Saturday, January 23, 2016

This morning made it the rest of the way into Brunswick. Will be at the TA truck stop in Brunswick until Monday morning.

Friday, January 22, 2016

This morning one of my escort cars was late.  He forgot that we changed to Eastern time zone.  Once he got there we left.  When we crossed into Georgia the red escort car dropped off because we didn't need her in Georgia.  Made it around Atlanta with surprisingly little difficulty, even with the rain.  Ran out of daylight so we had to stop for the night at a small truck stop in Waycross, Georgia.  We are less than an hour from Brunswick.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Got started just before sunrise this morning. Stopped at the Illinois / Kentucky state line at a Pilot truck stop.  Kentucky and Tennessee require two escort cars.  So we waited there for a few minutes for her to get with us.

We got back at it again.  Had no trouble getting through Nashville.  Had to stop for the night at the Love's truck stop in Jasper, Tennessee because we couldn't go into Chattanooga because of the curfew.  We may just get lucky on the weather.  National Weather Service says that we will have a lot of rain tonight and tomorrow.  They Aren't predicting snow here until Friday night.  Hope they are more accurate than they were last time!!  Can't start in the morning until 9 am because of the Chattanooga curfew.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Went into Milwaukee this morning to load. Let me tell you, it was not easy to get into this place!!  It was the first time any of us had loaded this thing so there was a lot of guessing as to how it would go on the truck. What it is, is a huge 50,000 pound ring gear for a Caterpillar 7495 Rope Shovel.  It is the thing that the machine sits on and enables it to rotate.  Just to give you an idea of the size of it, here is a photo of the machine.

First had to put the rack on the trailer and secure it.  Then "fly" the ring over to it.

Here it is all loaded up and secured for transport.  It took four attempts to get it right.

Left there and had one heck of a time getting on the road.  The first intersection was an elbow turn to the right.  There were stop light poles on the corners and a median.  The piled up snow was solid ice.  Had to go up on the median and into the ice pile to make the turn.  When the bumper hit the ice it bent the bumper into my tire.  Once I made it around the turn I pulled over to the side of the road, attached a chain to a tree and to my bumper, and backed up to pull the bumper off the tire.  Wisconsin had me routed through the city streets for a long time before getting back to the Interstate highway.  It took what seemed like forever!!  Wisconsin does not require an escort for this load (I'm 14 feet wide) but the rest of the states I will be going through do.  This thing is going to the Port of Brunswick, Georgia.  I met up with my escort before I got to Illinois.

Continued on uneventfully, thank goodness, and stopped for the night at a truck stop in Auburn, Illinois.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

My plan worked.  I left Racine, WI very early this morning and drove down to Harvey, Illinois.  No problems with traffic at all  Had a little trouble unloading.  The brakes on the machine were frozen so it wouldn't move.   It took a little while but they finally released and the thing come off the trailer.  Didn't have another load yet so I went to the Petro truck stop in Monee, Illinois to wait.

A few hours later I got another load.  It is tomorrow morning back up in Milwaukee, WI.  So, I drove back to the Petro truck stop in Racine, Wisconsin for the night.  We are having a heat wave!!  It got in the teens today!!  Supposed to get a little snow tonight and tomorrow morning. 

Monday, January 18-2016

First thing this morning I was at the Caterpillar dealer in Milwaukee to load. As soon as I go there the black cloud caught up with me again.

They could not find my machine.  Had the paperwork, just had no idea where the machine was.  I sat there for three hours.  They finally located it.  I had to go to Dousman, Wisconsin and get it there.  It was about 45 minutes from Milwaukee.  So I drove over there.  Found the machine.  BUT it wouldn't start.  Sat there for another hour and a half while they got the thing started.  Finally got the Caterpillar 140G motor grader up on the trailer and secured.  By the way, the temperature was between 0 and 3 degrees.  

Left there and decided that I didn't want to go through Chicago at rush hour so I stopped for the night right where I started from at the Petro in Racine, WI.  Will get a very early start in the morning to beat rush hour.