Ah well, at least I made it out of PA. I came over to Akron, OH yesterday and picked up a partial load, some large steel rings, for a customer in Milwaukee. I still have 3/4 of my trailer open and they are looking to find some more frieght to go on it before I head that way. This little bit of frieght simply doesn't pay enough to make the drive to Milwaukee wortth it, but if they don't find something soon that'll be it as it needs to get to the customer tomorrow.

So I am once again sitting around in a truckstop. These places really do suck compared to what they were in the past. I remember that just about any truckstop out here would treat a driver to a free steak dinner on his birthday. These days they won't even give you a free cup of coffee.

I didn't really have any plans for today as I knew it would be a work day for me, but I did kind of hope that I would be able to stop someplace for a couple of cold ones this evening just to mark the date. At this point that's not out of the question, but not altogether certain either. Remains to be seen as it's still early.

Thinking about it, it's really hard for me to envision being 47 years old. Looking in the mirror the grey in my beard is obvious and plentiful, the hair on top of my head is anything but plentiful, and the morning aches and pains remind me of all the stupid things I did in my youth. Yet somehow being 47 years of age doesn't doesn't seem right to me. I can't be that damn old, can I? And how did I manage to live that long anyway?

Most of my lifetime is behind me now, as happens to everyone eventually. Based on the statistics, and the fact that truckers tend to live on average 10 or more years less than the general population, I figure I probably have at best 20 years left ahead of me, give or take a little and barring accidental death or homicide. Doesn't seem all that long really.

Ah well, a birthday is hardly a good excuse to become maudlin now is it? Just some random reflections on the nature of life on this little ball of dirt. Aging and eventual death are a natural part of the cycle of life. Too bad the aches and pains have to go along with that, I'd much rather die healthy and fit LOL

I'm often shocked when talking with a fellow trucker, who looks old to my eyes, when I discover that we are actually the same age, or close to it. I like to think I don't look that old, but am hardly vain enough to actually believe it.

With any luck I'll be able to raise a cold one tonight and toast the fact that I have somehow managed to survive yet another year on this little speck of a planet in a vastly huge universe, as well as the fact that I am still more or less healthy and strong and able to make my own way in this world in the manner in which I see fit. When it really comes down to it, that's really all anyone can ask for.