The first day of April went pretty well. I did not get the onslaught of jokes in my inbox or social media streams. I guess people have figured out that the world is messed up enough without them going for shock value. Not bad people, not bad at all.

Kinda boring

All things considered, it was a pretty boring day. I had a pickup and drop, and they both went well. I even got a trailer coming out of Hagerstown, MD. I shot up the road to the Shippensburg terminal and shut down for the night. Interesting thing, and something new. The guard made me stop to look in the back of my empty trailer to make sure it was empty. That was weird.

The sleep thing

I have not been sleeping well lately. This crap from work has been running through my mind. I would really like to hit my target miles, but things just keep happening that stops it. Long docks on both ends, long waits between runs. All more of the same. I really hope it irons itself out here soon. We have been losing a lot of drivers, but we still have a lot coming in as well. Hmmm.

I am finally back to rolling hard back to back. I left Shippensburg, PA and headed to West Virginia, then all the way to Greenfield, IN before I had to shut down. So a full day of work, and I get to repeat that again tomorrow.

Musings

I have been really down lately with lethargia and little drive. It has improved a bit, but not a lot. I shut down and I want to go right to sleep, regardless of how much time I have or don't have. I really have to get out of that mode. It does not help that I am back to having the bad dreams. But I know what that is. I really want to get the Colorado move into motion, but my hands are tied. Every time it looks like things are looking up, it is another slap in the face. It really is annoying

Dancing with the muse

As long as we are on muses, and drive, I finally got the gumption to get things back into work. I really need to get Lilith and Osparia out of the land of Nod and into modern times. I spent the time to re-read the Eden scene and made notes for about 100 edits. Sigh, I really should not re-read. But I am going to flesh those out and then call it down and move on. Fun times.

Not a terrible day. I went eight hours into Springfield MO and then it was down for 15 hours. Normally, this would be a problem, but it let me get my paper done and submitted. Not sure how I did on this one though. I guess we will find out soon.

The end of the work week.

The work week ended a lot better than I expected. I hit between 2200 and 2300 miles for the week. Not the goal average, but a lot closer than I expected.

The ladies

I got about half of my edits done and I am almost ready to bring Lilith and Osparia out of Nod and move into modern times with the rise of the Fae. It is coming together, but we will see where things go from here. I abandoned the original storyline because it was very weak and did not make sense. But I have a better one now.

J'ai commence Springfield MO, j'ai repris rapidement et je suis retourné vers l'est vers l'Ohio

Oops, sorry about that. I started out in Springfield MO, picked up quickly, and headed back East toward Ohio. I got caught up in the moment picking up at French's. I have a full truckload of hot sauce. This is becomming a habit. I pulled a full truckload of hot sauce out of Texas just two weeks ago. In fact, I think this is going to the same Walmart DC. They love them some hot sauce.

That break I mentioned

I should be able to roll into the Walmart DC early in the morning and then take a 34 hour reset in Springfield OH. That will put about 600 miles under my tires working with a fresh restart. So maybe I will hit my goal this week. I have serious plans for my break. One of the things that I am concentrating on is not getting stuck in a time-suck on my downtime. I could hit the terminal, but I have some restocking to do on the truck, so I will shoot for teh Love's. I should get there at a decent time to get parking.

I got my butt up and in motion, even though my sleep was horrible, and almost non-existant. I was not even really tired. But I was tired enough that I, for almost a day, did not realize that I was running a day out of sync with the world. I was expecting to hit Walmart in Locust Grove this morning, and then shut down for 34. That would have been a big mistake, and a service failure because Walmart does not allow early deliveries. And I would have been a DAY ahead of the appointment. They gave me a run with a built in 34-reset and I did not even notice it. Luckily, I did before I pulled in. I still shut down in Springfield, OH, but before I dropped, instead of after. I pulled that one out of the fire. That would have been very embarrassing.

So, what did I do?

I shut down my hotspot and connected to Love's WiFi and turned on the RoKu. I rolled ambiant music all day while I cleaned and organized the truck, worked on my books, did school, and of course, caught up the blogs. I did take two short naps and ate too much. I ate two of my truck meals and got a Wendy's Honey Hot chicken sandwich and baked potato. I did not get caught up rolling movies or TV series, so I am feeling pretty good about it, and I still have the better part of a day to go.

A dark and rainy day, but that is okay because I slept well and then got up and into motion. I started the day with a decent breakfast and then on to catching things up. I got my priorities into place and got school all caught up, and then it was on to the fun stuff.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Or does the cat get you? Find out with the new story, Sasaquan now available on the Author Page. It is a five minute journey of intrique, and Jinn's first try at audio. I think she did well. Now you know why the murder mittens are at the top of today. Not to give you forshadowing, but there is a kitty in the story.

The rest of the day

After I got everything done, double and triple checked my list, it was time to relax. One more meal and then off to bed. Then it was back up and in motion right on time. Today will bleed into tomorrow, because the fun stuff begins

Okay, first the updates. This is the one that bleeds from yesterday into today because it was go go gadget driver. And that term became more relevant, as you can see above, more on that later in the blog.
Last night, I hit the road right on time and pumped my little butt hard to get to Walmart and drop off. I hit the guard shack with another V-Truck in front of me. The guard told me that there was ONE empty on the lot, and it was a knock down, drag out, between me and the other driver. I got dropped just as he did. He went right, I went left. The empty trailer was, you guessed it, to the left. He was not happy and felt that I should give him the trailer. I declined his request. I am not in the mood to play right now, and running around Grove City, OH, looking for an Empty at 9:00 at night did not sound like fun. So off I went. I picked up 30 miles down the road, and then I was off to Indianapolis. I was not happy about the puddle jumper, but it is stacked miles, so whoop, there I went. I got loaded up, scaled, and I was off. A few hours up the road, dropped off, and found another empty trailer parked back in the woods. It had been there for a while because, according to the guard, no one could find it. I found it, hooked to it, and up the road again. This time for Chicago. But I was way too short on my 14 hour timer. I had to shut down about two hours away in the Wolcott, IN. rest area. I was tired.

Now, as to Gaia and her sledgehammer

Every month, I keep a journal. At the end of the month, I have a series of things that I fill out, including a chart of my accomplishments. To be quite blunt, my accomplishments for last month, SUCKED. I got to fill in almost none of my pie. It made me sad. For the most part, on my off time, I sat on my butt and stared out the window, doing little or nothing beyond what I had to do. So this month, that is going to change. I popped out my TODO and WANT lists and took a flip through them. I have a lot of things that I want to get done, and I wasted a month.

Those that know me, know me well...

If you know me, you know that my faith is Enochian. Yep, ultra-dimensional beings that I can talk to, and talk back. Psychosis? Nah, psychology. Enochians understand the the response of the Aythers, the pseudo-beings of the faith, are a reflection of the Freudian ego and super-ego of the self. So basically, I talk to myself. The Aythers simply represent the energy of the Universe and our ability to maniplate that energy. It has been a very long time since I sat down and spoke to the Aythers, aka, myself. So I did so at the end of yesterday. They (me) reprimanded myself for ignoring them (myself). And promised a boon for my reconnection. Now, remember, communication with the Aythers is one of the ways that we Enochians manipulate the world around us. Think of it changing the chances of an event taking place. Kind of like putting in the fix on a professional boxing match. The picture above is my boon for reconnection. One of the things on my list is to fill in a gap of knowledge in my social media operations. In other words, Vlogging. Vlogging is Video-Blogging. But it requires specialized devices. Those devices are expensive. Unless you wander into a Love's at 2:00 in the morning as they are marking the $69.00 sets down to $2.00 and you happen to have at least $2.00 in Love's points on your card. And now, I have a Vlogging setup. The mic and light work, and the pistol grip/tripod is of decent design. Now I just have to figure out how to use the damn thing. The universe is a funny place.

More to come

Going through my journals and blogs, I noticed that I tend to go days without posts, then blast-post things back to back. And I get nasty emails and instant messages making sure I am alive. So I am going to try to get into the habit of doing the blog posts daily, even if they are incomplete like today. I am putting this first one up early in the (work) day, but there is still a lot of day ahead. So there will be more added. So if you follow me, you might want to pay attention, they may change day-to-day.

First, I will finalize yesterday. The rest of the day was uneventful, except for a little drama at the dock when no one was there. I mean that there was no one in shipping, no one in the warehouse. No one anywhere. It was kinda spooky. But I finally found them, they were between shifts, and got loaded up. I don't have nearly as much time as I was supposed to have so instead of a leisurly run, I have to put the peddle to the metal and roll on with my bad self.

Another rainy day

Last night, I shut down in a truck rest area in Indiana. You gotta hand it to Indiana, they took some big tracts of land, paved them over, and call them truck parking areas. Damn things hold a couple of a hundred trucks and all they have is two trash dumpsters. But it is a nice quiet place to shut down. Other states should do this. And the best thing is that this morning, once the sun was up, I could see the entire lot, and the drivers appear to take care of it. There is not trash all over the place. Very nice.

Rain Rain...

I feel like I am in some kind of Twilight zone episode where I have been plunged into a world that will not stop raining. I think that this is day three or four with full cloud cover and either rain or sleet constantly. It really is annoying.

Anywho...

I got my butt up and in motion. I left the truck parking area and hit the Love's about an hour away to stock up on coffee and tea. I had to scale and fuel while I was there, and I am running tight on time, so I did not have time to stock up on Water, Bread, and milk. I have to remember to do that tomorrow. I am out of two of the three of them. Oye, life on the road.

Hollywood is calling

I got a text from the other Miranda, the one in charge of publicity for the full ride program. I am going to be routed to Tunnle Hill on the 20th to do a video for the full ride education for Variant. Look at me folks, my 15 minutes of fame. Isn't that fun? Of course that puts me in Tunnel Hill with the big dogs...I wonder if they want to rethink this before they put me in a place where they can't put me off. Hmmm

Ending the day

I rolled into PA and hit a rest area in the afternoon. not a terrible little place. It puts me about three hours from my Live-unload in Hazelton and I should hit there just in time (JIT) even if I stop for coffee and tea while I am inbound. I am about halfway through Bloody Bones by Laurel K. Hamilton, and I have a bit of school to catch up on. We had some fun, the wife and I, working as a team on the mortgage insurance, and got a reduction of about $3300 a year. Go us!!! And then it was time to get some sleep. Fun times.

I was up with plenty of time to get my butt into motion. I started the day with oatmeal, toast, manderin oranges and columnbian. No meat this morning because I was not in the mood, either to cook it, or eat it. I worked the blogs, and updated school before I rolled on. The rain continues. It is really getting on my nerves at this point.

Feeling a bit better

The rest of the day was fine, everything is fine. I rolled and shut down a bit earlier than I had to so that I could get into a Love's for the night. I shut down in Hagerstown, MD so that I could get a shower in the morning before I head out. I could not get right to sleep, but it is all good.

I got my butt up and in motion and grabbed a shower and breakfast. Not a terrible start to the day, or so I thought. Then it was time to pull out of the Love's. Hmmm, that is not nearly as easy to do as it should be when someone is parked about 50 ft in front of me, and my 72 foot tractor and trailer are trying to get out. It was me and a couple of others. I did not know that others had banged on his cab and pissed him off. So I banged on his cab as well. Three times, no response, and I was headed back to my truck to weigh my options. I felt the hand, grabbed my shoulder and SPUN me around. Yeap, enough force to spin me. Put a Tazer in my chest, but luckily did not pull the switch. He had a nice firearm on his belt and was going to educate me on waking up drivers that need their beauty rest. I stayed calm, and I think that it freaked him out. I made a very idel threat and he backed away from an unarmed man with his hands above his head. ROFL. I don't get it. But he was moved, especially when the ole police showed up and educated him on the law. Only delayed me by about a half an hour.

Into North Carolina

Even with the delay, I hit my drop point 10 minutes earlier than scheduled, Go me! They did not have anything else for me, so it was supposed to be down until morning. Later in the day, they found a Bridgestone tire run for me, and it was down for sleep and then intention of getting back on the road right after midnight. Luckily, I had taken a cat nap, so all should be good.

Okay, that was funny, but not really funny. I think that I may be tired. Roll - bread.. see what I did there?

Anyway

And the tires cometh. I got a short break and then headed over to Bridgestone Tires and picked up a load headed for the St. Louis area. Not a terrible run, with the empty miles from South Carolina, it is almost 1000 miles. I will take it. I ran my tushy off and rolled into the terminal in Tunnle Hill for a break. I could not sleep, so I got my wash done and was ready to roll right on time. Not a terrible day, but only five hours of sleep prepping for a 10 hour run into St. Louie! Fun times.

Causing trouble

So, a bit political here, but still fun as hell. Mr. Orange man has suggested that he MAY run for "re-election". I find that funny as hell. 22nd amendment ya'all. Trump still has not admitted that he lost the 2020 election. So, if he wants to run, then I feel that he should do an interview and state to the American people that he was WRONG and he actually lost to Joe Biden. Or he can retract his suggestions that he is going to run for President again. Simple as that. If he won, then he can't run again. If he lost, then he should man up and admit it. Putz.

Okay, a bit mean

I admit it, I am tired of people. In my short life, I have never seen so many people that are out of touch with reality. It is becoming difficult to deal with these people. I, personally, just want to get to Colorado, set up a nice self-sustaining property, and live out the rest of my life with the love of my life, and of course, the cats.

Nah, it is. They hit me with a pre-plan that picked up before my reset was complete, but I talked to them and it is good if I go in a bit late for it and pick it up. I have time on it because it does not have to be in Iowa, about 375 miles away, until 700am on Thursday. I have plenty of time.

The day

I don't have a lot to do for school, so I did some photoshop lessons, messed with my camera and got it working again, played some sax, did some E-hacking lessons and some Udemy lessons, then I finally hit Zenva to finish out the day. Now my head is full. Isn't that fun?

Relaxation

Since I am not pressed for time, I took the time to meditate and relax as well. I was going to draw a bit too, but I never got around to it. Basically, a calm and relaxing day.

It was a cold and rainy day, so I spent a lot of it sleeping because I have to drive all night. I double checked class, and all is caught up now. I have nothing left but a few responses and then two more discussions and my final paper. Nearing the end.

The Interview

I received the questions for the interview on the 20th, and it should not be a problem. They are very basic. Nothing to whip people into a frenzy. Shrugs. I guess they know what they are doing. We shall see. They will plan me into Georgia for the interview and we shall see what happens.

A sabo in the gears

I got out of the Love's after I fueled and hit the pickup with no issues. Until I pulled out. I could not pressurize the rear, so I had no way to slide my tandems. Sigh. So a couple hours by the side of the road waiting for service. Then it got worse. To be continued tomorrow.

So, that was amusing. Last night, Jose got out here and replaced the valve on the tandems of the trailer. And that did not fix the problem. They spent about two hours on the issue, but no fire. They finally gave up and told me that they would call the issue in. The final resolution was that breakdown authorized the replacement of the rear tank and everything connected to it. Come morning, I called in to find out that they could not get back out to me until late this afternoon. I bit the bullet and limped over to the TA about 12 miles down the road. They were able to fix the issue by replacing the correct valuve. It took about two hours and then I was on my way.

Annoyance

I requsted a new drop appointment because I could not make the current appointment. I was eight hours away and did not get a new appointment before I arrived. I was able to use my communication skills and talk myself into the dock. It took about three hours to get unloaded, and then I got my pre-assignment and dispatch. Headed out to California. Joy. I had to do a little dance with Miranda and reschedule the video filming. We will work on that when I get back into the area.

The end of the day

By the time I got out of the Menard dock, I was running very low on time and had limited options. There was a Love's, but it was very full, and then some. Not many other options. I wound up on an off-ramp for the night. Against company policy, but I was out of options. It was very quiet though. A quick meal, then down for the night. Tomorrow is another day, and about 1500 miles to Apple Valley, CA once I get loaded.

Shorties are coming. The next couple of days will be short entries because I have to run back to back to hit Cali early. With a bit of luck, I can get to Walmart in Apple Valley and get unloaded then out of the state. If you are going through hell, you should keep on moving, because you might get through before the devil realizes that you are there.

I may be headed to Hell, aka California, but I get to go through heaven to get there. I spent a lot of the day rolling through Colorado. It is beautiful country, even if I am rolling through the North. It actually makes me homesick, even though it has not yet, been my home.
The traffic was good, the people were friendly, and it was a solid ride all the way through with no slowdowns. A total of nine driving hours before I shut down. I did not want to leave. I shut down in Grand Junction, just before the Nevada border, so I got to spend the night in Colorado.

I overslept, just a little bit. I left Colorado and rolled through Nevada and Utah, into California. It was a nail-biting hard ride fighting the clock. I really wanted to make it to Barstow, but that was not to be. I had to shut down in Yerma, about 15 minutes short, in a nasty little pseudo-pilot. I was going to grab a meal because I am running low on truck food, and there were a few resturants around, but they were one hell of a walk in 106F heat. All that the pilot had was a subway and a Dairy queen. I decided that I would break down and eat there, either one, until I saw a rat the size of a small puppy. Instead, it was time for some fish. Another meal down. I have to make sure to make 42 instead of 38 on the next time out. That would give me a better buffer. But at least it was quiet, so I shut down, closed my curtains, and then slept 10 hours. I really needed it.

A side-note

I have been told that the kiddos rearranged the living room at home. I can't wait to see it. We have been there seven years now, and nothing has changed in that time, for the most part. In theory, we are about 15 months of move time. Time is fleeting, and that is only a bit over a year. When I finished up school for the week, I checked my progress and my potential graduation is June of 2023. That is only 14 months away. I can't leave Variant until I actually have my sheepskin, so that means about 17 months from now. It is getting close.

I left out of Yerma right when I expected to and rolled into Walmart right on the dot. They were impressive. It took me longer to check in through the guardshack, back into the dock, and go to the receiving office than it did for them to unload me. I had not even turned the engine off when they called me and told me I was done. Fast system there in Apple Valley. Very professional.

Then the slow

I got my next dispatch immediately and rolled over to San Bernadnio to Cooper tires. The drive of 55 miles took almost 90 minutes because of slow downs on the pass. People are terrified of that hill. Cooper got me right into a dock, but there was a small mistake on the dispatch. I was told that I had a 1000am PDT appointment, it was actually 1100am PDT. No biggie. But they are a slow dock. I had my big meal for the day. My last Chicken with Brussels. If things hold as they are, I will probably do a shutdown for 34 after I drop in Denver the day after tomorrow. We shall see.

The Dock from hell

So, Cooper was not that great. Six hours from beginning to end, but I really can't blame the dock. They are seriously short-staffed. And those that were working the dock looked very inexperienced. The dockmaster apologized for the time, but it was out of his control. There were about 12 of us sitting there waiting, and some of the others were going back in to "check their progress" every 15 minutes. The dockmaster kept his patience. I was pretty impressed.

Headed out of Cali

Once I was loaded, my fuel stop was about an hour away in Barstow. I made it there, got fuel, bought a NASTY Godfather pizza and managed to get a parking spot as well. They have really changed the area since last time I was here. There used to be a dinky little off-lot with about six parking spaces. They opened up the desert and now they can get an additional 120 or so trucks in. Good for them.

A funny

Oh, and just for fun, I have added Duolingo to my daily nibbles of things to do. But why it is funny, i that I have it set to French. Yep, gonna embrace the frog within. Laugh with me folks

Or is it a nightmare? I really don't like California. Everything is expensive. People are just angry, and it smells funny. And people dream of coming here. Weird.

Time to roll East

I am very tired, but I am rolling back toward Colorado, and then it should be time for a 34-hour reset and whatever the future brings.

I am not sure if today was a positive or a negative day. I got my butt up and in motion right on time and then looked at my trouck GPS. I figured that I was about six hours out of Denver and my drop. The Truck GPS did not agree, putting me close to 10 hours out, which would put me a few hours late for a live unload. I took about 20 minutes and double checked to see what was going on. The truck GPS had me jumping off of I-70 in Colorado right after the Colorado - Utah state line, heading North about 90 minutes, running East, then dropping back down on I-70. I figured that it saw something I didn't. Accident? Snow? Closed Roads? Nope, I checked with my OverDryve GPS and Google Maps, both said that it was clear running. So I kicked the tired and lit the fires, and did my own thing. So, I did my own thing, ignored the routing and shot across I-70. It was clear all the way across, five and a half hours, just like I thought and I hit the dock an hour early. Then the annoyances began.

The drop is where?

Once I got past the suggested detour and was back on route, the truck GPS took me right to the facility in Denver. That would have been good, except for they gave me the address, but not the building in the complex. And there were no signs on any of them. The CSR and Operations did not have an answer, So it was door knocking. It took about half an hour, but I found the dock, still early. Yeah! In the dock, so things get better, Right?

Wrong

When I got this load of tires loaded back in Cali, it took them six hours to load it because they were short-handed and a very slow dock. The same thing happened on the recieving end. Six hour to hand-unload about 1000 tires. Oye. I kept my cool, waited patiently, and watched the clock tick the time away.

Finally clear

I was out of the dock and ready to roll, but short on hours. I had my sites set on Bennett CO about 30 minutes away. Then I talked to the wife. She tripped my memory of being stuck outside Denver almost a year ago today. I was in a Love's in Bennett, went to the King Sooper (this areas version of Kroger), and the guy in the truck next to me died in his sleep. That Love's sucked. Thank the gods for her memory - I reset my sights on Hudson CO. I got into the Love's, grabbing the last available space, then headed over to Ben's Brick Oven Pizza for my break meal. Calzone, hot wings, and a nice Ceasar Salad. I got two meals out of it, and the wings kinda sucked, but the Calzone and Salad were awesome, especially since I added anchovies to the Salad. Booshi? Me? Yeah, probably.
34-hour reset time! Yeah

The past five weeks have been rough. I have not been able to get time on my side, so I have been rolling hard constantly with no extra time to concentrate on school. I have been able to keep my head above water with the discussion groups, but I have not had any time to get my final paper done. So today was all concentrating on the paper. It took all day, but I got it completed and submitted, then relaxed.

Almost over

I sent a message to operations for a pre-assignment. I had a run back to California scheduled, but it was removed. By the time I went to bed, I did not have an update. Tomorrow is another day.

Self-reflection

I have been more moody this tour than I have been previously. Being in Colorado has made me a bit home-sick for a home that I have never lived in. Granted, I have been running through Northern Colorado, but the feeling is still there. Weird huh? It comes down to money. I really have to sit back and figure things out. We have been pretty lucky with the Memphis property, and Variant has been pretty much okay lately, even with the little annoyances, but there has to be something that will advance our plans. Being on my 34-break, I was able to sit and look at TIME. I realized that I am about 14 months from graduation, and that is the keypoint for things going into motion. For some reason, I have been thinking it is about 17 months, time makes fools of us all I guess.

Okay, let the weirdness begin. I did not sleep great, and my break was over and I was still sleeping. I had my radio set all the way up so that I would hear any dispatch. But there wasn't one. I gave it three hours, got a shower, ate, double checked everything, and nada! So I set a message of to Operations, and the planners jumped right on it. A pickup in Kansas City, KS headed over to Ohio. Wait a minute, I am in Hudson, CO. Kansas City is 600 miles away. So I confirmed it. Yep, that is the run. 1200 miles, but half of it is empty. It picks up tomorrow morning around 0900 hours. Okay then, I can do that, but no rush...

I rolled into Kellogs and just as I pulled up, I realized that I had been here before. And it is not the greatest site in the world. When things go right, they are quick and professional, but when they don't go right.. Yeah, things did not go right. The pre-loaded trailer, wasn't, and I had to wait four hours while they loaded my trailer and sent me on down the road.

Blue Skies

The contant and persistant rain and overcast skies is finally over. Of course, that would happen when I am driving East, into the sun, but I will take what I can get. Once I was loaded and hooked, it was a soft Roll until I hit a rest area in Highland, IL. That puts me about six hours from my drop in the morning. I am ready for this week to be over and to get home.

Weird dreams

I dreamed that I was eating really bad Chinese food in a mall with Lucy Lawless, while she was talking to my wife on the phone. I have no idea what they were talking about, but Lucy kept looking at me and giggling. That is disturbing.

I am combining two days here because they have been virtually uneventful. That is mostly due to "the stack". Variant has removed the optimizer for a short time while they work on the programming to "improve it". Sadly, that means that the humans are in charge, and they are keeping me stacked. Normally, that would be really good, except that they are stacking me in ways that are challenging, to say the least. They are sending me into pickups wtih well under two hours on my clock for a live load.

Today

Today was actually a bit rough. on the 24th, I got word that Kevin and Rusty were killed in a car accident. Scott from Maine sent me a message. These three were my "Friends" for lack of a better word in 1983-1985 while I was in the military. I have blocked that part of my life and I thought that I liked it that way. But it may be time to deal with it. Sigh.

The dock from hell

I had to pick up at Pratt paper. The place is NOT driver friendly. It is a tight set of docks, that require a blindside, with multiple obstacles and limited areas. The only interesting thing was I got to meet an honest to gods Russian bride. While I was waiting in line for a dock, she was in the truck ahead, with the responsiblity of waiting while her "husband" took a nap. I talked to herfor a while, and I am really conflicted. On one hand, she was SOLD by her family, she is 26 and "daddy" is my age. But on the other hand, she is cared for and "tolerates" her life. Oye.

Ariana Grande and her girls may roll side-to-side, but I roll back to back. And for these three days leading up to hometime tomorrow, I have been rolling non-stop through the Northeast. I had one of the best weeks in miles that I have had in a very long time. About 2800 miles for the week. I finally ended up, with only moments to spare, back in Olive Branch. The Tablet system is down, so I am not sure how close I got. Oye.

Nightmare of Nightmares

I have no idea why this bothers me so much, but the great orange leader of the rethuglican party is coming to Memphis in June, and there are billboards plastered all of the city. I find these offensive. I just can't get it in me to let it go. The "Republican Dream Team" is tearing this country apart, and they have their golden idol at the head, not even touching on the irony of the situation. Golden idol - Golden Calf. Get it?

Not political but interesting

So, Elon Musk bought Twitter. Oye vey, I am just going to keep my mouth shut on this one. I can't help but wonder if having too much money is a corruption of the soul? Hmmm

Oh well

Well, I am in the terminal and relaxing. I was going to do laundry, but there is a quite a line for the limited machines. I got home about 16 hours early, but I was not going to inconvenience Momma or the kiddos to come get me. But I am going to do my Monday stuff before getting picked up in the morning, and I am going to catch a few shows before I head off to bed. It is nice to be home.

Getting to the yard and getting home are two completely different things. I was up and in motion early and finished up cleaning up the truck. It is ready to roll when I hit the road again on Monday, so that will save time. I did get most of my laundry finished up and then Laura came and got me after Crossing Guard. Then home-time. Yee Haw.

Ahh Mundania

It is amazing how the mundane can be special when you lack the mundane. After Laura picked me up, we picked up my new glasses, hit Sam's club, then it was home for a little light cooking and relaxing. All in all, a pretty relaxing day. My mood is not the greatest though, and I am really hoping that gives and things come into line. Tomorrow, we get to see the Van Gogh exhibit down at Graceland, and though I am not looking forward to Graceland itself, I am looking forward to the exhibit. Will it hold up to the legend of the wildman? We shall see.

I guess I will point out that the new month is here, so if you are looking for May, find it at The Month of May
I started out the morning cooking like crazy. I don't want to cut myself short like I did this last time. I need fourty meals, but I have to have diversity as well. It would be great to have fourty lobster tails with drawn butter, but man that would get boring by about day three. Know what I mean?

Ah Vincent

I do not think that Graceland, and the tour, did justice to Vincent Van Gogh. The exhibit, advertised as a total immersion experience, was a walkthrough of four anti-rooms with quotes right out of an art history book. Then a small "waterfall" room, which was just a mild projection of squiggles on the wall and floor. The patterned rug on the floor took away from the experience. Finally, the "immersion" part of the exibit was a projection room with the works of Van Gogh on a 35 minute loop. There were some cute effects, but I believe that the creators of the exhibit need to look up the term "total immersion". It was nice, but it was not all that, and it was not worth the high price. Since I like the Wildman, I will forgive them.

Camera Woes

So, both cameras bit the big one again. It is like anytime that I try to take a picture, they break. I am going to carry them one more tour on the truck, and then I may just give up. It is no longer a pleasure, and is just becoming a frustration. Granted, the damn things are old, but still. My Nikon Film camera was from the year I was born, it it was still going strong when I retired it. They just don't make them like they used to.