If memory serves, the last two knives I bought on a whim were at the TA Nashville (when they still had a full fledged knife store just inside the front doors, on the left. It was gone the last time I was there. I don't recall what went in that space.)
Knives were a CRKT Ken Onion Ripple and (I forget the name of the designer) SLIP KISS.
If my memory is working properly (no guarantees), after getting the two knives, I proceeded to the restaurant and had the all you can eat buffet.
(I was driving an expedited over the road box truck at the time. I was out of hours, so had to spend the night in their parking lot to rest my 11 hour daily clock . (yeah, the truck had a sleeper.)
TA Nashville was one of my favorite truck stops. They didn't charge for parking, and if you were in a box truck or bobtail (no trailer), they wanted you to park out front. (didn't take up a Semi tractor-trailer space in the back that way) It was "home" more than once.
("home" was wherever the truck was parked to reset my daily 10 hour drive time or weekly 72 hour clocks. Resetting the weekly 72 hour clock took no less than 36 consecutive hours after DOT got rid of that stupid and time wasting "Must include a 1 A.M. to 7 A.M. period" requirement to reset the 72 hour clock. When that was in effect, it could take up to 48 hours to reset. ::td:: (I had to keep a log, (thank goodness we had electronic logs ...) and I was under the same regulations as the 18 wheeler's.)
Needless to say, "home" was in a different city and/or state* almost every day. (*except in Texas ... it took two to three days to cross it east/west or from Brownsville to the OK, NM, or Louisiana borders when driving solo, so only the city changed..)
Yeah. in some ways I miss it. However, I don't miss the idiot/moronic dispatchers who scheduled your delivery time for an average speed of 70 mph (my truck wouldn't go that fast without the assistance of a long downgrade ... not to mention in a lot of states the truck speed limit is/was 55 or 60 mph ... instead of the 40 or 45 mph average speed like they were supposed to ...
"I can go 700 miles in 7 hours or less driving my car ... what's your problem....? or worse, they scheduled your pickup or delivery for when the shipper/receiver is still closed for 5 or 6 hours after you get there ... that really messes up your hours for the day. A couple times I had plenty of driving time left, but my 24 hour clock ran out. When I was driving, you got in any 24 hour period 10 hours drive time or up to 14 hours not driving, (any drive time was deducted from the 14 hours) and required 10 hours in the sleeper after 14 consecutive hours (or 10.5 consecutive hours (includes the required 30 minute break with-in the first 8 hours) driving) to reset your daily clocks.
Yes. In my experience, most dispatchers are idiots or worse.
IMHO before someone can dispatch they should be required to have 3 to 5 years recent experience driving a commercial truck that requires keeping a log over the road. After hire as dispatcher, it probably wouldn't hurt to send them out on the road again for 6 months to a year, after they've been dispatching for a year, just to remind them what it's really like out there ...
