My Morning Walk
It just seems like a great way to start the day. It has become routine for me. Wake up go in grab a cup of coffee to take back to my truck. I will probably have a bowl of cereal. Check the team run smart web site. Then I will take a walk.
Many times my walk starts in the dark. That is OK. I have a reflective jacket that I wear. This is my 
favorite time of day to take an easy jog or a 2 mile walk. I have a GPS watch that I wear and I try to keep a 15 minute mile pace when I walk. This is a brisk enough pace to raise the heart rate.
The physical benefits of my morning walks are weight loss/stabilization. It is good for my heart. It can help prevent a stroke. For me though it lifts my mood. Walking can be done in the morning, the evening, or for your 30 minute break in the middle of the day. It is the easiest simplest exercise that you can do for yourself.
This walk happened to take place in Lebanon, IL. I have a drop in Olney, Il. From there I have to pick up the next morning in St. Louis. It usually works out that even if I have enough hours to make it to St. Louis, I don't have enough to make it back out to the truck stops. So, rather than put myself in that position I just wait in IL. My TND tries to get me to take I64, but route 50 is shorter. The old routes run through a lot of small towns.
This particular morning, I got a nice walk in. Checked the internet. Walked in got a coffee to go. Then I did my pre trip inspection and was ready to go. Sometimes, the other truckers will ask me where I went. I will tell them that I just go for a walk. And they will state that I did not go anywhere. That isn't true. I walked past the elementary school and imagined that in another hour or two that it would be busy. I walked past the police station and said hello to a cop. He probably wondered who is that stranger in our small town. I walked past the library, through down town, passed a half dozen churches and a couple of taverns. He just doesn't get it.
Other drives sit in their trucks waiting for their 10 hour breaks to end. And they think that I'm crazy?