4:00 am on a Dirt Road

Minneapolis on Sunday Night

The Mobil Truck Stop - Home away from home for a few days

After Appleton we stopped for a few days at a small Mobil truck stop in Waupaca, WI.  We had only planned on staying there for the night then moving on to someplace closer to Minneapolis.  But the Three Squares Restaurant, the nice staff at the restaurant, the extremely nice/clean bathrooms and sidewalk for walking won us over.  On Saturday, our breakfast waitress from Thursday not only remembered us but Vince’s order too.  It gave us a hometown feeling that you don’t find very often on the road.

Sunday night load out of the closing of the Little Mermaid was long. We didn’t leave the theatre until 3:45 am ET. Last show load outs take longer because items need to be divided for returns to the different shops, lights, audio and sound each go back to their respective shops.  We were loaded with scenery and audio, which meant two stops for us.

Our first delivery was to Springdale PA at 7:00 am Tuesday which was 800+ miles away.  These are the types of runs where day becomes night and night becomes day.  It is a tough thing to accomplish and I find that sadly the older I get the harder it is to do. But this time I took the avenue of only drinking my usual 16 oz of coffee and hydrating with only water (no additional caffeine).  Surprisingly, it actually worked and I was less tired throughout the trip.

At 4:00 am on Tuesday morning we arrived at the warehouse in Springdale.  To get to the dock Vince has to back down a dark, somewhat curvy dirt road, so I offered to help. I am sure I was a sight, standing on that dirt road in my black dress spring/fall coat (it has a nice hood on it and it was windy) with a reflective vest over it and a two way radio in my hand.  I asked Vince if he could see me at the back of the trailer and he answered very surprisingly that in fact he could.  

As I moved back and forth through the curves, I had to walk sometimes backwards to keep an eye on the trailer position as it moved and other times front ways as to not walk into a hole (trust me it was pitch black other than the trailer lights several feet away).  I found myself reflecting on how happy I was at that moment.  It was 4:00 am, I was coming off 48 hours of a topsy turvy sleep pattern, it was cold and windy and yet I was truly happy. I felt peaceful in the darkness because it was completely quiet other than the sound of the truck whirling as Vince would gently press the accelerator. I thought about how I was making things easier for Vince and was proud of how much I have learned over the last 7 years about how a trailer moves, which meant that I was actually helping.    It is amazing sometimes the things that bring us pure joy and I knew in that moment it was exactly what I was feeling.   I am just very thankful I took notice of the moment and appreciated it before it past me by.

Yonkers this morning, yes, it was tight and yes, that is a car parked in front of us

After Springdale it was off to New York for a 7:00 am delivery in Yonkers this morning for the unloading of the audio equipment.  Getting over the George Washington Bridge went amazingly smoothly last night which trust me is not always the case.  Our delivery also went smoothly and shockingly we got out of the city with ease, something neither of us once again expected.

 

Next up - Annapolis Junction, Maryland on Friday.