A Midnight Drive, Sleep, Then Drive Again

These kinda days just wear me out. I don't think I got much of a nap last evening. Maybe a light dozing off and on. I had my alarm set for 10:30 PM and I think I just started going into a deep sleep around 10:15! Figures :(

So I get up and go check in with Sears again and they have my trailer ready. I hook up and go around 11:30 PM. Fortunately from Romeoville, IL to my delivery in Bloomington, IL is about 106 miles! I get to the other Sears warehouse at 1:30 AM. I think it was around 3AM when he finished unloading me, so I pull over to the end of the building out of the way, crawl into bed and crash. I had my next load assignment already, but I didn't have to pick it up until 2PM.

I think I awoke again about 7AM. Drove a couple of miles to a Pilot Travel Center and got a shower. Boy that was much needed and felt good! Then across the street to the T/A for some breakfast. Three eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, wheat toast, orange juice, and sweet tea.

At 9:45, I'm back in my truck and headed down the highway to St. Elmo, IL. I arrived there at 12:30 PM and by 2:00 I'm loaded and rolling again. My first stop is just a few miles down the road in Effingham. That's the nearest truck stop with a CAT Scale. I have 43,000 of carrot cake and brownie mix and need to make sure I have the trailer balanced out correctly.

Continuing south, I make a stop in Ina, IL to have dinner at a McDonald's. Finally, I come to a stop at 6:15 PM in Paducah, KY. I'm tired. And from here to my delivery in Atlanta is only 398 miles. That should give me plenty of time to get a good nights rest tonight and make my 4PM delivery time. That should also get my body clock back on track again!

That's it for now. See ya tomorrow.

A Walk in the Wetlands

Hello again. Not much happening today. If you remember from yesterday, I had a hard time finding the Caterpiller plant. As it turned out, this morning when I woke up, I drove over there to make my delivery. They sent me back over to the warehouse in which I spent the night to unload. OK, not a problem.

After unloading, I waited for my next load assignment which came after about an hour. A Sears load picking up at midnight 136 miles away with a 4AM delivery. Great that means a night time drive with little sleep. Fortunately it's a short run!

So about 10:00 AM I leave Lafayette, IN and head over to Romeoville, IL, which is just south west of Chicago. I arrived at the Sears DC at 1:45 PM and drop my empty trailer. They have parking available there so that is where I'll hang out.

Now comes the hard part. I had a great nights sleep last night. But I have to drive after midnight tonight. That means that somehow I have to figure out how to take a nap this evening! Also, the nearest truck stop with a shower is nearly 20 miles away so I can't just hop on my bike and sweat off some energy.

I look up some Geocaches and discover that there is a federal wetlands preserve running along the back of the warehouses here. And that there is a paved trail with 2 geocaches along it. OK, so I go off and find those fairly quick. Now what?

Around 4PM, I bobtail down the street to Popeye's for some chicken. They say poultry makes you drowsy also.

After dinner I decide to go back to the wetlands trail with my camera and walk almost the entire length which is probably about 2 miles round trip. I've posted some of the photos below. It was a pleasant walk. Lot's of different kinds of birds and wildflowers. Took my 300mm lens this time. Wished I had something better to capture the big white egrets (i think?) across the water. The last photo is a tiny little turtle trying to cross the walkway. I almost stepped on the little guy. I put a quarter down next to him for size reference.

Now, it's time for a nap. Tomorrow I'll let you know if it worked. See ya then.