Friday I delivered a large snow blower truck to the Air National Guard base in S. Burlington, VT. The scenery in Vermont is beautiful to say the least. I was a little surprised to see that they still had some snow on the ground in places, but otherwise all of the signs of Spring were to be seen. The trees were all starting to sprout their new leaves and the grasses were greening once again.

After delivery I went to the nearest truck stop which is in Wells Lake, VT some 75 miles away. There really isn't an easy way to get there from where I was and it involved about 30 miles of twisting, turning, two lane mountain road that passed through a number of small towns. It was well worth it for the views along the way. If you've never taken a drive through the Vermont countryside I highly recommend that you take the time to do so.

The mountains and forests with their combination of evergreens and large, old hardwoods are truly a sight to see as they climb up around you on either side of the road. Just be mindful of the moose population that enjoys a nice stroll across the roads now and then.

At the truck stop I enjoyed a nice bison burger for lunch and then sat in my truck for a few hours reading another of the Steven King Dark Tower books on my eReader. By late afternoon it was obvious that dispatch hadn't found me a load out of there so I called in. She told me there was little hope of anything until Monday, and even less hope of anything coming out of Vermont at all and suggested that I move to a more likely area, namely PA.

I agreed and fired up the big engine to head down to Carlisle, PA, where I now sit. I spent Friday night in a hotel in Rutland, VT as it was getting late by the time I had gotten that far on the winding mountain road that would eventually lead me into NY state. They had a nice little bar and grill next door where I had dinner and a few adult beverages.

The bar had a nice patio area for the smokers and I sat out there with my beer and pipe with some RLP-6 tobacco and enjoyed the evening. It was the real center of activity in the place anyway and I had some nice chats with several of the locals, many of whom were appreciative of my pipe tobacco. Several were also quite interested in my Archos 5 Internet Tablet with which I was quietly surfing the web via the hotel's wifi, which I could pick up from there, as well as making a few notes for this blog.

I had picked up the Archos unit at a Rado Shack while waiting for my reload at Camp Lejeune recently and have been enjoying it greatly. It's a very handy little device when one doesn't want to lug around a laptop or needs to make a quick note of something. It has a number of very nice applications, some of which I've added since purchasing it, and find that I make use of it daily.

It's larger than a phone and easy to read. Well, I do have to wear my reading glasses when using it, but that's true of reading pretty much anything these days, including my wide screen laptop. So far I have been unable to find a proper case for the thing though. It's handy to be able to carry the thing on my belt and I know they do make such a case for them, but so far neither Radio Shack or Best Buy, both of whom sell the device, have any of the cases in stock. At least none of the ones I have checked so far.

I am carrying it on my belt currently in a modified camera case I had laying around. The device is a bit longer than the camera case so the flap on the case doesn't reach all the way to the velcro closure. I simply added a couple of strips of velcro glued back to back so that one side mates with the velcro on the flap while the other mates with the velcro on the case, thus holding the thing closed over the top the device. It isn't pretty but it works. The camera case also has an additional pocket where I store the ear buds and a small extendable stylus I use for making handwritten notes.

Ah yes, the ear buds. The ones that came with the Archos were pretty crappy and didn't sound good at all. With them I was very disappointed with the sound quality of the device when playing videos, FM radio (it has a built in FM tuner) or MP3s, but when I plugged in my Sony ear buds the sound was fantastic.

Anyway, back to my travels.

Yesterday, Saturday, I made my way on down here to Carlisle, PA and checked into the cheap motel across the street from the truck stop. There just happens to be a bar and grill next door and I accidentally walked in there for dinner last night. I had a few adult beverages, an excellent BBQ sandwich, a few good pipes of Bishop's Move tobacco, and conversation with some of my fellow truckers, all of whom were very interested in the Archos as well as my book reader.Once they learned that I am something of a tech geek they had numerous questions for me about various tech gadgets as well as computer questions. The bartender even had some questions about a laptop she purchased at Best Buy recently. I didn't mind at all and quite enjoyed it (I always enjoy "geek talk"), especially since they were buying me beers while asking me their questions.

I left about the time the place starting filling up with the locals as I have never like crowded places, especially bars.

This morning I am just hanging around the motel room until check out time, then I'll make my way up the street to the Petro truck stop where I'll do some laundry and just hang out until tomorrow when I hope I'll be dispatched on a load out of here. We have a number of regular customers within 100 miles or so of here so the odds of getting a load are pretty good.