Saturday, February 18, 2012

Drove up to Middletown, Ohio.  Not too far from where I load Monday.  Got a room for the weekend.  Went to Wally World (Wal-Mart) and restocked the truck.  Was almost out of Mt. Dew, crisis averted!!

Friday, February 17, 2012

While doing my pre-trip inspection this morning I noticed that I was again leaking coolant.  Fortunately it was a very quick fix.  When the guy put one of the new hoses on he didn't get one of the hose clamps tight enough.  I tightened it up and added a gallon of coolant back into the system.  It was fine after that.  Got on the road at sun up.  My next escort met me at the Kentucky state line.  Drove all the way to Diamond, WV and unloaded early this afternoon.  Next load isn't until Monday in Mason, Ohio.  That's just north of Cincinnati.  Drove to Florence, KY to the TA truck stop for the night.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Left the Petro in West Memphis this morning at 9 am local time.  Had a great day on the road.  Drove almost all the way through Tennessee and stopped for the night in Pioneer, Tennessee on I-75 at the Pilot truck stop.  Talked to my Kentucky and West Virginia escort and he will meet me at the state line in the morning.  Since I made it past Knoxville I can start at sun up in the morning.  I'll deliver tomorrow in Diamond, WV.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Started off today in the fog.  Started to clear in the Dallas area.  Later on it rained off and on for the rest of the day.  Finally got a full day in on the road.  My Arkansas escort was waiting for me in Texarkana so I didn't have to stop.  Drove all the way through Arkansas to West Memphis, Arkansas five miles from Tennessee.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop. Here is what I look like from the front.  Real easy to hit stuff on the side of the road.  Not big enough!!  I want bigger!!!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Got on the road this morning as soon as I could and drove to the north side of San Antonio to a TA truck stop in New Braunfels, Texas and had the trailer electrical cable fixed.  Instead of splicing the old one back on he made a new cable for it.  Much better.  Works great now.  Got back on the road again and drove as far as I could today.  Didn't make Dallas curfew so I stopped for the night at a Petro truck stop in Carl's Corner, Texas.  This place used to be Willie Nelson's truck stop.  When Willie had his tax issues the place was sold.  It is now a Petro.  A thousand times better than it used to be.  Have to wait until 9 am to get started again in the morning.  I talked to my Arkansas escort and he will be waiting for me at the state line in Texarkana tomorrow when I get there.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Late this morning I went over and picked up my next load.  It is a dump bed from a Caterpillar 777 Dump Truck.  Here is a photo of it that I got from the Internet.

It is 12 feet, 6 inches wide.  Hangs out more on the passenger side than it does on the drivers side.

Didn't get very far today.  Had to stop on the south side of San Antonio because of curfew.  While doing my post trip inspection found all of my trailer lights from the goose neck back didn't work.  Found the problem.  The main wiring harness somehow came down and drug on the ground severing it in two.  Here is the front half after I pulled it out.  Judging from all the electrical tape on it, this is not the first time that this has happened.

Here is the section under the trailer.

So tomorrow I will have to stop and get that fixed.  There is a TA truck stop on the other side of San Antonio that I will stop at.  Tonight I am at a truck stop in Von Ormy, Texas. Have to wait till 9 am local time to start in the morning.