Thursday, December 25, 2014

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Drove home from Ocala this morning.  Will be home for the holidays.  While I'm home going to have some more work done to the truck.  The fan shroud that I replaced last month is cracking again in the same place.  Fixing that.  Getting the generator serviced.  New power steering pump, hoses and steering "U" joints.  New front shocks.  I think that's it for now.  Going back to work in January.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Got on the road early this morning and drove straight to Ocala and delivered.  I forgot to post the pictures of this load yesterday, so here they are today. A counterweight and a bucket for a Caterpillar 349F Excavator.

Anyway, I delivered a day ahead of schedule.  I then went to the Petro and had routine maintenance done on the truck. Then down to the Pilot truck stop in Ocala for the night.  Having dinner with friends tonight.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Went over first thing this morning to get loaded.  First one there, fourth one loaded!! Finally got out of there and on the road. The crazies were out again on the roads.  Was cut off at least 6 times today.  At the I-12 and I-55 junction there was a semi truck crash that had the whole interstate shut down.  Traffic was rerouted off the interstate onto back roads.  What a mess. Took forever to get through that!!  Stopped for the night at the Oasis truck stop in Robertsdale, Alabama.  When I got there I went to go have dinner.  The place was closed!!!  Normally it is open 24 hours a day.  Tonight, they closed for their employee Christmas party.  There was a  lot of hungry, pissed off truck drivers, that needed fuel.  Very stupid inconsiderate thing to do.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Moved to a smaller truck stop about a mile down the road.  The "lot lizards" were very annoying there.  I HATE that!!   I'll never go back to that truck stop again.  Hope this one is better.

Saturday, December 12, 2014

My next load is an easy one.  Loads Monday morning down in Victoria, Texas.  This morning I drove down there to a truck stop for the rest of the weekend.  Was in heavy fog almost all the way down.

Not having football on Saturdays really sucks!!!!

Friday, December 12, 2014

Left real early this morning again and drove all the way to San Antonio, TX and delivered the crane.  After that went to the Petro truck stop for the rest of the day.  After eating and showering my generator wouldn't stay running.  I high tailed it over to Cummins, bought a new fuel filter and installed it.  Now it is working fine again.  Whew!!  Always on a Friday afternoon!!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Left at 3:30 this morning.  Since I am only overweight and not over dimensional, I can drive at night.  When I stopped for fuel I had to move the crane back towards the rear of the trailer again so I would be legal in Arkansas.  After I did that I scaled again and it was perfect.  Continued on to the TA truck stop in Prescott, Arkansas.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Left this morning at sunrise.  All through Virginia I was in and out of snow.  Nothing special, just a dusting, at most.  Once I got into Tennessee had to figure out how to get around the first weigh station on I-81.  I am totally overweight for Tennessee.  No place else, just Tennessee.  Finally figured it out and did it.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop west of Knoxville, TN.  By the way, I thought I was going to Midland, TX.  I'm not.  I'm going to San Antonio, TX.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Everything was covered in about 1/4 inch of ice this morning.  Went a couple miles down the road to Shady Grove, PA and loaded a Grove RT540 Crane that is going down to San Antonio, Texas.

After that went back to the truck stop to scale and wait for some permits.  My weights were out of whack and I was three feet too long.  So I had to finagle the thing around a bit to get it right. I'm 113,000 pounds.   Finally my Virginia permit arrived and I left.  Didn't get very far because I ran out of daylight. Stopped for the night at at truck stop in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Went back to the truck after eating dinner and found the generator had stopped.  Just Great!!  Spent an hour fixing that.  So far it's still running fine. Hope it stays that way.  While I was fixing the generator, I watched a truck back into another truck!!  Never a dull moment.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Thought I had a load up in Pennsylvania just outside Philadelphia.  Went that way. Then found out that the deal fell through.  Then got a load in Shady Grove, PA that loads tomorrow morning.  So I drove over there and stopped at the TA truck stop in Greencastle, PA for the night.  The weather is supposed to deteriorate tonight and tomorrow so I may get loaded but might not be able to go anywhere.  We shall see.

Friday, December 5, 2014

This morning drove down to Shady Grove, PA and loaded a Grove 4409 Industrial Crane that is going for a short ride down to Dulles, Virginia.

Left there and drove down to Dulles and delivered the crane.  Don't have another load yet so I went up to the TA truck stop in Jessup, Maryland for the rest of the weekend.

North of Washington DC on I-95, check out this idiot.  In the video you will see 3 dark SUV's in front of me.  Watch the fool in the far right lane.  He flies up behind a car and has to hit the brakes hard to keep from hitting it. Then jumps over into the middle lane.  Then he decides he want to get in front of me so he cuts me off and, with a nice hand gesture, tells me that I'm number 1.  He also keeps stepping on his breaks.  Notice that the left lane is totally open but he chooses not to use it.  IDIOT!!!!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Well, got a lot done while I was here in Carlisle.  

Yesterday got, and installed an Electronic Log Book.  I am trial testing the unit for Daily.  I'm the first one to have one.  There will be another driver testing one too.  By 2017 these things will be required by law so Daily wants to be ahead of the game and find a model that works best for us. I will be evaluating this thing for a while.  If you want to learn about the model I'm evaluating click here and it will take you to the web page,

Today I went over to Kenworth and had a transmission problem fixed.  Then went to Walmart and restocked a few things.  Tomorrow morning I'll go down to Shady Grove, PA and load a small crane.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Left Columbus, Ohio just before sunrise this morning in freezing rain.  Fortunately it only lasted about 45 minutes then it cleared up for a while.  Shortly after I got into Pennsylvania I started seeing a lot of road department trucks with plows on, and beds full of road salt.  

I had not heard the weather report but after seeing that I knew they were expecting something.  Not too long after that the snow started.

And the weather got worse.  A lot worse.

And the trucks got busy.

Really?  Ya think I need a sign to tell me that??

Here is a short video of how bad it got.

After a while it slowly got better.  It turned back into rain.  Stayed that way the rest of the day.

Made it all the way in to Lebanon, PA and delivered the dump truck.  Didn't think I was going to get there in time, but I just barely made it!!   Then went over to the "home office" in Carlisle, PA for a couple days.  By the time I got to Carlisle the rain had changed to freezing rain.  Rough day today.  I'm exhausted!!  Gonna sleep well tonight!!

Monday, December 1, 2014

Left the Daily yard just before sunrise this morning.  Nice day on the road.  Drove to the north bound rest area on I-71 just north of Columbus, Ohio for the night.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Last regular season game this year.  It went by so darned fast!!!!

Sunset in Bettendorf, Iowa.

They put up a bigger fight than I thought they would.

Florida Gators

6-4, 3rd in East Division

Live on ESPN

Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida

Florida Gators (6-4)

 

19 - 24

Live - 1:30 4Q

Florida State1 Seminoles (11-0)

	1	2	3	4		Total
Florida	9	7	3	0		19
Florida State	7	14	0	3		24

Friday, November 28, 2014

Left Paducah, KY just before sunrise this morning.  Drove up to the John Deere plant in Davenport, Iowa and delivered the excavator.  Then reloaded with a John Deere 300D Dump Truck that is going over to Lebanon, Pennsylvania. 

My permits for this load don't start until Monday so I went over to the Daily yard in Bettendorf, IA for the rest of the weekend.  I can plug in there so I don't have to run the generator.

GO GATORS !!!!

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Another easy day.  Left Knoxville at sunrise and drove to a truck stop in Paducah, KY where I stopped until Friday morning.  Got there, dropped my trailer and did some errands before the weather set in.  Made it just in time.  Started raining as I was hooking back up to my trailer.  Might see a few snow flurries, not sure.  On the border as to weather we'll see rain, or snow, or both.  It doesn't matter.  I'm gonna watch football all day tomorrow anyway.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Left early this morning and delivered the generator first thing.  Then went up to Kernersville, NC and loaded a Hitachi Z250G Excavator that is going out to Davenport, Iowa.

Had a nice afternoon on the road except I went through Knoxville, TN at rush hour.  Had a bit of bumper to bumper there.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop west of Knoxville.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Easy day.  Went to Simpsonville, SC first thing this morning and delivered the wheel loader.  Then drove over to Newberry, SC and loaded a Caterpillar 3512 Generator that is going up to Randleman, NC.

They have a crane scheduled for tomorrow morning to unload.  I stopped for the rest of the day at a truck stop in Linwood, NC.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Easy day today.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Spartanburg, SC.

 Last Gator home game this season.  Can't believe how fast this season went by.  Only one more game left.

Raining in the Swamp today.

Florida Gators

6-4, 3rd in East Division

Today, 12:00 PM

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, Gainesville, Florida

Eastern Kentucky Colonels (9-3)

3 - 52

Final

Florida Gators (6-4)

	1	2	3	4		Total
Eastern Kentucky	3	0	0	0		3
Florida	17	14	7	14		52

Here is a time lapse video of what is going on outside my truck.