Thoughts from the Great Midwest....

Drove all day through half of Nebraska and all of Iowa with a load of Gilroy, CA garlic bound for Boston, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  Frankly, a VERY boring drive.  Especially Iowa.  It's like a really boring version of the Willamette Valley -- with no hills to speak of.  Just mile after mile of rolling highway.  Every field, every farm looking exactly the same.  And the highway is full of trucks of every shape and kind.  It's all about trucks now....the red, blue, purple, black, yellow and white ones.  Carrying food, cars, heavy equipment, plastic pipe, socks and everything else imaginable. With cars buzzing in and out of us like gnats in campfire smoke.

It's been a melancholy day today.  As i reported previously, we don't talk all that much among ourselves, so we are in our own heads most of the time.  And today my head was swirling with thoughts of the pending divorce.  I guess there's really not that much i can say here, as most of the thoughts are so personal they don't seem appropriate to share.  But they generally fell into the categories of regret, fear, sadness, self-criticism, and very little looking back at happy times.  Maybe that comes later.... Hopefully we can escape this experience without the bitterness that often attends divorce.

The driving is a welcome distraction.  I really do love it.  There is something about being responsible for such a huge piece of cool-looking equipment that is both thrilling and terrifying.  It requires absolute focus and attention, which helps make the 11-hour shifts go by relatively quickly.  And every mile of highway rolls out in front of me like a grey carpet inviting me to explore the next mile, to see the next landscape, the next town where unknown people are living out their stories as i am living out mine. It is a very "connecting" experience with the rest of the country.  So far i have visited California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and Delaware.

But like a good friend told me recently, the road is a great pain killer, but a poor healer.   That's going to have to come from within.

We realized today that we have worked for about six weeks without a single day off.

I have found out a few small details about my truck mates.  Fabrice/Mike is about 35 and is a purple heart marine combat veteran.  He lives in Florida with his wife and son, and has been driving a truck for England for about 11 years.  Mike-just-Mike lives in Kentucky with his fiancee and her kids, and is a huge Nascar racing fan.  He is 37 and had a cancer that consumed nearly 50 percent of his body.  it now appears to be in remission.

FYI, i have a new cell phone now, and i welcome texts.  The new number is (503) 602-7782.  The old 559-3147 number is now out of service.   And my new email address is kenarmstrong123@gmail.com.

Went to WalMart today to get prescriptions filled (Wally World really is the most ubiquitous store in the country, making it very easy for road dogs to use its pharmacy).  Thank GOD for insurance!  What would have cost me $1,500 dented me only for the relatively low amount of $116 -- about two days wages.  That used to be about my hourly rate as a lobbyist. :-) At least i have my health, right?

Oh, we got showers yesterday.  Whew.  We needed them.  Still stinks like dirty laundry in here though....

Why the photo of Chip Kelly?  Because he's wicked cool.  'Nuff said.

Stay safe everyone....

KWA