ROUTE: Newport, MI to Denver, CO: 1,323 miles (1,264 loaded + 59 deadhead)
Assignments of over 1,000 miles are a rare treat, the average is around 600 miles. We get paid my the mile so these are great for the wallet but create havoc on the body as it’s mostly driving. From the shipper it was around 21 drive-hours based on an average 60mph. The truck’s cruising speed is 68mph but there’s always traffic somewhere to slow us down. Each company determines the maximum speed for their trucks and is controlled by the truck’s computer. Owner-operators don’t have this restriction. My son’s girlfriend lives in Denver so my plan was to have lunch or dinner with her on Sunday. The delivery was scheduled for Monday morning.
Friday March 13th I started my day at 12:30pm. The previous day I had shut it down at 12:30am at our terminal after a grueling fourteen-hour workday, the maximum allowed by DOT Regulations. Before I started my clocks I took a shower then did the pre-trip inspection and fueled the truck. It was a short 30 minute drive to the shipper. After picking up the load I stopped for a late breakfast at a nearby diner with truck parking and set out for Denver at 3:00pm. My intention was to drive seven hours to the Iowa-80 truck stop, the largest in the world, that has a great restaurant across the street. Unfortunately, traffic in the Chicago area slowed me down and I was too tired to make it. Even if I could reach it the restaurant I like, Grandma’s Kitchen would be closed by the time I arrived. Iowa-80 has a 24/7 diner that’s pretty good but I decided to shut it down at 11:00pm at a rest stop after six drive hours.
Saturday March 14th I started my day at noon and drove the remaining hour to get to Grandma’s Kitchen and I had a late breakfast. The drive through Iowa is pleasant with many windmill farms on the side of the road. At some point I needed to top off my fuel. My son’s girlfriend decided on lunch instead of dinner so that meant I would need to hustle to get there on time. Fortunately, Denver is on Mountain time which is two hours earlier than Eastern which would help me. I left Grandma’s Kitchen at 3:00pm and drove seven-and-half hours until I found a smaller mom-and-pop truck stop in Nebraska to shut it down for the night at 11:00pm EST. I was so tired that I simply went to bed. It was cold and very windy.
Sunday March 15th I started my day at 9:30am EST, barely more than the minimum ten-hour DOT Regulation break. I drove six hours and arrived in Denver at 3:30pm EST which was 1:30pm local time so still early enough for a proper lunch. I parked the truck and took an UBER to meet my son’s girlfriend at a fun pizza joint in her neighborhood. My son lives in Boston. They met in college.
Monday March 16th I started my day at 11:00am EST and made the delivery at the schedule time of 11:30am.
BOOK REVIEW (1): Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (2025), NON-FICTION – RATING (****)
POWERFUL. A well researched book about the unfair treatment of women for the past forty-years. However, the research is so thorough that it slows the pace and makes it difficult to read cover-to-cover. There’s no action plan outlined to limit this injustice or clear path to create a more equal playing field.
BOOK REVIEW (2): Every Missing Girl by Leanne Kale Sparks (2023), FICTION – RATING (****)
FBI Special Agent Kendall Beck and Denver Police Detective Adam Taylor team up again in a suspenseful story with many twist-and-turns and a surprising ending. The chemistry between them is purely professional though very chummy. There’s no sexual tension that was present in the first book of the series but still can be read as a stand-alone book.
Detective Taylor is called to the the scene of a double-homicide inside a bodega that has all signs of a robbery gone wrong. The catch is that a Good Samaritan stepped in to save and rescue a fourteen-year-old girl that seemed to have been kidnapped by the assailant but his behavior is peculiar. Agent Beck is called to the scene since crimes involving minors is her domain. Days later Detective Taylor’s twelve-year-old niece goes missing after her hockey game where both Taylor and Beck were present. As they investigate both cases other characters come into play and the cases seem to overlap.
Overall entertaining and suspenseful but not all questions are answered by the final outcome.
