ROUTE: Charlotte, NC to Joliet, IL: 786 miles
Monday April 20th, my day started at 10:00am and drove three-and-half hours to the previous consignee which happened to be this shipper. I arrived at 1:30pm. The previous assignment and this one were both drop-and-hook so I was in-and-out fairly quickly. I left the shipper at 3:30pm and drove an hour for lunch as I was starving since I only had cereal for breakfast in the truck. Then drove two hours to the designated truck stop for fuel. My company determines which has the best price and highest quality of diesel. Afterwards I drove another hour-and-half and shut it down for the night at 10:30pm.
Tuesday April 21st, I started my day at 12:30pm and headed out at 1:00pm after the pre-trip inspection of the truck. Some days my body requires more rest. I let it decide for me and one of the great advantages of the trucking world of not having a rigid nine-to-five schedule. However, to make up for the late start I drove six-and-hours without a break and shut it down for the night at 7:30pm at the Flying J in Spiceland, IN, about an hour East of Indianapolis. It’s hard to find parking around big cities so if I kept pushing forward it would mean I would need to drive another two hours and I was hungry. This truck stop has a Denny’s with decent food.
Wednesday April 22nd, I started my day at 10:00am and drove four hours to the consignee to make the delivery. The Indiana scenery is full of wind farms that border the highways.
BOOK REVIEW: A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena (2017), THRILLER – RATING (*****)
Well written suspenseful thriller with many twists-and-turns that kept me glued to the story.
Karen Krupp lives a typical suburban lifestyle with her husband Tom of two years. Tom arrives home one night later than usual and she’s not home. Dinner is half way in preparation, her purse and phone are at the house. Tom worries and even calls 911. A police officer comes to the front door to inform him that a woman in his wife’s car had a bad accident in the proximity of a dodgy part of town and is in the hospital. Unfortunately Karen does not recall anything about the accident or why she was in that area. She is suffering from a concussion and temporary amnesia.
Several days later an unidentified body that has been shot is discovered in an abandoned restaurant near where Karen had the accident. The police figures that the death occurred around the time of the accident, give or take a day. Coincidence or why would a well-off suburban housewife have been there? As police investigate it seems that Karen is holding back secrets from her past but she still claims temporary amnesia and is of little help.
There are an interesting cast of characters in the story. Karen’s husband that is utterly confused. The nosy neighbor, Brigid Cruikshank. Police Detective Rasbach who leads the investigation. The dead man and others.
The story is built logically and the ending surprising.
