DATELINE: WEST, MS, 11:12 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 81
So I had my delivery to make this evening at 8:45. Since I was encamped about 1/2 hour away, that left pretty much the whole day for off-duty pursuits. So most of the time (after I woke up sometime during the 6:00 hour--I forget exactly when) I was refining my online poker skills. And I had some pretty good success, too. I played a few "Sit-n-Go" tournaments, where once a table fills up with 9 players, the tourney starts. I think I played in 4 of those, and I finished 3rd twice, 5th once, and won the last one! These tourneys paid prizes to the top 3 finishers, so I finished in the money 3 of 4 times. (I also played a 45-player sit-n-go yesterday and finished 4th, also in the money.) Unfortunately, these are VERY low stakes games that I play in, so I won't be retiring from the trucking industry just yet. So that's how I spend my free time when I have lengthy periods available.
Anyway, back to the work news. I made my delivery (it was another drop-and-hook) just a little early, then got my next assignment. USA's dispatchers are back to asking for the impossible. They assigned me a pickup just east of Tupelo at 10:00 a.m. (should I get some Tupelo Honey on my way through? I hear it's pretty sweet). However, I got that assignment at roughly 9:30 p.m. With the trip from the Jackson area to Tupelo being at least 3 hours, and me needing a 10-hour break in there, the math just does not work out. So I've holed up at this rest area here for the night, will get a good night's sleep, then head out early and get to the pickup when I can. THEN they want me to haul it to the Milwaukee, WI area by 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday. That would be 23 hours to drive 674 miles with a 10-hour break in there. Hmmm. I think I may be a tad late there, too. Especially since a large chunk of the drive will be straight up most of the length of Illinois, which has a 55-MPH speed limit for trucks. Again, USA asking the impossible. But I will do the best I can.
Well, it is late and I need to get to sleep, so I'll sign off here with the usual: Thanks for reading, keep on commentin' and truckin'.
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2 comments:
Ah well, no more poker for you for a couple of days. Sorry you have to return to the frigid north - bleah!
John,
Coming to Tupelo to find Tupelo Honey is like coming to Tupelo to find Elvis. It a'int here. All of the "tupelo gum trees" from which tupelo honey is made, and from which the city got it's name, were cut down in the early 1900's to make railroad ties. Tupelo actually had a drive a few years ago to replant some of the trees. There are no groves around here for the bees to gather pollen. I think the places with large groves of "tupelo gum trees" that make "tupelo honey" are in Georgia and Florida.
Keith Gilbert
Tupelo, MS.
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