Happy Birthday To... Me!

Once again my work day started at 3:30 am, and ended at 4:30 this afternoon. I managed to do 644 miles today despite some snow and traffic issues. Tonight I am in Port Jervis, New York, a quaint little town just over the border from Pennsylvania on I-84.

Do you remember me telling you about how difficult it is to find truck parking in the North East? Well, I should have stopped back at Scranton, Pennsylvania where I could have guaranteed myself a parking spot at the Petro truck stop. But I was greedy and wanted to get another 70 miles closer to my destination if possible. We are expecting another major snow storm in here tonight, and I was convinced I would be better off the further I got away from those mountains around Scranton. So I took a big gamble, knowing that parking was very limited once I got past Scranton, and came over here to Port Jervis, kind of like the bear who “went over the mountain to see what he could see”. While it would have been more prudent to just stop at Scranton, I did get blessed with a parking spot at a Valero Truck stop here in Port Jervis. I'm going to say that this was nothing short of miraculous because they only have four parking spots at this truck stop and when I pulled in here there were three trucks parked in the parking area and about eight trucks trying to get fuel at the fuel islands. I just rolled right into the parking lot, set myself up, and backed her in the one remaining spot available! Look at that, I couldn't have planned it any better than this – hopefully I can continue on to my destination tomorrow if the snow is not too bad.

Port Jervis is a very old settlement, established around 1690 by Indians. Here's the sign that welcomes you to the little town. This sign is out on the road in front of a Swim Wear manufacturing facility which had a banner out on the front of the building, just barely visible above the piled up snow, advertising an inventory reduction sale going on right now. I didn't take a picture of that, but it really struck me as comical!

I usually try to take a walk when I finish my day if possible – this job requires a tremendous amount of concentration, but it also entails a great deal of sitting which I think is unhealthy. So as I was walking around the town I came upon this little diner:

Now, I'm kind of dieting, and I have usually been just having a “slim-fast” drink for my evening meal. I guess with it being my birthday, and the lure of discovering an interesting little diner tucked away here in this intriguing little town, I succumbed to the temptation to treat myself. My meal started out with this unexpected piece of homemade bread that was brought to me with more than ample amounts of fresh butter to spread on it. Also check out that cream soda I'm drinking – it is a Boylan's brand, locally famous for their sodas made with real “cane sugar” instead of fructose syrup. The Boylan bottling company was established in New York city in 1891, and they are still famous here in these parts.

Then my entree consisted of this economical “flat-iron” steak smothered with grilled bell peppers, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese; accompanied by a baked potato and some green beans – Delicious!

I hope the weather will not be as bad as the false prophets are declaring, but I'll just have to wait and see. I'm going to hit the sleeper early and catch up on some rest, but I will try and let you know tomorrow how everything takes shape for the completion of this very nice run I'm on. I will unload everything except for one bundle at Stanley Access in Farmington, Connecticut, and then proceed to Lawrence Massachusetts with that final piece of freight.