ROUTE: Canton, MI to Fishkill, NY: 695 miles (665 loaded + 30 deadhead)
Thanksgiving week creates havoc on the scheduling especially as the holiday is on a Thursday. In order to pick up the rental car I needed to be home by Wednesday afternoon. Unless I was lucky enough to pick up a load on Wednesday then I would have to sit idle until Monday 12/01.
I delivered the previous load as scheduled on Monday morning and this load was waiting for me at our yard in Canton, MI. I needed to do some errands in Michigan before departing for New York. I started this assignment at 16:30 and the delivery appointment was scheduled for 16:00 the next day. The time was not that important but only that it be delivered on the 25th. I had planned on driving seven hours that day but within a couple of hours I was exhausted and decided to take a nap. In trucking school they emphasized that the only cure for exhaustion is rest. I then drove a couple of hours more to the Petro in Girard, OH to spend the night where I arrived at 22:30. From there it was a seven hour drive to the consignee.
On Tuesday 11/25 I started my day at 09:30. After four hours I stopped at Sheetz in Buckhorn, PA for a snack and the DOT Required 30 minute break. I arrived at the consignee at 19:30. My home base, the Pilot in Milford, CT was two hours away so I decided to spend the night at the I-84 Diner in Fishkill, NY where I could have a nice dinner that night and a hearty breakfast in the morning.
BOOK REVIEWS (1): Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (2011), FICTION – RATING (**)
ANNOYING!
There’s no gradual introduction into the story. The reader is thrown into the deep-end of an absurd narrative that has zero credibility. A 17 year old is in captivity for 264 days in a small room with little light and one awful daily meal but for some reason her captors find it important to have them shower daily, be for just minutes is cold water and minimal soap. However, she has a notebook where she writes on every day but magically it can be rolled into a ball and tucked away in a hole in the wall. Very convenient.
A few chapters into the story she’s given a roommate of the opposite sex and that night she’s screaming to herself for, at least 50x, that she’s not insane. Unfortunately I was listening to the audiobook so impossible to simply turn the page. At that moment I realized that I was insane for continuing forward.
It’s impossible to relate to the main character, Juliet. She’s bratty and self-centered. The second character is not much better. He seems to be a good guy, too good.
The book is set in some sort of post-apocalyptic world but that’s not really explained. Juliet, has evil supernatural powers though she’s not evil. She’s cursed not able to touch anyone. How about putting gloves on her?
More would be a spoiler and force me to recall this story. I’ve suffered too much already.
BOOK REVIEW (2): A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (2019), FICTION – RATING (*****)
It’s not Agatha Christie but it’s entertaining and there is a logical pattern of thought. There’s very good chemistry between the two main characters, Pippa and Ravi. They work well together and both are very likable.
At times if felt that the police has made a number of blunders in the investigation but it does seem like an open-and-shut case from the evidence. It’s not unreasonable that they not pursue other leads but what makes it an open-shut case happens four days after the disappearance.
I thought for sure that Pippa was not following a lead at the end of Part II that would be critical but it turned out to be irrelevant. The twists are good and the ending unexpected but rational.
Overall entertaining.
