ROUTE: Newport, MI to Windsor, CT: 737 miles (693 loaded + 44 deadhead)
First assignment of the New Year. A typical route for me when I need to get home or at any other time. Both the shipper and consignee are only open on weekdays. The shipment was scheduled for Friday pickup and Monday delivery. I had several options for this assignment. I could head out on Friday night and spend Saturday afternoon and Sunday at home. If I was low on hours for the 70-Clock I could do a reset at the terminal for 34 hours and head out on Sunday. Since I had just spent a week at home for Christmas I did not need to see the kids. Since I had driven very little on New Year’s Day and on the Friday of the assignment then my 70-Clock had plenty of time. Therefore I did a compromise, I left on Saturday night and set out for a truck stop in Girard, OH that is three-and-half hours away and has an Indian food truck that is opened late. That way I broke the twelve-hour drive into more manageable segments.
This assignment allowed me to eat better as I was not dependent on the fast food franchises found at truck stops. Across the street from the shipper is a diner with truck parking where I ate a hearty breakfast on Friday. That night I had Mexican food at a restaurant near a Walmart where we can bobtail the tractor. Saturday night I had a salad at Applebees located across the street from the same Walmart. Saturday night Indian food and the next morning steak and eggs at the diner of the truck stop. Sunday night I would park at a diner off I-84 which has truck parking. I arrived too late for dinner but had a hearty breakfast on Monday morning.
Monday morning I made the delivery and fortunately the next assignment is a shipment from that same location back to Michigan.
BOOK REVIEW: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (2021), FICTION – RATING (***)
A melodramatic romance novel with few, if any, surprises or interesting twist-and-turns. The outcome was clear from the early chapters. It was entertaining initially but then so predictable that started to become boring. The title is misleading as there’s little about the people met while on vacation. It reinforces the stereotype that boys cannot be friends with girls.
A girl meets a boy on Freshman Orientation Week in college. They are completely opposites but share a ride on school break back to Ohio as both are from neighboring small towns. A friendship develops and they end up taking annual summer vacations together. More and it becomes a spoiler review.
It was highly recommended and a long wait at the library. GO FIGURE?!
