Saturday, August 15, 2015

Left this morning way too early.  My brain said go but my body disagreed.  I wanted to get through the desert before it got too hot.  It was supposed to get to 117 F (47.22 C).  Did ok for the first hour but then had to stop for a nap.  Then continued on.  In New Mexico went through two separate thunderstorms.  Each with heavy rain and pea sized hail.  Stopped for the weekend at the TA truck stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I was not real happy with the restaurant here tonight. Still very tired and hungry, I wanted to eat and go to bed. I sat at a booth and got no service.  So I went to the salad bad and made a salad.  I was half way through eating it when she finally took my order. I also asked for some napkins. Never did get any napkins.  Made two trips to other empty tables to steal theirs. After finishing my salad and waiting for a long time I still did not get my order, or napkins.  I canceled my order and left.  And NO, I did not pay for anything.  I have very little tolerance for poor service in a restaurant. Unfortunately it happens to single people all the time.  After my salad dinner, as I was about to step out into the parking lot a bolt of lightening struck in the parking lot in front of me.  It was really cool!!!!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Very early this morning went in and unloaded the parts.  Then went back for the rest of them.  Drove back to the City of Industry with NO bumper to bumper traffic. Things were going so smoothly I knew something would go wrong.  I was right.  Loaded the first piece fine.  The second one was the stairs.  It had a hand rail.  On my trailer it was way too high.  14 feet 11 inches to be exact.  Tried to lay it down but that didn't work either.  Then it was too wide.  So a lot of phone calls were made.  I suggested taking the hand rail off.  They were not too keen on that idea.  So they explored other options, none of which panned out.  So I ended up taking the hand rail off.  Then finished loading and securing the stuff.

Left there an hour and a half later than I really should have and drove back to Irvine.  Of course now I had quite a bit of bumper to bumper traffic.  Finally got there and delivered.  Left there and headed toward New Mexico for my next load.  Had bumper to bumper traffic all through the LA area on I-5, CA-91, and I-15 through the San Bernardino mountains.  Cleared up after going over the mountain. Thought I'd never get through there!!  Why in the world would anyone want to live there!!????!!  I am so glad to get away from that mess.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Barstow, California.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Well it took all day but I finally got unloaded.  Then went 38 miles up I-5 to The City of Industry, California and picked up a parts load that is going back to the same place in Irvine, CA.  

Left there and drove back to Irvine for the night.  With all the "lovely" traffic in the Los Angeles area it took an hour and a half to drive 38 miles (61.16 Km).  

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Very easy day.  Started at sunrise this morning.  Drove up CA-86 past the Salton Sea. Click on that for more information on it.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Coachella, CA.  Will be here until Friday morning. Not scheduled to deliver until Friday.  Here is the route the State of California is taking us.  It is 110 F (43.33 C) here.  HOT!!!!!

This afternoon I got a call and was told that it is OK to go in tonight so we will be leaving here at 5 pm local time (8 pm EDT) to go in.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Got started this morning at sunrise and drove to the TA truck stop in Eloy, Arizona where we stopped for lunch and to top off with fuel.  After I got fuel I saw two other Daily trucks with loads going where I am going.  They were waving me over to them.  They were waiting for a curfew in California to get over, one that I had overlooked somehow.  Glad I stopped when I did.  So I waited there with them until it was time to go again.

At about 2 pm local time we left again.  Passed what was left of a semi truck vs. bus crash.  We heard about it when we were waiting at the truck stop.  They had it almost cleaned up.

Drove down to a truck parking area on I-8 because we were still too early to go through Yuma, Arizona.  Once that curfew was over at 6 pm we left again. Made it through Yuma and  into California.  Here are some pictures of the Imperial Dunes State Park. It is a desert.

Continued along I-8 in southern California.  It parallels the USA / Mexico border so close that you can throw a rock and hit the fence.

 

Finally ran out of hours and had to stop for the night at a truck stop in El Centro, California.  I tuned in the local TV stations on my TV and all of the 15 that I got were in Spanish.  Not one in English.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Left this morning before sunrise.  Drove through Texas and finally got to New Mexico. Drove along the USA / Mexico border for quite a while.  Then finally up to I-10.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Deming, New Mexico.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

It is HOT here!!!   103 F (39.44 C)   Here is the goofy route the state of Texas has us going tomorrow. Actually starting from Sweetwater.  That is another 40 miles (64.37 Km) east of Colorado City.  Remember, you can click on any picture to get a better look.