him (Joe) and sent him on his way. Notified Breakdown. Gave them particulars, and hopefully detailed enough written instructions on finding me, since my damn phone has no service here. They're sending road service. I wonder if the reefer has enough juice to recharge the tractor batteries. Not that I have long enough jumper cables to try it. Or any jumper cables at all, for that matter. One of those things “on the list” but not struck off yet.

Road service was prompt and courteous. Threw a charger on the batteries and replaced the alternator. All in all, I spent just under $1000 of the company's money. Of course, the new alternator is supposed to be 100 amps more powerful than the original. Wheeee!

I've decided that 18:00 is too late in the day today to be doing laundry. Instead,spent $6 of MY money at Dunkin Donuts as desert for dinner. Also, tomorrow, I want to find a deli place that sells pre-made 2-foot sammiches. The local grocery store sells all the makin's, but that's not what I want. And their grapes look.. sad. Bought oranges instead. They're not great, but not all that bad, either. Certainly better than those grapes.

Finished adding the DVD drive and wireless card to the tower tonight. DVD certainly recognizes CD-ROM disks -played a round of Railroad Tycoon. No wireless networks to test the card on- but it's probably ok, too.

I think I'm going to have to break out the cds and the music on the laptop. Only non-country or NPR radio station I can get is crap. Not even MOR, or at least not so in my book. Full of electronically “enhanced” female voices... not even angsty. Just whiney. And they have a 6 hour repeat schedule.

Oh fine. As soon as I type that, they put Joan Jett on. Just gotta make a liar out of me, even over the radio.

October 3 - my feet taste terrible

blown sky high. Was just going to make it,with about 15 minutes to spare – but got caught in a DOT inspection. Took about an hour, give or take, so, completely aside from the 2 hours OOS I caught for not being able to count, I'm down for the day anyway. Let DM know – they're supposedly finding out if consignee is a 24/7 operation, or if I have to wait for Monday to deliver.

Talked to the troopers. Apparently VT9 is something of a highway. An inordinate number of fatals. Ergo, the DOT troopers spend a lot of time out here. Supposedly, in a reversal of normal statistics, most of the wrecks are caused by truckers.

That's understandable – this road is a bear. Narrow, twisty, and just a few miles back from here (about 24 miles from Brattleboro) is an interesting little bit of highway. Buzzing along on moderately flat terrain, you approach a grade warning sign. No biggie, right? Good thing I'm paranoid about hills. I kept approaching the grade... and approaching... Where the hell is the damn road? All I can see in front of me is most of southern New Hampshire. There's no percentage marked, but the DOT officers tell me it's 12 to 15% grade for about 200 meters – with a sharp bend at the bottom. It felt as though I was looking down the face of a vertical cliff. I downshifted from 7 to 3 in a hell of a hurry, and even that wasn't really enough – had to keep after the brakes, too. I'd hate like hell to drive this highway in the winter time. Wouldn't dare go faster than 10 or 15mph, and I'm not sure I'd take that hill at all.

I was contemplating a 34 this weekend anyway. Oh well. In either event, obviously I have problems counting hours and quarter hours or I'd not have got the OOS to begin with. Gonna cost me $150. I absolutely HAVE to get DDL. I can't keep on torquing myself with these quarter-hour mishaps (Tim called me the other day to point out a couple I hosed in August)

As I expected, consignee's closed over the weekend. New appointment is Monday at 05:00. Wow, a whole weekend in Brattleboro. If they have a Radio Shack or a computer store of some sort, I should be ok. Failing that, I hope to heaven the have a bookstore or library. 2+ days of Spider and Klondike might drive me over the edge.

On the good side – I'm parked right next to a nice little mountain stream. Ok, it's a bit bigger than “little” but it's not a river by any means- yet. Grabbed another gallon of mountain stream water for Herself and Damon.

Wind is blowing like hell. I'd put it at 30-40 kts, from nearly dead astern the way I'm parked – and it STILL sets the cab rockin' like there's a party goin' on inside.

Ambulance just went by westbound, lights going but no noise. I assume that they have similar protocols to Denver, and this is a transport over to Albany. Just a guess, of course.

October 2 - Early bird or late napper?

Fun for all ages. Night driving is nice. No stupid drivers, not even truckers. Followed dispatch route, was not fastest, I don't think. Next time will know. Missed consignee anyway – sign is 50 feet in the air – and on east side of road. Right in front of rising sun. Took me about 20 minutes to find a place to turn around and get back to the place.

Remember- turn BEFORE the big fenced in parking lot.

This Americold site is quite unlike the one in Atlanta. Had me unloaded in about two hours – interrupted a really good nap, too, darnit. Was dreaming I was back at sea on the Woodrush and having a grand time. Something about painting or dying just the top layer of the captain's hair without him knowing about it. Looked goofy as hell.. but what do you expect from a dream?

Got out of there and sent over to another Americold site just about 7 miles away. Construction messed me up, so I spent about a half hour getting myself turned around and back to the site – just in time for them to go to lunch. AAAARRGH! Not faulting them, just sucky timing.

When they returned, got to window.. not only did they know what lot my new trailer was in, they knew row AND sequence. Zounds! That's hot! Usually, the best any place can do is tell me what lot, and if they are very good, they can tell me what row. This lady didn't even have to look it up – just rattled it off.

Made it as far as Erie, PA. Have 45 minutes left on the clock today, but I'm getting groggy, so I'll grab an 8 in the sleeper and apply that 45 minutes between 23:15 and midnight. Trip planning as we are told – basing it on 50mph, I can't get to Brattleboro, VT before 11:00 local time. However, if I can manage close to 60mph (as I recall, it's pretty flat ground across NY) I might just make it on time. Maybe.

It's 450 miles from where I'm parked at the moment, according to Google Maps. For a wonder, the routing in Google Maps agrees pretty closely with my QC routing.

Now, it's bed time (at 15:30.. who'd a thunk it?)

October 1 - Dummies in the rain

Up and running at 05:00. Fueled in Walcott, then on my merry way into Illinois.

Most of the trip was a lot like Nebraska (only hillier) and Iowa (only flatter). Wasn't until I was nearing the tollway that anything interesting happened. A few miles head, in the rain, two trucks attempted to occupy the same space-time coordinates. All would have been well if the second truck had waited for the first truck to depart. Since he failed to wait, the nose of his truck made violent and damaging contact with the tail of the first truck's trailer.

My guess is, he's from Atlanta – though the chatter on the radio indicated that tailgating is a frequent (if not constant) feature of that stretch of highway.

Used the camera to try to take pic, but the image is washed out. I'd been thinking these occasional washed out shotw were because of the flash reflecting off glass... but there was no flash, and there was no glass (I rolled my window down). It wasn't washed out from the sun, either, as it was cloudy and raining.

Where does this leave us? Yup: camera is a POS. Next trip I'm for sure gonna grab my good camera, even if it is film.

Made it as far as the Pilot at exit 72- South Bend, IN. I could go a little farther, but not enough to make a difference, really. Only about an hour left on my clock – and stops are either only 30 minutes away, or 75. I'd have made it into Ohio, I think, if it hadn't been for that moron driver in Il.

Earlier stop, of course, means earlier start. I'm gonna have to roll out no later than 01:00. I'm about 300 miles away as routed. Call it 5 hours and change. I want to allow for time to .. um.. take breaks, and maybe get lost.

If I have no problems and get there waaaay early,there's a truck stop about 5 miles up the road.

Y'know, I am not above grabbing a noshy or soda after I've fueled (and pulled up to let somebody fuel behind me). But I like to think I don't take forever at it. Just since I've been here, there's been this one truck sitting in the pull-through (also known as the payment slots). Two other trucks have come in behind and fueled... and eventually backed out and have gone around the islands to leave. WTF?!?! Eventually this.. um.. heavyset woman came out of the C-store and climbed into the cab. Did she leave? Of course not. She found a parking place with the rest of us.

Then she went BACK into the store.

Some people – no matter their age – really need to be bitch-slapped. Her truck was still parked when I left at 00:45.

September 30 - Nebraska is Purgatory

Yup. Nebraska is boring. Only thing of interest was the belly dump just west of Des Moines. I don't know all the circumstances involved, of course, but his tire marks / ruts entered the median at a pretty sharp angle- yet he managed to NOT cross over into oncoming traffic. Instead, he got it pointed back at the west bound lanes before he mushed to a stop in soggy turf. There was a state trooper on scene, and a .. garbage truck, I think, on the far shoulder that may have had nothing to do with it.

Come to think of it, that was Iowa, so NOTHING of interest happened in Nebraska.

Spent night at the Pilot at MM126 of I-80