April 9, 1990, 2010

FIRST 5 YEARS:(Monday- Charlotte, North Carolina)
Woke up around 8 AM EST to see another one of my company's trucks unloading. I talked to the driver and he had just gotten in about a half hour earlier. I called dispatch and got a load I had to pick up in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. I took off and got on I-85 south(actually west) past Gastonia to Hwy 74 where I went west to Kings Mountain. Found the shipper and was told to back up to one of three docks. I did and was loaded with 17,500 lbs of swimming pool stuff for Toronto, Ontario. Will have to go over the Peace Bridge and clear Canadian customs in Port Erie, Ontario for the first time. Got loaded (the area was just plain beautiful) and was off east on Hwy 74 to I-85 north(actually east). By 10:30 AM EST I was loaded and heading back to Charlotte where I caught I-77 north. The land was relatively flat until I reached Virginia. At the Virginia border, I started a huge climb into the mountains. By 1 PM EST I was at one of my most favorite truckstops just because of the mountainous beauty of the area...Fort Chiswell(where I-77 & I-81 connect on the east side). I stopped here at “Just a Truckstop” for lunch and by 2:30 PM EST I was one my way north again. Followed I-77 north and talking to another driver on the CB radio and told him where I was going. I was going to go to Charleston, West Virginia and then take I-79 north. The other driver suggested taking Hwy 19, at Beckley, West Virginia to I-79. I did it and what a good experience. I just had a short distance on the West Virginia turnpike and then onto Hwy 19. At Fayetteville(West Virginia) I went over the "New River Gorge Bridge” which in 1990 was the longest arch bridge in the world(in 2010 it's the third) and very high. I found that they had yearly parachuting and bungy cord jumping off the bridge. Continued up Hwy19, through a lot of construction work, to I-79 where I followed it to Jane Lew(West Virginia). Jane Lew was a fuel stop so I pulled into the truckstop at 6:15 PM EST and called it a day. I fueled(68 gallons) and talked awhile to the female cashier. I told her I was truly a professional tourist and that I would love to see some real “hillbillies”. She told me that the ones around the highways was too commercialized but if I really wanted to see them, she would tell me where to find them. We talked a little more about it and it was determined that my Big Truck(semi) was too huge to take their small roads. Another day!!! Went to my cab, get paperwork done and went to sleep...no TV could be reached here by my TV...