Topeka, Kansas

Topeka is where I am spending the night tonight, but how I got here is a bit of a tale. Last week I delivered the load to Strasburg, Virginia in the early morning, and then waited, and waited, then waited some more. It was finally eleven in the morning before they decided that there were no loads that could keep me going that day. Since it was a Friday, and the load that brought me there was a paid round trip, I was allowed to drive back home. I did make it home that day, but only with a half hour to spare, which means one accident or slow up along the way and I would have been sleeping on the road that night.

They tried to get me to do some short runs over the weekend, but after being ready to keep running, then ending up heading home I had already changed my mindset to things that needed doing at home. It worked out well enough.

Monday the load that they found me loaded in Perrysburg, just north or where I live. Unfortunately between the delays there and finding two holes in the roof, it took almost five hours to get the load. By that time, I decided to leave the truck the the yard long enough to go home for dinner, then headed on my way. That night I made it to Eaton, Ohio, and spent the night at the TA there attached to an Idle Aire.

Tuesday I covered quite a few miles and made it to Oak Grove, Missouri. I spent the night at the Petro, where I had a so-so dinner of chicken parmesan with the salad bar. The buffet looked good form a distance, but up close over half of it was deep fat fried, considering almost half of it was the salad portion, that was a lot of fried food.

That night around 1:30 AM there was a knock at my door, I really need to stop getting up for these knocks. Peaking out the window I found a lizard, a lot lizard, hoping to earn some money from me. I just shook my head and waved her off, not only do I need every penny, I will also never touch a lizard. She didn't look to thrilled to be out there anyway.

I had three deliveries today, starting in Belton, Missouri, the second in Olathe, Kansas, and the last here in Topeka, Kansas. By the time I was done I had spent $250.00 in lumper fees, and was finally done at 3:45PM. A lumper is a person that unloads trailers for money, most grocery warehouses have them and make it so that it is almost impossible to get unloaded with out them. Fortunately these fees are paid for by the broker or the shipper, but they are still a pain. Not to mention that one raid from Immigration would shut any one of these services down. I really doubt that any of the people besides the guy in charge is in the country legally.

Once again there was no new load for me tonight, and for some reason there are no truck stops around Topeka. So it was off to find a hotel, and I wasn't interested in looking hard, or driving far. Which brought me to a Holiday Inn with a nice large lot to park the truck in. The price for the room started out at over $80 a night, but through some negotiations on my part, the price dropped to $59 plus tax. It also came with a complementary drink and a free hot breakfast, so I definitely came out ahead. Though the only drink I had was iced tea, the food was excellent and I can't wait to try breakfast.

Check out time is noon tomorrow, so there is plenty of time for them to find me a load, and even more time for me to head to a decent truck stop if I need to.

Tonight I will just enjoy the cable in the room and relax in this really comfortable bed. The first movie tonight is The Golden Compass, and it is actually pretty good.