Left at 3 AM EDT and drove to Houston. Stopped got fuel and got the truck washed. Then over to the Daily terminal and dropped my trailer. From there I went and did laundry. When that was done I went back to the Daily yard and settled in for the rest of the day to watch a lot of college football. Just hope the Gators don't get killed too badly tonight.
I left at about 2:30 AM EDT (1:30 CDT) and drove the rest of the way to Killeen, TX. South of Dallas it started to rain. Thunderstorms most of the way. Texas people can't drive in the rain!!! There were wrecks everywhere!!! That caused traffic backups. Took forever to get there. When I got there, this was where I had to go to deliver. It had just stopped raining. Everything was wet.
I entered the gate off the busy roadway like this. Traffic stopped for me without any arguments from anyone.
The drive to the delivery site was not as good as it looks in these Google Maps photos. Anything that was not part of the driveway was soft mud. Getting in was not much of a problem. Had to finagle a little bit.
When backing out and making the turn at the "T" intersection my trailer tires went down into the mud causing the trailer to bottom out. That's when it broke. I almost got stuck there. I was able to get it unstuck and continued to maneuver the trailer around the corner backward on my blind side. It took a while, but I made it. Here is what broke on the trailer. The arrow points to the broken part. Compare it to the normal one on the other side.
I left at about 3 AM EDT and drove the rest of the way to Griffin, GA. On the way I had a truck pull out in front of me. Had to brake really hard to keep from hitting him broadside.
My loading appointment was for 8:30 but they didn't load me until 10. Loaded a Caterpillar Genset that is going to Killeen, Texas.
Left there saw a huge traffic back up south of Atlanta on I-75. I was able to go around it on side streets. In Alabama had a construction backup. Got through that and stopped for my 10 hours at the Love's truck stop in Toomsuba, Mississippi.
As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left. Delivered the excavator in Saint Rose, Louisiana when they opened. Saint Rose is right next to New Orleans. I really hate New Orleans. My next load was supposed to be in Montgomery, Alabama BUT something came up where they needed a truck in Griffin, Georgia for a load that required a crane. So I diverted toward Griffin. I ran out of hours for today and stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Montgomery, Alabama. 664 miles today. Felt good to be back moving again!!!
Drove the rest of the way to Pooler, GA, and was a tad early for my 7:30 AM EDT loading appointment. Loaded a Volvo ECR145EL Excavator that is going to Saint Rose, Louisiana.
Delivered the wheel loader first thing this morning. My next load is in Pooler, Georgia tomorrow morning. I drove to the TA truck stop in Brunswick, Georgia for the night.
I left a half hour before sunrise this morning. While traveling south on I-95 south of Daytona Beach I saw the Atlas 5 rocket launch from the Kenedy Space Center. Unfortunately, the photos do not do it justice. The gold flame from the rocket, which you can't see in the photo, is a beautiful gold that doesn't reproduce well at all on film or video. It is one of those things that you have to see in person to appreciate.
About 10 minutes after the launch, this is what it looks like.
Drove down to a private truck parking lot in Pompano, Beach for the night.
