Heading North

DATELINE: FARMER CITY, IL, 9:30 p.m. CDT

Miles Yesterday: 235
Miles Today: 450

Once more I must apologize for missing a daily update. My laptop froze up on me when I was going to start my update, and I had to resort to letting the battery run down in order for it to shut down. That process usually takes 2-3 hours, and by the time it had run down, so had I, and it was time for bed. Anyway, here's my recap of yesterday's and today's activities.

Yesterday I slept in 'til 8:30. It was, after all, a holiday, and I only had a couple hundred miles to drive. I was on duty by 9:15, on my way east to the Nashville area. My destination was the TA in Antioch, just southeast of the big city, where I've "Datelined" before. I took the drive nice 'n easy, and arrived in the early afternoon. I had lots of free time, so I played in 3 more 9-player sit-n-go Hold-Em tournaments. The nasty combination of bad cards and bad beats knocked me out of the first two in 4th and 5th place (4th place is seeming to become a specialty of mine--not so good since only the top 3 places are in the money), but I finally got my share of good cards and won the third one. After that it was time for dinner. I closed up my laptop and headed in to the Popeye's Chicken stand inside the truck stop. I look forward to stopping at the TAs with Popeye's, 'cuz that chicken is go-o-o-o-o-od! (And so are their biscuits!).

After dinner I returned to my truck to blog away for you. That's when the aforementioned laptop freeze-up occurred. So I read a little bit, then decided to continue my new fitness regimen. You recall I had done a little running in West Memphis the previous night, so last night I went out for a walk. My plan is to either run or walk (or both) each day, if location and weather circumstances permit. On days I run, I'll combine running and walking for at least 30 minutes. On walk-only days (with my bad knees I can't run every day), I'll walk for at least 60 minutes. So last night I headed down the road for a couple miles and back, for a little more than an hour total. My walk was during the hour of dusk, and it was pretty nice out; not too hot, and the road I travelled--through a business park area--had light traffic. Then it was back to the truck to agonize (that's the polite word for it) about my uncooperative computer, read some more, and hit the sack.

This morning I arose at 6:00 to prepare for my workday. My delivery was scheduled for 8:00 and was less than 15 miles away, so I had plenty of time for a shower, shave, breakfast (just a bowl of cereal), and to be early for my appointment. The delivery was another drop-and-hook, and went just fine.

Before I left there I had my next assignment: Make a pickup in Nashville at 2:00, the load bound for a Minneapolis, MN suburb and a Thursday morning delivery. Now this was still just about 8:00, so first I headed back to the Antioch TA (which was on the way back to Nashville) for lunch and to check with Dispatch if the load would be ready early. I didn't want to sit still for several hours while my 14-hour clock for the day was ticking, especially since the trip would be 800+ miles.

Popeye's opens at 9:00, so I had my "lunch" then (I just can't pass up their spicy fried chicken when it's available). Afterwards I returned to my truck and a message from dispatch: "the load was pre-loaded and should be ready." So I set out for the short drive to the northern side of N'ville for the pickup. This was, obviously, another drop-and-hook, though the place was busy and I had to wait a bit to check in and get my instructions. But I was finished there in 60 minutes and on my way north.

The rest of my workday was just driving to here, which is a rest area along I-74 in central IL, about halfway between Bloomington and Urbane-Champana--er, I mean, Urbana-Champaign. I did make some rest stops and one for a bite to eat (a Quizno's at a truck stop in Kentucky--found another food frolic--their Baja Chicken sandwich--tres bien!), but otherwise it was just steady driving. I got here about 6:45 p.m. then, with the terrific weather, took another dusk-hour walk, taking laps around the rest area for 60 minutes. So far, so good with the fitness plan. And now I'm filling you in with all of the insignificant details of my last 2 days.

Tomorrow I'll be able to get to the Minneapolis area so I'll be poised to swoop in quickly to my delivery Thursday morning. After that I anticipate getting a load headed for Michigan, since I'm scheduled to get home on Friday. Perhaps I'll get to stop in the Milwaukee area on Thursday night and see my sister and her family there once more. But I won't know about that 'til I get that load assignment. Keep checking back to find out.

Thanks for checking in. Please do send in some comments, 'cuz Mrs. R.T. is having computer problems of her own and can't read my blog or comment on it. And don't forget to keep on truckin'.