Well.  Got back this morning around 8:00am .  I was trying to get back from this trip last night but I ran out of hours.  Like, 139 miles out. I could have easily made the rest of the trip. I was wide awake, not sleepy at all, but but but the Feds, the FMCSA mandating rules that are "one size fits all".  Because some dude or dudette sitting in an office in Washington thinks that statistics are the sole indicator of how to make rules that affect MILLIONS of people, they have the power, they don't care what the people affected think...and the industry is suffering because of it. 

Older drivers make up 70% of the driving force and guess what? Many of them are getting sick of the regulations and are leaving the industry.  Time will tell, but since there is a tens of thousands of drivers shortage already, we may start seeing even more of a change in the trucking industry. Drivers are getting much higher wages, across the board.  Maybe the big mega carriers are still paying lower than the rest but the pay is definitely going up over all. Driver retainment is a big issue in most trucking companies agendas.  Money talks - enough money overcomes the negative aspects of the industry over all.

Now, as the for the trip itself, there is a portion of that trip that is just spectacular views. The Bluegrass Parkway is just an awesome drive.  Getting through that, through Lexington and over to West Virginia, well, WV has a lot of road construction going on and it slows down progress substantially.  It's really a drag because it limits me for going back to Lexington and then I have to stop. There is only one truck stop on the bluegrass parkway, it's very small and it's highly risky to drive there and possibly find out there is no parking.  But even beyond that, without all that construction I would have been able to make it back to I-64 and then I would be able to make this trip a 3 day trip instead of 4. 

But I'm not complaining too much, it was a good trip, I just don't want to do too many 4 or even 3 day trips too often.  Not my call but my manager knows I like the shorter trips. 

So that's what I"ve been doing for the last 4 days and I just didn't feel like getting out that little notebook to write up an entry, save it for when I get home.  I did not stop at a hotel, I had thoughts about it but there wasn't any point in the trip where I was stopping early enough in the day to warrant staying at one.  That's because the load time that started this trip out wasn't until noon and that really throws a trip off.  Oh, there was one night when I was out of hours, down to a few minutes, got to a Loves truck stop and there was absolutely no available parking spots.  I had 8 minutes left on the clock.  I looked at the apps. there was "parking" shown at a Hardy's down the street.  Going down there, yes!  I was at 4 minutes left on the clock before I finally got stopped and done for the night.

There are numerous articles about the shortage of parking spaces as well as the shortage of drivers.  More and more trucks, not much more parking equal a parking nightmare.  The app I really liked to find the obscure places that most people wouldn't bother with quit, they decided to dump the app.  That one had all kinds of places - bars, restaurants, whatever.  Maybe only 1 or 2 spots to park, but most drivers want truckstops, I don't care anything about truckstops excepting to get fuel. 

I'd love to see an app going that was just for the "unknown" places. The need for them is getting greater.  Even last night. The loves I stopped at to park? It wasn't 7:30 pm and that place was completely filled up.  Fortunately there was a truckstop across the interstate - I thought it was a undesireable place at first but it turned out to be quite decent inside. They need to upgrade the exterior to meet the same quality that they have in the inside of the place. 

I asked for Sunday off. If not this Sunday, then the next.  I need to get back into church. Taylor wants to go, I want to go, let's go!  She said she would see what she could do.....I really only get commitments for time off if it's something I'm asking for in advance and especially if it's something pressing, such as getting my teeth done.  But, she did say that it's important to go to church, so that was a plus.

I don't really have anything else right now, well I do but I need to get some stuff done lol.  Like a load of laundry.  I have no idea whether I'm being sent out tomorrow and if I am, I want to be prepared.