This morning my new pilot escort car was waiting for me as I reconnected to my trailer. We left at sunrise. I definitely made the right decision even though the "desk jockeys" were not happy at all with me. I don't care. The roads were great. Pennsylvania did a great job clearing the roads. Just south of Scranton we stopped to check to see if the truck travel restrictions in New York had been lifted. They were so we continued on. Met up with my second pilot escort car at the Pennsylvania / New York state line on I-84. We continued on to the TA truck stop in Maybrook, NY. While I topped off my fuel tanks my pilot cars looked through the parking lot for a place for me to park. It was pretty full. I needed two open spots, one right behind the other in a location that I could maneuver into and out of. That doesn't leave a whole lot of places. There was a couple of "maybes" but nothing definite. I left my truck at the fuel pump and got in one of the cars and we drove around looking some more. Found one that was difficult to get into, but doable. They held the spots while I went back and got the truck. I drove around but wanted to hit it from a different angle. While driving around the parking lot I saw a potential spot opening up. I called one of the cars over to hold it. Had to ask the truck driver parked in the spot behind the open spot if he would be able to relocate. Fortunately, he agreed to move. The other pilot car came over and the two of them held the two spots while I backed into the parking places. It is the perfect spot.
Tomorrow morning we will leave here and go over to make the 10 am crossing of the Newburgh / Beacon Bridge. They only allow oversized loads to cross the bridge two times a day and only Monday through Friday. The crossing times are 10 am and 2 pm. They charge $100 plus the bridge toll. They close the road to all traffic, then escort all the oversized load trucks (spaced out about 100 yards) across the bridge. After everyone is across the bridge escorts drop off and they reopen the road to traffic.
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