3 rather long, grueling days are completed, I am in Bethlehem, PA and as luck would have it, there is no way to get a rental car tonight so I am forced to hunker down in a Holiday Inn Express (I like the regular Holiday Inns much better, but these aren't too terribly bad). I restarted the diet today - I've been off of it quite a while and have gained a good deal of fat back - and as luck would also have it, Waffle House is next door to the hotel.

No waffles for me, just meat, eggs and tomato slices.  A salad earlier today with a couple of hamburger patties, nothing else.  I'm not really sure I can do this diet on the road without having anything with me as I usually do, but I'm going to try.  

Oh, that horrid hotel.  The one I stayed in last night.  Quality Inn in Greenfield, Indiana.  I couldn't believe how filthy and smelly that place was.  I'm going to write up some reviews on TripAdvisor and other outlets about that place.  The carpet in the main areas of the hotel, the steps going up to the second floor from the balcony (kind of like a grand stairway setup) and the carpet in the hallway on the second floor were completely filthy. The walls were dirty and scuffed up.  Going into my room? A horrid smell came into my nostrils.  Putting my toiletry bag down in the bathroom? A cockroach came crawling out of the cracks!  I've had other such experiences at Quality Inns before, if they try to give me one again, I'm going to politely ask for something else.  

Tomorrow, everything going the way I see it going - as in, get to the yard at around 8:00 am, get into a rental vehicle, get my stuff out of the truck and into the vehicle and take off, I am thinking of attempting to make St Louis tomorrow night. That will be 872 miles of driving, a little more than halfway back.  That will get me back to Amarillo in 2 day, driving like crazy. But.  I have to find out if we are getting paid by the mile or paid hourly wage for driving a car back. That question was brought up today and I had no answer for it. I know if I drive my own personal vehicle to a company function, I get paid by the mile.  

Dunno, want to get that answered.  Because I have less motivation to get back there in 2 days if we are paid by the hour.  I can drive 2 and a half days and that would be totally legitimate per the miles driven per day but get paid a bit more.  In other words, go a bit slower than the speed limit and not try to cover mega miles in a single day. I'm out here to make money, I already knew I'd be gone up to 2 weeks, I'm going to make the best of this.  

Oh, I take that back. 48 hours on the road, paid by the hour is more money than driving. So who cares, get back in 2 days, get into the other truck and go right back over here - and then head home.   I really don't think I'm going to be out here 14 days, more like 10 or 11.  Actually be time for a third trip if they'd let me.  Yes, I know, a glutton for punishment, the entire time out here is going to be driving a lot of miles every single day, there will be no breaks from it and it will get old.  But I get to make up for lost revenues sitting around doing nothing and making nothing.  

Alright. Well it looks likely I'll have to drive back with that other dude that didn't quite come off so well on the first meet.  But, he called me today - I dunno who gave him my phone number - and we chatted for quite a while.  He didn't sound quite so abrasive as the first meet where he was demanding I wait for him to leave at 3:00 am - when it was 3:00 pm, plenty of daylight hours left.  So, it won't be so bad going back and even if we do have to drive together, I'm either going to be at the steering wheel cranking down the road or laying in the back seat sleeping.  I'd rather be sleeping, but I'll drive the wheels off the vehicle to get this 11 or 12 days over with, behind me, a couple of good paychecks and move one.

And with that, I'm burnt out and ready to go to bed.

G'nite.