10/31/09

Self-discipline and productivity are not generally in ample supply here at Fenian Godfather, Inc. Occasionally though, such discipline can come from an unlikely source - for instance, the T/A in Prescott, Arkansas. Since I had some serious miles to cover between this morning and Tuesday morning, prudence would dictate that I drive an absolute minimum of 500 miles today. Furthermore, since I am heading toward some time at home (with plenty of money going out and no money coming in), prudence would dictate that I not blow any cash on a hotel room for what would amount to little more than a ten-hour break tonight.

So... by the time this afternoon rolled around, I was leaning toward stopping short and getting a room for the night. Hell, I could always knock out a couple of eleven hour days to catch up my schedule, right? I had received a message from the shop this morning indicating that my truck was due for preventive maintenance. After making pretty good time getting out of Texas, I decided to stop off at the aforementioned T/A in Prescott and get the work done. It was getting to be time for a lunch break anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Then I could get back on the road and knock out another few hours before settling in for the night.

Three and a half hours later... yeah, so much for that idea. The shop wasn't even that busy. Just a whole bunch of nonsense, it would seem. I got rolling again at 6pm Eastern, only an hour and a half before the football game was scheduled to start. So I was only on the eastern edge of Little Rock by the time it kicked off. This wasn't quite far enough. I needed to get most of the way across Arkansas today in order to feel comfortable with my chances of finishing the trip to New York in two more shifts. You never know when a major traffic jam or bad weather might pop up and so forth. Most people expected the game to be a blowout and before long it was obvious that this was going to be the case, so I just kept driving and listening on the magical XM radio.

Both the traffic and the weather were perfectly cooperative for the whole drive. The roads were clean and dry and it never got hot enough for me to notice that I had no air conditioning. So onward and eastward I drove... and drove. By the time the football game was over, I had covered 600 miles and decided that it was time to call it a night. Quite a productive day in the end, largely thanks to those peckerheads at the T/A in Prescott, Arkansas.

A quick review of the particulars will show that the week wraps up with 3,508 miles, $35 in stop pay, and a little over $30 in northeast pay. Right around $1,400 for the week - better than a kick in the balls. No, seriously. It's better than a kick in the balls. Glad I don't have a passport.