ROUTE: Linden, NJ to Romulus, MI: 732 miles (602 loaded + 130 deadhead)
This week started on a Tuesday as I was in town for my semiannual checkup with the endocrinologist scheduled for Monday 01/12. The drive to the shipper took three hours due to traffic. From there it should take ten hours to arrive to the consignee. The delivery was scheduled for Wednesday 01/14 at 12:30 so I didn’t have to rush. I had a dentist appointment on Monday 01/19 but I figured that if the dentist had an opening on Wednesday I could take advantage of it and not waste a full day on the following Monday. I was given a 14:00 appointment that should be plenty of time after the delivery.
This load was relatively heavy. The BOL indicated a weight of 41,034lbs and the distribution of the parcels seemed fairly even though it was favoring the back of the trailer. I should have scaled right away but there are only temporary weight stations in Pennsylvania on I-80 so I could scale it in Ohio. Once there I realized that the tandems were over the DOT maximum allowed but easy to correct and I did so. I needed to make the DOT mandated 30 minute break at some point and I know this great Russian restaurant on the way. I stop there for dinner and continued to the Petro truck stop in Girard, OH that has easy parking.
Wednesday 01/14 at 08:00 and adjusted the tandems which took longer than expected. I picked up an Italian sausage hero for breakfast and headed out to the consignee at 09:00. I arrived at 12:30, the scheduled time and proceeded to our terminal to drop off the empty trailer and make my dentist appointment.
BOOK REVIEW: Haven’t Killed in Years by Amy K. Green (2025), FICTION – RATING (***)
A fictional narrative of a serial killer’s daughter’s life. It starts well and seemed like it was going to be an interesting book, but unfortunately it wasn’t. At age nine the protagonist’s father is sentenced to life for eight murders though there are many more. She is sent away, changed her name and presently, in her late twenties, seems to have an uneventful life.
A severed arm is left at her apartment’s doorstep with a note addressed to her real name. After that the book falls apart. Her reactions to the incidents that follow are irrational and stupid. The police must be incompetent not to place her on the top of the suspect list but somehow that’s not even mentioned. Then more irrational behavior as the body count continues to increase. Absurd twists are thrown in to make it interesting but had the opposite effect on me. The last surprise is even more absurd.
I couldn’t wait to finish and move on to something better.
