Saturday, February 12, 2022

 I left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  It was -15 F this morning.  The weather had cleared up nicely and the sun came out.  The road started off slippery with some icy patches to watch out for, but it didn't take long for that to go away and they were dry the rest of the day.  I did real good today until just north of Council Bluffs, Iowa.  My "Low Coolant" light came on.  

I stopped at the next truck stop to check it out.  Once again, my APU was leaking coolant.  I found the problem, fixed it, and added over a gallon of coolant to the system.  I continued on.  After about 10 miles I stopped at a rest area and checked everything.  It was all good. I continued on to the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop in Percival, Iowa for the night.  Checked everything again and it was all good.  

 

Friday, February 11, 2022

 Well, we got our blizzard.  It started around 1:30 this morning.  Felt the truck rockin'.  Didn't get a whole lot more snow, it added to what we got yesterday then the wind kicked it all up and created whiteout conditions.  This is my view this morning.

Sustained winds at 30 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH.  Temperatures in the single digits with wind chill in the minus teens.

I picked a good day to do a reset!!

An hour before the blizzard warning expires and it is still hard to see across the parking lot.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

 Left as soon as my ten hours were up this morning.  About 40 miles from Bismark it started to snow.  Then sleet, then rain.  Arrived at the Caterpillar dealer in  Bismark, North Dakota as they opened.  Delivered the motor grader.  Next load was in Fargo, ND.  I went there.  The weather was not very good on the trip over.  I-94 was very slippery in many places. Past several crashes on the way.  A semi had jackknifed, a straight truck was off in the median, and a pick-up truck on its side were just a few of them.

By the time I got to Fargo, it was snowing real hard and accumulating, as well as it being very windy.  It was not possible to load in those conditions.  I went to the Petro truck stop and settled in.  While I was eating lunch, the snow stopped.  Great!!  I went over to the Case plant and loaded a tractor that is going to the Port of Galveston.  It will end up in Brazil.

 

Being low on hours, I went back to the Petro truck stop.  I'll do a reset here then get started Saturday morning.

Just heard on the local news that we are under a blizzard warning for tonight. Cool!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Another day of mostly back roads again.  not as many small towns to go through today.  Heavy crosswind most of the day too.  But that is normal for up here.  Stopped for the night at a small truck stop in Wolsey, South Dakota.  Got another 523 miles today.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

 Left early this morning.  Made it through the Dallas / Ft. Worth area with a few small places of bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Not too bad for rush hour.  After that, it was back roads for the rest of the day.  Speeds from 20 MPH to 75 MPH and every small town ( and there were a LOT of them) had at least one stoplight which, of course, I got red.  Even so, I still got 513 miles in today. Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Newton, Kansas.

Monday, February 7, 2022

 Left a little before sunrise this morning and went to the John Deere dealer in Houston to unload.  It was pretty busy in there so I had to wait a bit to get a place to unload.  I finally did after not too long of a wait. My next load was not too far away.  Drove over to the Port of Houston and loaded a Caterpillar 150 AWD Motor Grader that is going to Bismark, North Dakota. 

Left there and drove to the Love's truck stop in Alma, Texas for the night.

Sunday, February 6, 2022

 Nothing exciting today.  Just a nice uneventful day on the road.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Baytown, Texas.  Will deliver in the morning.