ROUTE: Memphis, TN to Concord, NC: 638 miles (637 loaded + 1 deadhead)
Initially I was given an assignment for a 01:00 pickup to deliver near Atlanta at 09:00 for 434 miles. It’s a relative short drive that can be done in one day. The problem is that it requires to drive through the night and when I arrive I wont have enough hours for much so I have to do another night drive or sit idle until the following day. Both are bad alternatives. I rejected it and fortunately the company found another driver to do it.
The current assignment could be done in one day if I had the hours but I didn’t because I started my day driving two-and-half hours. The delivery was scheduled for Wednesday at 06:00, so plenty of time. I would try to deliver a day early on Tuesday. We thought the consignee closed at 15:00, but we were wrong. They closed at 14:00.
I needed to fuel and was instructed to do it at the FJ in Olive Branch, MS, which was about 30 minutes east of Memphis. That truck stop is a shit-show. The parking lot is always full, but I was lucky and found a spot. There’s a Mexican restaurant nearby with decent food. After fueling and parking I walked over but it was permanently closed. BUMMER. Next door was Top’s a BBQ chain. The brisket sandwich was surprisingly very good. I’m not a big fan of coleslaw but the combination with the rich tender brisket was a surprising delight.
Atlanta was about six hours away and truck parking is impossible in the evenings. I didn’t enough hours to get through Atlanta so I started looking for parking about 90 minutes outside Atlanta. I decided to park on the incoming ramp to a rest stop as it was 21:30 and I was’t going to find anything better. From there I still had about five-and-half hours to reach the consignee which was on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC.
I reached the consignee at 14:40 the next day and they were closed. I would have to wait for them to open the next day. I was starving as there was no food service at the rest stop where I spent the night at and I was desperately in need of a shower. The closest Pilot, where I had shower-credits, was just 15 miles away. Fortunately, there was a Waffle House across the street. I ate, showered, did some personal stuff, watched a movie and went to bed.
BOOK REVIEW: The Women by Kristin Hannah (2024), HISTORICAL FICTION – (*****)
A well researched and written book about a woman growing up a privileged life in the 50s, coming into her own and doing her patriotic duty as a volunteer nurse during the Vietnam War.
It’s an inspirational story of women empowerment in an age that women’s aspirations and expectations were to be homemakers. The war scenes are narrated masterfully indicating the horrors without disgusting details though fairly graphic. The cruelty of the treatment these veterans received when returning home is described with class. The difficulty in their adaptation back to civilian life were shown sympathetically. PTSD, now comprehended with ease, was not in those days and I had not imagined the lack of empathy for women vets.
If the book had ended there I would have been satisfied. The bad luck fallen to the main character, Frankie, seemed excessive and the book’s pace slowed to a trickle in the last third of the story. It is a long book and started tiring but wanted to see it to the end.
The characters were well defined. Frankie was easy to relate to and feel her pain. Her father seemed off balance as behavior changed radically back and forth. The two friends from Vietnam are admirable. The love interest has such low morals that it’s hard to be real. The mom is loving. The therapist-love interest did not seem and his behavior was too scripted.
Overall a beautiful tribute to Vietnam veterans and women in general.
