Friday, July 20, 2012

Got on the road as soon as I could this morning and drove in to Decatur, IL.  On the way, passed The Corn College.  Well that peeked my curiosity!!  When I got to Decatur I asked about the Corn College.  They said it was quite a place.  The Deen is John Deere and the professors are called Colonels.  The students all sit in rows where the seeds of knowledge are planted during lectures.  They get quite an ear full.  I wonder if they are canned lectures or if they get a fresh one every year?  They combine classroom and field experience.  Their Homecoming Queen was Sweet Sue and their school mascot is a husky.  Unfortunately their football team is not very good.  They always get creamed.

Went to the Caterpillar plant in Decatur to pick up my load.  As we (there were 5 trucks in the group I was in) were being led back to the area where we were to be loaded, passed a test track that they use to test out the new equipment.  It was really cool to see a huge scraper flying around the banked track.  Something you don't see everyday!!

We then pulled up to where we were loading.  They loaded three trucks ahead of me.  Then it was my turn.  They went down the rows of chassis and found mine. 

Then they brought it to my truck.

\

That is 70,133 pounds of dump truck chassis flying through the air!

And then on my truck. Ready to go!

Got on the road but didn't get very far.  In Indiana I have to have an escort car.  He won't be here until tomorrow morning so I stopped for the night at a truck stop in Oakwood, Illinois.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

My pole car driver overslept this morning so we were 45 minutes late getting started.   When we got on the road we drove pretty much straight through.  Stopped for lunch in Illinois and then on up to Elkader, Iowa and delivered the Combine.  They jacked up the machine and put the tires back on.

Then unloaded it.  Next load is in Decatur, Illinois so I headed that way.  Ran out of hours so I had to stop for the night in Woodhull, Illinois at the Pilot truck stop. Drove 666 miles today.  So appropriate for that load!!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Finally a good day!!!  My pole car was ready and waiting at 9 am when the Baltimore curfew was over. 

My permits all arrived and we were off!!  Drove straight through, only stopping for a few minutes when we had to.  Went through a few thunder storms in Ohio.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Spiceland, Indiana.  Hopefully I'll deliver this thing tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Went back over to the port in Dudalk this morning and was there and hooked back up to my trailer by 8 am.  After talking to a bunch of people and several phone calls, the final answer came down, no they would not take out any of the blocks under the front end.  Then a bunch more phone calls.  Finally got approved to re-order the permits and approved for a pole car.  None of that was built in the initial rate for this load so all those decisions had to come from on high.  Meanwhile I sat.  At 12:45 pm got the word that all that stuff was approved so I left the port and went back to the TA truck stop to wait for the permits and the pole car to arrive.  Pole car will be here in the morning.  Hope my Maryland permit gets here before 9 am when curfew is over.  Enough sittin', time to get movin'!!!

Monday, July 16, 2012

What a horrible day!!  Over the objections of my better judgment I accepted a load that I didn't want to take.  When will I learn that my "better judgment" is a lot smarter than I am! 

Went in to the port at Dundalk, MD arriving at about 12:30 this afternoon.  After the port staff came back from lunch at 1:00 pm, loaded a John Deere Combine.  That thing is difficult to load, but I got it up there.

Things went down hill from there.  It was 98 degrees, no shade, and no breeze.  The thing is too tall.  I am permitted for 13'11" and as it sat I was 14'8".  Fiddle farted around and finally decided to take the front wheels off.

That didn't help much, brought it down to 14'3".  Even let air out of the tires.  I tied it all down and was just about to pull out and head for the TA truck stop when I got a call and said to drop the trailer there for the night and someone was going to come over and assist in getting it lower tomorrow. 

By now it is after 5 pm and I'm physically exhausted from the heat.  Everyone else had gone home and I was the only one there.  I found a spot and dropped the trailer for the night.  Then drove over the the TA truck stop and took a very long cold shower.  I could barely eat dinner, I was so tired and drained.  Hope tomorrow is better. 

Friday, July 13, 2012

Got on the road real early this morning and drove into Baltimore to the port and delivered the generator.  Different part of the port than where I usually go.  This one was on the south side of the Harbor Tunnel. By the time I got there the plastic shrink wrap had disintigrated.  This is what it looked like under it.

And here is the boat it is going on.

Since I still don't have another load, I went to the TA truck stop in Jessup, MD for the weekend.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Left this morning and drove pretty much straight through to Hancock, Maryland to a truck stop there.  Will deliver tomorrow in Baltimore.  No real hurry, don't have another load lined up yet.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Left Hurricane, WV at sun up and drove to Lafayette, Indiana and delivered the excavator.  Fortunately my next load was also in Lafayette BUT it didn't load until tomorrow at 11 am.  Since I was only 5 miles from there I decided to go over and see if they could squeeze me in.  I got very lucky!!  They could and I got loaded with a Caterpillar 3516 Engine and a box of parts.  They are going to the port in Baltimore and then on a boat to Abu Dhabi.

After that drove to the Petro truck stop in Angola, Indiana for the night.

Monday & Tuesday, July 9, & 10, 2012

Finally got a load Monday afternoon.  Drove over to Kernersville, NC and loaded a John Deere 290G Excavator.  It is going to Layafette, Indiana.  It was very hot and no shade!  Thermometer on the truck read 109. 

Got on the road and drove through Mt. Pilot again.  I wonder why they called it Pilot Mountain?  It doesn't look like a pilot.

It looks like a big breast.  Maybe it should be called Boob Mountain?  Or Ta-Ta Teton?  At the top would be the Breast Crest. The road around it would be Areola Circle. Sorry, I guess I'm milking this for all it's worth.  Anyway, I stopped for the night at the truck stop in Mt. Airy (Mayberry), NC.  Verizon's internet service was down so I couldn't post last night. 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Got up this morning and noticed that my trailer looked a bit odd.

One of the pins that hold the back axle on was gone.

Obviously, I couldn't go anywhere like that so I went over to Goober's Garage to see if they could fix it.  It really wasn't Goober's, but close enough.  It had to be a pin of solid steel 2 inches thick and 6 inches long.  Like this one:

Of course no place in town had anything like that, however there was a machine shop down the street.  They said that they could make one.  They did, and it was a good one too.  When the pin got back to the garage they put it in and I was finally on the road.  Since I got such a late start I didn't get very far.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Hurricane, West Virginia.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Drove in to Belle, West Virginia this afternoon and delivered the big ole' bucket. Don't have another load yet but possibly in Kernersville, NC.  Drove down to the Petro truck stop in Mebane, North Carolina for the weekend.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Drove to Wamego, Kansas first thing this morning and loaded a bucket for a Caterpillar 993K.  It is a bit large weighing 36,500 pounds. It's going to Belle, West Virginia.

Got on the road pretty quick and drove to Haubstadt, Indiana to the Pilot truck stop for the night

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Pretty uneventful day today.  Drove to a convenience store with truck parking in Maple Hill, Kansas this morning.  Load about 10 miles from here tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Since I didn't have a load yet I decided to go over to the Peterbilt shop that was 2 blocks away and have some work done.  $890 later I was done. By then I had a load lined up.  It is in Wamego, Kansas and loads Thursday.  I drove for a little while and stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Oakley, Kansas. Washed the truck there too.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Got on the road at sun up this morning.  Drove non stop today.  Didn't see a lot of fire today.  I expected to see more.  Very smokey all day.  Didn't see any signs of fire until Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The mountains behind the city looked like they had smoke coming out of them.  The Air Force Academy looked untouched.  Drove down to Pueblo and delivered the excavator.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Pueblo.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Got on the road at sun up this morning.  Great day to be on the road!!  Started off climing again.  The arrow points to the truck stop I stayed at last night.  I'm about 3000 feet up.

Georgous sunrise in Oregon.

Here are some photos of the scenery along I-80 east of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Sorry about the bugs on the windshield.

Stopped for the rest of the weekend at the TA truck stop in Fort Bridger, Wyoming - in the middle of nowhere and at elevation of 7300 feet.  Get started again first thing Monday morning.  Should be an interesting day.  Going to go through a lot of the fire areas in Colorado.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Went over and loaded a John Deere 470G Excavator just down the road in Kent, WA.  It is going to Pueblo, CO.

Then drove out east of Seattle to the TA truck stop and scaled up.  I was too heavy on my drive axles for Oregon - fine for any of the other states I'm going through, just not Oregon.  Untied it and repositioned it.  Scaled again.  Still not right.  Moved it again.  Scaled again.  This time it was ok.  Gross weight is 110,900 pounds.  Tired it back down again.  Then went inside for a well deserved (and needed) shower!!  Finally got on the road. 

Since I was going so slow up the mountains I was able to get a few photos of the scenery for you.  These are I-90 east of Seattle in the Snoqualmie Pass area. Misty rain in that area.

The roadway in the photo below is I-90 west bound lanes.

Waterfalls.

The avalanche tunnel in the photo below. I wonder why only the west bound side?

Continued on into Oregon.  Stopped for the night at the Arrowhead Truck Stop on I-84 in Mission, OR.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Got on the road early again.  Drove through some beautiful scenery today along I-90.  Weather, again, was perfect!  Sunny and in the 60's.  Drove in to the Port of Everett, Washington and delivered the dozer.  After that drove over to the Boeing plant where they build the 747s, 777s, 787s, etc.  and went on the tour again.  They improved it since I did it last time.  Tried to take some photos but the stupid auto focus on the camera didn't focus so they all came out blurry.  Here is the link to the Boeing Tour web site.

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/tours/index.html

Next load is in Kent, WA.  That is just outside Tacoma.  Drove down there to a small truck stop for the night.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Got on the road early this morning.  Started off in heavy smoke.  Cleared up after a while.  Passed one fire that was up in the mountains in Montana.  Other than that, very uneventful day with perfect weather.  Only in the low 60's and sunny.  My truck enjoyed the cooler temperatures going up and down the mountains today.  Was as high as 6,400 feet.  Stopped for the night in Superior, MT at a very small Pilot station.  Only at 2,700 feet here.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Left Albert Lea, MN first thing this morning.  Drove straight through to Wall, South Dakota and had lunch at the "world famous" Wall Drug.

Just east of Rapid City, SD, as I drove past Ellsworth Air Force Base, I saw the B-1 Bomber doing touch & go's.  My timing was perfect as one of the bombers went right in front of me then made a left turn tight enough that I was looking at the top of the aircraft as it turned past me.  VERY COOL!!!  I tried to catch a photo of it but it went past too fast.  I took a few photos of the B-1 Bomber from Ellsworth AFB web site so you could see what aircraft I'm talking about.  The first photo is exactly like what I saw except it was the top of it, not the bottom.

It was 105 degrees going through the Badlands, Rapid City, and Sturges, South Dakota.  I stopped for the night in Gillette, Wyoming at the Flying J truck stop.  It is so dry out here that when cleaning the bugs off the windshield the cleanning fluid would dry before I could wipe it off.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Went into Coal Valley, IL first thing this morning and delivered the dozer.  Then over to Peterbilt in Davenport, IA to get the truck fixed. Was first in line!!  Lucky me!  They still had work left over from the weekend so I didn't get in right away.  Replaced the speedometer sensor and an air valve and I was out the door.  Glad that all it was!!!

Drove up to Dubuque, IA and loaded a John Deere 850 Dozer.  Same as the last one except smaller.

Legal width, legal height, but a few thousand pounds overweight.  This one is going to the port in Everett, Washington and then on a boat to Russia.  Got on the road and drove up to the TA truck stop in Albert Lea, Minnesota for the night.