Miami, FL

Does anyone else find it odd that West Palm Beach is on the Atlantic coast? The things you notice when you're bored enough to study an atlas. Actually, I was trying to figure out how to get to my next pick-up, which is in Pembroke Pines. Turns out, West Palm Beach is in the coastal area due west of, you guessed it, the city of Palm Beach. But we mustn't let such facts get in the way of our curiosity. I digress.

So I (obviously) made it to Miami, where I will deliver in the morning a mere 6 miles away. In my limited experience driving in Florida, sufficient parking seems to always be a concern, so I dragged myself out of bed good and early this morning and hit the road. According to my truck-stop guide book, there was a small Citgo near my delivery, so the idea was to get there in the early afternoon with the hope that I might find parking. Sure enough, there was plenty of parking. Beautiful. I capped off my log book for the day and got settled in for the rest of the afternoon. I might have pretended not to notice the small "Tow-Away Zone" sign, had it not been supplemented with two huge "No Overnight Parking" banners strung up at the edges of the parking lot. Great. Not wanting to risk falling asleep, only to be awakened by someone pounding on my door to tell me what I already knew, I decided to try my luck at the pay-to-park truck stop a few miles down the road. Two front-row spots to choose from - my lucky day. After getting the O.K. from the amigo in charge, I grabbed my spot.

I'm set to deliver first thing in the morning, then I'll pick-up my load heading to Alabama.