Sitting at The Christmas Shop & Island Art Gallery in Manteo, North Carolina. If I'm going to get back into the habit of occasionally writing these little missives to myself, this is as good of a place as any to start.

While I don't intend to go into details about every place we deliver to, this one is worth mentioning, because it is completely different from every other place I've been. For example; there is one dock. It's wooden, and a platform, like a porch. Instead of a dock door, there are two wooden doors that swing out. Needless to say, I think this load will be unloaded by hand.

We had a heck of a time getting in here. The place really isn't designed to accomodate tractor-trailers. I had to move my trailer tandems all the way up to even have a crack at it, and even then only squeezed in by inches. This place was dimensioned for cars. It can accomodate a straight-truck, or even a local boy with a pup trailer. Getting 65' worth of Freightliner and trailer in here is pretty much pushing the physical, spatial limitations a bit.

We're sitting here with the engine off, though we ran it last night when we were parked across the street. Before us is enough parking for maybe 40 cars. It's amazing how tiny that looks from a truck. In fact, it is small. Had there been any cars parked there this morning, I might not have gotten in here. Couldn't have turned around to get into the dock. Getting out will be easier, though. No backing!

Anyway, beyond the parking lot is an empty field. Beyond the field is Roanoke Sound. We can just see a row of houses in the haze of the opposite shore far in the distance.

Basically, while I may be surprised that I got the truck in here, and I may have concentrated on that, I'm happy to be here. It's beautiful. As I told Mara last night, there are worse places to be. We've been to most of them.

When the employees start to arrive (in about 20 minutes) and get started unloading, I'm going to see if the customer minds if we drop the trailer and bobtail down to the beach. We dragged this load all the way from Seattle, Washington to Manteo, North Carolina. I'm not leaving without stepping out on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.

In the news, Mara and I are getting along okay lately. Figured I would mention that, since I doubt I'll always be writing about warehouses and docks. Only writing about them now because of the novelty of ths place. So Mara and I are okay. No fights so far today. But it's early yet. ;-)

I'm not sure about resuming this diary. It's always seemed like it was mostly a distraction. If I do continue it, I'm going to try to stick closer to a journal format, and just report the facts. At this point in my life, I've already written far too much about my life. I think I'd rather just concentrate on having a life.

We'll see.