New new new new york!

I made it! The way this trip went, I left Laredo, got to dallas which put me from 1800ish miles to like 1300, and then Friday I left Dallas and did a little bit shorter day, driving about 5-6 hours putting me at 1,000 miles to go, and then yesterday and today I did 500 miles each both days, working about 9.5 hours both days. Last night when I was reaching the mile point that I had planned on stopping at, I knew there was a Loves coming up within about 30 miles, so I pushed myself and made it there, got parked *which they had a ton of spaces open being that it was only 5pm when I made it there*. I always expect places to fill up rapidly because a lot of times they do, but I guess it really depends on where you are at and how busy the highway is. I guess there were either (a) not as many trucks passing by that location, or (b) a couple of other truck stops near by, because I layed awake for a while watching vampire diaries on netflix on my phone till probably around 11PM, and I kept looking out the window thinking they were going to fill up. Basically when I pulled into the Loves, I went around the corner to where all the 90 spaces were. They had half of them on the side closest to the fuel islands, and then across from those spaces they had the rest. The side farthest from the fuel island had all the trucks parking over there, and when I got there, nobody had used the other side yet. I thought "hell, wide open spaces, might as well!" So I backed into the first space to be taken on the other side.

However, at 11 when I looked out, there were only two other trucks parked over near me. I was like "wow, that's a first! This late and this many open spaces. Why couldn't I find a truck stop wide open like this in dallas!!!" Sucked when I was in Dallas, because I had planned on this one rest area for my nightly stop, and yet when I got there, it was already packed, so I had to keep going. I stopped at a few other truck stops but they were all over crowded, so I just kept driving and looking for a good pull off place. Eventually I found one which was ok. So tonight, I got here to new york about an hour and a half ago. Drove straight to the customer (which it appears they are closed on the weekend because the building is quiet). I had read in my load assignment that there was a lot with a ton of parking near by, so I came straight to where I am dropping off, and literally right next to the building is a huge vacant lot that I right away noticed another england truck parked with their windows covered, and a few other trucks parked too. I'm talking a lot that looks to be about the size of a football field, and only a few trucks parked all scattered out. So I was like "great!" I parked, did my 15 minute post trip inspection, did a small walk up to the building to check it out, then back to the truck, got changed into my good ol windpants that I sleep in *ask erin about them, she hates them.. lol! I've had them for forever, and they literally are falling apart, but hey, they're comfy to sleep in and so that's what I do! ;) )

Made myself a peanut butter and marshmellow sandwich, washed down with a koolaid single, and then I got online and did my final assignment for my current class. Now I'm all done with Nutrition! WOOHOO! I begin finance tomorrow, and so I believe with that one, I have 3 total classes to go. However, I'm considering studying for and attempting to take the algebra clep test one of these times when I'm back in town to see if I can pass it and not have to take it again with phoenix. For those of you unfamiliar with CLEP, it means that you take a test in a certain subject, and if you pass, the school gives you credit for the course without you having to actually take the class. Granted I have already taken and failed it twice(the class, not the test), so I personally do not want to take it again. I don't think I failed because I can't do it, it's just a ton of work and if you don't really have the time to put in, then you struggle, so if I can CLEP out, that'll save me some headaches. Anyway, so my appointment is at 0700 tomorrow morning. Since I'm here at the customer, I will have full hours available to me when I get out of here, and I'm going to try to get in touch with my DM to say either give me a 1200 miles load delivering wednesday so that this week will end with 3,000 miles, or give me 800 miles to get to by tuesday night, giving me 2600 miles this week, but then it'll give me time to hopefully get an 800-1000 mile load back near my house by thursday afternoon before going home for home time. If it works out that way, then when I get back on the truck starting the following monday, I can hopefully get a 1200 to 1500 mile trip delivering by that wednesday afternoon or so, which will give me around 2,000 ish miles for my hometime week, which would make it so that I shouldn't be 2 payments negative on everything. It all depends on my dm and the load planners. Sometimes they can work with you and get you what you're asking for. Other times i'm like "i need an 800 mile load at minimum," and they gave me a 30 mile local which I threw a fit about, but in the end i ended up going ahead and helping them. So hopefully I can average decent miles for both this and next week so that I don't play catchup like I did the week after I left hometime last time. But, we will see.

Anway, going to call that it for tonight. I hope you all are well and I will talk to you soon!

c