11/30/07

Good day today lads. I didn't set an alarm for this morning, so I slept kinda sorta okay for a few hours before I had to get up and use the facilities. Then it was eastbound and down, loaded up and trucking. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was a perfect fit for today's drive. I finished up the last disc just as I parked for the night. I had gotten away from the audio books for a while, staying more with the talk and news on XM. Without my XM functioning, it seems like a good time to get myself cultured a little better. Further still, I had time for a nice long nap this afternoon while staying within the 14 hour limit. Nice.

As I was rolling along, watching the miles tick away, it occurred to me that I had no idea where I would end up tonight. I knew I had time for nine hours of driving, plus an inspection and a fuel stop, but I had no clue where that would leave me. One of these days I might start that trip planning stuff. Nah, probably not. I kinda like to fly by the seat of my pants. Anyhow, it worked out perfectly for me. There's a rest area just before the Twin Cities, exactly nine hours from where I started, and it had a spot open for me. Weekends are definitely my favorite times. I have no illusion that I would have found a parking spot here mid-week, but tonight it worked out nicely.

It was definitely a welcome sign to see that I was gradually approaching civilization as the day wore on. At some point during the day, my phone beeped and told me that I had three voicemail messages. My phone never rang today. Freaking North Dakota. As it stands now, even my internet connection is back to normal. Technology is a beautiful thing as long as you're not in the wilderness.

The practical route from here would seem to take me down and around Chicago on I-80, but I've had better luck in recent months running straight through on I-90 and across the Skyway. I guess my mood tomorrow evening will dictate the route. I imagine it's six of one, half dozen of the other.

I get a report on site traffic to the blog every now and then. As of today, it looks like Jim over at OTR Journal is providing more referrals than any other site, passing up the message boards within the last few days. Good lookin' out my brother.