Friday, December 31, 2010

Left Little Rock this morning after 9am CST.  Traffic was very light.  Drove through the weather front on the way.  Had a whole lot of Georgia Bulldog and UCF Knights fans pass me on the way to Memphis for the bowl game.  Drove up to Copan, Oklahoma to a very small truck stop for the weekend.  Copan is in the north east part of Oklahoma north of Tulsa and just south of the Kansas state line.  Basically I'm in the middle of nowhere!!  So glad I have Direct TV in the truck!!  Started using Zycam last night and so far it seems to be helping.  My sore throat is gone but my head is still filling up.  Not too bad so far.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Nothing much exciting to talk about today.  I like oversize loads.  They are fun.  Only one snafu today.  Spent two hours at the Arkansas weigh station because of a permit error.  Got it straightened out and back on the road.  Because of that I didn't get as far as I wanted.  Stopped for the night at the Petro east of Little Rock.  Can't start driving in the morning until 9am because oversize loads are not permitted in Little Rock until 9am.  I was hoping to get to the other side of Little Rock but because of the snafu I ran out of daylight.  Have a sore throat tonight.  Hope that is not a sign of things to come!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Got back on the road at sun up this morning.  Also got all my updated permits so now my weight is legal too.  Slow going.  Can only drive 55 mph (I do 60) and have to stop and go inside every weigh station and show them my permits.  Of course they are all open!!  Also this load is a bit top heavy so I have to be very careful on turns and cornering.  Stopped for he night at a truck stop in Lincoln, Alabama off I-20, right next to the Talladaga Super Speedway.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Went over to Lakeland next to the airport to pick up my next load.  It is a machine that makes the insulated panels that make the side walls of a refrigerated semi truck trailer.  It is going to Independence, Kansas. It took over 5 hours and 4 fork lifts to load this thing. 

Then it had to be tarped!!

Got on the road and went through the weigh station and found out that I was overweight!  The Bill of Lading says that the load is only 32,000 pounds.  WRONGO!!  I was 1,300 pounds overweight.  So I got another ticket. 

Since this is an oversize load I can only drive 55 MPH and only in daylight hours so I didn't get very far today.  Stopped for the night at the Petro in Orange Lake, FL - that's just north of Ocala.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas break was great!  One of the best in a long time. But now its back to the driver's seat again.

Got started real early this morning and delivered the backhoe in Miami first thing this morning.  Then drove to Tampa to have a tarp repaired.  My next load is tomorrow in Lakeland. It is an oversize load going to Kansas.  Start loading at 9:30 tomorrow morning. 

What few truck stops there are in Tampa were all full by 4 this afternoon so I had to go up to the Dade City Flying J on I-75 for the night.