Record time.  Literally.  3 days for a 4 day run.  I had 657 miles to do today and I didn't think I would be able to get it done. Get caught up in traffic for a bad accident (happens frequently), get caught up in traffic in any of the 3 cities - Nashville, Memphis or Little Rock and it's all over.  But, because of where I stopped last night, the timing for all 3 of these cities was perfect.  Little Rock was close - very close to rush hour and getting caught up in that would have ensured me another night on the road.

Instead, I'm sitting at my desktop in my bedroom and watching a movie.  What did this pushing it hard do for me? It gives me at least 2 nights home in my own bed instead of one.  And, I've asked for Saturday off.  I have no idea if I'll get it, but Taylor and James are going to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary and they asked if I could watch the kids.  Yes, if I'm home.  There isn't really any good reason she can't give me Saturday off, not like I'm asking for Sunday as well.  But it's whatever to me.  I hope I get it, if I don't they understand and oh well.

The lack of weekends off is starting to burn me out.  My friends are off weekends, I don't see why I can't get at least on weekend off per month.

A rather odd side effect to this job, at least for me, is the fact that I am starting to become a night owl. And even more strange, I sleep much better and feel much more rested when I wake in the morning.  I actually feel better if I stay up til midnight and get up at 6 am than if I go to bed at 9pm and get up at the same time.  That doesn't really work for the early load tho.  But other than that, I'm a bit amazed.  I'm also starting to like night driving again, a thing I had given up on long ago.  But, the roads are almost void of traffic and there is a strange thing that occurs in my mind in such driving. Can't really explain it.  I'm just saying that such as last night?  I got to the exit for the Petro where i was going to spend the night, felt fine and blew past it.

Another 50 plus miles past it to the point I had 8 minutes left on the drive clock.  Been doing a lot of that lately, dragging the clock down and taking a chance at whether there will be parking.  Okay, I take that back, just remembered I was going to stop at a Love's down the road and take a shower. The lot was completely full.  I didn't bother to get off at the exit, the place was in full view from the freeway.  Here's the kicker, the place I finally ended up deciding to go to and calculating that I would make it - but just barely - for time charges a fee.  At least according to the app I use to find parking.

Well, I had no alternatives, pay the $12 and move on.  Except when I got there, there were no signs about pay parking and there wasn't the security officer in a vehicle chasing me down as the app reviews said there were.  I felt no obligation to go in and ask since there were no signs out there. I just parked the truck in the back, slept like a log, got up and was half-excited about the potential prospect of getting home today.  But I can't predict what will happen on this nation's highways on any given day.  As evidenced by a 30 or so foot enclosed trailer on a pickup truck that had crashed on the other side of the freeway.  I saw that 30 minutes into driving today.  The entire back half of the trailer was trashed - totally unwrapped and whatever was in there - pastries I guess considering the words on the side of the front of it.  The truck was overturned. It had just happened, there were a bunch of kids wandering around, I guess dad working with his children?  I dunno but I didn't stop. It was on the other side of the freeway and there were already numerous vehicles parked and people standing around.  There were no first responders there yet, I saw them coming up as I was driving south towards Nashville.

I hit Nashville around 10:30 am, amazingly small amount of traffic, just motored right through there.  Looked at mileage to Memphis and figured I would get through there at a good time as well and sure enough, hardly had to slow down. Only Little Rock was calculated at arriving not long before rush hour at 5:00, but I hit it early enough to avoid a major traffic jam.  After that it was hammer down - don't get too cranky, the truck only goes 65 mph - but I had that thing going that speed as much as I could keep it up there.  I got back to the yard with 33 minutes left on the drive clock, I could have gone another 34 miles!  Lol. 

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Now see, it's the next morning, Tuesday to be exact.  I stayed up until 1 am, a thing I never used to do, slept like a baby and now I feel great.  It's very odd to me because a few years ago I was having serious sleep issues and was going to bed earlier and earlier attempting to get even 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I mean, spending 10 hours in bed to get 4 hours of sleep. And now, stay up late, yes I slept til 9 and awoke out of a deep sleep actually, which was rather strange in itself.  Takes awhile to really wake up coming out of that. But, I have nothing that is imperative to do today, I'm taking it easy at least for a bit, I figure I'll have a run tomorrow and I figure it will be back to Cheniere. I hope I'm wrong, but that's what I'm bracing myself for.  I have come to hate that place and that run, I guess I'll have to figure out a way to make it enjoyable, even if only in the hollows of my mind.

Anyway, I am working through the freezer full of meat. They don't have time to cook the stuff, but I"m home often enough to get the older stuff out, get it thawed and get it cooking.  No smoker today for me, I don't really feel like tending it all day long.  Its fun, actually, when I want to do it, but that's not today. This brisket I got out is full of fat anyway, so I just seasoned it and dumped it in the slow cooker.  Hopefully by the time they get home from work it will be done.  Make some scalloped potatoes and some sort of veggie and call it dinner. 

Meanwhile, my new AC unit in my room! Yes!  I'm no longer sleeping in the heat and I don't have to sit here all warm with the bedroom door wide open trying to get some of that warmth in here.  It will be short lived since it's already August, but there is still plenty of hot and warm days to be had, helps me sleep through the night.  I just don't sleep well if I'm too warm.  I can sleep through cold, but not heat. 

Politics?  I'm sick of Trump did this and Trump did that junk.  Keep it.  The endless accusations are getting boring and irritating.  None of it ever comes through with anything, or, if it does, it was a sexual encounter before he became President.  Now, if they find out a Bill Clintinish thing he has done in the Oval Office with anyone other than his wife, talk to me about that and I will denounce that as much as anyone else will. This latest accusation are tapes that have him allegedly saying the N word.  If it's true, that's sick.  He'll be roasted alive for it. 

I have nothing much else. I decided to get a Keurig coffee machine.  I love that stuff, absolutely love it.  The only thing good about Cheniere, I have to go in the guard house every time and they have one of those machines in there with literally hundreds and hundreds of the pods that go in it.  I make a nice steaming cup and enjoy that until I get to the waiting area.  Actually, that place makes me stop and have the truck searched, then go to the guard house and hand them 3 forms of ID including a TWIC card, then into another gate to hand the ID"s over again, then into a waiting lot, where I am eventually escorted through yet another gate where I have to show those ID's yet again. Get the idea why I hate going there? It takes way too much time and it doesn't pay enough for the time spent.  That's all there is to it. Up the pay - by at least $150 per run, and I'd be a lot happier about it. 

I'd rather get sent out on a 3 day run tomorrow and get back into time watch the kids on Saturday so those 2 can have some much needed alone time with each other. 

Well, enough of this, I have stuff to get done today.