ROUTE: Romeoville, IL to Grove City, OH: 402 miles (373 loaded + 29 deadhead)
Monday May 18th, I arrived at the shipper at 2:30pm. This was a short trip that should take under seven hours. The delivery was scheduled for the next day at 9:00am. The shipper is a drop-and-hook facility and parking area is a little so it can be tricky. The shipper has a restriction that once out of the premise we cannot stop within 150 miles as they worry about the safety of the cargo. I dropped my empty and hooked up to the loaded trailer but as I was doing the inspection of it I noticed that one of the eight tires on the trailer was completely flat and off the rim so I would not be able to inflate it. Because of the shipping restriction I could not drive to the nearest truck stop with a garage for repairs. Instead we had a service company come to the shipper’s facility and fix the tire on the premises. Fortunately, they arrived relatively quick but it’s still a major operation to change the tire, so I was held up for two hours. I left the shipper at 6:00pm and drove five hours with a quick break and shut it down for the night at midnight.
Tuesday May 19th, I started my day at 10:30am after the DOT Regulation mandatory ten-hour break at the end of the day. I drove two hours to the consignee and arrived at 1:00p, past the appointment time but they are more flexible but stop receiving cargo at 2:00pm.
BOOK REVIEW: We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter (2025), THRILLER – RATING (****)
A suspenseful thriller that starts following the life of two unhappy fifteen year olds that want to escape their mundane lives. Then it becomes a meticulous police investigation on the abduction of these girls during the town’s July Fourth fireworks celebration. After that it becomes the pursuit of a serial killer which includes intense drama with at the principal’s family.
Emily Clifton is the Deputy Sheriff of a small town. She’s the youngest, by a significant age difference, of the town’s sheriff four children. Sadly two of the sheriff’s kids are dead. One in an accidental drowning and the other in a car accident. Sheriff Gerald Clifton is wiser than what is expected and is grooming Emmy as his successor. Jude Archer is a retiring Special FBI Agent living in San Francisco focused on serial killers and has hidden ties to this small town.
The narrative of the police work to capture the perpetrators is captivating but the excessive information about crime statistics gives a darker edge to the story. Fortunately, it’s quite limited.
Overall very entertaining.
