Saturday, March 18, 2023

 Left at sunrise this morning.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Hammond, Louisiana.  Thought I'd never get here. Long exhausting day.  I'll be here until Monday morning.

Friday, March 17, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Pretty uneventful day on the road.  Passed two separate semi-truck crashes today.  One was in the woods on its side.  The other was in the median on its side.  Other than that, I'm on back roads now.  Because of limited places ahead to park for the night, I opted to stop very early in a place I knew had parking places.  I'm in a convenience store with a few truck parking places in Dewitt, Arkansas.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

 Left real early this morning and drove the rest of the way to Davenport, Iowa.  Loaded a John Deere 744 Wheel Loader that is going to Covington, Louisiana.

Had to wait for my Iowa permit to come in before I left.  I waited for a half hour while all the rest of my permits came in.  I finally said "...the heck with it!" and left anyway.  I was 25 miles into Illinois when my Iowa permit came in.  Had a very nice day on the road.  Rain off and on.  Drove 575 miles today.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Bloomsdale, Missouri.  You should see the stupid route they are sending me on!!!   Shortly after I get into Arkansas it's bye-bye Interstate highways all the way down to I-10 in southern Louisiana.  Don't know why they didn't just keep me on I-55.  Good night.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise and drove straight through to Lafayette, Indiana, and delivered the dump truck.  Next load is in Davenport, Iowa.  Started off that way and stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Remington, Indiana.  

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Pretty uneventful day.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Hayti, Missouri. 485 miles today.

Monday, March 13, 2023

 Went to the other side of Houston this morning and loaded a Caterpillar 730 Dump Truck that is going to Lafayette, Indiana.

These things are not real easy to load by yourself.  You can't see the trailer when loading so you have to do it by feel.  Sometimes I get it right the first time, and sometimes I don't.  Today was an I don't.  Took about 3 or 4 tries to get it right.  Left there and headed north.  Stopped and scaled up.  As I suspected, it was too heavy on the trailer axles.  Had to move the machine back a couple feet.  Once that was done I was on my way again.  Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Henderson, Texas.