Tonight many other truck drivers and I are crammed into the Pilot truck stop in Milford, Connecticut. Parking a big truck in the Northeast is always challenging. There just simply isn't enough parking to go around for all the trucks up here. I got here about 7:30 this evening, which is exactly how my plan was put together. I shared those thoughts on managing my time with you in the last post to illustrate how important it is, and this illustrates how it works. See, now I need to leave here about 5:30 a.m. to get on over to Deep River, Connecticut for my first delivery which is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, but I have to put in a ten hour break before the government regulations will allow me to drive again. How's your math? Did you catch how my plan is coming together? If I arrive here at 7:30 p.m. - then take ten hours off - I can depart at 5:30 a.m. It's perfectly executed, but I had to figure all that stuff out long before I ever left Louisiana. I had even put in a two hour cushion for stuff that might go wrong, and I used every bit of the buffer due to a multiple car accident on I-81 in Virginia that delayed me, and I took a circuitous route into New York by going North on I-287 and crossing over the Tappan Zee Bridge rather than facing all the traffic at the George Washington Bridge. A well executed plan is always rewarding! There are some days that I think God just laughs at me though, because sometimes with all the diligent careful planning I do I can't get anything to go right. There are a lot of things about this job that are out of the drivers control.
I spent my last sleeping period in Lexington, Virginia at a T/A truck stop. I've been there several times, but I took a few pictures of the view from the truck parking lot for you to see just how beautiful it is there. In one of the photos you will notice a brightly colored red tree. Some of the trees in this area have already begun to show their fall colors. I'm hoping to see more of this as I get on up into Massachusetts.
When I got here tonight I took a little walk and then popped into my favorite little restaurant here, Gipper's, for a bowl of soup. I call it a restaurant, but it actually is a sport's bar - imagine that, me frequenting a bar! I don't even drink a drop. They make the finest bowl of French onion soup here that I have ever tasted. It is definitely a homemade broth that they produce and it is really delicious. I have been eating this soup here for quite some time, and it has never disappointed! So, there's a tip for you, if you're ever in Milford, CT, make sure and stop in at Gipper's and get yourself a bowl of the French Onion Soup!
I admire you for your abstinence from coffee and alcohol. I however, cannot envision a life without coffee at this point; I am cutting back on the amount of sugar I usually take with my coffee. I definitely don't want to have to deal with a 'sugar crash' after drinking coffee while driving. And you know what I've noticed? That the coffee suddenly has much better flavor without all of the sugar masking its nuances. I've been getting away with it for all these years as the extreme amount of exercise I've been doing has mitigated the poor dietary effects it maybe should be having on my system, but while I do expect to continue exercising in some fashion after I begin driving, it won't come close to comparing to what I'm used to doing.
ReplyDelete(You can also now let your wife know that one of your followers also used the root word "mitigate" in one of their replies!)
Or was it one of your daughters? I can't remember now...
ReplyDeleteHaha, your funny Pete!
ReplyDeleteYes, that was my daughter who made that comment. She has a degree in "Creative Writing." So, she likes it when her old man uses high level words!
Dale, I've learned a ton about time management from you. While I'm a year (or less) away from starting this journey, I'm hoping your lessons stick with me. I read other blogs and watch some vlogs about trucking and, inevitably, someone starts complaining about time. But it's just like you and Brett are always saying: it's about you, how you manage the clock, and what runs you're willing to take. Thanks and please keep the posts coming... April 2017 is looking a little vacant, my friend.
ReplyDelete