Monday, May 2, 2011

Delivered the crane rigging first thing this morning.  Then drove back to Beaumont, TX to a military transport division at the Port of Beaumont for my next load.  Picked up two shipping containers with military stuff inside them.  Taking them to White Hall, Arkansas.  Drove to a truck stop in White Hall, AR for the night.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Very uneventful day on the road.  VERY windy in Texas.  Blew me all over the road.   Drove to the TA truck stop in Baytown, Texas.  Deliver tomorrow not too far from here. 

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Drove right through the heart of where the tornadoes hit the other day.  Here are a few photos I too along the way.

Here is what is left of a Petro Truck Stop. Glad I wasn't there that day!!



Drove 699 miles today.  Stopped for the night at a crappy truck stop that had lousy food, in York, Alabama.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Went into Hanover, VA and delivered the PVC pipe.  After that drove over to McLean, VA for my next load.  McLean is a suburb of Washington DC.  I loaded at a construction site where they are building fly-overs as part of I-495.  Huge project.  I was picking up crane rigging from a HUGE crane that was used there but now being shipped back to Texas. The crane itself was already gone.  Here are a bunch of photos of them loading my truck. By the way, that is the smaller crane.

Those cables that are being loaded on the truck are as big around as my thigh.

Then we had to move to another location for the last part of the load.  To get out I had to back out along the "Jersey wall", past the white pick up truck (behind the crane) and then into the intersection where the stop light is.  Then turn right down that road.  Had to back in off that road to the next place.
Want to try it??   C'mon, I know you do!!  Go on, give it a try!!

And this is what it looks like all loaded and tied down.

Left there right at rush hour.  Just what I wanted, another trip in DC rush hour traffic!!  Took forever to get out to I-81. Needless to say, I didn't get too far tonight.  Stopped at a truck stop on I-81 in Raphine, VA.  Took a long hot shower!!  Tried something new tonight.  What do you think? 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Went into Tallahassee and delivered the steel this morning.

After that I drove to Adel, Georgia and picked up 45,000 pounds of PVC pipe going to Virginia.

Then I drove to the Petro truck stop in Kenly, NC for the night.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Got the rest of the work done on my truck.  Drove up to Tallahassee to deliver the steel tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 27, 2011

Went to Orlando this morning and had all that work done on the truck.  It really needed it done bad!!  Took all day.  Didn't get back home until 6:30 this evening.  Didn't get the rest of the work done on the truck that was supposed to get done back here so I'll have to do it tomorrow.  Steel delivery will just have to wait.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Had my clutch adjusted on the truck this morning.  Found 3 broken welds on the trailer again.  They were fixed too.  Then went to Jacksonville and picked up Mom at the airport.  Her trip was great and she had a wonderful time.  Tomorrow back to Orlando to have my shackle bushings replaced and then the truck aligned.  After that back to Seville again to have a little more done on the truck there.  Busy day ahead.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Left Kenly, NC at 4 am and drove straight home non stop.  Got home at 1 pm.  Got on my bike and went to a double header baseball game in Daytona Beach.  Had a great time, even though my team lost both of games. 

Got back home again at about 7:45 pm.  Boy am I tired.  Eat, shower, bed!  Good night.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Drove into Yorktown, VA early this morning and delivered the conveyor and stuff.  After that drove back to Petersburg, VA for my next load.  44,192 pounds of steel pilings going to Tallahassee, FL.  Do not have to deliver until Wednesday. 

Got lazy and stopped early tonight at the Petro truck stop in Kenly, North Carolina.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Drove back to Newton, NH to the place I delivered yesterday morning for a load going to Yorktown, VA.  They build the machines that "eat" trees and make wood chips out of them.  Here are a couple photos of the things they build there:

I am taking a conveyor and some other parts to Virginia.  This is what I have:

After I got all that on I drove to a rest area south of Washington DC for the night.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Left Pine Grove, PA at 3 am and drove to Newton, New Hampshire and delivered the first half of the load. Then drove up to Harpswell, Maine and delivered the rest of it. Went back to the TA truck stop in Greenland, New Hampshire for the night.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Left Manning, SC early this morning.  Drove up to the Petro truck stop in Kenly, NC and replaced my refrigerator.  The old one quit working.  Its always something!!  Going through North Carolina I passed several places where the tornadoes went through.  Was only able to grab a few photos of it.  Here they are:

Went through Washington DC and Baltimore right at rush hour.  Boy did I time that right!!!  Took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through there. 

Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Pine Grove, PA.  Hope to start real early tomorrow.

Monday, April 18,2011

Went to Orlando this morning to get the alignment done on my truck and found out that my front hanger bushings are worn out and need replacing.  They were unable to do the work today so I rescheduled for next Tuesday.  After that I went to Perry, FL and picked up my next load.  Another one of those buildings with the canvas covering.  Last load I got from there went to Seattle and ended up in Alaska.  They told me that it finally got there.  They just sent a guy up there to put it together.  This time it was 2 buildings.  One going to New Hampshire and the other going to Maine. 



Drove up to the TA truck stop in Manning, SC for the night.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Drove down to Groveland, FL and delivered the scaffolding first thing this morning.  After that drove home to Seville for the weekend.  Driving Mom to the airport Sunday.  Monday morning I have an appointment in Orlando to get the truck aligned.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Drove to Chester, SC first thing in the morning and delivered the steel.  My next load was in Aiken, SC at the United States Department of Energy Savannah River Site. 

This place was really cool!!  The two web sites below can explain what goes on there much better than I can.

http://www.srs.gov/general/srs-home.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River_Site

Getting through security to get in took over an hour. They went through my truck from stem to stern. While they were doing that a dog walked around and sniffed everything.   After that I drove about 10 miles back in there to "R" reactor and loaded a bunch of scaffolding that was used in the decommissioning process of that nuclear reactor.  I love going to places like this!!!!  How many people can get that close to stuff like that!!!  Really cool!!!!!!  Photographs in there are a HUGE no no but I snuck a photo of the reactor that I went to as I was driving in. 

Here is the load I got there:

Drove to a Petro truck stop just north of Ocala for the night.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My next load was a bunch of steel.  Picked up in Reading, PA.  Drove over there and got loaded first thing in the morning. 

Doesn't look like much, but that is over 45,000 pounds of steel.  It is going to Chester, SC.  Drove down to Rock Hill, SC to a small truck stop for the night.  I deliver about 10 minutes from here tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Had routine maintenance done on the truck today. You know, the usual oil change, filters change, and grease.  Then drve into Allentown, PA to Thermo King and had my APU fixed.  After that went to a truck stop to finish my reset time.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Went into Jamesburg, NJ and delivered first thing this morning.  Traffic really stinks up here!!  Went right back to the TA truck stop in Bloomsbury, NJ for my reset.  Be here until Wednesday morning.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Another uneventful day of driving.  Very relaxing day on the road.  Drove 673 miles from Knoxville, TN up to the Bloomsbury, NJ TA truck stop on I-78 for the night.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Left Jackson, MS this morning and drove up to Olive Branch, MS.  Got there early.  Good thing!!  Drove right in and got loaded right away.  38,000 pounds of rack beams going to New Jersey.

Drove up to Knoxville, TN and spent the night at the Petro truck stop.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Woke up at 8 am and they unloaded my trailer.  My next load is in the north end of Mississippi and loads Saturday at 10 am.  Drove up to the Petro truck stop in Jackson, Mississippi for the night. Only 424 miles today.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Drove down to Coden, AL and delivered first thing in the morning.  After that drove back to Panama City, FL and picked up some big pieces of pipe with some valves in them.  The big one on the front of the trailer had a valve that costs $100,000.  That's just the valve!!!  They had to be in Baytown, TX in the morning.  Baytown is just outside of Houston. 

After that was all loaded I drove straight to Baytown, TX and stopped at 4 am.  Drove 896 miles today!!  Illegal as hell!!  Glad I didn't get stopped.  Slept in the parking lot of the place I delivered after I made my log book look legal. Today it's more like a fiction novel.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Went in to Fort Meade and picked up my next load.  Loaded 2 test manifolds for a natural gas pipeline.  They are going to Coden, Alabama.  That's just south of Mobile.  They were not as big as I expected, but they are heavier than they look.  They are about 15,000 pounds.

Drove to Mobile, Alabama to the small Pilot truck stop for the night.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Was nice to be home for the weekend.  Got a bunch of stuff done.  Now I'm back on the road, my second home.  Drove down to the Love's truck stop in Polk City for the night.  Pick up something in the morning in Fort Meade, FL. Have to be there on time because they have a crane scheduled to load me.  Not sure what I'm getting but it must be big.