On Wednesday, August 28, I ordered three boxes of my new books. The printer, in Ohio, promptly shipped them, simultaneously, each with its own tracking number. The first box arrived six days later. I'm okay with that. The tracking report revealed an interesting itinerary. It visited White Bluff and Nashville, TN on Wednesday, then traveled to Gastonia, NC, and Greenville, SC on Thursday. My box took in the sights in Weaverville and Charlotte, NC on Friday, then returned to Gastonia. Maybe it wanted to retrieve something it lost there the day before. On Saturday, it went back to Greenville, where it sat over the Labor Day weekend. It finally landed at my local post office on Tuesday, September 3rd. The slightly damaged box had managed to protect all but one of the books.
Box #2 arrived two days later, on September 5th. It, too, visited White Bluff, Nashville, Gastonia, and Greenville on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday it took the scenic route through Arden, NC to Charlotte. Folks there didn’t want it, so they sent it back to Greenville for the holiday weekend. On Tuesday morning, it strolled into the Franklin, NC post office, which is only about 30 miles from my home. The postal staff there didn’t know what to do with it, so they kicked it out. Wednesday’s record shows it bounced through Charlotte, Gastonia, and Greenville again. It finally pulled into my driveway at noon Thursday and demanded lunch. This box was much worse for wear, with a couple of holes in it but, amazingly, no damage to the cargo. I asked if it had seen Box #3, but it said they’d parted ways a week ago.
Today, September 10th, I still haven’t seen hide nor hair of that final box. It, like the others, traveled through White Bluff, Nashville, Gastonia, and Greenville on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, it decided to take a shortcut. On Friday, August 30th, it popped into the Murphy, NC post office, just about ten miles from my house. It only stayed long enough to say hello to the postal workers. Not finding a warm welcome there, it moved on to Charlotte for the night. Saturday’s log shows it returned to Gastonia before ending up in Greenville. It’s too bad it couldn’t reconnect then with its two buddies, who also spent the long weekend there. Instead, it found itself back in Charlotte Tuesday night. Two days later, on September 5th, it resurfaced in Denver, just in time for supper. After a quick nap, at 12:09 a.m. Friday, it visited another distribution center in Denver. Colorado must be a fun place. Saturday morning, September 7th, it started toward a new, unidentified destination. Apparently, that destination was also in Denver. I just checked again, and it looks like this morning it departed, again for an unknown destination. Maybe it needed a vacation. I wonder where it’s going next.
This must be just be the author’s bad luck. Several of my friends in various parts of the country (including North Carolina) have told me they’ve already received theirs. They ordered it on Amazon and got it in just a few days. Details on my landing page.
Meanwhile, a package of vitamins that I ordered yesterday from a place in North Dakota just arrived in my mailbox. I wonder if the printer should have fed some vitamins to Box #3 before sending it on its arduous journey.
#WWII #letters #usarmyairforce #militarylife #snailmail
Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay
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