ROUTE: Flint, MI to Martinsburg, WV: 578 miles (526 loaded + 52 deadhead)
My day started at 11:00 as the previous day I arrived at our terminal at 23:30 pushing the 14 hour clock to the max. I was tired but hungry and needed to do laundry as it had been 10 days since the last time. I went to bed around 04:00. I didn’t have time for breakfast so had a Red Bull and some pretzels.
My delivery required 90 minute drive so I arrived at 12:30. The new assignment required an hour drive to the shipper. I arrived at 15:00. The delivery required about a nine hour drive to complete. I was hungry but about five hours away was a truck stop with an Indian food truck across the street so I decided to munch on some snacks and have a better meal for dinner.
The next day, 10/29, I slept in to recover some of the lost sleep from the previous day and started my day with an overdue shower as it had been three days since my last one. Breakfast was an Italian sausage hoagie with a coffee on the road. I was four-to-five hours from my 17:00 delivery so did not have to rush.
BOOK REVIEW: Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance: A Novel by Alison Espach (2022), FICTION – RATING (***)
It’s a dark story that starts innocently enough narrating the day-to-day life of two sisters three years apart in age during their adolescence days with daily routines and puppy-love crushes. The first half is rather bland but I found it interesting.
Then tragedy hits creating turmoil on the family dynamics. The third quarter of the book is hard to muster. I felt compelled to stop there but kept listening to see where it was going and it was going nowhere pleasant.
The last quarter of the book was troubling and the end absurd. Sally, the protagonist, was somewhat likable but eventually became annoying. The characters were well defined and my heart broke for the mother. It was easy to identify with the father but the ending was out of character for his profile. Similar with the second main character, Billy. His behavior seemed well established but the ending did not fit.
Overall not an entertaining book due to the nature of the topic but it was well written.
