I'm back in WI again. It's been a really rough week for me and it seemed like everything I hauled needed to be tarped. By the time I finally reached the yard yesterday afternoon my bum hip was killing me and I could barely walk. The fact that it has turned chilly here didn't help as it just made the hip ache more.

I told dispatch that I was hurting and was going to go check into the hotel and get some rest. Everything else would just have to wait. They worked with me and set me up a load that has the first stop in Memphis on Monday afternoon. That allows me enough time to get some rest today as I won't have to leave out until sometime Sunday.

Naturally, one of the pieces I'm hauling down there needs a fracking tarp. Argh! It's only 12 feet long so I can use one of the smaller, lighter tarps on it instead of the 100 lbs monsters I've had to use all week. That's a bit of a break anyway.

Under normal conditions I would have simply refused to haul the loads I've hauled all week because of the tarping, but with the economy so bad and thus business being bad I simply can't afford to pass up a load to wait for another one that may or may not come around in a day or so.

I had planned to do some laundry today but the need to rest currently outweighs the need for clean clothing. I'll just leave out early enough tomorrow to allow me some time to wash some clothes at a truck stop along the way. I have one set of clean clothes left, which will do me until then.

Before I left out of here a week ago I stopped by the local tobacco shop to pick up some pipe tobacco. I normally smoke a vanilla blend but have become a bit bored with it and wanted to try something new. I looked over what they had trying to decide what sounded interesting.

Most shops that sell pipe tobacco keep it in bulk jars and will allow you to fill your pipe to sample one you might like to buy. This place doesn't have that, only selling it pre-bagged, so one can't sample it first. It's a bit of a chance trying something new that way as you never know for sure what you're getting. I normally just buy a small half ounce sample bag to try.

I picked out two that sounded interesting. One was called "Irish Aromatic" and the other "Apricots and Cream". I decided to try the Apricots and Cream first.

I filled the bowl of one of my meerschaum pipes with the tobacco and gave it a whirl. Despite it having a little bit of a bite the flavor was quite nice. I could really taste the apricot although it wasn't overly flavored to the point of being sickeningly sweet. Very nice. This one is a very good after dinner smoke, perhaps with a nice brandy or port.

I waited until the following day to try the Irish Aromatic as I didn't want it to be influenced by the aftertaste of the Apricot. As aromatics can sometimes be very strong and goopy I tried it first in a briar pipe just in case. I didn't want to foul a meerschaum with an overly strong, goopy tobacco.

I was very pleased with this one. It has a very pleasant if somewhat unidentifiable flavor and a wonderful aroma. It wasn't overly strong at all and is perfectly suitable for a meer. This one is a keeper. No bite at all and a very smooth, cool smoke. In a meer it's wonderful. This one makes for a very good every day smoke,

After looking it up on the web I discovered where the mysterious flavor comes from. It's based on an English aromatic blend but also contains Latakia tobacco which accounts for the very pleasant non-English flavor. Latakia is a spice tobacco produced primarily in Cyprus and is used to add flavor to other tobacco blends. This is the first time I've smoked a blend containing Latakia and find it quite enjoyable in this blend.

I'll be stopping by the tobacco shop to pick up a large bag of the Irish Aromatic. Of course that means I'll also have to stop by Wally World to pick up a new tobacco jar to store it in. I already have one jar in my truck which contains my vanilla blend. I may even try mixing a bit of the two to see how it smokes, although the Irish blend is fantastic all on it's own and may well become my go to blend.

On another note I am very happy to be able to use my laptop again. When I stayed at the hotel last weekend (same room in fact) I forgot to pack my charging cord when I packed up the laptop to check out. I was half way to SC before I realized I had left it behind.

Luckily the housekeeping staff found it still plugged into the wall outlet, put a tag with my name on it, and left it at the front desk for me to pick up when I returned. The clerk had pulled it out when she saw me pull into the parking lot and had it waiting on the counter for me when I walked in.

I depend on the laptop to do my paperwork for my job. I have a week's worth of it to catch up on so I can turn it in when I get ready to leave out tomorrow. No paperwork turned in means no paycheck next week and I do kinda like getting paid as it makes things like eating much more possible.