Saturday, February 16, 2019

As soon as my 10 hours was up I left.  Only had 8 hours and 10 minutes of time available today.  For a change, everything worked out as planned.  Oh yes, here is another good one from today...

I stopped at the TA truck stop in Greenville, Tennessee for the rest of the weekend.  I had only 10 minutes left on my clock when I stopped.  WHEW!!  Just made it!!!  I'll be here until Monday.  Can't drive in Virginia on Sunday.

Friday, February 15, 2019

What a day!!  I have been running with another Daily driver since we left Victoria.  He is going up to Massachusetts but we were both routed on the same route for most of the trip.  Anyway, we left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  We were doing real good until we were just west of Little Rock.  That is when he got pulled over by the Arkansas State Police. I kept going.  Don't know what happened to him, haven't seen him since.  Made it over to Tennessee.  Got stuck in Memphis rush hour traffic, in the rain, and bumper to bumper traffic caused by a roll over crash.  2 of the 4 lanes were blocked.  I sat in that traffic for over an hour and a half to go 6 miles.  

Because of that I went over on my hours by 50 minutes.  Couldn't be avoided.  Oh well.  Stopped for the night at the first place I could, a small truck stop in Mason, Tennessee.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Got up very early this morning and drove down to Victoria, TX.  Stopped at the TA truck stop for fuel and breakfast.  Waited there for an hour and three quarters for my Texas permit (that was ordered on 2-8-2019) to come in.  Then I went in to Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going up to Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Left there and drove to the Pilot truck stop in Buffalo, Texas for the night.  Had some more good Texas BBQ again today.  YUMMY!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Got up at midnight to go back to the Daily yard.  Saw that there were only two trucks in line at the truck wash.  They were lined up out to the road all day.  I went over and got the truck washed.  It was WAY overdue!!!  Then went back to the yard, hooked back up to my trailer and went back to bed for a couple hours.

When I got up, I drove over to Huffman, TX to load a building.  I got there before they opened.  After they get there they started to get my building in position to load it.  While they were doing that I set up the trailer.  Had to stretch it about 12 feet.  Just as I hooked up the air line to stretch the trailer, it broke!!  I knew things were going too smooth.  So everything got put on hold while I drove back to the Daily yard and had the mechanic fix it.  He had it fixed in 5 minutes and I went back.  To load the building they didn't have a crane.  They used three fork lifts, one big one and two smaller ones, to lift it up and I backed underneath it.

Once it was centered and all settled down I secured it to the trailer.

My escort car arrived and I used her as a pole car.  The load is 15 feet, 2 inches high and 14 feet wide.  All together I was 97 feet long. 

Left there and drove over to Beaumont, Texas.  Not too far at all.  They were waiting for me when I got there.  Crane all set up and everything!  That doesn't happen very often.  They lifted the building up and I pulled out from under it.  Then reduced the trailer to it's normal length and drove back to the Daily yard for the night.  I finally got some good Texas BBQ today!!!  Back to Victoria in the morning.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Started off this morning with only a little over 6 hours left on my clock.  Went into Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going to Houston, Texas. 

Got out of there in great time and drove to Houston and delivered the excavator.  Then drove to the Daily yard in Houston.  Made it there with 11 minutes to spare.  Dropped my trailer there.  Then went on personal convanience mode and drove to the TA truck stop in Baytown.  Got fuel, showered, had lunch, and did some more laundry.  I was going to go back to the yard for the night and grab some dinner on the way.  Got started that way but didn't get very far.  A barge hit the west bound bridge on I-10 in Baytown yesterday.  They had completely shut down the west bound side of I-10.  It was rush hour and nothing was moving very fast.  All the west bound traffic was routed on the frontage road and then at the bridge it was diverted on a detour.  It took me an hour to go to the next place I could do a "U" turn to go back to the truck stop.  I'll try it again a different way sometime in the middle of the night.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Was doing pretty good until I got south of Lufkin, TX.  The road was in the process of being closed due to a tank truck that rolled over.  Troopers said the road would be closed for at least 6 to 8 hours. They were diverting traffic off of US-59. It took about an hour to get through that mess.  Made it down to Houston to deliver.  Got the machine off the trailer BUT, as usual nothing ever goes smooth, he would not accept paperwork I had.  So I sat there for over an hour and a half waiting for them to figure it all out.  Finally got out of there but it was too late for me to reload today down in Victoria, TX where my next load is.  I drove down to the TA truck stop in Ganado, TX for the night.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

 Got up very early this morning and hit the road. It didn't take long for the rain to start.  Rained on and off all day, mostly on.  Stopped for the night at a small truck stop in Carthage, Texas.  Did 642 miles (1033 km) today.  Long day.  Very tired.  Going to bed early again.  Will deliver tomorrow in Houston.