Oct. 1, 2016

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Hello friends,

I write you this Saturday evening from the Pilot Travel center just west of Ann Arbor Michigan. I rolled into town last night from Elma, New York. It was a tiring 375 miles in the rain and commuter traffic through three states, western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio to get here. I departed a bit late and had to make a detour in Cleveland to the elusive Chase Bank branch. It was a scenic drive without any glitches or problems. The drivers here seem to be a little more civil than my more recent stops in the Northeast and Atlantic seaboard.

I’m hoping to get something soon so I can move on to Indiana and Ohio. I have a contact near Cincinnati where I plan to stay and help with some home repairs on a home owned by some good friends from Tucson. The plan is to ready the property, to list it on the market, for the eventual move to Arizona. I’m grateful for the invite and the timing couldn’t have been better for both parties. From there I will look for work in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky before moving on to Tennessee and dipping back into Alabama and Mississippi for the second time. My goal is to be in Little Rock, Arkansas by the first week of November. It’s quite a list, but so were the New England states and I got them done pretty quickly.  But first Michigan needs to fall.

I’m still decompressing from the physical and mental stress of my last gig and my fifty four year old frame is feeling the effects of the workload on my body, the stress on my brain and the miles on my butt from all the driving (13,000 and counting) and bad sleeping conditions. It’s strange how my mind is getting stronger or maintaining its strength as the body breakdown with wear and tear from the elements, physically, emotionally and mentally. Truth be told, my emotional state has been a rollercoaster ride as of late.

There still is no greater satisfaction than getting paid after a gig, fueling up and heading out to the next stop. It infuses me with a profound sense of accomplishment knowing that I’m one state closer to my goal. Then at times I still feel far from home, empty and alone. Even after all I see, experience and enjoy, I’m a people person at heart and feel the lack of human contact affect my psychic in moments, especially on the down time between truck stops and libraries. Hard to explain and it even surprises me, ‘Mr. I’m never blue’ kind of guy. One of the few things I under estimated about my special adventure. Luckily I shake it off and rebound from the low points by Dr. Phil-in myself back to a positive state of mind. Something I imagine I will have to monitor the rest of the journey. Overall I’m happy to report that the truck and my body are still hanging in there despite all the mileage!

So I decided to begin a new feature with my blog. Since I’m spending now a lot of time here in the trucker world, amongst all these interesting men and some women of the highways of America, I will interview some of them and post their stories on my page now and then, for your entertainment. They truly are interesting people from all over this country and are the true Road warriors of America. I hope you find it enjoyable!

I hope you are all resting and enjoying the weekend. Take a look at the new pics on the album page and thanks for checking in.  Have a great night!  #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn