1/30/10

When I have to start work at a ridiculous hour, things can certainly appear to be lined up against me. Then, when I endure the misfortune of eating a Moon Pie at the shipper, despair is the only logical reaction. What a horrible piece of garbage that thing was. It's not crispy. It's not soft. It doesn't taste good. Just a semi-stale sort of pseudo-wafer stuffed with some kind of disgusting marshmallow-like filling. Gross. The shipper had been left with a damaged case of them and offered one to me. My misfortune. Lesson learned.

It turned out that my loaded trailer wasn't ready at midnight, as scheduled, but this worked in my favor. By the time the guy from the office came out to tell me that it was ready, I had been at the shipper for ten hours and I was good to go. The unfortunate Moon Pie incident also turned out not to be a harbinger of things to come, as the day went rather smoothly overall.

Today's route was one of the more complicated that I've tried lately (US-20 -> IL-2 -> IL-26 -> I-88 -> IL-92 -> I-74 -> I-280 -> IA-22 -> US-61 -> IA-92 -> IA-1 -> US-34 -> IA-5 -> MO-5 -> MO-6 -> US-69). This was just asking for trouble for someone like me who tends to miss a turn every now and then. Think I could pull it off without any miscues? Well... almost. This one wasn't a matter of failing to pay attention though. At the intersection of IA-92 and IA-1, I needed to get on IA-1 southbound (or southwestbound, more accurately put). According to my atlas, this would mean exiting the town of Washington to the west. The road curved around a little bit and the signage before the intersection didn't give me a solid idea of which way to turn. I could hang a left on IA-1 or continue straight on IA-1 and IA-92 concurrently. In my review of the atlas, it hadn't occured to me to check both directions from which IA-1 approached the town. Since I was already traveling westward, as I thought I needed to be, I proceeded straight through the intersection. Then I saw a sign saying that I was on IA-1 northbound. Shit. I spotted a gas station with a wide driveway not too far down and got myself spun back in the right direction. No harm, no foul.

That was about the only thing wrong with today though (Moon Pies notwithstanding). My load is a nice and easy 11,000 pounds so the hilly and curvy stretches were no nuisance at all. I got a good mix between open roads and small towns to break up the monotony of the drive. I had a chance to stop at the Wal Mart in Dixon, Illinois at 3am for some razors and blank CD's and other things that I usually can't find at a truck stop. Traffic was nonexistent during the overnight part of the drive. Then it was very light once I resumed the trip following a long morning nap in Ainsworth, Iowa. I'm not sure exactly what kind of weather I avoided by taking this unconventional route, but I can tell you what kind of weather I encountered - beautiful. It's cold outside, to be sure, but clear skies and dry roads were all that I saw.

I got to the junction between US-69 and I-35 in Winston, Missouri and decided to call it a day. My 14 hour clock would have allowed another couple of hours of driving, but it looks like I've knocked out the bulk of the trip already. Good enough. The rest of the ride will be mostly along I-35 so it won't be quite as scenic as today's drive, but it should be a little quicker. Since I'm due in Stillwater at 4am on Monday (meaning that I'll arrive tomorrow night), I don't have to set an alarm for tomorrow. Beauty.

This dispatch puts the finishing touches on what turned out to be a rather lackluster week - 2,012 miles plus $35 for the extra stop on my run out of Nebraska. We'll scrounge up a few dimes from my seat cushions and call it $800 for the week. I suppose that spending a day at the shop in Illinois and half a day at the shop in Nebraska will do that to a paycheck.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 100 blank CD's and nothing better to do with my time. The weekend radio listening frustration is soon to be vanquished.