Saturday, January 11, 2020

Left a little before sunrise this morning.  Beautiful sunrise, with a full moon too, in Wyoming.

But the wind was wicked!!  It was pushing me back so hard that I could only go between 45 and 50 mph and I was only getting 2 MPG.

Yes, it says 65+ MPH

It was slow going for a while this morning. 

Here are some photos of the snow fence doing it's job along I-80 in Wyoming.

Some more sunrise photos.

Then the wind really picked up.

Here is a brief video of the wind.

Things cleared out after a while and was pretty good until I crossed into Utah.  Then the snow came down.

I stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Ogden, Utah.  It's still snowing.  May be here for a few days, don't know.

Friday, January 10, 2020

I got very lucky today!!!  That doesn't happen too often!!  I beat the weather and got out of there a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Heavy overcast and high cross winds but no sleet, snow, rain or ice.  West of Hays, Kansas had some heavy wet snow but it didn't last too long.  By the time I got to Colorado I was well past the weather system and the sky cleared.  Had some bumper to bumper traffic in the usual spot on I-270 in Denver.  Had a lot more north of Denver on I-25.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  I made it a lot farther than I thought I would today.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Left this morning at sunrise.  Very good and uneventful day on the road.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Salina, Kansas.  I may be here for a couple days.  The weather report for Friday and Saturday does not sound good.  Freezing rain, sleet, and snow.  Saturday they are saying 1 to 5 inches.  Can't drive a permit load in any of that.  If so, I picked a good place to sit.  Plenty of places to eat here.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

After the Little Rock curfew was over at 9 am, I drove in and delivered the dump truck.  My next load was just up the road at the Keen Caterpillar yard.  Went over there and loaded a Caterpillar 982M Wheel Loader that is going up to Tukwila, Washington.  That is a suburb of Seattle. 

Left there and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Russellville, Arkansas for the night.  Scaled up after getting fuel.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Left the TA in Cartersville, GA a half hour after sunrise this morning. An excellent day on the road.  No traffic problems except for a crash that just occurred in Memphis, Tennessee.  Looked like a Mustang cut in front of a dump truck and the rear quarter panel struck the front of the dump truck causing damage to both vehicles.  The Mustang spun out and was blocking the left lane.  No emergency vehicles there yet so we could get by the crash quickly.  Smooth sailing from there until about an hour east of Little Rock, Arkansas.  Real bad crash on the east bound side.  The Interstate was totally closed down on that side.  Our side slowed for the "lookie-loos".  

Continued to the Petro truck stop in North Little Rock, Arkansas for the night.  Can sleep in a bit in the morning thanks to the Little Rock curfew.  Can start a little before 9 am tomorrow.  Deliver about 25 miles from here.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Went over to the Port first thing this morning and loaded a Caterpillar 745 Articulating Dump Truck that is going to Little Rock, Arkansas.  I like these.  When loading, only about 1/4 of the tire on each side is on the trailer, the rest hangs off the side.  Also when the front tires start to go up on the trailer, you can't see the trailer anymore.  Have to load it by feel.  One other thing, because it articulates the front tires could be perfectly lined up but the back tires could be off by a few inches.  That could make it fall off the trailer.  That would be a bad thing!!  You have to hit it very straight.  Makes it interesting.  The boards under the tires are there to support during transport.  Don't really help much during loading or unloading.  Takes a long time to do by myself.  Today I was lucky, I had a good spotter.  Cut the loading time down by more than half.

Left there a little after 9 am.  Had some bumper to bumper traffic in Atlanta caused by a tractor trailer that rolled over on the ramp from I-285 to I-75 on the north side.  Fortunately he rolled off the road and dumped his load of garbage and everything off the travel lanes.  After getting past that I continued on to the TA truck stop in Cartersville, Georgia for the night.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Well all good things must come to an end.  The Holiday season was great, but it is time to go back to work.  This morning I drove up to the TA truck stop in Richmond Hill, Georgia.  Load at the Port in the morning. It did feel good to be back moving again.