Northward Swing

DATELINE: ALBERT LEA, MN, 6:30 p.m. CDT


Miles Today: 546
Miles Yesterday: 387


My apologies for not posting an update yesterday, but I could not get a connection for my phone card at the place I stopped for the night. I had stopped relatively early and was looking forward to a few hours of online time, but that was not to be. Instead I had to settle for a nap, some time walking, dinner, and catching a movie in the drivers' lounge ("Shooter", with Mark Wahlberg, a good, suspenseful flick). So here's how the whole day went.


I started out in northeast OK and worked my way from there and across MO to St. Louis. It was a bright, sunny day (once the sun had come up) and the drive took about 7 hours, including a stop at a Flying J in Joplin, MO to grab a quick shower. I dropped off my loaded trailer at our drop yard near downtown (just a yard, not a terminal), then waited for my next assignment. That came about 30-45 minutes later and was as I expected; grab another load from that yard and take it to its destination. In this case, the destination is Minneapolis, MN, with a delivery appointment for 6:30 Monday morning.


That gave me 2-1/2 days to make the 600-ish-mile trip, about a day more than I need. (Weekends are a pain that way.) So I decided to make the early stop, about an hour after leaving that drop yard. I stopped at a TA in Foristell, MO that I've been to before. (I don't recall that I've spent a night there previously, but I have had a flat tire fixed there and stopped for a meal another time.) Then I discovered the online signal deficiency and spent the evening as I described above.


This morning I was up at 5:15, hit the shower, and was on the road by 6:00. I wanted to get as many miles in today as I could, making tomorrow a nice, short work day. If I could get to Minneapolis (actually, my goal would be the TA in Rogers), that would be perfect, but I suspected that was just too far away. My route would be I-70 west to Kansas City, then I-35 north from there. My secondary target was where I am now, another TA (a nice, new-ish, big one) in the town of Albert Lea, 11 miles across the state line from IA. I stopped here for fuel once on my very first tour of duty as a solo driver, so I knew it would be a good place to spend a night.


Today's weather was a marked contrast from yesterday's. As I was driving west across MO early in the day, I could see the sky ahead of me not getting lighter as the sun rose. It stayed dark grey and ominous. Eventually the rain started, and became heavy and accompanied by lightning as I neared KC. The heavy downpour lasted a while, but certainly not all day. Most of the time it was cloudy and drizzly, but nothing to make driving hazardous.


Anyway, I have about 90 miles to drive tomorrow, then I'll have lots of free time for the rest of the day. Then I'll have to get up early to get to my delivery on time Monday morning. As for now, I am getting a bit tired and may give in and call it a night good and early. But first I'll respond to reader nancyr's query:


"Here's another question for you. You've been driving these roads for a while now. Imagine you've been blindfolded and just dropped on a highway, anywhere. Take off the blindfold. How look would it take you to figure out where you are? Just by the scenery and terrain, not the road signs. I'm sure some places you could figure out quickly, and some would take you a while. What areas are the most distinctive - the ones you could figure out in a flash? And which places look just like every place else?"


You know, I was just thinking along those lines as I was driving into Missouri from Oklahoma yesterday. It seemed to me that the terrain and scenery in the "show me" state was distinct from that in Soonerland. I think that of the highways I've been down multiple times especially, it wouldn't take me too very long to guess my location, especially if I could roam a few miles and see what the rest area facilities looked like. (Those would be a dead give-away.) I may not be able to discern my exact location, but I think I could reasonably well determine which state I was in.


Well, that's enough for tonight. Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a comment or question to rival nancyr's, and I'll put your name in pixels here, too. And, don't forget...keep on truckin'.