Saturday, May 21, 2022

 I left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Another 617 miles behind me today.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend at the Petro truck stop in Raphine, Virginia.  I'm out of hours and my Virginia permit does not allow Sunday driving.

Friday, May 20, 2022

 As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left.  That was about 2:45 AM CDT.  Drove the rest of the way to New Orleans, LA.  Beat the rush hour traffic too.  Loaded a Manitowoc Crane Carbody.  OK, now you are saying "...what the heck is that!!"  Well, it is basically the substructure of a very large crane.  The tracks attach to the side of it and the rest of the crane sits on top of it.  It rotates on the pin that is sticking up out of the middle of it.  This is it sitting on the ground waiting to be lifted, by crane, onto my trailer.  Totally stripped down it still weighs about 50,000 pounds.  It was purchased by a company in Kingston, New York.  It takes 14 trucks to move the entire crane.  I was the second to load.  The "house" or the main part of the crane was the first and it went yesterday.

They had to drive a crane over the levy to where I was to lift it.  Here it comes...

Then position it next to me.

Now it's time to lift it...

Then down on my trailer...

Then I secured it to the trailer...

I had to wait for a little bit to get my Louisiana permit.  When it came in, I left.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Slidel, LA to use the scale and wait for my Mississippi permit.  When it came in, I left.  Had a good day on the road.  Stopped at the Petro truck stop in McAlla, Alabama for the night.  Drove 612 miles today.  I have all the rest of my permits.

Thursday, May 19, 2022

 We left this morning a half-hour before sunrise and drove the rest of the way to the Port of Galveston, Texas, and delivered the tractors.  He had never driven one of those before and asked me to show him how, so I did.  My next load is over in New Orleans, Louisiana.  I headed that way.  Stopped for the night at the Petro in Beaumont, Texas.

Wednwsday, May 18, 2022

 We left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Had a very good day on the road.  Nothing exciting.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Domino, Texas after putting another 575 miles behind us.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

 This morning I loaded a John Deere 9R 540HPPC Tractor that is going to the Port in Galveston, Texas.  This one is a little bigger than the last one.  I am overweight, overwidth, and overheight.

A friend of mine showed up and was loading a tractor a bit smaller (but not by much) than mine.  He is also going to Galveston.  We are going to go down together.  We left there and headed south.  Made it past St. Louis before the curfew so we don't have to worry about that tomorrow.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Bloomsdale, Missouri.  My permit route through Arkansas and Texas is not the same as last time, it's longer.  Here is Arkansas.

Here is Texas

Monday, May 16, 2022

 Left a little before sunrise this morning and drove the 3.5 hour drive to Kansas City and delivered the dozer.  My next load is way up in Waterloo, Iowa.  Drove up there but didn't make it in time to load today.  Will load first thing in the morning.  I parked at John Deere for the night.