I made it out of WI today. I am loaded up with a military truck, a generator, and an excavator (heavy load) all heading East. I will drop the excavator just South of Pittsburgh Monday morning, the military truck in Baltimore Monday afternoon, and the generator in Jessup, MD Tuesday morning.
I haven't been over in that particular neck of the woods in a few years, so it'll be a bit different scenery for me. Of course, there's a reason I haven't run over that way in a while; I'm not overly fond of it. Maryland is one of those states I would just as soon avoid when possible. I don't get on very well with their DOT in the weigh stations. They're always looking to make a quick buck for the state by picking trucker's pockets. They've fleeced me a few times over the years.
Ah well, it's a good paying load and got me out of WI before the snow started falling again. They're expecting another foot of the cloud shit tonight, on top of the 10 inches that fell last night. Yuck.
I'm parked in Lake Station, IN for tonight. It's sleeting here with a vengeance, but that's a slight step up from snow. With the wind blowing like it is, the stuff does sting like hell when it hits you face though. It's steadily pinging on the top and windows of my truck as I sit here with the wind shaking my truck back and forth like the proverbial cradle that fell when the bough broke.
I had an interesting conversation over dinner inside the truck stop. A driver seated a few seats down from me at the counter was busily working on something in a notebook. I had noticed it but as is usual for me I minded my own business. I did hear the waitress, excuse me...server, ask him what he was working on. He said that he was working out a crochet pattern for his next project. My ears perked up a bit at that.
I asked him what sort of crochet pattern he was working on and told him that I knit. The waitress, excuse me...server, gave us both an incredulous look and asked me if I was serious about the fact that I knit. I replied that I was indeed serious and that I found it quite relaxing. She has this sort of deer in the headlights look as she glanced back and forth between myself and the other driver as if she had just stepped into the Twilight Zone.
The other driver and I had a good conversation comparing and contrasting knitting vs crochet, different yarns, needles, and the like. He said that he had been doing crochet since he was about 8 years old and is now 50. I was impressed with his knowledge. He also said that he had always wanted to learn knitting, which I encouraged him to do. We agreed to carry our current projects in with us in the morning for coffee so we could see what the other was doing.
I was quite amused by the reaction of the waitress, excuse me...server. I don't think she quite knew what to think at that point to see these two bearded, rough looking truckers talking about knitting and crochet. It was quite amusing.