After a few more hours of waiting, my masters bade me to travel about 150 miles south near Florence, SC for a load picking up tomorrow morning at 10 AM eastern time. I've been hoping for a load with a lot of miles on it, since I've had nothing over 800 miles in a few weeks. I simultaneously got my wish (1,450 miles) and smacked myself on the forehead as I note it is back to My Favorite Terminal™, Laredo.
I suppose there is a load planner at CFI with a vicious sense of humor who is giggling like a little girl right about now. Thanks a pantload!
The trip down from North Carolina was fairly uneventful. I did take a series of smaller highways in places and its always interesting to see rural communities contrasted against the larger towns and cities I pass through. There was one field in particular that was odd to look at: there were wide swaths of violets (I believe) with a bluish-reddish color and the road had a series of dips and ridges and as the truck went up and down the angle changed on the flowers and they went from brownish, to bluish, to violet, then back to blue then brown. There was no place to pull over or I would have tried to capture the effect with my camera.
I'm parked at the Petro truck stop in Florence due in large part to a billboard of theirs advertising a 20 oz. ribeye steak for $9.99. I was planning on eating some onboard food tonight but after that percolated in my head for a while I had to give it a try. Now, at many truck stops, offers like this get you some pretty dicey meat with lots of fat and gristle but this was not the case here. I've eaten at some nice steak houses in my day and this steak would not have been out of place at any of them.
Currently, I'm on my bunk typing, Blaze is up front doing her best to intimidate trucks going by (I think that is what she's doing when she crouches down and peeks at them over the dash, anyway), the truck is idling (88 degrees, after all) and I'm relaxing after that great meal and a shower.
Oh, that reminds me: when I went to take my shower I really appreciated the extra cushion of safety that Petro provided. Upon opening the door to the floor-to-ceiling tile shower stall I noticed a sprinkler in the roof. Just in case, you know, it caught fire or something.
