ROUTE: Hazelton, PA to Lebanon, TN: 956 miles (765 loaded + 191 deadhead)
This ended up being another Hellish assignment. I started my day on Monday at 09:30 after a three-day break at home where I got done a bunch of errands and spent time with two of my kids. The drive to the shipper should have been three hours but it ended up being four because there’s always traffic in the New York metropolitan area.
I arrived at the shipper at 14:30 and the loading process took three-and-half hours. The customary allowance is two hours but that’s just the nature of the beast. Since I was late for the appointment I don’t get paid idle time. Another setback, but then again, that’s the life of the trucker.
The delivery was for Wednesday at 08:00, so I was in no hurry but wanted to advance the load enough that the remaining drive would be around eight hours. I needed to fuel as the Pilot in Milford, CT was under repair so I was given the Love’s in Toms Brook, VA which was about four hours away from the shipper. That would be perfect as I could spend the night there and get a free shower the next day. The Truckers Path App allows to see parking availability and about an hour away I realized that the Love’s was full. I was tired and 10 minutes before the Love’s there was a Sheetz in Middletown, VA. There tends to be more parking at Sheetz as most truckers prefer to spend the night at the larger traditional truck stops. The Sheetz parking spots were all taken but there was enough empty areas for creative-parking. Sheetz also has 24/7 food service and I was hungry since I had not eaten since 09:30. I had a steak sandwich, fries and a yogurt parfait.
Tuesday morning I woke up to the unfortunate surprise that the truck batteries were dead. Trucks carry four car batteries and the truck had done the Preventive Management 18,000 miles ago and the batteries were checked and in good working order. I did not leave the lights on and the weather was relatively mild. That was going to be a monkey wrench on my schedule. It took two hours to get the emergency assistance to jump the truck. I had a toasted everything-bagel with butter and a coffee while I waited for the assistance personnel to arrive. I was not going to make my appointment on Wednesday.
I went to fuel at the Love’s and their pumps were down for some reason. Fortunately there was a Pilot across the street where I fueled but lost another 30 minutes in the process. Now I had to adjust my schedule to comply with DOT Regulations. My destination was about nine hours away so I would need to do a 30 minute break. To avoid that I drove as much as possible without surpassing the eight hours and continue to the next morning. I drove seven hours and forty-five minutes without a break arriving at Pilot in Crossville, TN at 19:30 and it was packed. I still had hours on my drive-clock but to advance the load any further I would need to do a 30 minute break. I got to see a beautiful sunset on my drive. I found a parking spot but there was a truck doing creative-parking that partially blocked my maneuvers. It took me 30 minutes to park the truck with the assistance of another trucker to server as a spotter to make sure I did not hit the other parked trucks. I was starving as had not eaten since breakfast and had a David’s Single combo meal and a small chocolate frosty at the Wendy’s in the Pilot truck stop.
Wednesday 11/19 I started my day at 06:00 and there was a truck blocking my exit out of the parking spot. I blew my air horn but had to wait 15 minutes for the other driver to get out of bed and move his truck enough to allow me to exit. I had a piece of pound cake I had in the truck and a Chobani yogurt drink. Technically, I need to comply with DOT Regulations and take a 10 hour break but there’s an exception with a Split, but then I need to be idle for at least two hours. I drove two hours to the consignee and made my 08:00 appointment. The unload took 90 minutes, so I hung out at there for another 30 minutes to be compliant.
BOOK REVIEW: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017), FICTION – RATING (**)
BORING!
I was expecting something funny like Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands or a spunky fictional story mimicking Elizabeth Taylor’s God knows how many marriages she had.
The story gets off to a slow start. The first quarter of the book presents who seems to be the protagonist, Monique Grant. A low level writer at a magazine whose marriage is falling apart. She lands the story of a lifetime: interviewing a Hollywood legend that has been reclusive for the last couple of decades. But that’s where it was suppose to get interesting which it did not.
It was hard to relate to Monique because she was mostly on the sidelines. Evelyn was portrayed, purposely, from the get-go as a manipulative person out for herself. Monique’s father, an important part of the story is briefly mentioned so when he plays a major role in the development of the plot I barely remembered anything about him.
The bulk of the story is an exposé of the discrimination of homosexuals in Hollywood in the 60s all the way to 2000. Most of the narrative is in the POV of Evelyn Hugo and therefore the true protagonist. Add, for good measure, the male dominated industry demanding sexual favors in order for a woman to succeed. If that wasn’t enough throw in hints of xenophobia, domestic violence, racism and let’s not forget the question of Pro-life/Pro-choice. If that’s what I was looking for I would have bought a book about the Me Too Movement or specifically about the LBGTQ troubles in the second half of the twentieth century.
The book read like a bad soap-opera and like such when it was necessary to get rid of a character then it was buried. Literally buried, six feet under. An appropriate tittle could have been: Evelyn Hugo, Hollywood’s Medusa.
After 90% of this I was begging to be taken out of my misery and then I was rewarded with the final twist that was so improbable that it was comical. It also spoiled a Hollywood happy ending.
