My second day here.

Nothing much going on today. I had a nice shower and rested as much as possible. I think I'm getting over the cold or whatever it was; I'm certainly feeling a little better, at any rate.

I don't know how good I will be feeling when I have to wake up at 1 AM my time, so that I can fuel up and drive the final ninety miles in to Chicago, but that can't be helped, I suppose.

The clouds have moved on, at least temporarily, so the weather has warmed up again. I'm actually not crazy about that, since the cooler weather does make it much easier to sleep nights.

As I said, not much to report. I'm going to watch a movie now, then go inside for a little snack, possibly some milk or something, then try to sleep early. I have a feeling that tomorrow might be a long one, what with it being Chicago and all.

Slept a lot yesterday, then woke up this morning and drove for a few hours here to South Beloit, where I shut down and then went back to sleep. I still have this stuffed-up head and occasionally have to stop and sneeze several times, but I don't feel too awful apart from that.

This is probably because my diet consists almost entirely of fruits and vegetables, with the odd Egg-Beater omelet thrown in for some protein. So I'm getting loads of vitamin C.

I'll be here all day tomorrow as well, and I'll more than likely go to bed about four or five PM, since I have to get rolling about one AM my time to get to the drop in Chicago at five AM local. Stupid time difference.

It shouldn't take very long to unload, though, and I hope they have something ready to go for me to get me the hell out of Chicago. A nice run to LA, for instance, or even something going back to Spokane. I need lots and lots of miles.

I also wrote a new piece for www.staxbros.com about a classic board game from my youth, Risk, and how MEB used to completely destroy everyone in the house at any sort of game. Good times, and I'm actually a little more coherent than usual. Martial has been shaming me, by using tricky writing tools such as "editing," "composition," and "thinking for a minute about what you're going to write before you write it."

Jerk.

Man. Yesterday, I started to feel a rough patch in the back of my throat and I started to feel stuffed up. I don't feel sick other than that, but that's more than enough.

So I stopped a little early today, instead of rolling on to South Beloit. Tomorrow morning I'll go the rest of the way there and then shut down until very early Monday morning, since I have to be at the drop in Chicago at 5 AM local.

Very little else at this point. It's been chilly and overcast all through North Dakota, Minnesota, and now Wisconsin, although now that I look out the window, it looks a little better.

Now for a nap, and then a little sleep. Then after that I'll go to bed.

Doing this from the phone, as both wireless connections are sucko here. Hey, Fargo! Come and join the rest of us in the 21st Century!

In the meantime, I'll read a bit and watch a DVD. I should be in a better spot tomorrow.

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Got up nice and early this morning, then had to wait around an hour or so for everyone from the various departments to turn up for work so that I could get all the different sorts of paperwork that I need, things like blank logsheets and tripbooks and so forth.

Having done all that, I headed east. My delivery deadline was still set for this Friday, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull that off unless this company had a second shift on Receiving. Even with that, I would be pretty much stuck in downtown Chicago, almost out of hours and with no place to shut down. I voiced these concerns to Morbo, and he said he'd get back to me.

I figured I'd better get rolling anyway, so I took off across the wide open (whoops, construction, slow to 35 mph) mountains and (uh-oh, another construction site, one lane road for thirty miles) plains of the wide-open state of (jeez Louise, are they fixing the whole six hundred miles of highway at once?) Montana.

It took a little longer than I expected to cover the five hundred eighty miles to Billings.

Stopped at Flying J and took a shower. On the way back to my truck, a pretty little Husky started following me. She obviously belonged to someone; she had a nice pink collar with rhinestones and a couple of tags. She followed me all the way back to my rig, but she wouldn't let me near her.

Another trucker, who had also been dealing with this dog, came up to help. He started checking all the trucks on the line to see if anyone was missing a dog, and I walked back into the store to see if anyone had asked the cashier.

I described the critter to the cashier, who promptly replied, "Oh, she's a little pig. She lives across the street and comes over here all the time to get handouts from truckers."

Montana: Where even the dogs are lot lizards.

Sitting here in the yard. I finally escaped the Border Sinkhole at about 11 AM this morning, and it took pretty much the rest of my hours to get here. I could work up a really fine rage about this if I cared to.

But I don't care to.

In other news, staxbros.com celebrated our first milestone today. We had an email from our very first street-rat-crazy reader, who berated us for caring about hot sauce and curry, or not caring enough, or something like that. A little insane person of our very own. We're so proud. You should see his little head; it's the size of a grapefruit.

Okay, shower DVD bed.

Wow. Long story about my day, but the long and short of it is that I'm trapped in limbo just inside the Canadian border after being left hanging by Customer Service, the shipper, and the freight forwarding company.

So I'm stuck at a weigh station and I can't move until I get decent paperwork for tomorrow morning.

I've got nothing against people making mistakes; it's being left twisting in the wind that I don't like.

Sitting in the sleeper cab of the truck at my sister's house, since I can't sleep. I can never sleep the night before I get back to work.

It's definite: I'm getting tired of being gone for these long stretches. Unfortunately, I need the money. I was supposed to get a raise last month, but nobody at my company is getting a raise at the moment.

What this means is, figured practically, I'm not making all that much more on an hourly basis than I would be dispatching at the Old Firm. There are other factors, such as health insurance and paid holidays, that must be taken into account, of course. I also have it on good authority that the company will remember the workers that stuck around during this down time, and will respond with some gratitude. So I'm banking on that.

I'm also trying to concentrate on doing things that make me feel good, such as writing for the site. Martial and I are both having loads of fun working on that.

Tomorrow I have to get up early and drive up to Redmond for a trailer, then on to Surrey BC for a load to Chicago. At least it's miles.

Had a pretty nice day today. I slept in, then watched one of the new MST3K DVDs we got the other day. After a while, Martial had to go to work, so I was pretty much left to my own devices. Today was really nice out, so I knew I wasn't going to just hang around in here.

I was going to go down and see my friend George, from high school, who I hadn't seen in about twenty-five years. He runs a karaoke night at a tavern down in Auburn. But he was taking the night off, so we chatted on the phone instead.

On my way out the door to go get something to eat, I decided to call Dpgnat and see if she wanted to go and get dinner too. She was up for it, so I started heading up towards her house. As I was driving up there, I remembered that there was a Japanese izakaya in Seattle that I wanted to try. She was up for that as well, so off we went.

The restaurant, Kaname, was pretty excellent. Sis had Tempura Udon and I had Miso Ramen, and I got a chance to practice my rusty Japanese.

As we were paying and getting ready to leave, my phone rang, and it was Beni. I hadn't talked to him in months, so we had a great chat.

Tomorrow I have to check in with Morbo and see what they have planned for me on Monday, but this already feels like a nice relaxing home time.

Slept in, Mom made me some oatmeal, I helped Dad with his new camera, they took me back to the truck (where I realized I had left the driver's side window down all night).

I drove up here to the drop in Renton and shut down in their parking lot. Martial came and got me, and we went over to the new Uwajimaya and had some lunch, then went over to Southcenter and saw Up. Still waiting for Pixar to make a bad movie.

Now for some sleep.

Stopped off at my parents' house here for some dinner, laundry, and some fireworks, which are still going on. I drove from Corning all the way to Kalama today, about five hundred miles. Tomorrow I'll roll the rest of the way up to Renton. Now for some sleep in an actual bed.

Parked at the IdleAire thingy and relaxing.

Yesterday was a busy day of really hard work. I woke up in Bloomington, fueled up, then drove the fifty or so miles to Santa Fe Springs. At the first of three stops, it was already eighty-five degrees at eight AM with not a cloud in the southern California sky, so I went ahead and took the tarps off and rolled and stowed them.

We got the truck unloaded, then I proceeded to the other two stops in Santa Fe Springs. When I finished the third one, I called in and was told to return to the Bloomington yard, change trailers, then drive into LA proper to pick up a load of metal bound for Renton.

I had to pull into the factory for this one, which meant wearing a hard hat in the hot weather, inside the hot factory. I sweated out my body weight in water as I clambered all over the deck of the trailer, chaining down coils and strapping down sheets.

Then, I had to head outside and tarp the load. It was a weird shape, all coils in different places and attitudes, and some sheet stock in the middle, so it took a while.

It was about six-fifteen when I left LA, and I would have to be shut down by eight PM, and the nearest truck stop was clear up the Grapevine at Lebec.

I made it by eight. I don't know how.

Then, I took a shower and had a chicken salad, and conked out until seven this morning.

Driving up this way, I realized that my parents are back from Indiana, so I called them and made arrangements. Tomorrow afternoon I'll see them and spend the night at their place, and get my laundry done; then Sunday I'll drive the hundred or so miles to the drop in Renton. If it's early enough, maybe Martial can come get me and we can go to the new Uwajimaya.

Then Monday morning I'll drop the stuff off, then, home time.

Oh so very tired. Headed back toward home. I finally got a shower and some dinner. Now sleep. More coherent tomorrow.

I hope.

At the yard in Bloomington.

Today was a crazy day of much driving. I got rolling about five AM and made it to Vegas by eight. I only had to drop four bundles of aluminum there, so it was pretty quick. Then I rolled out and headed south for Riverside, and made it there by one-thirty.

This time, there was a lot more to offload, so I basically had to untarp and retarp the whole back of the trailer, again in one-hundred degree heat.

I got it all done and poked the screen of the GPS to find my way back to the yard.

It turned out I was about three miles south of the yard on almost the same street. It took less than ten minutes, with lights and slow acceleration.

Now I have to sleep, I'm getting up tomorrow for three drops in Santa Fe Springs, over by Whittier, and then, hopefully then, I will get something rolling back towards home.

Although the holiday is coming up, so I might be here for the weekend. Oh well. I can get loads of writing done.

Woke up this morning in Kimball, Idaho, and called Morbo, who informed me that I had an eight AM pickup appointment in Spanish Fork, Utah. As my truck is incapable of relativistic speeds, at least noticeable ones, I advised Morbo that this would be impossible.

So I got to Spanish Fork about noon and got loaded up with work for Vegas, Riverside, and Santa Fe Springs. I took the truck outside and started strapping and tarping the load, in one hundred and ten degree weather, even hotter on the concrete pad. I remembered to stay hydrated, but I was still getting dizzy a lot.

I figured it out much later, while talking to Dpgnat: doing things with the body requires food.

I gotta remember to eat. This truck stop has a Subway, so I got a Veggie Delite and put some Sriracha sauce on it. I also found a bag of Baked Lay's Potato crisps, which it turns out are reasonably low on salt.

Okay, gotta be in Vegas early tomorrow morning, so I'm going to put Tiger Balm all over the estimated forty-eight mosquito bites I have on my legs, drink another gallon of water, and go to sleep.

Actually in a rest area near Blackfoot, but I can't remember the name of the nearby town and I can't be bothered to go and look in my logbook.

I feel like I accomplished a lot today, and that is because I did. I woke up at four AM in Rock Springs and drove a hundred miles to Pinedale, Wyoming, whereupon I found that the address the shipper had given me was wildly incorrect. So I was there on time, but the place didn't open for another hour so that the boss could call me back and give me directions.

I eventually found the place and we got the first part of the job offloaded.

I then drove through a bit of Wyoming that, you may be surprised, I actually quite like: the bit near Jackson Hole. Of course, it also helps that it's the beginning of summer, so it was sunny and nice and the roads were clear, but still. I like that part of the state, with the mountains and trees. I think it's turning out that I only really like parts of the world that look like the Pacific Northwest. That can't be true, can it?

I made it to Idaho Falls and got the second part of the job done, and then on to Blackfoot, which is only about twenty-five miles or so. I didn't get a chance to eat much all day, so I was dizzy until I made a turkey sandwich and snarfed that down along with some grapes and a really cold Diet Dr Pepper.

I also didn't sleep a lot last night, so now I think I'm going to do some of that. I keep hitting the wrong keys here.

I got a lot of sleep last night, which helped a bit, then I had breakfast, then I managed to get something written at the other place, then I managed a first draft of an even larger article that I will put up there later, then I got the site fixed up with an advertising co-op, then I went for a walk to see what there is in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Nothing, that's what.

Now I'll go take a shower and have some dinner, then DVDs and sleep.

I want to go someplace for a few days without truckers in it.

Twitch twitch snap.

Yeah, it's about time for me to get home. I've been cranky and irritable with everyone and everything recently. And I mean everything. I spent five minutes a couple of days ago shouting angrily at an empty Diet Coke bottle for not staying in the trash bag.

And a lot of this anger is directed inward. I did a stupid thing today. At most truck stops, we have smaller scales, inside the restroom, that are coin-operated. The way it works is simple: you drop a quarter in, and then the scale gives you a wildly inaccurate result. Which is what happened to me today, which sent me into a spiral of self-hatred and rage that stayed with me most of the day. Never mind that I've managed to bring my blood pressure under control. Stupid brain.

So I'm sitting here in Rock Springs, Wyoming, which doesn't really have internet. I'll be here until Monday morning.

Sigh.

Well, the canonization of Saint Michael of Motown has already begun.

Let me just say this, and then move on with my life: If I were accused of pedophilia, and paid millions of dollars in settlements to the various families just to keep it from going to court, and then I died, I doubt very much that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be turning up to sing my praises. In fact, I think what most people would say upon learning of my death could be expressed as one word:

"Good."

I'm just saying. And it's not like it's a big newsflash that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are two enormous attention whores whose relevance is rapidly diminishing.

I'm just saying.

Anyway. It was already 85 degrees when I rolled out of Oklahoma City at seven-thirty their time this morning, and it stayed right around 100 all day, until I crossed the border into Colorado. Now it's only about 75, but not humid and with a cool breeze. I stopped here at the Flying J, had a shower and a nice chicken Cobb salad for dinner, and now I'm going to go and write something for staxbros.com.

Tomorrow I'll roll up as far as Rock Springs, Wyoming, and shut down there for the rest of the weekend, then deliver the first part of this load Monday morning. For once, I might be happy to be in Wyoming. We'll see.

Well, today we lost Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, in the same day. I can't say as I was surprised by either one; Fawcett had been battling a rare form of cancer for months, and Jackson...

Well, there are some people, especially in the entertainment business, that you just know are train wrecks waiting to happen. I don't really have anything to add to that.

Yesterday I dropped off in Irving in 110-degree heat, unchaining and unstrapping the load and drinking well over two liters of water in the process. The guy who had bought this stuff at auction felt really bad about making me stay over an extra night to deal with some issues at the shipper, so he insisted that I take an extra forty dollars for my trouble. Having about five bucks on me, I couldn't very well say no.

After that, I rolled back east towards Mount Pleasant. I was hoping to stop at a truck stop in Mount Vernon, since they had a Subway and I hadn't eaten much, but the place was just stupid full.

So, I rolled on towards the shipper, hoping against hope that it would be something impossible, like across the street from a Wal-Mart with a Subway inside, but I wasn't looking for that to happen.

Right across the street from the shipper was a Wal-Mart with a Subway inside. I parked out front and walked inside and spent that forty bucks on some actual food, bread, turkey, some Swiss cheese, and lots of fruits and nuts, and a chicken sub from Subway with no mayo or mustard. (I have a bottle of Sriracha sauce in the truck at all times.)

Then I tried to go to sleep, but boy was it hot, still in the nineties at nine PM. I turned the fan on and slept as best I could.

This morning I got up and drove across the street to the shipper. They make rodeo and ranch equipment, and I didn't have to load the trailer or throw straps or anything. They do it all.

Now I'm here, and I have IdleAire, and I have until Monday morning to get to Wyoming. I'll probably get a restart in Rawlins or something.

Now a DVD and sleep, in air-conditioned comfort. Good night.