ROUTE: Tampa, FL to Canton, OH: 1,073 miles (1,063 loaded + 10 deadhead)
I picked up the load at 16:30 on Friday 01/30 and left at 17:30 because this shipper is a drop-and-hook establishment. The delivery was scheduled for Monday but the appointment time was not set. I figured it would be somewhere between 09:00-14:00 and that I would receive notice sometime in the weekend or Monday morning. I had two and half days to drive roughly 18 hours. Figure I could drive three hours on Friday, ten on Saturday and the remaining five on Sunday. If I started early on Saturday I could make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (HOF) before they closed at 17:00. That plan went to the crapper quickly. Friday I had only cereal for breakfast in the truck and by the time I left the shipper I was starving. After an hour and a half I came upon a Love’s truck stop that has a Sonny’s BBQ across the street. It was 19:00 by the time I parked the truck and it didn’t make sense to hit the road after dinner, so I decided to shut it down for the night.
I could still make it to the HOF if I started early on Saturday 01/31, but again the plan was foiled as I was tired from the trip down and overslept. The backup plan was to stop in Charleston, WV where there’s a great Brazilian steakhouse and that would leave just an additional three hour drive to the consignee. That plan got foiled too as I came across a snow storm in South Carolina that slowed me down plus this load was heavy. The truck’s weight was 76,980lbs and the route is hilly so I only managed to drive only six hours and stopped at the nearest truck stop. I refueled while there.
Sunday 02/01, figure I could still make it to have dinner in Charleston, WV and my GPS indicated I was six hours away. Again, I overslept as when I don’t have a hard deadline I let my body determine how much sleep I need. The restaurant closes at 21:30 but experience taught me that I need to get there by 20:00 which means I need to park the truck by 19:30. The hilly terrain and bad weather set me back and when I realized I was not going to make it I stopped at a WV Travel Plaza about an hour-and-half south of Charleston. Now I was four-and-half from the consignee. There was no way I would make a morning delivery but I still did not have a set appointment so I wasn’t worried.
Monday 02/02 I started my day at 09:00 and the drive took five hours so I arrived Canton, OH at 14:00, which should be OK. However, later that morning I was informed that the delivery was schedule for Tuesday 02/03 at 08:30. That’s just the nature of the beast and no reason to get upset. It just happened to work in my favor as the HOF closes at 17:00 and there was a Pilot truck stop in Canton located ten minutes from the consignee. I parked the truck and called an UBER to take me to the HOF. It was a lot of fun and one of the joys of being a truck driver traveling across America.
Tuesday 02/03 I arrived at the consignee at the determined time. Unfortunately it was a small establishment and the receiving dock was a short driveway next to a relatively busy road requiring a blind side maneuver. I tried it and failed. I went inside and told the personnel there that I required assistance. I got a snobby response from them: “We get five deliveries daily and those guys don’t have a problem.” I remained polite and it took us an hour to make the necessary maneuvers as the piled up snow on the side of the road had reduced the available space. We had to stop traffic and eventually a police cruiser came to provide assistance.
Not the typical assignment with bad weather, changing delivery appointment and a nightmare of a docking facility but that’s part of the fun of being a trucker.
BOOK REVIEW (1): Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh (2024), FICTION – RATING (****)
Multiple subplots that cleverly come together at the end.
Amanda and Wendy meet at a parent’s grief session and become friends. The justice system failed to convict the perpetrators that have caused their lives to be in turmoil due to insufficient evidence but they want and need revenge. Amanda comes close to taking matters in her own hands but is foiled. This is the weakest part of the plot but sets the frame for them to plan the reciprocal murder of their nemesis, as the title suggests. So far it mimics the plot of the movie Throw Momma from the Train and seems fairly predictable. Then certain twists emerge that start to make the narrative interesting.
There’s a third subplot introduced that seems to have nothing to do with the story line. Ruth, a woman that is viciously attacked at her home when her husband is out with the boys. Her attack fits the profile of a serial killer that does not leave his victims alive but for some reason Ruth survived and got a look at her assailant.
The same police detective is in charge of both Amanda’s and Ruth’s cases. He plays a secondary role throughout the story. Afterwards we are introduced to other characters: Billy and the psychiatrist that treated Ruth after her incident and they also play minor but important roles.
Overall entertaining with a Hollywood happy ending.
BOOK REVIEW (2): Vineland by Thomas Pynchon (1995), FICTION – RATING (**)
DNF.
I could not get into this book and after 30% I threw in the towel. Zoyd Wheeler seems to be the protagonist and I could not figure out what he’s doing or who he is. He does an annual stunt that is supposed to show he’s crazy or needs to prove it for his disability payments. There’s another slew of characters that add to the confusion.
It probably gets better as the story continues. The movie One Battle After Another is based on the book and is nominated for 13 Oscars which is the reason I picked up the book.
