Friday, February 6, 2009

More notes on the trucking life

You know how fires are like camping tv? Watching people park is truck stop tv. Of course, if that gets old, you can always head inside to the bar attached to the chain restaurant attached to the truck stop, and take in the cover band.

After dropping off our load in Connecticut, we headed to New York to pick up some PVC pipe bound for West Virginia. Then we went to Ohio to get a couple of trucks headed for Florida. Southern Florida. Just outside Miami. Just when I thought I might lose a coupla toes to frostbite, and my single pair of long johns had become too funky to wear, we got a reprieve! I also got my first truck stop shower while in Ohio, which, after five days, was most definitely overdue.

Dad has mentioned a few times how difficult it is to get a load out of Florida, so I crossed my fingers and hoped we would get stuck there over the weekend. Sadly, we immediately got another load, headed for Illinois (brr!), so we had to turn around and head right back out. At least I got to take off my gloves and coat for one day. We will get a chance to return to Huntsville on the way back, and I'm as yet undecided about my future plans.

Trucking is an ugly way to see the country. It's all billboards and concrete and truck stops. The rest stops are generally the nicest places I see. Thursday morning we stopped at a sunny Georgia rest stop, and I heard birds talking in the trees. I don't think I've heard any nature sounds since boarding the truck.

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