Chicago

I got my first trade-show load. It's slow, but pays a ton. Waiting for them to finish loading me so I can get out of here--Chicago is murder.

C/K set me up with this to let me get to my mailbox and do some stuff, but I managed to knock some of it out on the last load. Now I can stop at Sapp's in Clearfield, PA and get my cab-shocks mounted and preventive maintenance on my APU.

Meanwhile, I can stay at the Super 8 there, which has a bar in it.

Maybe I can also get new CB antannas and get that fixed--although I've been fine not using the damn thing for a few months.

What happened? Some cowardly scumbag sometime climbed up on my truck and ripped my antenna off. No--I mean literally. It was useless to him the way he tore it off--pure maliciousness.

You remember when a tree or something takes your antenna down. It never comes off all the way--it has to be twisted off, or the wires won't break. And when you have to go near trees, that's the first thing you try to avoid.

Another time, somebody broke one of my mirrors.

I'm courteous--the way I drive. But I spend a lot of time growling and cursing at dumbasses who bother me and get in my way. Not on the CB, though--I just vent inside my truck to relieve stress. Somebody might have seen my angry face or read my lips...I dunno...but that's worth taking the time and risk to vandalize a truck?

I park right. Sometimes I get hung up at a fuel desk, so I can't get off the island and out of the next guy's way in a timely manner. But that's not often, and any driver with a brain knows it happens to everybody sometimes.

Anyway, this trip will let me tie up all my loose ends.

Still no settlement monies. I filled out the trip sheets wrong--hadn't been to orientation. Had to rescan the first two, and this morning I found that they never got one of them.

The others, I dropped in the boxes (you put your logs, paperwork, and fuel reciepts in a coded envelope and drop them in a "trip pack" box at truck stops. Trip Pack is like a Post Office for carriers, and gets them to your company for you. Some greedy capitalist had an idea, and....)