DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TN, 5:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 287
I decided to treat myself to a "short" work day today and only drove as far as Knoxville. I woke up earlier than planned (4:45 as opposed to 5:30) and hit the road at 5:15. By the time I reached Knoxville, ready to stop for the day, it was still only 11:00--well, I did cross into the Eastern time zone, so it was actually noon.
Several truck stops here are on the company's fuel network list, so I was going to stop here to refuel, anyway. (I last fueled up in Texarkana yesterday morning, and I still had 1/4 of a tank of diesel left. Shows you the range we can make in these trucks on a fill-up.) Since my delivery isn't due 'til noon tomorrow, and I only have 200 or so miles left to get there, I'll hit the road around 6:00 tomorrow morning and still get there plenty early. Beats starting the day later (and nearer the delivery site) and having to worry about finding a place to stop later in the evening when all the truck stops and rest areas are pretty much full.
Today's drive was mostly uneventful, except for a bit of a "gully-washer" cloudburst for a few minutes that slowed all of the traffic way down. But it cleared up pretty well after that. I'm parked for the night at a TA truck stop and had a nice, leisurely lunch at the Perkins restaurant inside. Since then I've been doing some online work (paying bills, yech!), websurfing, and reading. Guess I'll either try some poker or take a nap ('twas not a good night's sleep last night) next. Either way, I'll take some time to answer reader mrr's query first.
Mrr asks: "Say you have a pickup in Michigan that needs to go to Buffalo. Are you allowed/authorized/permitted/required/pick-your-verb to go through Canada, or do you need to take the long route around the south side of Lake Erie?"
USA Truck does have some customers in Canada (Ontario and Quebec only, I believe), so we do cross the border sometimes. However, I think that if the load is not destined for a site inside Canada, we can't take it in there. So we would have to go the long way 'round. (That's my suspicion, anyway. I've never explicitly asked that question. It wouldn't be worth the paperwork and time at customs to do a "drive-through" even if it is permitted.)
And that's my Sunday Report. Thanks for stopping in, and do please send me your comments and questions. And, as always, keep on truckin'.
3 comments:
What a lazy day - only about 6 hours on the road! Take it easy on your trip to NC and enjoy the mountains. Hope you can avoid rain - it's been very soggy at home. The weeds are getting higher (but nice and green, at least).
Now that you've been driving quite a while, what do you think of truck-stop food? Obviously, some of them have chain restaurants, but what about the other places to eat? (I've had some pretty good food in truck stops, often at buffets.)
More questions:
1) How 'bout posting some pics of your truck/living quarters - interior and exterior? (you can photo-shop out any identifying marks, if desired/necessary)
2) Do you get a chance to do any running when you get to a stop early-ish in the day? Or are you no longer into that?
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