DATELINE: NEW HAVEN, CT, 9:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 570
Miles Yesterday: 383
Finally, R.T. fans, I'm back on the road and "on the air". I got home for Easter weekend from my previous tour of duty, and headed back out in my truck--with my new transformer for my laptop--yesterday. Naturally, my first night out with the capability to go online and write an update for y'all, and I stop for the night at a place where I couldn't get a signal for my Verizon card. (I was at a Service Plaza along the Ohio Turnpike.) So I had to wait one more night before giving you something new to read on this blog. Sorry 'bout dat. Anyway, on to the news.
I'm currently on a run from a pickup yesterday morning in Linwood, MI (just north of Bay City) to delivery tomorrow morning in Camp Edwards, MA (at the base of Cape Cod). The driving's been fine, 'cept for a traffic jam in NYC at and past the George Washington Bridge. Plus I've been a bit tired so far--too much to do while I was home and not enough time for sleep, and I haven't caught up yet. That's why I only made it into OH yesterday, having stopped after only 7.5 hours of work. And this morning, after having hit the road at 3:00 a.m., I had to take a nap when I stopped for fuel in Brookville, PA, 3 hours into my work day. Today, though, I used up just about all of my 11 driving hours for the day, so I'm only a couple hours or so from my destination. My delivery is set for 9:00 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, so I'll have plenty of time to get there on schedule.
This run is exciting because I'll get to add another state to my list of those I've trucked through--Rhode Island. In fact, I was hoping to get to the one truck stop in the state (the only one in my truck stop directory, anyway--I don't know if any new one's have appeared in the last year and a half) tonight to spend the night. If it hadn't been for the NYC traffic jam, I probably coulda' made it. Oh well, I'll have to find another opportunity to spend a night in our smallest state, something I've never done before. In fact, I've only spent a few short hours in RI once on a family vacation a few years back, and that was just a foray into Providence from Boston. This time I'll get to traverse the entire state (and I'll try not to blink so I don't miss it).
So that's my news for today. I'm gonna cut this short now so I can get to bed and get maybe an adequate amount of sleep before I get up around 5:00 or 5:30. I plan to get rolling by 6:00. By the way, I'm parked at a Service Plaza along I-95 just east of New Haven. I had planned (after determining I couldn't get into RI within my allotted hours) to park at a Popeye's with a TA just east of here, but after stopping there to fuel up, there weren't any open parking spots. That's one of the smallest TAs in terms of parking spaces I've seen--only 75 spots. So I had to ease on down the road to this here Service Plaza.
Anyway, thanks for waiting out my "off-air" period--I'll try not to let that happen again. Some day when I have gobs of time I'll write up a summary of my journeys during that dark period. (Let's just say now that is wasn't my favorite deployment.) Send me lots of comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
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2 comments:
Oooh! I get to be the first to comment! Welcome back online. Did you end up getting any Popeye's? I just read that the founder of Popeye's just died. Not only did he apreciate tasty chicken - he also really knew how to party. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032402799.html
It looks like the blog didn't have enough room for the complete link to the article. Okay, here's the article.
Obituaries
Al Copeland, 64; Founder Of Popeyes Chicken Chain
By Mary Foster
Associated Press
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; Page B07
Al Copeland, 64, who became rich selling spicy fried chicken and was notorious for his flamboyant lifestyle, died March 23 at a clinic near Munich.
The founder of the Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken chain learned shortly before Thanksgiving that he had a malignant salivary gland tumor. His death was announced by his spokeswoman, Kit Wohl.
After growing up in New Orleans, Mr. Copeland sold his car at 18 for enough money to open a one-man doughnut shop. He went on to spend 10 modestly successful years in the doughnut business.
The opening of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in New Orleans in 1966, however, caught Mr. Copeland's eye. Inspired by KFC's success, he used his doughnut profits to open a restaurant in 1971 called Chicken on the Run. ("So fast you get your chicken before you get your change.")
After six months, Chicken on the Run was still losing money. In a last-ditch effort, Mr. Copeland chose a spicier Louisiana Cajun-style recipe and reopened the restaurant under the name Popeyes Mighty Good Fried Chicken, after Popeye Doyle, Gene Hackman's character in the film "The French Connection." The chain, which grew from that restaurant, became Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken.
In its third week of operation, Mr. Copeland's revived chicken restaurant broke the profit barrier. Franchising began in 1976, expanding the chain to more than 800 stores in the United States and several foreign countries by 1989.
In 1983, he founded Copeland's of New Orleans, a casual dining, Cajun-style restaurant. In the next two decades, the chain expanded as far as Maryland and west into Texas. He also started Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro, Fire and Ice restaurants, and Al's Diversified Food & Seasonings, a line of specialty foods and spices for national restaurant chains.
In March 1989, Popeyes, then the third-largest chicken chain, bought Church's Chicken, the second-largest behind KFC. The two chains, operated separately, gave Mr. Copeland more than 2,000 locations.
The Church's purchase was heavily financed, however, and escalating debt forced Mr. Copeland's company to file for bankruptcy in 1991. Although he lost Church's and Popeyes in the bankruptcy, he retained the rights to some Popeyes products, which he manufactured through his Diversified Foods & Seasonings plants, along with a few Popeyes stores.
Mr. Copeland frequently made headlines away from his business empire. His hobbies included racing 50-foot powerboats, touring New Orleans in Rolls Royces and Lamborghinis, and outfitting his Lake Pontchartrain home with lavish Christmas decorations, including 500,000 lights and a three-story-tall snowman. The display drew a lawsuit in 1983 from neighbors who said the resulting traffic held them hostage in their homes.
Mr. Copeland and his third wife, Luan Hunter, were married at the New Orleans Museum of Art on Valentine's Day 1991. As they left the ceremony, rose petals were tossed from a helicopter, and fireworks exploded over the building.
The original presiding judge at their divorce, Ronald Bodenheimer, pleaded guilty to promising a custody deal favorable to Mr. Copeland in return for a possible seafood contract and other benefits. Two of Mr. Copeland's associates and Bodenheimer went to federal prison for participating in the conspiracy. Mr. Copeland was never personally accused of participating in the scheme.
His survivors include five sons, four daughters, a brother and 13 grandchildren.
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