Saturday, July 14, 2018

Left at sunrise this morning and made our way to Ohio.  At the Ohio state line my rear escort car dropped off as we continued on.  I still have my pole car out front.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in New Paris, Ohio.

Friday, July 13, 2018

Here we ll are lined up this morning waiting for curfew to get over.

At 9 am we left and started off for San Francisco, California.  Had a good day on the road.  Had to stop early because we can't drive in Ohio on Fridays after 3 pm.  Parked for the night at the South Bound Rest Area on I-79 in Bridgeport, West Virginia.

Thursday, July 12, 2018 Part 2

I was able to move my truck around and finally able to get satellite signal.  At about 11 pm I backed my truck inside the building to get loaded.  They "flew" the building, using a gantry crane, over to my trailer and placed it.  I chained it down enough to move it outside.  Then pulled outside to finish chaining it. I am 12 feet, 2 inches wide and 14 feet, 3 inches high.

I pulled around towards the property entrance, behind the first truck that was loaded, for the rest of the night. I have satellite signal there too!!!  

Thursday, July 12, 2018 Part 1

As soon as my 10 hours was up this morning I was up and at it.  Pushed it hard to get over to Severn, Maryland because this "had to load today".  When I got there, at 1:30 pm, I found out that there are two more units like mine going and another "parts" load.  None of them were ready yet.  I was told that when they are ready, I will be the second one to be loaded.  Here is the kicker, they won't be ready to start loading us until MIDNIGHT!!!!!  So I parked my truck and waited.  I'm surrounded by trees so my satellite can't find the signal.  Just great!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Left early this morning to beat the Louisville curfew.  had to stop outside Cincinnati in Kentucky to wait until 9 when that curfew was over.  Timed it perfectly again and entered the curfew area right at 9 am sharp.  Continued on toward West Jefferson, Ohio. Talked to the guy on the phone and he said to stop at the TA truck stop in London, Ohio and wait there.  It was only a few miles from the job site.  They were not ready yet and there was no place to park there.  We arrived at the truck stop at 11:45 am.  Sat there until 6:15 !!!!!!!!!  Drove over to the job site.  The crane was set up and everything was ready for me.  They stopped traffic and I backed in off the road.  I was empty and out of there in 15 minutes.  They did good.  I went straight back to the truck stop.  I made it with 2 minutes of "on duty" time left on my clock. Whew!!!!  Next load is tomorrow in Severn, Maryland.  That is just south of Baltimore.  

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Left a little bit later that I wanted to today.  Had to time it so that we got to Memphis at 9 am.  Timed it perfectly!! Crossed the State line at 9 am sharp.  Unlike yesterday, today was very uneventful.  Stopped at the Petro truck stop in Glendale, Kentucky for the night.  Couldn't go into Louisville because of the curfew.  Will leave early in the morning to get ahead of the curfew.

Monday, July 9, 2018

Went into Bossier City, LA first thing this morning.  What should have been a simple crane pick up and set down on my trailer turned into quite an interesting adventure.  Once the crane operator got there they put it in position to lift the building.  Once he got set up, I backed up to the crane and next to the building.  They rigged everything and then he lifted the building.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of what happened next.  When the building lifted up off the ground the crane almost fell over!!  Everyone went running as the back of the crane came up off the ground.  The operator quickly put the building down saving everything from disaster.  Scared the crap out of a lot of people!!  He tried it again with the same results.  I did get a picture of it after he put in back on the ground the second time.  Notice there isn't anyone anywhere near it.

Here is a close up of the crane still tipping.

They ended up taking everything off the building and re-positioned the crane much closer to the building.  Then they tried to lift it again.  This time it went up.

Then he put it over my trailer. 

He set it down but it was too far toward the rear of my trailer.  He had to lift it again to move it forward and center it.  He lifted it and as he was moving it forward the crane started to tip again.  This time it really almost went over.  I wasn't able to get a photo of the worst part but I did get one showing the back lifting.  Trust me, it was twice as high as the photo shows.

When that didn't work, they disconnected everything again and I pulled forward.  They re-positioned the crane again and they were able to place the building in the right place on my trailer.  I chained it down.

I have a pilot escort car for the entire trip up to West Jefferson, Ohio.  He was there with me for the entire "show".  We left there and drove up to the Petro truck stop in North Little Rock, Arkansas for the night.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Traffic was much better today.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Shreveport, Louisiana this morning.  Got the truck washed when I got there.