Welcome to The Journey
An open book journey of Christopher William Klein
Greetings: The journey for last month, May of 2023.
New Month, same issues
June 1, 2023
All things considered, it was not a terrible day, but it was a rough drive. Mostly because of the roads are horrible as you head toward Chicago. Even though 100 miles of back roads are filled with potholes that could swallow a truck. And since I drive a truck, that is an issue. I did not make it as far as I wanted to today, and in retrospect I'm glad that I did not. I shut down in Demotte Indiana instead of heading all the way into Gary. And I found out in the morning, which means tomorrow morning, that I could not have gotten to my shutdown point anyway. The ramp was closed for construction. That would have left me sitting outside Chicago with no place to stop and that would not be a good thing.
I am BATMAN
OK, I'm really not Batman. I don't have his money, and I don't have his anger control issues. Even though sometimes it seems like I do. But the only reason I bring it up is that I'm reading a Batman novel right now, and it's kind of interesting. Even though it is creating weird dreams. It's about neo Nazis and white supremacy and I will be glad when I get it done. Once I shut down, i was exhausted and I just went to sleep. I just cannot get up the gumption to get anything done right now. I will be glad when I finish this course and I can see what life is like when I am not advancing my education.
You will notice that the picture in the sidebar did not change again this month, but there is a method behind my madness. I really wanted to have everything ready for June 1st, but I just keep running behind and it's still going to be another week or so at least. There's a new blog format coming, so I'm not doing a lot of the housekeeping that I should be doing. I think it will be worth it.
The Wait
June 2, 2023
Welcome to one of the most annoying days in recent months. I rolled out of the travel stop right on time so that I could arrive 30 minutes early for my appointment. Of course, I ran into traffic around Chicago, I should have expected that. It put me about 30 minutes behind, which was right on time. I knew that this receiver was going to be a problem, but I was ready for it. I dropped my trailer and watched them put it in the door and then I had to wait seven hours while they counted the sweat socks. What I did not expect is that you must remain awake and alert the entire time. The receiver only gives you 30 minutes from the time your trailer is done to get off their site. So I was not allowed to use the sleeper berth provision. It became very annoying when I had to explain that to fleet management. The computer automatically sets up a sleeper berth if you are inactive for so many hours. But if I were to pull into a weigh station and the officer were to ask me if I was in the sleeper, I would have to say no and I would be driving illegally. So I lost my run to South Carolina, but it was replaced with a run for tomorrow evening 2 Colorado. I will take it. The other half of the annoyance was that I did not get a notification of the cancellation until I was halfway to the pickup. So i had to turn around to get to a safe haven. But I made it to Rochelle, Illinois, and got to watch the drama. For some reason that nobody can explain, a driver tried to make a U-turn in a space that was much too small, and drove off the road. Once he realized his mistake, he thought it would have be a good idea to drop his trailer and pull out from under it. Not the greatest move. But it was not my problem, so i walked away.
Dwell
I had almost 30 hours between when I shut down and when I had to pick up, but not enough to get a 34 hour reset. I have to roll hard to go the 950 miles into Loveland Co. And it's going to be very tight. So I shut down and played catch up for a while. The travel center had macaroni salad and potato salad, so I made my hamburgers and had a decent meal before I headed off to sleep. Before I headed into the land of morpheus I figured I would do a nice self reflection piece of artwork.
Self Reflection
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
A piece of self reflection on how I see myself. I think that I like it. Granted, I was about 15 years younger at the time, but I think it came out well.
Sit and move
June 3, 2023
Much like stick and move in boxing, today was sit and move. I did not sit in Rochelle, IL. long enough to get a 34-hour reset, but I sat long enough to get some extra rest, a decent meal, and a shower. All things that I like when they are available.
Time on my hands
Even though I did not have enough time for a reset, I had the time to watch a movie, clean the truck, fill my water, do my assignment for school and relax a bit. I worked on my Hook rug a bit and then broke into some artwork. I am not 100% relaxed like I would be on a full break, but I am close enough for now. I did a bit of social media, but to be honest, I am getting tired of the constant fighting amoung people that I thought that I knew. I got a call from Rachael (Bree) who obviously follows this blog, and she saw that I was in Rochelle and she offered to do the lunch thing today. No offense to her, and I told her, but I was not in the mood to be civil in person. So maybe next time.
Wife Reflection
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I dont' want to appear vain, and I wanted to do another portrait style rendition. I would appear vain if I used another of my own, and it would just be wrong to use Rebecca, Bree, Cara, or others because they are not what is always on my mind. What is? Well, the future in Colorado with the wife. So she drew the short straw. Through meditation and the application of similar filters from yesterday, with a few additions, I made something that I think, or at least hope, she will like.
Into Colorado
June 4, 2023
I started out in Nebraska, and I rolled extremely hard to make it to my drop at the Walmart in Loveland Co. I am not one to complain. OK, I am one to complain but I'm not going to this time. This was a challenging run with less than a 30-minute window on a 1000-mile journey. I arrived in Loveland about 1/2 an hour ahead of schedule. I rock. Of course, I had the wrong drop number for the Walmart distribution center, but the young lady running the guard shack was on top of her game. She knew how to find it. The last time I was here it took four hours to get the drop done because of the number problem. This time it took less than 30 minutes. I was able to grab the last empty trailer that they had on their lot and I was out of there. I did have a bit of an altercation with another variant driver because he felt that I should surrender my empty trailer to him Because he needed it. I was nice about it, and I asked him if he had a pre plan heading out of the Denver area. He had nothing. I left with the trailer because it was first come first serve. I Admit that I've had an interaction with this driver previously and it was not a positive experience.
After the drop, it got interesting. This close to Denver there are not a lot of choices for places to shut down. I checked with operations and I'm not going to hear anything about a potential break or a new load until the morning. I chanced going to the loves travel stop, but that was useless. I reversed my route and headed north and got a spot in the rest area. If I don't have a run in the morning, I'm going to have to move out of here because they have very limited truck parking and their 12 hour limit is heavily enforced. But that's a problem for tomorrow.
Abstraction and Confusion
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I had some fun doing the portraits of myself and Laura, but I think I am done with portraits. They just are not my bag. So here is something a little interesting. The meditation that brought this about was looking to the future. I rarely engage the moon in my meditations, but this time I did. After my meditation and my exercise, this is the image that was in my mind. I should point out that there is a minor change to the way that I am doing things, and I like the outcome. As I've pointed out previously, even though these artworks are original, they come from common items. I start with the images that either I have taken or do not carry a copyright and then I paste them into Photoshop and manipulate them using different filters. Recently, Adobe Photoshop Has jumped on the artificial intelligence bandwagon. It does not really qualify as a filter, but I am using the tool. I still create the base image, but it is heavily manipulated until I feel it looks like what I was planning. In this case, there is serious subliminal messages. But I will let you figure that out because it is part of the journey.
Riding the Hippy Train
I have to admit that this was fun. After I got parked in the rest area, which was an experience in its own because I had hippies to my left and hippies to my right in their little micro vans, which did not leave enough room for my truck, but they helped me get in by moving their vehicles. Of course they were not those kind of hippies except that they were. They just said that they were not. They did not break out the fun stuff until well after I was parked. They were from Washington state and traveling through the state of Colorado. They had their guitars and their tambourines out and I joined them for about 1/2 an hour with my saxophone. It was enough to make your ears bleed, but it was a lot of fun. They were good people. Just hippie people doing the hippie thing. After our little impromptu jam, i jumped in the cab, made my goulash and went to sleep because tomorrow is another day and I am in Colorado.
Break time near Denver
The Joy of Colorado
June 5, 2023
I heard from Haley thing this morning and she instructed me to go ahead and take my 34-hour break. Because I was in a time limited rest area, I had to move. I use personal conveyance for the first time since I started with this company, and they went off without a hitch. I said goodbye to my hippie friends and moved 18 miles down the road back to the loves travel stop that I tried to get into last night. It's amazing what you can do in the light of day. Before the end of the day, I had a pre assignment heading out of the Denver area over to Grand Junction. That picks up tomorrow morning and drops off Wednesday morning. It's only 230 miles. But that's OK.
Let your imagination rule
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
Sometimes you just have to let your mind run its own course. And that's what i did today. The base of this image is a Bluebird. Just a common stock bird sitting on a branch. And then I exploded it. There is no methodology, no intent, no subtext, and nothing metaphysical. I just let my hands do the running and this is what came out.
Fun and my Islamic Friend
Once I moved out of the rest area into the travel center, I had time on my hands. I had gotten a good night's sleep and I was ready for a nice relaxing day. As many of you know, everyday I do meditation, exercise, and yoga. A few weeks ago my yoga mat decided that it did not want to live anymore and just fell apart. Because of that, every day I have to find a nice patch of grass in order to do my yoga. And every week I choose one of 101 different poses that I am trying to master. I will do between three and five poses each day along with the new one for the week. This week, I am doing the child's pose. Visually, it is a submissive position with the feet and legs tucked up under the body, and the head to the ground. I did not think about it when I started this post for the first time today, but it looks a lot like the prayer position for the Islamic faith. One of the most significant things about my yoga that I did not realize until today is that I align my body so it is the most comfortable based on my environment. I've never given this conscious thought. Coincidentally, when I started my new pose today, I was facing Mecca. I got the attention of a young Islamic man who was headed to the same patch of grass to do one of his daily prayers. When we had both finished, he asked me about my faith. We held a pretty good conversation. He even offered me, though i reject it, his extra prayer mat. It was an interesting interaction. But I do have to pay a little more attention to the way that I align myself, I am pretty sure that I am not facing Mecca everyday, but it is possible that I am subconsciously aligning myself with natural ley lines. I will have to check that out.
Using the Day
Because I had the day off and I was nice and relaxed I decided to take advantage of the situation. I answered all the emails that I had sitting from my wife, and then went through the 1200 spam emails that I had sitting across all my accounts. All of my e-mail boxes are empty. I looked into the last four things that I have to do for school and put together a plan to get them done. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a train. I worked on my violin for about an hour and I think I have it fully ready to go. I did my saxophone for about an hour and I worked on my hook rug. For most of the day I rolled Tibetan meditation music in the background and simply relaxed. I did splurge and get four tacos from Taco Johns and I had pork chops for dinner. I was going to take some pictures of the mountains, but there are hills in the way. I know that that sounds funny, but it is very true. The Rockies are visually within sight but only if I walk to the top of the hills that's around this travel stop. I'm not willing to take that hike because there are highways in my way. Maybe tomorrow when I'm in Grand Junction. At the end of the day I continued working on the surprise that is going to appear in this blog very soon. But you have to wait for that one.
Changing Plans
But just a minor annoyance
June 6, 2023
Today was a bit annoying. I started out right on time which got me to the shipper about one hour after I was scheduled because I had to end my 34 hour break first, but it's all good. I checked with Jason and he told me it was an open-ended appointment and just to roll as normal. As I was getting to the shipper, I got a message that my pickup time had changed to exactly when I had arrived, and then I got a message that my destination had changed. I'm no longer going to grand junction CO, instead I am headed to Oak Ridge TN. That's a significant difference. But that's OK, I load it up and headed east. I got as far as Ellis Kansas and shut down for the night. Tomorrow is another day.
Train
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I woke up this morning thinking about trains. And I do not know why. So trains for the day it is. Common license train popped through a retro-hippy filter. Yeah trains!
Not feeling it
I am back on the road, but I am just not feeling it this week. I had to deal with the changes in the order, going to Tennessee instead of to Colorado, but that's commonplace. I took the time to get my fifth week discussion done, and I have most of my paper for the week written, so i am six days ahead of the game in school. But it feels like it's ending. And i guess it is so it's a normal feeling, it's just making me pensive. I woke up thinking about trains. And I have no idea where that thought came from. I did my meditation and my yoga, and I did the quick image of the hippie train that you see above. But it did not bring me joy. I think that I am hitting a rut and I am not going to let that happen one way or another. I shut down early because I was tired and I just listen to music and relaxed. I can feel things sitting at the edge of my consciousness waiting to annoy me. But this time I see them coming and I'm not going to let that happen. Party on dudes!
Getting Old
Headed into Tennessee
June 7, 2023
This run into Tennessee is taxing on the soul. 1300 miles that's taking the entire week and just dragging by. Hopefully next week will be better. They have a new incentive coming from the office now. Once a day the fleet manager will call every driver on their team and say how are you doing. This is going to get old very quickly. I'm curious to see how it works out.
Mundane
The personal side of the coin is going to be very boring this week and probably next week. My down time is spent finishing up school. Nothing exciting, nothing to report, and I have to watch time carefully. Annoying isn't it?
More of the same
Now I am bored
June 8, 2023
I rolled into Baxter, TN and shut down for 20 hours waiting to roll into the drop tomorrow morning. Boring I tell you, boring.
Another one down.
I spent most of the day working on my final paper and I should be able to get it done this weekend. But that was not the highlight of the day. Trouble comes in threes. Pat Robertson, the white supremacist founder of the Christian television network has passed on. Now I'm sure he knows the error of his ways. Ironically, on the same day we also lost the iron Sheik from the world wrestling federation. These things I took in stride. The third one hit me out of the blue. Jamie Prestileo, tracy's sister has passed on as well at the age of 44. I saw the notification and checked with Tracy and then spent a little time on the phone with her. The family is not handling it well. That's going to be messy.
Good and Bad
But can I tell the difference?
June 9, 2023
This is the kind of day that is good and bad at the same time. I made it into my drop right on time, but the dock was really annoying. It was an outside setup that was built to accommodate a 45 foot trailer and I'm a 53 foot. So I had to wiggle into it. Once I got in place, I noticed that one of my tires was missing part of the retread, so I had to call that in and get that fixed which took about two hours. While I was sitting there waiting for the service truck I got my pre assignment for Monday. It was in Brooklyn NY. As a general rule the company does not run the borough of New York. So i sent a message off for clarification as to the assignment. The fleet manager called me and said that they had looked at the mapping view of the pickup and it was horrible. They left it up to me. I chose not to run Brooklyn. So instead I'll be going to Ohio. Not as many miles but i don't have to deal with the island. Then it was a quick jaunt over to Bush to pick up some beans that are going to New Jersey. I was stuck in that dock for three hours. So like I said, good and bad.
Oceanscape?
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
Yoga and meditation have become intertwined with me lately. And I let my mind drift. Today it drifted to an ocean scape, which is very unusual. But it wasn't a normal ocean view, because I saw myself from behind in what looked like a parka. To the best of my knowledge I haven't worn A parka since I was about 8 years old. But here is what I saw.
Starting to feel it
I have that little prickling at the side of my mind. That usually does not start until I am about one or two weeks out of home. I'm still more than a month away and I am getting itchy. I'm sure that it has something to do with school. But you never know. I've also been running some very weird times lately and there hasn't been a lot of weekend downtime like there has previously, so that might have something to do with it. It could also be the constant pain in my teeth. Or it could be mercury and retrograde. Damn mercury. But we shall see, and tomorrow I should get to Hamburg and I will shut down for a day and 1/2, finish up my paper and then be done with that course and see what tomorrow brings. The end of the day was OK I just shut down and arrest area, eat some goulash and went to sleep.
Easy Days
Sometimes, you just need those
June 10, 2023
Sometimes you just have to love the easy days. Today was an easy roll into Hamburg PA and then shut down for a 34 hour break. The Hamburg loves travel stop is never my first choice because it is tight, small, and ill equipped. But at 12:30 in the afternoon I was able to grab the last parking spot and shut down for my break. I double checked and make sure that their showers were working and then closed my curtains. Monday I have to roll into New Jersey and I am not looking forward to it.
Facing the end
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I do not know what it is right now About the linear construction, but i am liking it. Things lined up in a row. This is a composite piece with nothing really behind it except for the linear construction. I could have easily done a clown and a monkey because it was about the structure not the composition. You have to love experimenting.
First day down
Because this is the first day down of my 34 hour break, today was a day of rest. I landed in Hamburg PA, shut down for the day and took a nap. When I got up, I ate my pork loin and got my thoughts together. I made a list of things to do which I'm sure will not get done, and then i concentrated on school. All things considered, it was a decent day.
A down day
But still not restful
June 11, 2023
Today was supposed to be a down day with nothing to do at work, but it did not turn out that way. First I had to double check my route going into New Jersey tomorrow because there was a serious fire in Philadelphia on I-95 and it took out part of the highway. That's going to be down for a very long time so it is going to be quite a mess. Luckily I just have to deal with the fringes of that when I go in on Monday. But then one of my mentees had a serious problem and was ready to walk off the job. He was parked in a loves near Knoxville, and a driver for big G backed into him, hard. To top it off the driver kept coming scraped down the side of the tractor and part of the trailer. Now I admit that that kind of thing happens, but since he was only 7 miles from the Loudon TN terminal, breakdown send him over there to get repairs. 3 miles into that journey he wipes out a deer and demolishes the front of his truck. Not the greatest day for this driver. I managed to get him calmed down and I engaged our escalation team. That was only because they were telling him that he was going to have to wait for the truck to be repaired which could take the better part of a week. We will see what happens come Monday. For now he has agreed to stay on.
Facing the end
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
Again today we have experimentation. The big thing on this image is the background. I was experimenting with different aspects of sunlight and water. When it was done it was kind of drab so I just grabbed a semi anime character to put in place. But the concentration is on fire and water. I think it came out pretty well.
The Grumpy Cat attack
I am down on my break and I am grumpy. I hate to be grumpy on my break. But I will deal with it. I am done week 5 in school and going into week 6. I was able to get week 5 all caught up today, and start on next week. The only thing that i have left to do is my big paper which is 12 pages long. I loaded up the paper, formatted it, and pulled all of my resources period now all i have to do is write it. Other than that, it was a very calm day. I grabbed an extra shower, had some decent food, and relaxed. I was going to restring the violin, but I have a bit of a headache and I really don't want to deal with that without a clear head. It can wait for now. Tomorrow it is into New Jersey and then hopefully right back out.
I did play my game for a little while, and I got new officers. Right now I am up to 15 young ladies that fight for me. What a misogynistic game. I still like it. I picked up five new officers, and i do have pictures of them, I'm just not ready to share. Maybe once I get done school. I got my artwork done, watched the little doctor who, and relaxed.
A series of frustrations
Lemony Snicket could write this one.
June 12, 2023
This is one of those days that was just a series of unfortunate events. I rolled into Jersey City right on time and Sysco was able to get me right into a dock. But that was the good part of the day. The bad part of the day started with the lumper process. I was working with capstone who I've worked with before, and every once in a while their electronic payment system can be annoying. First it took close to an hour to get authorization for the payment, and then their system would not accept the payment so I had to reverse it and change it over to a Comcheck which took another hour. So for a total of 2 1/2 hours I sat at the receiver after it took them 1/2 an hour to unload me. But that was only the start of it. Because they only issue electronic payments, there is no way to scan the receipt. I sent this over to my fleet manager and she was going to forward it over to the proper processing area. Unfortunately the processing area sent me a message to scan the receipt that does not exist. I went back and forth with them all day on this and by the end of the day there was still no resolution. The last time this happened they finally did a chargeback, trying to make me pay for the lumper. If that happens this time i'm going to go ballistic.
But that was not the end of the frustration. One of my mentees was in a double accident. First he was hit in a truck stop while he was sleeping and then he struck a deer. These things happen, but the communication within the company has broken down. According to the driver he was left sitting repeatedly with no instructions. They finally got him over to a hotel for the night and then back to the Loudon terminal in the morning. They gave him what is supposed to be a temporary truck so that he can get home. However according to the driver, the truck smells like old dog and body odor and the entire HVAC system for the bunk is missing. I have not seen this, so I can only go by what he's saying. I was able to communicate with the terminal shop and they said that on June 1, the truck passed inspection and was supposed to be cleaned. Again I went back and forth with about six different people on this issue and by the end of the day I really don't think we have a resolution. The driver is headed toward his home base at this point in the nasty truck, but he is under the impression that he is going to return after seven days off and go back to his original truck. That is not our policy and I'm not sure where he's getting this information. It was a very frustrating day.
The Angry Cheerleader
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
What do you do when things frustrate you? I don't know what you do, but what I do is I fire up Photoshop and create an angry cheerleader. And this is the result. From a psychological point of view, this is a reflection of my mood as I attempt to cheer on the world around me while loathing it at the same time. Go ahead, all you people with psychology degrees, try and figure that out.
Droning onward
If you read through the discussion about work today, you can probably tell that I am in a foul mood. However, I am not letting it get to me. I worked about a 12 hour day before shutting down in snowshoe Pennsylvania at a rest area, and I took advantage of the time that I was in the receiver. I did a little bit of writing, and I read everything that I need to use for my final paper in school. I am shut down for a minor extended. Which should give me about 3 hours in the morning where I can start putting the paper together. As you can see from my cheerleader, I took the time to do a little relaxation, and I even read the e-mail from my wife where she is enticing me to purchase something completely oblivious. Which I have now done. Assuming everything goes OK I should have a new yoga swing. And I think I've even found a way to mount it in my truck. That should make for an interesting photograph once I get things set up. It amuses me.
On the more positive side of life, I have hooked up with a realtor in Colorado by the name of jade. She seems almost too good to be true so I am not going to get my hopes up. But it is forward motion. Right now, probably because of school, time is passing very slowly. I am still more than a month out of home time, and it seems like a lot more than three weeks have passed. I am hoping with this upcoming week that I am able to get my paper done, get my final grade, and close this chapter of my life. Then I get to move on to the next chapter. But hopefully I'm nowhere near the end of the story. I did take some extra time for a little bit of extra meditation and yoga, and by the time I went to sleep I feel that I was in a better mental place. Now we will see what tomorrow brings.
The grind is grinding
Starting to feel the burn
June 13, 2023
I am starting to burn out here, I can feel it. I have no problem running hard, even close to 11 hours a day. But these 500 mile runs with 5-6 hours sitting in two or more docks a day is grating on me at this point. Water, over time, can destroy the rock. Just a thought.
The One Tree
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
For some reason, I woke up thinking about Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliver. A book I read a long time ago and one of the books in the series was The one Tree. And here it is!
All work and no play
Even with the extended dock time (again), I had very little personal time. Mostly because at both docks, I had to sit and watch for them to finish. Neither dock would do the inform the driver thing. You have to notice the light, and that can be tedious. I did finish watching my Doctor Who series and I am now on to Planet Sex with Cara Delevigne. I have only watched one episode, but it may fall under that never meet your heroes standard. I am reserving judgement until I get a bit more into the series, but thus far, I am unimpressed, at least with foundation of the storyline. Shrugs.
I am working on my final paper and I am trudging through it. It is worth 40% of my grade (not 30 like I thought) and it is the final thing that I have to do. It is exciting and a bit scary all at onces. As long as they get me shut down for the weekend, things should be fine.
The Drive...
Virginia Coastal Areas
June 14, 2023
Driving through the coastal areas of Virginia is rough. Today I had to go into Virginia Beach which required driving through Norfolk and other coastal areas. Needless to say, it is not a positive experience. First of all there are two tunnels which is no fun in a truck, but the biggest issue is that whenever you're not on the highway, and you are down in the cities, the lights are three minutes long, and they are time so you must stop at every one of them. It took me 90 minutes to go the 15 miles in and 90 minutes to go the 15 miles out because I had to stop at every light. It was extremely frustrating. And I was pushing my clock because I had to get out of the area and find a parking space for the night. And there is nothing down there. I wound up rolling all the way back almost to Richmond before I found the place to stop.
The Road
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
The composition or subject of my artwork for today has nothing to do with it. I was testing out some new patterns that you can see in the sky. That one was called sponge. I like it.
Working for the weekend?
If I remember correctly, it was the band Loverboy that's saying working for the weekend and that is where I am right now. I feel like I am droning along. This has something to do with the fact that I'm working almost 14 hours a day with very little time down and I believe that it is starting to get to me. The fact that I have daily goals is helping, but it is still eroding the edges. This weekend when I shut down for my break, I will finish up school permanently and I will move on from there. Time to pick something else. I am very pensive about the situation. But I will deal. For now I'm down in a rest area in Virginia and I made homemade meatballs for dinner and included some pepperjack cheese just for fun. It was pretty good. I did my daily artwork which you see above, and then I went to sleep. I am such a party animal.
Ho Hum, for a change
By the book? Strange!
June 15, 2023
A day that rolls by the book. Into the dock first thing in the morning, easy load, out and on my way into Ohio. I made the state border and shut down. Easy peasy, if not a bit tiring.
Okay, what the hell?
This is a short post, but has a bit of substance. I am rolling very tired right now, and I need a break. I have to get my final paper done, and I need to relax. I rolled into Ohio and shut down at the service plaza. I wanted to make it to Love's, but didn't, so I had to make due. I tried a place that just opened, because I am out of protein for the week (not sure how that happened) and I got two slices of pizza from a place called Oath Pizza They are a Nantucket thing. They are Powered by Avacodo and I have no idea what that means. Two sliced, $11.00. Oye, vey. And it kinda sucked. The cheese was gritty and it had an aftertaste, like drinking a diet soda. Not a pleasant experience. But it did get me to thinking. Everything in the service area is Artisan food with an artisan price of course. Is this the wave of the future? Three food joints, and the ONLY thing that I could find that was plainish was a slice of nasty pepperoni pizza? Everything in the entire service area was infused, fusion, melded, or crushed. There was mint in the bread, avacodo in the cheese, and springs of weeds on the top of hte pizza. (they were actually rosemary - but how many people would know that?). Is this what we face tomorrow? I don't know. But I am not sure I want to find out.
Rollin, Rollin...
Good! Bad! Ugly
June 16, 2023
This was one of those days where I got to deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly, all at the same time period or at least back-to-back. I got into my appointment first thing this morning right on time. And what an easy receiver it was. I walked in, handed her the paperwork, she handed me a page back, and I backed in to get unloaded. 15 minutes later i was empty and I didn't even have to go back in for the paperwork because she had already given it to me. That was the good. Then I had to head over to a suburb of Pittsburgh. This was the bad. The shipper is in a place that no business belongs. It is right against the river, down a hill through a residential neighborhood that is way too tight for tractor trailers. Even going slowly and swinging wide, I almost did not make the final turn. When I did get to the shipper, they have five parking spaces and of course there were six trucks with me. So that was a lot of fun. I was five hours early and convinced them to load me ahead of time.
I am headed into the area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey where it is very rough to find parking. So I shut down at the Somerset travel Plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I was actually here just a couple days ago in this exact same parking spot. And i did not even realize it until after i had parked. Now I'm going into the weekend, and I have to choose where to shut down for my break which will be somewhere between Carlisle PA and Bordentown NJ. I'm just not sure where yet. But of course there had to be drama in the service area. A western express flatbed driver took off the front end of a truck right nearby. To top it off, as soon as he realized what he had done he took off. A hit and run and a tractor trailer is never a good idea and he is going to learn that quickly. But it lent a little excitement to the evening. And I will make my decision on where to shut down when I get up in the morning. I have time.
The Black and White of it all
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
Sometimes, you just have to set your software to pure black and white and let the spirit move you. I am not sure if this is a generic mock up of a nothing, or an image of Ariana Grande in full pony tail swinging tilt! If it is, then it is unintentional.
Judge the world!
I am very much not happy with myself right now because I am looking at the world through a highly judgmental lens and I do not like it at all. There are those times in your life when you look in the mirror and you just do not like yourself, and this is one of those times. The greatest aspect of this is that I recognize the fault and I am trying to deal with it. I have no doubt that this is a negative impact because of the end of school, and the constant running through the northeast. I am getting so sick and tired of being in New Jersey and the surrounding areas that it is becoming highly frustrating. Every day is a fight to find parking, and the roads are narrow and not built for tractor trailers. Add to that the constant construction on every road and it just becomes too much to handle. Recognizing the problem does not solve the problem so I have to take it one step at a time. Obviously the first step is to finish school. Once that is done i can concentrate on the rest. And i should have that done tomorrow.
I am trying to channel some of the frustration into artwork and other endeavors, but sometimes it is just hard to let my mind wander. Take the above image. I started it with a blank slate in mind, and when I finished with it, it reminded me of Ariana Grande in concert and that was the farthest thing from my mind. But I guess it's like a horshack test. People see what they want to see. When I get done my paper tomorrow, I will redirect my energies into something else. Hopefully something a bit creative, but i have not decided what yet.
Time is fleeting
OK, I say the time is fleeting, but that actually is not true. Right now time is flowing along like molasses in January. And it is really starting to get on my nerves. I feel like i have been on the road for three or four months and it has only been three weeks. I am still a month away from home. But I have started a list of things to get done while I am at home, so there's that. One thing that I have noticed is that my internal clock is working very well now. When I wake up, i can usually tell within 10 minutes what time it is. I've never been able to do that before. But I'm putting it to the test now. This morning I opened my eyes and guessed within 3 minutes what time it was. Yesterday it was within 10 minutes. I have no idea why that tickles me but it does.
Finally, the big decision for the morning will be where I shut down for the weekend. Right now I'm in a service Plaza and I could stay right here, but I'm not going to. No showers, no free drinks, nothing like that at all. So I have to choose between three truck stops one of them is a about two hours away, and it has everything I need but it is nasty. One of them is about 5 hours away and has everything I need but it is annoying and nasty. One of them is in the middle of those two and I know nothing about it but it does not have everything I need. Are the choices of being an adult. But I guess you have to wait till tomorrow to find out which one I choose. Are you on the edge of your seat with anticipation? If you are, you need a hobby because it's not that interesting of a choice. See I still have my sense of humor.
Love those easy days
Little Bits at a time
June 17, 2023
Just a couple of hours of driving today from the Somerset service area into Carlisle, PA to the Love's. I chose Carlisle of the three choices because it has a Chinese place next door, decent showers, and a laundry. I could have made it all the way to Bordentown, but that would have been touch-and-go. I am happy with my choice.
Out of the darkness
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I finished school! Except for a few quick discussion responses. So it was time to walk out of the darkness and into the light. Using that as a base, I started learning the NEW photoshop. And this is the result. I have to get a bit of focus here, there are about 1000 commands and all that I have to learn!
Bringing it together.
I hit Carlisle first thing in the morning and got an excellent parking space right across from the truck pumps, so I will be able to get out of here tomorrow at midnight without bugging anyone. Then it was time to break into action. I gave myself today to finish up all but the remnants of school. It took seven hours, but I finished up, and submitted, my final paper. All that is left is a few 200 word responses. I don't know how I did on the paper, but it is done!
I hit the Chinese place and got General Tso's chicken and some Lo Mein. I remember to ask for no MSG and it gave me FOUR full meals. Not terrible. I am actually doing quite well on my proteins thus far, so it will bump up my stock!. Then it was time to sit back and relax. Tomrrow I will have about 12 hours to do whatever I want, which means it is time to start planning the 20 hours a week that I will gain now that I am done with my final degree.
The Mentee Thing
Is it worth it?
June 18, 2023
Since I was finishing up my 34 hour break, today was a mentor day. I spoke to my mentees including Jeffrey, and things are going well. Most of them are graduating now and I don't have any replacements except for one. And the new guy is going to be interesting because he has no experience in anything. But that's OK, that's what i'm here for.
Relax and Reflect
I have school completely finished at this point and it was time to rest and relax before I start the new week. The day was filled with meditation, exercise, and reflection. Some days it is good just to do nothing. The only thing that I did was compile the list of things that I want to get done before the end of the year. I think that i'm going to take this coming week and just roll slow and then attack the list after my next 34 hour break. I have been at the education thing for something like 14 years according to national collegiate scholarship. I joined them 13 years ago and that was at the one year mark. I did not realize it had been that long. Tomorrow is another day. And it's a day going into New Jersey.
It's a Jersey thing
Like coming home, to hell!
June 19, 2023
Today was quite taxing. I hit the first doc first thing in the morning and boy was it fun. Obviously all sarcasm is intentional. With this place you just roll in open your doors pick a dock and let them know where you are. Of course there's nothing that tells you that. There's also no signage for the receiving office you just have to wander around until you find somebody. Loads of fun. But they were quick and then I had to scan 32 pages of bills of lading. More fun. After that I got to pop over to Wilmington DE and pick up some rock salt in a partially flooded area of the port of Delaware. More fun. But the most fun was the fact that they loaded my truck to the legal limit. I have no wiggle room at all and I am running on diesel and prayers. I'm headed into New York State north of Syracuse, and i made it to the new york state line before i shut down. 3 hours in the morning and then I head back to Philadelphia.
Take it easy
Like I said yesterday, I'm going to take it easy this week while I decompress from my educational adventure. I have a lot that I want to get done, but nothing that won't wait at this point. I'm still about 25 days out of the house, and i have no urgent issues. So I started out at midnight and drove till about 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon and then I shut down and just relaxed. I don't know the last time that I actually did that. And to be honest I don't know if I will ever repeat the experiment but it felt good for today and tomorrow is another day. I don't think there will be a repeat of today. But you never know.
I'm walkin' here...
A New York State of Mind
June 20, 2023
OK I admit it, the title is more for New York City than New York State, but it struck me as funny. It was actually a pretty good work day, I hit the dock in Carthage NY, right on time. And they were fast. I was barely in the dark before they were unloading me. And then I headed over to get loaded up toward Philadelphia. The only snag in the day was shutting down, because when I realized that I was going to be landing around New York City at shutdown point, I had to scramble to find a place. I knew that there was a service area right before you cut off of Interstate 87, what I did not know is that they tore it down and are rebuilding it. So I got to spend 13 hours in a disused service area. That was interesting. But tomorrow I'm headed into Philadelphia and then up to Michigan. I have no idea what I'm doing for the weekend yet, but i should find out tomorrow.
First Try
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I admit that Photoshop is a crutch, so as I move forward I'm going to try and break out of the mold. And this is my first attempt. I did not start with the base image, I just got out my drawing tablet and started to draw. And this is what the final result was. I have no idea who she is, she is nothing more than a brainchild. But I did put a little artesian flaw in here, can anybody see what it is? Just a little something that doesn't belong? For a first try I think it's pretty good.
Take it easy
I am taking it easy right now. I calculated things out, and if I have calculated right I have been in school for adult education for 14 years. I think I'm still waiting for that to sink in. But for now I'm going to take it easy. Since I had some extra time I did the artwork that you see above and I think it came out pretty well. At least when you consider that I did not do any planning for it. Other than that it was an extremely calm day except for shutting down in the disused service area, but I Will Survive. I actually had a vegetarian dinner though, and it was a spur of the moment thought. I cooked up some of my long grain rice, and while that was soaking I put some onions, mushrooms, and peas into the air fryer for about 15 minutes with some extra virgin olive oil, and then tossed it all on a plate with some sweet and sour sauce. It came out pretty good. I just was not in the mood for meat. I have no doubt that that will change tomorrow.
Oh, Hell No!
I love being able to speak my mind.
June 21, 2023
One of the greatest advantages of running my own blog is that I don't have to answer to any great server overlords. And thus I can say that the entire city of Philadelphia, the people, the drivers, the entire city, can kiss my ass, my entire ass! I spent the better part of the day, eight hours in fact, trying to deliver to a shady merchandising company down off Allegheny Road. The warehouse is in the middle of a residential neighborhood that is labeled No Trucks and with good reason. One way streets with parking on both sides of the street, blind turns, no room. It is not built for trucks, but then again, neither is the city. After I tried to deliver at 8:00am, I came back to the truck with no luck, parked about a block away, to a no-name dude trying to put a boot on my truck. I was ready to scrap, but his heart was not in it. I had to move though. I moved a block over, and got to deal with the Philadelphia Police. Move along, boy, move along. I tried Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, all have Absolutely no truck parking signs. I really think that truckers should boycott the entire city since we are unwelcome. But I digress.
I finally got in an unloaded, but getting out was just as bad. It took hours. The roads are all torn apart, tight, etc. I am lucky that I did not hit anything, but it was close quite a few times. I finally got out of the city and headed north up the Northeast Extension, shutting down in Allentown.
Oye and Frustration
A very negative day. I had to deal with the city. And that is never a good thing. But it was much worse today. I was in my old, 10-12 year old, stomping ground. I went right by Pierce street, the home of the step-family, and I was moving slow enough while heading into the shipper that I could pay attention to the world around me. It was not pretty. Open drug dealing, prostitution, drug use, abuse, and other nameless horrors right out in the open. Bars open at 9:00am with drunks stumbling out. A woman being beat by a man on the sidewalk and people just walking around them. 10:00am in the morning and people just wandering without purpose down the street. A city teetering on the edge of ruin. The streets are falling apart, and so are the people. Empathy stepped in and made it that much worse. It was downright depressing.
The problems with the receiver caused some other issues. I lost my Michigan run that was supposed to set me up for the weekend. But Haylee took care of me and I got a P and G run off of the Mountain in Tunk and I am still heading into Michigan, so my weekend should still be set up. Assuming no other problems. I have my 34-reset scoped out to be a relax and reflect time. My current project is this blog, a new design, and fully backdated to 1965. I am currently on 1973, and in a Love's, I can use my voice software, which will advance the program. Are you excited? Yeah you are!
I have to make it into a truck stop. I am short on Water, and need some good ole wi-fi. I don't have my final grades yet, but I have to check those. My mentees are doing the feast or famine thing. I have one that calls me at each point in his day because he was previously micro-managed and needs it, and I have the others that ignore me. Sigh, what a life.
Extra and not
The world would be better if cockroaches ruled!
June 22, 2023
The day did not start out well. I was sitting in a service Plaza in Pennsylvania, and I woke up with at least 90 minutes before I had to drive, but it was not restful. I went into the service Plaza to take care of the good old personal morning stuff, and when i came back I noticed that parts of my truck were laying on the ground. When I went to sleep last night the space to my left was empty, and it was empty this morning. But the air faring on my driver's side was laying on the ground and there was damage, no matter how slight, to the front of the trailer. There was an obvious impact mark and the air regulator notification light was broken. It looks almost as if somebody backed into me which doesn't make any sense because the spaces in the service area are easily pull throughs. There's no reason for somebody to be backing up at all. But who knows? I called it into safety and then prepared for my day. And the rest of the day was simple. I went up on the mountain to Procter and Gamble, swap trailers and headed into Ohio. Tomorrow morning I will get into Michigan, get unloaded, and then pick up my final load for the week headed down to Virginia. Loads of fun.
The Wandering Mind
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
There are times when you just have to let the mind wander. This is one of those times. There is no theme or intent behind this work, it is just where the brush strokes took me. I'm sure that Sigmund Freud would have something to say about it, or possibly Carl Jung. But they aren't here so I'm not going to worry about it.
Sorta Moody
I think that this week has just been extra. I am running the grumpy cat train right now, and I have absolutely no doubt that it is just a series of unfortunate events. Every morning I do my yoga, and this week is the dolphin pose, and if you have ever done yoga and tried this pose, you know that it can be very intimidating. But I am sticking with it and that is what counts.
I think that this week has just been extra. I am running the grumpy cat train right now, and I have absolutely no doubt that it is just a series of unfortunate events. Every morning I do my yoga, and this week is the dolphin pose, and if you have ever done yoga and tried this pose, you know that it can be very intimidating. But I am sticking with it and that is what counts.
I did get around to having a good long conversation with Kylee from Allstate, and now she has all the information to do a proper quote, or at least get us in the ballpark for the new insurance. She's a nice person, very interesting. It's very uncommon for representatives of companies to be personalized and showing interest in their clients, or in this case a potential client. It says a lot about her as a representative. She hasn't been tainted by the world yet, lucky her. Right now we are juggling between GEICO and Allstate, as we balance out the finances and investigate potential better rates. The other companies have fallen by the wayside, we shall see where that goes.
Ending the Day
I made it to the truck stop in Madison, Ohio and shut down for the night, exhausted. Some hot sausage and noodles and a little bit of work on my art and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow, I have to set up my weekend run and figure out how I'm going to do it considering I'm going down to the Norfolk area. That is just not a good place for truck drivers. But i will figure it out. See you in the funny papers.
Not long, not terrible
Good again, the roller coaster continues
June 23, 2023
All things considered, this was a decent day compared to the days that I have been having. I rolled into Belleville, Michigan, and got unloaded without problems and then I headed over to Armada to pick up some hard cider and headed down toward Virginia. Aside from the constant rain, I consider this a pretty good day. I made it all the way back to Frenchtown and shut down at the Loves for the night. If things go right, I should be able to do an 11-hour day tomorrow and be within one hour of my drop in Virginia for Monday. Fingers crossed.
More realism
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
As I continue my journey into realism, I faced a bit of a problem today. The tablet that I used to do my drawing stopped working. I was crushed. But about 15 minutes later I figured out that I had the wrong thing plugged in and it was all good. Today I continue the journey into realism. This image started with a wire frame and I build it up from there. It was originally all black and white, but I converted it to grayscale and then added color for the eyes. I think I'm almost done with this part of the lessons and it's time to move on to something else. Maybe one or two more and then a fresh start with the new month.
Plucking the Grumpy Cat
It has not been the greatest week and I am very much looking forward to shutting down for the weekend. I have been doing the grumpy cat thing for a couple of days, and it's way too early for that to start up. I usually get that right before I'm ready to go home and I am still three weeks out. I think part of the problem is that I have not gotten my grades from school yet and it really starting to get on my nerves. I know that I'm not the only student, but the professors have to have some sort of boundaries for response. But I will give it until Monday before I send him a message. When I shut down, I spent some time on my art and then went to bed. A decent day.
Push, Push Push
Hard at it again
June 24, 2023
I headed out at midnight, intending to make it within 60 miles of my drop on Monday. And I had to push to do it. I rolled into Providence Forge, where I intended, with less than 10 minutes left on my driving clock. Everything was fine until I hit Washington DC, and then everything South of there was a mess. I should have had 75 minutes extra, but the traffic ate up the time. But eventually, I made it in and shut down for my 34-hour break, so it's all good.
Destraction
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I made a conscious choice to take a break from the realism and just doodle. Sometimes it's fun to doodle and I didn't even turn on the colors.
On to break time
As soon as I shut down, I ate and took a nap. I had already been up for 12 hours so I figured I could use a break. I was going to get a gyro from Arby's, but those things are expensive as hell especially if you want the lamb. It's a good thing that politicians keep us arguing amongst ourselves so we don't see how quickly prices are rising on everything. Or else the peasants might be revolting. Anyway, I took my nap and then got up and worked on some of my projects. I have the full day off tomorrow so today was a down day. Most of it was spent sorting the stuff that I have on the drives well I rolled some silly movie in the background that I don't even remember. One interesting point was meeting a goth couple that were witches. Nothing wrong with a little interesting conversation here and there.
Bad Break
Sometimes I sits and thinks, other times, I just sits.
June 25, 2023
Today was mentee day because I was on break. But the break was not a good one for the more personal items. I was able to communicate with my mentees, but that was about it for the day.
Wow, this is bad.
I think that Lilith may be pissed off at me. I was up and in motion nice and early and looking forward to a nice routine day off. But that got tossed in the crapper first thing. I did my normal weekend thing and went to pull one of my three remaining protein packs, and sure enough, the shit hit the fan. My freezer stopped working. Between the company power policy of powering down the truck, and a mysterious can be beans, the freezer went the way of the Dodo. So that means that I have no frozen food for the remaining three weeks. That limits me to canned goods and whatever I can buy. That really pisses me off.
The rest of the day
The freezer incident took the wind right out of my sails. So the rest of the day was on my ass sulking. No new art, no real project work, no new studies. I am kicking myself, but I did it. Tomorrow is another day, and I will be back rolling down toward Norfolk.
Back at the grind
And that is what it feels like, being ground!
June 26, 2023
It was a routine day. I am still sulking over the loss of my freezer, but I will get over it. I hit the offload site right on time and they were quick. I headed over to Wilson, NC. and loaded up on some glass and I am heading to the Atlanta, GA. area for tomorrow morning. It is a tight run. I had to push it a bit and wound up shutting down in a rest area. I tried to get into the Love's and the Pilot, but they were both bursting at the seams.
Back at it and still grumpy
I am still rocking the grumpy cat. The ladies were not faring any better at home because a storm ripped through Memphis and killed the power for 20 hours. It even took out the Voice towers for cellular, so no phone calls. Oye. It has already been one hell of a week, and we are still on Monday.
The entire day was work, so when I shut down, with about an hour left on my 14-hour clock, I was tired. It was time for beans and potatoes and then off to sleep.
Hell, your name is Atlanta
So much wasted time.
June 27, 2023
Today had to be one of the worst days that I have had since I started with this company. And it really got me to thinking about a few things. The first part of the problem is that I spend a total of three hours going around Atlanta GA twice. The drivers in Georgia suck. It does not surprise me exactly how many accidents there are. But the entire 30 miles each way took almost three hours. Then we will add to that a total of nine hours into separate docks. The first dock actually let me sit there for 3 1/2 hours before they even gave me a dock to pull into. And while I was waiting, another 12 trucks showed up. I don't know what was up with them, but once I got in it took them another two hours to unload me. By then I was irritated and exhausted so I decided that I would shoot up to Calhoun, Georgia, and try and shut down there. But again, the company had different plans. Even though I had started work at 3:00 AM and it was currently 4:00 PM they decided to send me back to Union City. I tried to explain the hours of service, but their response was what the computer says. And the computer was fucking wrong. I have brought this up time and time again and eventually, it is going to get somebody killed. This is exactly why we still have hours of service requirements so companies are unable to take advantage of drivers. I would say that a 21-hour work day for a professional driver moving down the road at 68 miles an hour, completely exhausted, is taking advantage. But I got loaded and made it over to Ellenwood to shut down for the day. I will deal with it tomorrow.
Bad Day
I could sit here and complain about the work stuff, because that is what took up 21 hours of the day, but i'm not going to do that. Instead I'm going to talk about my game and why I no longer play it as of today.Kiss of War Is a war reenactment strategy game that requires you to build up your city, train your generals which are all female, build your resources and your weapons, and then have some good time fun with your neighbors by going over and taking a few swipes at them and stealing some of their stuff. I have never taken it really seriously, it was just a 15 minute waste of the day every day, and maybe an hour or two on the weekend. This past weekend was a little different. I had a bit of time on my hands and I was appointed as a strategic commander for my entire Guild. Working with my Guild leadership we successfully attacked and demolished about 200 computer created players and more than 100 real players. Not enough to force them into poverty, but enough to make them lick their wounds for a while. It was awesome. And I was not really worried about retaliation, because I've been playing the game for 291 days and I have been growing my army, setting up my defenses, and training my generals. But you should never get cocky. My army consisted of 3/4 of a million people and devices. Virtually untouchable. Unless you send 791 attacks while I am away. If you sacrifice your entire army and come against mine, you can nibble away at my defenses. And that's what they did. They sat there when I could not rebuild or repair because I wasn't there and hit me almost 800 times to decimate my entire citadel. They left me literally, with nothing. Almost a year's worth of work. My 23 generals are deceased, my army is gone, and I have been bombed back to the Stone Age. It is quite literally like I am restarting the game. Except that because of the level of my buildings, I need stuff I can no longer afford. So I uninstalled the game. Regardless of the situation the programmer should not allow that many hits on a single target back-to-back. What I did learn by this is that I'm pretty good at strategy. My Guild has the names of the 30 or so that took this action, and they will never give them any rest. But now the game has lost its flavor and I will move on. And that was the exciting part of my day because the rest of it was work.
Mundane! GOOD!
See? Up and down we go.
June 28, 2023
A 600 mile roll toward Kansas City, MO. Easy run, but the roads are really on my nerves. How come there is so much construction, but nothing ever gets fixed. If I had not been wearing my seat belt, I would have been tossed out of the seat at least three times. As it is, I have some bruises on my collar from the strap. PFFT.
Lets go weird
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
I don't like it, but I am putting it up anyway. I just let my mind flow and then once I had done the girl, kinda a 70s MOD squad thing, I just popped it into a repeater. Pfft. Maybe someone will like it.
I need a break.
I rolled, shut down, did the junk art above and then went to sleep. Laura and Willow are having a rough time at home, and I am having a rough time on the road. I am very much ready to get home. I have my next assignment, heading into Alabama. I am not sure if that is my reset run or not. I am hoping it is. I am running on fumes. I have had 3/4 12+ hour days, and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be another one. I have to deal with schol as well. Every little thing is getting on my nerves.
More of the same
Slipping into Mundania!
June 29, 2023
It took about 5 hours to get into Kansas City once I got started for the day, but I arrived in the dock right on time. I got to see a little bit of drama about 1/4 mile from dropping off when a young driver cut a turn too tight and wound up putting his rear end in a ditch. Luckily I've been in this area before and I was able to see that I could cut through a parking lot and go around him. I timed everything just right to get there for my scheduled appointment and if I would have gotten delayed by that it would have been a very bad thing. But I made it into CVS right on time, and they unloaded me quickly. Then things got a bit tricky. I had to head over to Topeka, KS, to pick up some pet food for Decatur, AL. The problem is that I got there two hours early. They told me that they were running a little behind and they probably would not get to load me until about 8:00 o'clock PM, but that's not what happened. They got me into the dock and started loading me about an hour early. I got out of there just as my appointment would have started and I could have shut down at the Loves right around the corner, but there was drama in the parking lot. So I scaled the truck and rolled on down the road, shutting down in the Kansas Turnpike Service Plaza. I was just done for the day. That puts me about 700 miles from my drop for Saturday morning and then I will be taking my reset. I already know that I'm picking up in Stevenson, AL on Monday morning at 1:00 AM and heading back to Pennsylvania. That will be tight, but I will see what I can do.
Steampunk
Photo Credits: Christopher Klein
OK, I cheated on this one a little bit because I created the base model in daz 3D, based on the Victoria model. Everything else is a construct using several different pieces of steampunk clip art and resources. I think this came out much better then the one yesterday.
Can't keep it together
The personal side of the day was pretty mundane. First thing this morning I called into school and found out that I had to pay that technology fee that I missed from December of last year and then I had to petition for graduation. I still think it's amazing that they will charge you $150 to make sure that you have done everything that they put on a checklist in the beginning and then continued to schedule. It's just another way that for profit colleges grub money. Yes I'm a little bitter about it, but I will get over it. My petition is submitted and I'm waiting for the final bill so that I can get my diploma on the way. Other than that it was a very calm day, and i got to play with my art programs. I like the way it came out. I'm still having problems with food and the girls are still having problems with power at home. The last message I got was that the power was out again and the food that they had bought to replace the food that had spoiled was now spoiled. This does not make me happy, but there is little that I can do about it from 800 miles away. I just hope that they hold it together, I will hold it together, and together we will be together. Which sounded like a drug induced monologue. I'm not holding it together. But tomorrow's another day. Right?
A better day.
Ending the Month on a good note.
June 30, 2023
Finally, a better day. An easy, nine-hour roll into Marion, IL. where I shut down at Love's. I was tired and I shut down about three hours early. But I have a plan. Since I don't have to drop until tomorrow at 2:00pm, I made a plan to rest, relax, and start out bright. I got a knock on the door about an hour after I parked, and helped another driver get into his truck. He was not a Variant driver, but that did not matter. A few minutes and we were able to use a slim-jim to break in. I am very much ready for this week, month, and tour to be over. Two of those end today, but I still have another 14 days before I hit home. Sigh.
Thank the Gods
Spending $15-$20 on food a day has been killing me. And it is not doing too well for my digestion. When I was approaching Marion, I got a wave of tired and calculated things out. I figured that I could shut down early and still make my drop. Little did I know that Lilith may have made me tired, because as I was pulling into The Hill in Marion, IL. I looked to my right and saw a Kroger. Even though it was 118F, I braved the walk over. $50 and about an hour later and I had chicken, shrimp, pork chops and enough breakfast and lunch to last for two weeks. The gods shine on me today. Time to start planning for home.
The wife did not have as good a day. But I am not sure what is going on right now, I will find out in the morning. That is one of the worst things about living on the road, I cannot be there at home when I am needed. Sigh.
I got my food, helped the driver, and was about to go take a shower when the heavens opened up and unleashed their fury. Not just a little rain, that I expected. But HAIL. And it was big, nasty hail. It even took out a few windshields, but it did not take out mine! So no worries. Instead, I drifted off to sleep. Tomorrow, I run to Decatur, AL, get unloaded, and then shut down until Monday morning. I am looking forward to it.
NOTICE
With a bit of luck, tomorrow, things will change up a bit. I have a new design for the blog and it is almost done. As long as I can stay focused, the new one should be in place tomorrow. So if thing look different, you are still in the right place. But we shall see how that works out. I still have a lot of tweaking to do. But one of the major changes, I have compleated years 1965-1975 and I have most of the rest in rough form. They are by YEAR until 2018 and then they break down monthly. One big thing that is changing is that they will be numbered UP instead of DOWN, so the new stuff will be at the bottom. I will work on putting an anchor in place for you. We shall see.