Saturday, January 26, 2019

Was parked at the repair shop at 6:30 this morning to get all the work done. Had the truck and trailer serviced, and DOT inspected.  Need two tires on the trailer but they didn't have them in stock.  Will have to get that done later.  I got out of there at about 3 pm CST.  Started snowing again shortly after I got parked for the night.  They say we will get another inch tonight.  Here is what it looks like as of now.

Tomorrow morning I'll head toward Cleveland.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Boy oh boy did the cold air come in last night!!  It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-20.5 degrees Celsius) this morning when I left. Drove the rest of the way to Elmhurst, Illinois.  That is up near O'Hare International Airport.  Delivered the Excavator.  My next load isn't until Monday and it is over in Independence, Ohio.  That is very near Cleveland.  I drove to the Petro truck stop in Gary, Indiana.  I need to have the truck and trailer serviced so I'll have it done there.  Wish I knew about it when I was in Carlisle, could have had it all done while I was there. Oh well.  The sun didn't warm things up much, it is 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15.5 degrees Celsius)  now.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Had some more snow last night.  About a half inch covered everything this morning.  I left a half hour before sunrise.  Had a good day on the road.  When I stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Monee, Illinois it was snowing pretty good.  TV weather geeks say that there won't be any accumulation.  I should deliver early tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

My escort car met me this morning and at 5:30 we were off.  It was nice to have trailer breaks going over the mountains on I-70 and I-68.   When we got to the West Virginia state line he dropped off as I continued on.  The the rain started.  Temperature was very mild, in the mid 40s.  Didn't even need a jacket.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia to wait for my Ohio permit to come in.  While there I got fuel, had breakfast and took a much needed shower. Ohio finally came in and I was back on the road again.  Stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Hebron, Ohio for the night.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

First thing this morning, as soon as there were people in our shop, I had some more work done to this trailer.  When they were finished I left and drove into the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland.  Loaded a Caterpillar 335FL Excavator that is going to Elmhurst, Illinois.

Met my Maryland pilot escort car as I left the Port.  Have to have one in Maryland if the weight is over 120,000 pounds.  Soon after getting started realized that I had no trailer breaks.  It was an interesting trip with no trailer breaks.  Good thing I know how to, and when to, down shift. Continued on and stopped for the night at the Exon station across from the Pilot in Haggerstown, MD.  Had a repair guy come out and fix my trailer breaks.  Will leave here early tomorrow morning.

Monday, January 21, 2019

This morning I talked to the shop about my jeep.  They brought it in right away.  As usual for me, it would not be a quick fix.  Will take all day to fix it.  Then talked to the woman that arranges escorts, she took care of it.  Talked to my dispatcher and rescheduled my Maryland State Police escort to tomorrow morning.  With all that done I decided to start my truck and make sure everything was ok with it.  It wasn't.  My secondary air tank was frozen and would not fill.  Was able to put the truck in an empty shop bay to let it thaw.  Outside air temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius).  Sunny, still breezy, but not as bad as yesterday.  Once it thawed out everything was fine again.  Took it back outside and parked.  Left it idling instead of using the APU.

This afternoon I got the jeep back from the shop.  After hooking it up and a LOT of "monkeying around" with it, we came to a mutual decision the another truck would do the load. I was very happy about that.  So I parked it out of the way, took off all my chains, and hooked up to my next trailer.  I'll load tomorrow in Baltimore.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The weather didn't turn out to be as bad as they were saying.  The travel restrictions were all lifted.  We ended up with about 4 inches of snow before it changed to rain.  Got up early, had breakfast then checked out of the hotel.  The plows had done an excellent job of clearing the roads.  Drove back to the Daily yard in Carlisle.  Our plows had not cleared our parking lot yet.  There was about 3 inches of very wet slush covering everything.  The rain had almost stopped.  I parked and went back to sleep.  I've been fighting off a cold for the past few days, really need the sleep.  By the time I woke up this afternoon our plows had cleared the parking lot.  It was sunny, very windy, and much colder.  The slush was starting to change to ice. My escort car called me and canceled for tomorrow.  His transmission went out on him about half way here.  He was stranded.  I'm going to go back to sleep and hope that this cold goes away!!