Matthews, Missouri: Flying J

It took the entire day, but I am out of Illinois, finally. It can take forever to get anywhere in a state that has a 55 MPH speed limit on trucks. Of course breaking free of Chicago traffic was an almost two hour task in itself.

I am almost twelve hours away from where I deliver on Wednesday, but can't get any further tonight due to bumping up against my fourteen hour limit. So I will end up having a little bit of driving to get to the final delivery after driving my eleven hours tomorrow. There were a lot of ifs that could have gotten me further than here tonight, if they had loaded me right away, if traffic wasn't horrible in Chicago, if I could have gone south instead of north to check my weight, and the final if the trailer had been water tight before I grabbed it. Though the last only took about half an hour to fix with some really expensive trailer tape and a mechanic at a TA.

Getting Rolling

Well I am off to pick up this mornings load. When I next post it will be from Missouri or Alabama, or even Mississippi, if the traffic up here isn't to bad.

I managed to get my glasses to hold together well enough with good old Elmer's glue. The super glue just wasn't working with the small surface area I had to work with. I have basically put layer after layer of Elmer's to form a blob around the break to hold it for now.

It is going to take longer than expected to find out if I can get another of the same frame, I found out this morning that the place had a death in the family. I found this out by calling next door to find out why they weren't picking up. I am going to miss seeing JP when I next go to John P Lynch Opticians to get my frames. I just saw him a few weeks ago to get my glasses adjusted, hard to believe that now he is gone. The funeral is today, he will be missed.

Deerfield, Illinois: George's Whats Cooking

George's Whats Cooking is where I ate dinner tonight. The front desk had some 10% off coupons, and it was a short walk from the hotel, making my decision to eat there easy. I usually hit restaurants around four in the afternoon when crashing at hotels. This lets me combine lunch and dinner into one meal, lunner or maybe lupper (spell check hates both versions). It looked like a fairly popular spot since the lot was packed last night when I pulled in.

Anyway there were only two tables taken when I got there, and as I ate my salad it became apparent that I had found the local equivalent of Millers Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. We used to go there when I was growing up, but Millers is no longer there and the similarities were amazing. Not only the selection of food and friendly atmosphere, but the fact that I was the youngest person there besides the staff. If you counted just the patrons I think the average age was around seventy.

The food was really good, and the portions were astounding. To start they brought out a basket of rolls, and they didn't give me less for just being one person. I could have just eaten all that bread and had a meal, not to mention the layer of saltines and other crackers supporting the bread in the basket. The salad was normal sized, but my chicken parmesan came with three chicken breasts, as well as two vegetables. I definitely should have gotten the smaller sized dish for a few dollars less, but big plate and slightly smaller plate means nothing until one eats there. I think that if Tisha was eating with me that one plate would have fed us both just fine.

Now one of the vegetables was something that I was unfamiliar with, but tried, and it was really good. When I asked the waitress what it was, she said it was a sweet potato. My response, but I hate sweet potatoes. She had no idea how they cooked it, but it was obviously peeled and baked. So I think I will have to try some recipes when I am home to see if I can recreate the edible sweet potato.

After dinner I went for a walk along the strip mall next door. A feeble attempt to get some exercise after laying in bed watching movies online all day. I blame the rain for not letting me out sooner. At the very end was a local grocery store, where I picked up some tape and another type of glue, since the super glue just doesn't seem to be working out. As I walked in there was a sign on the door advertising shots at the pharmacy, shots of what I don't know, but I was hoping tequila. I was greatly disappointed that they were closed already. As I was checking out the first question the cashier asked me was if I had one of their discount cards, of course the answer was nope. When he asked if I wanted to sign up for one I replied nope again, and that I doubt I would be back any time soon. This cashier and another couldn't seem to get enough of my hat though. Both seemed to really like it, kept saying that this part of the store was there little Texas, obviously an inside joke somewhere in there, but still humorous.

Anyway, back to wasting time online, and hopefully my next attempt at repair will be more successful.

Deerfield, Illinois: Red Roof Inn

It is still raining here, and the super glue only partially worked. I will try a bit more when I actually get out of bed and stop watching Netflix online. The funny part is that there is a movie sitting at home that i wanted to see, but since I haven't been home I can't. Between Tisha and I the online viewing is definitely getting a work out though. That alone is worth the monthly $8.99 (plus tax).

Nothing else going on, just being lazy.

Deerfield, Illinois: Red Roof Inn

Today started out well enough, laying in bed watching episodes of Ghost in the Machine Stand Alone Complex, then I decided to clean my glasses. I did nothing new or different, simply held them under running water, then grabbed a clean towel to dry them off. The result of this was very different than the usual clean glasses though, today I ended up with them in two pieces. My glasses had broken right where the bridge over the nose meets the frame around the lens. So now I have something that could be fixed with tape, back when the frames were more substantial than a thin wire. Now if I tried tape I would end up covering part of the right lens. So instead I am trying super glue. I got it to stick well enough to be able to move them as one piece, so now I am hopefully strengthening the bond by covering the gap with another layer of glue. I might do it one more time before I try and wear them. I hope this works because I really want to take my contacts out, but I also want to see as well, quite the quandary.

Hopefully this frame is still being made, so I can just order a new one from J.P., my optician. If not, I will have to get in for an eye exam so that whatever new glasses I get are with an up to date prescription. The fun part is getting in to get this done, I am hoping that if I need an exam I can get an appointment in two Mondays. I should be back from Houston by then, and will be able to delay leaving out on a run for a day to get my eyes checked.

This afternoon I spent my time shuttling trailers from our Gary yard to a new account in Le Porte, Indiana. It really didn't take long to go back and forth between the two places, and I was able to stop at a Walmart while bobtailing back to the yard the second time to pick up some super glue, and food for another week out. Then I grabbed a light trailer and headed up to here for the rest of the weekend. The hotel is about a half hours drive away from where I am supposed to pick up on Monday. I am glad I came up here tonight, the drive from Gary took forever with all the traffic. I shudder to even consider how bad it would be to try and make the drive on Monday morning.

I also tracked down a local laundry that I wash my clothes at tomorrow. It will be cheaper to do it there than to wait and do it at a truck stop later in the week.

The rest of tonight will be spent chilling online and watch tv, while crossing my fingers that I will be able to fix my glasses some how.

Hoffman Estates, Illinois: Red Roof Inn

Today was definitely a long one, I woke up at about 1:30 in the morning and was rolling out of Effingham, Illinois, by 2:45. Around three and a half hours later I rolled into the yard in Gary, dropped my trailer, picked up an empty and fueled the truck. At 7:30 I was backing into the dock to pick up my load of beer and it was a heavy one, 45,ooo pounds. Finished loading at 9:45 and off towards Rockford to deliver. I stopped for lunch along the way at one of the rest areas along I-90, in Illinois they are called an Oasis and usually are built over the highway to share the facilities with both sides of the highway. At noon I was backing into the dock at the beer distributor and by one I was empty and hanging out in an empty lot to find out what I was going to do next. I rolled into the hotel at 4:15, and for some reason am still up. The nap after unloading must be keeping me going right now.

I knew I would end up in a hotel tonight, and here I am, hanging out in another Red Roof Inn. Unfortunately I will not be making it home this weekend. They were unable to find me anything going in the right direction, since I was unloading at noon on a Friday, I wasn't really counting on anything anyway. There is good news though, I will be heading down to Houston, Texas, for a delivery on Wednesday. So once again I will get some good miles in, which will be two weeks in a row. Tomorrow I will be shuttling some trailers out of our Gary, Indiana, yard. There is a new account hauling furniture starting up next week and they want to get some trailers staged for them to load. So my weekend will be slightly better than just layover pay, but not by a whole lot.

I haven't decided where I will stay at for Saturday and Sunday night, but I do know it will be in a hotel, and I will probably track down a laundry mat to get my stuff done at a lower price than at a truck stop. So while my parents hang in Vegas this weekend, I get to wander the Chicago area. I think they are having more fun.

Effingham, Illinois: Petro

Well I either convinced my dispatcher that the relay was silly, or I bugged her enough that she made it so I could run it all the way to our yard in Gary, Indiana. Either way I will be taking this load all the way to the yard, then I get to track down an empty to load up for a beer run:

B-double E double R U-N beer run

B-double E double R U-N beer run

all we need is a ten and five-er,

a car and key and a sober driver.

B-double E double R U-N beer run

-Todd Snider Beer Run

We have a new account hauling beer out of Hodgkins, Illinois, to where ever they need it taken. In my case I will be going to Rockford, Illinois. It isn't a huge distance, but it is paid, and that is what is important.

Tonight's dinner is from the Iron Skillet here at the Petro, of course. I decided to eat off the buffet tonight, a decision made easier by the fact that they were going to be having steak and shrimp on the bar. Unfortunately the first two steaks I grabbed were done, well weren't done. They were basically seared on the outside and raw in the middle, I didn't test to see if the center was even warm, but there was no way I was eating them. So I grabbed two from another bin that were done well, well over done, but at least they were cooked all the way through.

Tomorrow will be an early one, just to make certain I can get to Gary in plenty of time for my eight AM pick-up. It really is not good to be late on this, and with the fighting of Chicago traffic it will be a lot of fun I am sure.