Semtember 14, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Thursday)
What a way to start my day off. As mid-night came, I was entering Decatur, Illinois. I entered this town with a very poor attitude. I was dealing with the boring terrain, rain, mugginess and the outside of my windshield fogging up with the AC on. The AC had to be on to have it anywhere near comfortable inside. I didn't have a good experience going through this city only because of the circumstances. I was following Hwy 36 east as I went through Decatur. Halfway through, with the rain coming down, I caught the heavy scent of what I believed to be oatmeal. As I exited the city I found more farmland. The darkness of night, complimented by the rain, had covered the continued boredom of farmland-with occasional civilization-from St. Joseph, Missouri. I got to Indiana and shortly found a different world: forests, woods and trees. It almost seemed surreal with rain, telephone poles and the trees being cut a distance-maybe 15 feet-from the road. Got to Hwy 59 and traveled south to Brazil(Indiana).
Found customer pretty easy and parked by building as it was around 2 AM and the business was closed. Around 8 am, a very pleasant young woman, named Shawna, came to the truck and asked for the paperwork. We talked for awhile and them she told me where to park the truck for unloading. This place takes the scrap plastic and makes tubing out of it.
Unloading finished, I called dispatch and had a load of paper to pick up. I told them no as my trailer was leaking. The paper load was canceled and my call was transferred to the repair shop. I was sent to Terra Haute, Indiana for trailer repair. Found the trailer repair shop; a huge building with nothing else around it. The repairman was interesting. We talked and he told me of all his experiences. With all that he had experienced, why was he repairing trailers??? Because he likes to!!!!
After four hours of repairs, the roof was sealed from leaking but the door seal wasn't working well. I called dispatch for a load. Going the Calvert City, Kentucky for a load to Laredo. More new territory. Headed south from Terra Haute on Hwy 41. Before Vincennes(Indiana), I followed a person, doing the speed limit, that totally "drove" me crazy by leaving their right turn blinker on for a good 15 miles. EEEKKKK!!! Went through the miles of stoplights in Evansville(Indiana) before I crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. Took the Edward T Breathitt turnpike to the Wendell H Ford West Turnpike west to Interstate 24 west. Calvert City, Kentucky is just north of I-24 so got off and found the customer before dark. I parked my unit and had to wait for tomorrow to load. I wanted to take a walk and I did. Not a very exciting walk and so I went back to the truck and bedded down for the night...