Thursday, March 12, 2026

 I left at 3 AM EDT and drove to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland.  I-70 was closed in the Hagerstown area, and had to follow a detour that took about an hour to get through. Also, it rained all the way in.  Delivered the tractor.  After that, I drove to the "home office" in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  My truck is due for maintenance, and my trailer needs a few tires.  Hand more rain on the way.  In the area of the MD / PA state line, the rain changed to snow.  It had all stopped by the time I got to Carlisle.

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

 I  left half an hour before sunrise this morning.  All that bad weather in the Midwest that you heard about on the news today, I drove through several times.  Periods of heavy rain, wind, and pea-sized hail. Made it safely to a small truck stop in Grantsville, Maryland, for the night.

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

 I left at 2 AM EDT and drove to Sturdavant, Wisconsin, and loaded a Case 70325 Tractor that is going to the Port of Baltimore, and then it's going on a big boat to Romania.

I left there and drove to the TA Express truck stop in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, for the night.

Monday, March 9, 2026

 I drove the rest of the way to Shelby, Michigan, and delivered the wheel loader.  My next load is in Sturdevant, Wisconsin.  I started off that way, but had to stop at the TA truck stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to get a flat tire repaired.  Stayed there for my 10 hours.

Saturday, March 7, 2026

 I left Hagerstown, MD, at about 4 AM EST.  Drove to the Pilot truck stop in Toledo, Ohio.  I'll be here until Monday morning.

Friday, March 6, 2026

 I left at 4 AM EST and drove the rest of the way to Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.  Unloaded the genset.  Then drove to the Port of Baltimore and loaded a Caterpillar 950 Wheel Loader that is going to Shelby, Michigan.  

I left there and drove to the AC&T truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland.  I stopped a little early today because I was very tired, hungry, and I'd had enough of heavy traffic!!!  

Blog readers for the past 7 days...

Thursday, March 5, 2026

 I started off at 4 AM EST and quickly realized that the fog was way too heavy for a permit load to continue.  I stopped at the next truck stop, a Flying J, in New Haven, Indiana, and waited for it to clear up.  About two and a half hours later, the fog lifted enough to go.  Even so, it rained all day again.  My original permit route through Pennsylvania was really stupid!! This is where they were sending me...

Is that the dumbest thing????  Routing me way out of the way right through the middle of Pittsburgh!!!!  Good grief!!!!!   What the heck were they thinking????? 

I had a discussion (that is putting it nicely) with my dispatcher about it.  A new permit was ordered with a better route...

I should have never been routed this way to start with, but at least this one was better than the first one. I drove to the Sapp Brothers truck stop in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, for the night. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

 I delivered the dozer in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was out of there by 7:15 AM EST.  Then drove up to Lafayette, Indiana, and loaded a Caterpillar Genset that is going to Mount Joy, Pennsylvania.

Left there and went the wrong way.  I didn't know it was a permit load until I scaled. I'm overweight.  My Permit route had me going a totally different way.  I was going the way that makes sense!  So I went back and got on the stupid permit route.  That put me way behind schedule.  Stopped for the night at the Love's Truck stop in Huntington, Indiana for the night.

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

 I left this morning, timing it so that I would arrive at the West Virginia state line at sunrise.  I did good, I was only 5 minutes early.  It rained all day.  After driving 561 miles, I stopped at the Petro truck stop in New Paris, Ohio, for the night.

Monday, March 2, 2026

 I checked in at the Port of Baltimore when they opened this morning.  They told me that they won't be able to get me unloaded until after lunch.  So I parked and waited. At 1 PM EST, they brought me over to where I was going to unload.  They were not going to put the tires on today.  They lifted the compactor off with a crane.  When I was empty, I went over to the other side of the Port and loaded a Caterpillar D5 Dozer that was going to Indianapolis, Indiana.  It was snowing.

I left there and drove over to the TA truck stop in Baltimore for the night.

Saturday, February 28, 2026

 I left at sunrise this morning.  Drove to the AC&T truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Will be here until Monday morning.

Friday, February 27, 2026

 I left half an hour before sunrise this morning.  When I stopped for fuel and a shower at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia, I decided to stay here for the rest of the day.  Since I don't deliver until Monday, there is no hurry.

Thursday, February 26, 2026

 I left this morning and had to time it so that I didn't get to Illinois before a half an hour before sunrise. I did good.  I crossed into Illinois right on time!  Drove 570 miles today and stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Eaton, Ohio for the night.

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

 This morning, I went over to Grand Island, Nebraska, and loaded a Case 7260 Combine that is going to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland. From there, it is going on a sea cruise to Belgium.

Once I got loaded, had to wait for over 2 hours for my permits to come in. When I got Nebraska's permit, I left. Passed a car fire along the way.  The cops were just getting there, and the first fire truck was pulling up as I passed the burning car. 

Drove to the Flying J truck stop in Des Moines, Iowa, for the night.

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

 The crane was right on time this morning.  It didn't take long for them to get set up.  I backed down near it.

Here is the pad the statues are going to live on.

The first ones were lifted off and placed on the pad.

Then the next one...

Then the next one...

And the last one...

They all had to be placed precisely so that they were holding hands.  There are three more to be placed that came on another trailer.

After that was done, I went back to the Daily yard and got my trailer back.  My next load is tomorrow morning in Grand Island, Nebraska.  I headed that way, stopping at the Petro truck stop in York, Nebraska, for the night.

Monday, February, 23, 2026

 This morning I went to Norman, Oklahoma, for my next load.  After looking at it and talking with the guys there, we realized that I had a trailer that would not work for this load.  I talked with my dispatcher and went back to the Daily yard and found a trailer that would work.  I dropped my trailer and attached to that trailer.  Then I went back to Norman, OK.  Backed inside the building and loaded 6 statues.

They are going to the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.  I left and drove to the museum.  When I got there, I parked around back for the night.  

The crane is scheduled to be here at about 7 AM CST tomorrow morning.

Friday, February 20, 2026

 When my 10 hours were up, I left and drove to the Daily terminal in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Stopped and got the truck washed along the way.  I'll be here until Monday morning.  Have an interesting load in Norman, OK.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

 I left at about midnight.  Drove to Amarillo, Texas, and delivered the wheel loader.  From there, I went over to "The Big Texan" and had a great meal.  16 oz bone-in rib eye steak, salad, baked potato, and 3 dinner rolls.  Ate it all!!!

There was a guy there just getting started on the 72oz challenge.  

Don't know if he made it.  When I left, he was still going at it.

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

 Once my 10 hours were up, I left.  Drove 651 miles to the Petro truck stop in North Little Rock, Arkansas, for my 10 hours off.

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

 Went over a little early for my 1 PM EST loading appointment and loaded a Komatsu WA270 wheel loader that is going to Amarillo, Texas.

Left there but didn't go very far.  Stopped at the Love's truck stop in Piedmont, South Carolina for my ten hours.

Want to see how bad truck stops screw drivers?  I saw this in the ice cream case here at the Love's...

This is how much you can get the same thing at Walmart...

Monday, February 16, 2026

 This morning I drove the rest of the way to McDonough, Georgia, and delivered the compactor.  My next load is in Newberry, South Carolina.  I have a 1 PM EST loading appointment for tomorrow.  I drove to the Love's truck stop that is on the other side of the Interstate from where I load tomorrow in Newberry.

Saturday, February 14, 2026

 When my 10 hours were up, I left.  Very good day (night) on the road.  Much better driving at night.  Drove 641 miles to the Love's truck stop in Hogansville, Georgia.  I'll be here until Monday morning.

Friday, February 13, 2026

 I left early this morning in heavy fog.  Drove to Corpus Christi, TX, and loaded a Caterpillar CP 56B Compactor that is going up to McDonnough, Georgia.

Left there in pretty good time.  Had a lot of heavy traffic going around Houston.  Then, west of Beaumont, TX, got stuck in more bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Sat in that for at least an hour. Once I got past that, I had had enough of traffic for the day, so I stopped earlier than I normally would.  I stopped at the Flying J truck stop in Orange, Texas.  Got a good big dinner and a much-needed shower.

Thursday, February 12, 2026

 I left half an hour before sunrise this morning.  LOTS of bumper-to-bumper traffic in Houston.  I-45 between Houston and Galveston was shut down due to a very bad truck fire that happened early this morning.  They were cleaning it up. The info on it is here - Click Here.  I lost about two hours in all the B2B this morning.  Once I finally got through all that, I made it to the Port in Galveston and delivered the tractor.  My next load is tomorrow morning in Corpus Christi, Texas.  I started that way and stopped for the night at a truck stop in Refugio, TX

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

 I left at sunrise this morning. Had a good day on the road until I got to Marshal, Texas.  I-20 was shut down for a bad wreck.  The entrance ramp was closed.  There was another Daily truck in front of me.  The worker blocking the ramp allowed us to round the corner and stop on the ramp.  Because the ramp was a permit load route, there were more big loads coming too.  I convinced him to let us pull down the ramp towards where the wreck was, and the clean-up was in progress. 

Fortunately, the wreck was almost cleaned up.  The wreckage was gone.  All that was left was cleaning up the large fuel spill that was caused when three semi trucks collided. 

I convinced the worker to let us go by when they had the left lane swept clear of the stuff that was scattered all over the Interstate. SO, we were not held up too much.  I continued on to a very small truck stop in Crockett, Texas for the night.  Only 475 miles today.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

 This morning, I drove to the Iowa / Missouri state line and waited for a couple of hours for the rest of my permits to come in.  Once they came in, I had a nice, uneventful day on the road.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in West Memphis, Arkansas.  548 miles today

Monday, February 9, 2026

 This morning, I was back at the Caterpillar dealer first thing and unloaded the compactor. My next load was up in Waterloo, Iowa.  I went up there and loaded a John Deere 9R 640HP Tractor that is going to the Port in Galveston, Texas.  

Left there and drove to a small truck stop on the south side of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the night.

Saturday, February 7, 2026

 I left at about 1 AM CST and drove down to the Caterpillar dealer in Omaha, Nebraska.  There was no one there to accept the machine today; I really didn't expect that there would be.  But I was able to drop my trailer there until Monday morning, when I'll deliver the compactor.   From there, I went over to the Sapp Brothers truck stop, which was about 2 miles from there.  I'll be there for the weekend.

Friday, February 6, 2026

 I left a little sooner than I had planned.  There was weather moving in, although not a lot of it, 

I still wanted to get ahead of it.  So I left at midnight. All in all, it was a good trip up to Savage, Minnesota.  Drove through several snow bands along the way.  Some of it was heavy and accumulated on the road.  Sometimes I couldn't see the road.  I made it up to Savage and delivered the wheel loader.  Was empty and on my way to my next load before 7:30 AM CST.   I drove up to Elk River, MN, and loaded a Caterpillar CP12 Compactor that is going down to Omaha, Nebraska.

From there, I went over to the TA truck stop that was about five miles away.  Going to get some much-needed sleep.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

 I can drive at night in Tennessee and Kentucky, but had to time it so that I didn't get to Illinois until a half hour before sunrise.  I was almost perfect!!  Got to Illinois 25 minutes before sunrise.  Continued on to the Pilot truck stop in Beloit, Wisconsin.  I can drive at night in Wisconsin and Minnesota, too, so I'll be leaving here in the middle of the night.  658 miles today.

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

 This morning, I loaded a Komatsu 980 Wheel Loader that is going to Savage, Minnesota.

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

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

 I went over to load this morning and was there at 7 AM.  Loaded a Caterpillar D5 Dozer that is going to West Columbia, South Carolina.

In the parking area, I ran over something, and I could hear the air leaking out of a tire.  After checking, found that the air was leaking out of the right rear outside tire on the truck.  

Called to have road service come out to repair or replace the tire.  

AND here is the culprit!!

A chisel!!!  So I got a new tire and then left.  Drove to West Columbia, South Carolina, and delivered the dozer.  My next load was supposed to be today in Newberry, South Carolina, but because of the flat tire, my loading appointment had to be pushed back until 8 AM tomorrow morning.  I drove to the Love's truck stop in Newberry, SC, for the night.