MONROE, MI to MEBANE, NC: 750 miles (600 loaded + 150 deadhead)
Thursday June 11th, I started my day at 10:00am at a truck stop somewhere in Ohio off I-80. The previous day I had been rejected by the consignee because I arrived as they were closing. I made the delivery and then waited also three hours for this assignment. I left the consignee at 2:30pm and the deadhead was around three hours. I desperately needed a shower and was hungry. I drove an hour and half to one of the Ohio Travel Plazas that have free showers for truckers and a decent food court. Anybody can use the showers but they are tucked away by a separate entrance and part of the Truckers Lounge. I’ve been to this shipper before. They close at 9:00pm and the consignee is a 24/7 facility. It helps to get the shower out of the way during the day because that gives me greater freedom to spend the night wherever I find easiest and not one where I have shower credits. I refuse to pay for a shower when I have free-shower credits or there are places where there’s no charge for them. I arrived at the shipper at 6:30pm and left there at 8:30pm. I drove for two hours and shut it down for the night at 10:30pm.
Friday June 12th, I started my day at 11:30am and performed the pre-trip inspection of the truck. I’ve done this route many times and know the truck stops along the way. In Charleston, WV, there’s a mom-and-pop one that normally has available parking. There’s an IHOP next door and when I’m spending the night there I take an UBER to a Brazilian Steakhouse that is delicious and very reasonable. This time around I was just stopping for lunch and to execute my thirty-minute DOT Regulation break. From there it’s a four-hour drive to the consignee. I arrived at 10:30pm after making a stop for fuel and made the delivery. This is a drop-and-hook facility. I could have spent the night there but my next assignment was taking a load from there back to Michigan. It would be tight to make it back to the yard in one-go as we can only drive eleven-hours per twenty-four hour period. I decided to head out to a Love’s truck stop that’s about an hour away. I arrived at 12:30am and shut it down for the night.
BOOK REVIEW: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager (2022), THRILLER – RATING (*****)
A suspenseful and entertaining thriller with a vibe of Hitchcock’s Rear Window until some wild twist-and-turns put the story on its head.
Casey Fletcher is an actress living in her family’s vacation home by Lake Green in Vermont. Her life spiraled out of control after her husband’s accidental drowning in the lake and she found solace at the bottom of a bottle. Katherine and Tom Royce live in The House Across the Lake. A beautiful home with floor to ceiling windows facing the lake. She’s a retired super-model and he’s a rich tech mogul leading a social media company. Boone Conrad is a former police officer and recovering alcoholic after his wife’s accidental death. He’s fixing up Casey’s neighbor’s house in need for a place to stay. Eli Williams owns another house on the lake. Detective Wilma of the State Police also plays a pivotal role.
Casey saves Katherine from drowning in the lake and become friends. Casey in her idle time and mostly drunk starts spying on the Royce’s home with binoculars and suspects that Katherine is in danger. Confirmed when she suddenly disappears. The rest is fun, amusing and then shocking.
Overall very entertaining.
