12/1/09

The reason that this morning was nice and easy is the same reason that I wonder why presidential primaries are organized as they are. There are no freaking people in Iowa. That's good for driving, bad for setting the course for the country's politics. After making my drop/hook in Pella, I had to get to I-80 in order to cross Illinois on my way to Indiana. There was no straight route, so I could either go all the way across to Davenport on state highways or I could head straight northward and then come across on the interstate. I only had to cover 400 miles and I had plenty of time, so I figured that the state routes couldn't be too bad. I was correct. Pretty much nothing but fields and farms.

I caught up with I-280 outside Davenport and then got onto I-80 on the other side of the river. Any day when you can get all the way across Illinois with the cruise control engaged is a pretty good day. It was even 4:30pm locally in the Chicago area as I went by. There was some construction traffic once I got into Indiana, but it wasn't too terrible. The rest of the drive through Indiana was on US-6. I seem to remember taking that road before, but I wasn't sure what kind of ride to expect. It turned out to be pretty smooth as well. Only a few towns and not a lot of traffic.

I didn't see any kind of truck stops or anything along US-6, so I decided to drive straight to the consignee and take my chances. The security guard was quick to send me packing, but he did suggest that I could hole up for the night at a vacant store down the street. I thanked him (only half sarcastically) for his help and headed on my way.

Upon turning the corner and seeing the vacant store in question, I also was treated to an unwelcome sight. There was a local cop hanging out in the parking lot. When you're intending to park somewhere that you may or may not belong, you don't usually want to do so in front of an officer of the law. I pulled into the lot, then walked over to him and explained the conversation that I had with the security guard. I asked if it was going to be a problem for me to spend the night and then head back over to the customer at 6am. The cop said that he couldn't give me permission to park in the lot, given that it's private property, but he had seen trucks parked there before. I took his statement under advisement and didn't press the issue any further.

By the time I walked around the building to assess the best way to park my truck, the officer had been kind enough to drive away. Plausible deniability perhaps. I don't know. I got settled in along the side of the building and that was that. Guess I should go to bed now. Back to the damned early morning schedule we go.