Familiar Ground

DATELINE: FORT CHISWELL, VA

Miles Today: 386

I'll make this quick today, 'cuz I need to get to bed soon. It's been a long work day, though not all trucking.

I had gone to bed before 10:00 last night, and woke up this morning around 6:30 or so. So I had a good night's sleep. But I didn't need to hit the road 'til noon, so I hauled out my laptop and signed on for some online poker, my "2nd job". I haven't had much chance to play lately, what with my long, exhausting days, so I was ready to hit the tables.

I decided to try my hand at some single-table, 9-player sit-n-go tournaments, and wound up playing 3 of them before getting ready for job 1. The first one I played in went poorly, as I didn't get much in the way of playable cards, and bombed out in 7th place. The second one went a bit better--I won that one. I finally got some good cards and avoided being unlucky at the wrong time. The third one was almost as good; I took 2nd place. I had the lead going into the head-to-head matchup at the end, but picked the wrong times to make moves at a couple of hands. Oh well, that happens.

On to my primary vocation, I got going at 11:30, heading to my pickup. The company is situated about 30 miles off the interstate, down winding, 2-lane state and county highways. But I found it without problem, except for more bad directions which said "turn right" when they obviously should have said "turn left" at the company entrance. (Which actually was the wrong gate, anyway.) But I figured it all out and got in and out before I was even supposed to arrive.

Back on the road after loading up, I just drove, with a short stop to weigh the truck (all good there--the load's legal). Passing through Charlotte, NC, I encountered a MAJOR thunderstorm--sheets of rain, black skies, massive ground-to-sky lightning. Fortunately I didn't get blown around by any huge wind gusts, but the heavy rain did slow me down a bit for a little while, maybe 15 minutes.

Once out of the storm, the weather was mostly dry the rest of my way here. I'm giving this place, the Flying J in this town, a lot of business lately. This is my third stop here in the last few days, but the first for the night. On the other 2 stops I've just fueled up and made use of their shower facilities. I did fuel up tonight before parking, and I will use one of their showers again in the morning. (I need it--'twas HOT and humid today, and I had to sweep out my trailer before picking up the load.)

Tomorrow I'm sure I'll surpass my 70-hour limit to reach my delivery, but I'm well rested and need the miles. Maybe I'll get a 34-hour break afterwards. Check back tomorrow to find out.

So thanks yet again for checking my story out. Let me know about any questions you have about this job, or at least my take on it, and keep on truckin'.