ROUTE: Savannah, GA to Woodburn, IN: 850 miles (840 loaded + 10 deadhead)
Monday 03/02 my day started at 5:30am as my delivery appointed was scheduled for 6:00am. Fortunately, there was a truck stop a mere fifteen minutes from the consignee. The unload process took almost three hours and then I drove 30 minutes to the shipper of this assignment.
This load was heavy, some material packed in rolls to make pneumatic tires. The trucked weighed 73,640lbs which would increase the driving time as the route had hilly sections. The 840 miles would normally take fourteen drive-hours, but this trip took sixteen. I would be traveling through seven states: GA, SC, NC, TN, KY, OH & IN. The delivery was scheduled for the next day, Tuesday 03/03 at twelve noon, but the consignee is a 24/7 facility so I could arrive later. Next to the truck stop with a scale there was a Waffle House so I had lunch there. I headed out at 1:30pm and shut it down for the night at 8:30pm after driving seven hours. Technically that was a fifteen-hour workday and DOT Regulations max out at fourteen but because the loading took over two-hours then I managed a Split which legally extends the workday.
Tuesday 03/03 I started my day at 9:30am. More than the minimum required 10-hour DOT Break, but that’s the minimum and not the standard. I was tired by the long workday and having started it at 5:30am. I stopped for lunch at a Pilot truck stop with a Moe’s franchise food service and fueled the truck. I made another stop along the way and arrived at the consignee at 10:30pm after driving nine-hours. There’s a small truck five miles from there and I know where to do Creative Parking so my day ended at 11:30pm which represents a fourteen-hour workday. Back-to-back long workdays. Some people complain about their 40-hour workweeks, truckers clock 60-hour ones regularly and the max is 70-hours per very strict DOT Regulations.
BOOK REVIEW (1): Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025), FICTION – RATING (**)
The first half was a lighthearted romance story of three college kids which was quite enjoyable. The second half starts abruptly ten years later with a completely different reality. I was so confused that I had to check if the audiobook had skipped a chapter or an entire section.
Jordan, Sam and Yash are college friends which leads two of them into a romantic relationship. Puppy love that turns into forever-yours. So far so good and figure there would be some twists-and-turns to muddle the waters but it would conclude in a Hollywood happy ending. I was wrong! It becomes a poorly conceived soap opera that had a super predictable ending. It went from four stars to two because there was no need for this drama, completely ignored human behavior and ruined a cute romance story.
Dissapointing.
BOOK REVIEW (2): The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (2022), FICTION – RATING (****)
Lucy Foley does a great job in writing a suspenseful novel that kept me involved and trying to figure out who done it? This is not your typical murder mystery. First of all it’s not clear if there’s been a murder though that seems the likely scenario. There are so many twists-and-turns that one needs to pay attention not to miss anything. Some of the scenarios are a little far fetched and others more predictable but none derail the narrative.
Jess is a troubled 28 year-old living in London working a dead-end job. She needs to get out of town quickly and low on cash her only option is to crash at her estranged half-brother’s apartment in Paris, Ben Daniels, a journalist. He reluctantly accepts her unexpected visit but when she arrives he’s no where to be found nor answering her calls.
She breaks into his apartment and realizes something is utterly wrong. For the next couple of days she tries to figure where her brother is and seeks the help of certain individuals that know him but are they friends or foes? Nick, the downstairs’ neighbor that went to Cambridge with Ben is helping out, though he hasn’t been in touch with him for the past ten years before alerting him of a vacant apartment in that building. She also reaches out to Ben’s editor for help. Something is off with the inhabitants of this quaint building with only five apartments, one per floor, and that is a major part of the story.
Overall entertaining and suspenseful.
Alison Rodilosso
Do you sleep in the cab of the truck? What does that look like? How much coffee or energy drinks do you consume? I hope not too many energy drinks! Do you ever get exercise? What do you snack on along the way? How is the driving by other trucks/cars? Do cars cut you off a lot? Need more drama–what’s the weather like? What are your emotions? Happy, at peace, lonely, focused? What causes these different emotions for you? Do you ever speak with anyone out there–other truckers while having lunch? Anyone else? It’s interesting, but need more!
Romulo Perezsegnini
Allison,
THANKS. Great points and I will address those issues more carefully.
Romi