When I woke this morning I still had about 130 miles before I was out of Nebraska. That is one looong state. I got up early, grabbed some coffee, and started hammering for the Wyoming line. I made one quick pit stop about half way across WY and didn't stop again until I pulled up to the gate at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, UT around 2:30 in the afternoon. I got the snow broom and truck unloaded and then head North for the little town of Logan, UT. I am supposed to be picking up some signs...

I'm going to have to lay off the beer, at least for the time being. Being as alcohol is a depressant I really shouldn't be drinking it right now anyway. Last night I had a few and all it really did was make me feel bad, depressed, and I also blew a week long quit and started smoking again. I think the smart thing would be to just lay off it at least until this thing settles and I am fully feeling better again. I did write a piece last night, basically a writing exercise that helps get thin...

No, there's no weird animal sex thing going on in my hotel room. As we have a big safety meeting tomorrow I am checked into the hotel for the night. Good chance to get some rest away from the truck before starting a hard run to Utah. I have to be there Monday in time to unload at an Air Force base and then reload for El Paso. Whew. I went and picked up the load this morning. It's a snow broom truck. Yeah, it's summer. I picked up a snow broom. Go figure. On my way back down from pic...

One of the things that happen when I get an episode of depression is that I basically just don't give a damn about my immediate surroundings. Messy, clean, whatever. Makes no difference to me. As you can well imagine this can quickly become a problem in the confines of a truck, even one with a large sleeper like mine. When I finally reached the truck stop around 5 this afternoon I was possessed by a powerful urge to clean up this pig pen of a truck. I just couldn't stand it another minute...

I went into the National Guard Armory in Temple, TX first thing this morning. I told the SGT that I was there to pick up a forklift that's heading for Ft. McCoy, WI.He didn't know anything about it and proceeded to wander around from office to office asking if anyone knew anything about it. Typical. I finally grabbed my cell phone out of the truck and made a call in to my office. He wasn't too surprised, we'd done this dance number before. He said he'd make a couple of calls. A little ...

I'm spending the night in Temple, TX. There just accidentally happens to be a bar next to th3e truck stop. I've been accidentally stopping in there for years. At some point during the evening's conversation I mentioned that I had taken up knitting. The reaction was hilarious. "You're doing what?" bartender. "Knitting? Like with yarn and stuff?" fellow driver. Etc... "Yeah, ya know, a couple of sticks and some string" me. I walked out to my truck and grabbed Irish hiking scar...

I left the yard around 2:30 yesterday afternoon heading for the Army Depot just outside of Texarkana, TX. I'm having my coffee in IL this morning. I supposed it's a reflection of my industry but I noticed that the smoking section was fairly busy when I walked in, but I have the non-smoking section all to myself. There are more truckers that smoke than not so that's not too much of a surprise. I spent a few hours knitting on the Irish hiking scarf before turning in. The scarf is coming ...

I checked into the hotel and walked over to Appleby's for dinner and a few beers. I'm an irregular regular there so they all know me. I took my knitting along, the Irish hiking scarf, and worked on it while I enjoyed a few beers. Predictably several of the female employees came over to check out my knitting and fawned over it. A couple of the female customers also stopped by to make comments. Naturally I was enjoying myself quite a bit. At one point this young guy sitting a couple of...

Last night I went down to the bar with the boss and a few of my co-workers. I shouldn't have gone. Having a few beers and being in that smoky bar, I blew my quit. Now I have to go through that miserable first three days all over again.

This morning I drove the pile of junk spare truck down to the diesel shop in Milwaukee to pick up my trailer so I could finally deliver the load. I popped in to find out where my truck was parked as the paperwork for the load was still in it. To my joy they informed me that my truck was repaired and ready to go. It was a faulty fuel injector as I suspected. I tossed my overnight bag, knitting bag, and laptop out of the pile of junk spare truck and into my truck, hooked to the trailer and h...

I got up and got an early start this morning so that I could make delivery in WI by noon. I never made it. My truck decided that it really didn't feel like working today and the engine sputter and spat all the way up the road. No power at all. Wonderful. I then got stuck in a really bad back up on I-295. By the time I made it up to the choke point I saw why. Someone was having an even worse day. An SUV ran over someone on a motorcycle. They had the body covered with a white sheet but th...

Today was day 2 of my smoking quit. It really hasn't been all that bad. The Wellbutrin has really made a difference. I've had a few cravings here and there but nothing terrible. I'd just pop a piece of cinnamon gum or cinnamon candy in my mouth and go on about my bidness. I'm spending the night in Southern Indiana tonight and will get an early start tomorrow as I'd like to make delivery in WI before noon if at all possible. I haven't really felt like doing any fine work yet so I haven't...

In the process of packing up my stuff in preparation for going back on the road I noticed that the samples of Wellbutrin the doc had given me were running low. There was only enough for a few more days. I hopped on the bent and rode over to the pharmacy to fill my 30 day prescription. I'm damn glad I asked about the price difference between the name brand and the generic drug. The name brand would have been $180! For 30 stinking little pills! Outrageous! The generic was $140. Better b...

It feels like I just got home and now I have to prepare to hit the road again. I'll be leaving out some time this afternoon as I have to pick up a military vehicle in Charleston, SC tomorrow. It's amazing how fast the time at home flies by. I feel like I could use a few more days but having bills to pay makes that less than practical. I have lots to do before I leave, but for now I am just not motivated. Maybe after I've had my morning coffee and shower.

I rode down to the C-store to pick up some beer. When I got inside there were several young gang banger wannabes hagning around taking up space. I could see the clerk was less than comfortable even though they really weren't doing anything wrong, just talking kinda loud with a lot of "yo" and such. I am not one who is easily intimidated, but have always been pretty good at intimidating. I walked right through the midst of the largest group of them and towards the beer cooler. I looked them...