Saturday, May 17, 2014

Left Midway early this morning.  Drove through some rain north of Memphis.  Just enough to get the truck dirty again.  Stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Winona, Mississippi for the rest of the weekend.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Didn't sleep very well last night so I was fighting the "sleepy monster" all day.  Started very early this morning.  Stopped and got the truck washed.  Had to get all that snow dirt off it.  Other than that, pretty boring day.  Drove 703 miles.  Stopped for the night at the famous Midway Truck Stop in Columbia, Missouri.  For those of you that don't know, this place is featured on The Travel Channel with it's own TV show.  I have driven past it a zillion times.  This is the first time I have stopped here.  I must tell you that I'm not impressed.  It is old and pretty dumpy.  I won't go out of my way to stop here again.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Went over to load this morning.  Was there at 6:30 MDT (local time).  They didn't show up until after 9 am.  Loaded a Taylor 220S Forklift that is going to Louisville, Mississippi.  

But hold on, this is me we are talking about!!  It was almost a foot and a half too high.  The only people that came in were the secretary and an office guy.  All he knew about the machine was to start it and get it up on the trailer.  All the service guys were out in the field on jobs.  He finally called someone and they told him how to fix the problem.  To make a long story short, the "fix" worked.  I am only overweight now, but not by much.  

Finally got on the road at noon local time.  Went past Devil's Tower on I-90.  It is not on I-90, but if you know where to look you can see it from there.  It is still about 20 miles north as the crow flies.  Also past the world famous Wall Drug again.  Drove to the Pilot truck stop in Murdo, South Dakota for the night.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Got started very early again this morning and drove up to Laramie, WY.  On the way over the mountain just before Laramie on I-80 it was snowing. Lots of black ice.  The sanders were out in force doing a great job.  Elevation there was 8,500 feet.  To put it in perspective, Denver is 5,300 feet, and a mile is 5,280 feet.

Then down 1,000 feet, 5 miles on a 5% grade to Laramie.

I got to Laramie a little early so I went to the truck stop to wait.  It was snowing pretty good there.

Then I went over to deliver.  Detached.  Then the darned machine wouldn't start!!  Parr for the course!!  Blew lots of black smoke, but wouldn't start.  Fortunately, it had stopped snowing.

They couldn't figure it out so Caterpillar had to send a service truck out.

He was able to fix the thing and finally get it off my trailer.  Only took 6 1/2 hours!!  My next load is up in Gillette, WY. Drove up there to the Flying J truck stop for the night.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Because my load is only overweight and not too wide or high I can travel at night.  I left at 4 am local time and drove all day.  Great weather today.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Denver, Colorado.  Going to leave real early tomorrow morning so I can deliver tomorrow morning.  Don't have another load lined up yet though.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Went over to load this morning.  I was first (and the only one) in line.  Detached my trailer and got all set up to load.  Went to check in and they said that the machine is not scheduled for pick up until the 15th.  I knew things were going too smooth this morning.  Things never go that smooth for me so I'm really not surprised that this happened.  So after waiting for another hour I finally got a different load from the same place, just smaller machine going to Laramie, Wyoming.

On my way back out I-40 I knew where the tornado damage was so I slowed down and snapped off a bunch of photos for you.  BUT the auto focus on the camera focused on the rain on the window instead of everything behind it. SO, only one photo was somewhat visible and here it is.

Rained pretty hard all afternoon.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Peculiar, Missouri.