Friday, July 29, 2016

Went over to Savannah and loaded another Sany SY235 excavator.  My last one for a while.

Left there and drove up to Peachtree City, GA.  On the way got stuck in a huge traffic back up on I-75 south of Forsyth, GA.  It took an hour to get through it.

4 lanes of traffic funneled down to 1 lane.

Someones half a million dollar RV Bus.  Nothing left of it.

Finally made it past that mess and on up to Peachtree City and delivered it.  My next load is not until August 4th in Pensacola, Florida.  So I started in that direction.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Shorter, Alabama.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Went back over to Savannah, GA and loaded another Sany SY235C Excavator.  Same as yesterday.

Drove it up to Peachtree City, GA and delivered it.  Went back to Savannah to do it all over again tomorrow.  Stayed at the TA truck stop for the night.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Left this morning and drove up to Savannah, Georgia and loaded a Sany SY235 Excavator that is going up to Peachtree City, Georgia.

 Left there and drove up there and delivered it.  Turned around and went back for another one.  Made it as far as Polaski, GA when I ran out of hours.  Stopped for the night at a crappy truck stop there.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Still nothing.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Nothing.  My dispatcher says he has 10 other trucks around the country that are all empty too.  It is not good out there.  Can't wait until Trump is President and this country will start to get going again.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Finished my trailer yesterday.  He really does great work! Here is the completed job.

And for good measure he did two more!!

Today He fixed a couple things on my truck.

All better now.  All I need now is a load to go get.

Friday, July 22, 2016

Left the truck stop a half hour before sunrise this morning and drove down to Miami Lakes and delivered the box.  Then drove back to Jacksonville to get my trailer back.  The trip back home was anything but boring.  I was cut off at least a dozen times.  I put one if them in the video below.  As you watch this keep in mind we are doing over 70 miles per hour (112.65 kph).

Then up in St. Augustine went past a wreck that shut down the south bound side for over three hours!!  So glad I was going the other way!!!

Finally made it home in one piece!!  Sure was glad to get here.  Still no load yet.  But that's OK because my trailer was not quite finished yet.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Left this morning a half hour after sunrise.  Stopped at the Daily yard in Jacksonville, Florida and put my load on a different trailer and left my trailer there for the mechanic to work on.  While doing my pre-trip inspection this morning I found a slight brake problem.  Fortunately it was on my third trailer axle and it has been chained up and not even being used on this load.  Here is what it should look like...

And here is the bad one...

So, after all that was done I continued on south.  Stopped for the night at the TA Truck Stop in Vero Beach, Florida.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Left this morning in a thunderstorm and heavy rain.  After about a half hour I drove out of it and it was clear sailing the rest of the day.  Had some bumper to bumper traffic around Nashville.  Then had a lot of bumper to bumper traffic in the Atlanta area. Finally made it out of that mess and stopped for the night at the rest area on I-75 in Sycamore, Georgia.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Left this morning a little later than normal because I couldn't go through Omaha, Nebraska until 9 am local time.  No problems again today.  Just another good day on the road. Had to stop and wait out the St. Louis, Missouri curfew this evening.  When it was over at 6 pm local time I continued on to the Gateway Rest Area in I-64 on the east side of St. Louis for the night.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Left this morning just before sunrise.  Very nice, uneventful day on the road.  Drove 763 miles (1,227.93 km) to the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop in Elk Creek, Nebraska for the night.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Started off this morning by getting two new tires on the truck.  Then drove into Idaho thinking that I would be there for the weekend because my Montana permit had not arrived.  After being there for a couple hours my Montana permit showed up in my email, much to my surprise.  So I got back on the road.  Here are a couple more photos of the mountains.  Sorry about the bugs on the windshield.

Here is a photo of the mountain overlooking Butte, Montana. Notice anything about it?

No?  Well here is a little help.

Here is a close up.  Sorry it is a bit fuzzy.  That's the best I could get.

To see what it is, and get a much better picture, CLICK HERE.

Stopped for the rest of the weekend at the Pilot truck stop in Billings, Montana.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Late this morning I got another load.  I left and headed for Spokane, Washington.  I-90 in western Montana and Idaho is absolutely gorgeous!!  Sorry I couldn't get any photos today, too much traffic, road construction, and curvy roads.  Saw a few deer and a mother moose and her two babies.  Made it to Spokane and loaded a Caterpillar tank in a crate that is going to Miami Lakes, Florida.

Believe it or not, this is a permit load.  It hangs off one side 1 inch and the other side 2 inches.  How silly!!  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Spokane, Washington.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Got started again just before sunrise this morning. The weather couldn't be any better!!!!!  Lows in the mid 40s and highs in the lower 80s, very low humidity too.  Here are a few pictures of sunrise in Montana.  I LOVE it out here!!!!

Have I come upon Brigadoon?

Made it up to Fairfield, Montana and finally delivered the hub.  Had to go eight miles down a dirt road to the job site.  As expected, I don't have another load lined up so I drove back to Butte, Montana and stopped at the Pilot truck stop for the night.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Left this morning just before sunrise this morning.  Today it was ALL up and down through the mountains.  Went past Devil's Tower (sort of).  Can see it from I-90 off in the distance.  Here are a few pictures of the view in Wyoming.  If you want to look it up, I was on I-90 west bound.

Only saw one Pronghorn today.  last time I came through here they were all over the place.

Internet Photo

Then in Wyoming went up a little higher and the views were even better.  Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice, but here are some anyway. 

 And through Bozemam Pass.  Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Whitehall, Montana.  While doing my post trip inspection I found that I had  flat tire on the truck.  Went next door to a repair shop and they came over and fixed it.

Here is where the leak was.  This view is the inside of the tire.

And here is the culprit!

It is all fixed and I'm ready to go tomorrow morning.  I should be able to deliver tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The generator ran perfectly all night last night.  FANTASTIC!!  Had a mild thunderstorm during the night but it sure didn't live up to its billing.  Left this morning just before sunrise.  Had a great day on the road.  Weather was perfect, and the traffic was light.  Went past the Corn Palace, Wall Drug, and the Badlands again today.  Had a wolf cross the road in front of me.  Had to change lanes to keep from hitting him. As I passed him he turned and looked at me.  Pretty cool.  Later on, just east of Rapid City, South Dakota an Air Force B-1 Bomber flew over me.  It was from Ellswoth Air Force Base that is in Rapid City.  Was coming in for a landing.  Went by too quick for me to get a picture of it so I "borrowed" one from the internet.

Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Monday, July 11, 2016

The part came in today.  After he put it in and all back together he started it and it did the exact same thing again!!  So, he took it apart again and did something else (don't ask me what, I have no idea), then ran it again.  This time it worked right.  Then it was shift change,  So the guy from the next shift put it all back in my truck.  By the time I got out of there it was 6:30 pm local time.  I drove a whopping 13 miles to the Love's truck stop in Clive, Iowa on the other side of Des Moines for the night.  So far the generator is running perfectly.  I'll be sleeping with one ear on the generator tonight. Heavy thunderstorms expected later on.  Radar right now shows them building just west of here.   

Friday, July 8, 2016

It happened again....

The part that they ordered yesterday did not get here today.  They don't know why.  SO, I'm stuck here over the weekend.  The other guy that I was running with continued on today.  I went back to the campground until Monday. 

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Thought my generator was fixed but as it turns out, it isn't.  They put in a brand new inverter in  the thing and as things go for me, it was defective.  So they had to order another one that will be here tomorrow. I'm still at the campground for at least another day.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Yesterday while going over my trailer found a few problems.  So this morning the tire guy came over and replaced six tires.  As for my generator, the closest place that could see me before next week was the Cummins shop in Des Moines, Iowa.  So, after he was finished with the trailer we left and drove to the Cummins shop and left the trailers there.  Then went to a campground for the night.  That way I'll be able to plug in and cook dinner and have A/C. Will be back at the shop first thing in the morning.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Spent most of the day setting up the new computer.  I think I have most of it done now.  This evening my generator quit working again. Same exact problem.  Needless to say, I am really pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fortunately I can plug in here.  Will stop probably at Cummins in Davenport, Iowa Tuesday to get it fixed again

Thursday, June 30, 2016

I'm a little late with this post because my computer took a dump.  Thursday was  pretty uneventful other that my computer problems.  Drove to the Daily terminal in Morton, Illinois.  Will be here until Tuesday because of the holiday.  When I got to Morton I dropped my trailer and went and bought a new computer.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Alabama rejected my permit so it had to be re-submitted.  That is the "Readers Digest" version of what went on.  It finally arrived and off we went.  Because we got such a late start we only went 384 miles (671.988 km) today.  Stopped for the night at a truck stop just inside Tennessee on I-65.  Tried to plug into Shore Power that is available here - it didn't work.  Went to the restaurant for dinner - the service was horrible!!  Ordered hot apple pie and ice cream for desert.  After waiting over 20 minutes it still didn't arrive.  I told the server to cancel the pie and I left.  She got no tip at all.  Needless to say, I am in a horrible mood tonight!!

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Drove the rest of the way to Tallahassee (actually it was really Midway, Florida) and delivered the tractor. Then drove over to Pensacola, Florida for my next load.  Was lucky and was able to load today - a day early!!!  Another GE Wind Energy Hub that is going out to Greenfield, Montana.

But since I was a day early I didn't have any of my permits yet.  The only one I had was Florida.  So I went across the street and parked in the truck staging area to wait for at least Alabama's permit.. Will be here overnight.  It didn't come in today.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Left just before sunrise this morning and had a very good day on the road.  Nothing exciting at all.   Even made it around Atlanta with no problems.  Slight back up south of Atlanta but it didn't last long.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Tifton, Georgia.  Will deliver tomorrow morning.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Easy day today.  Left at sunrise and drove down to the Pilot truck stop in Hayti, Missouri.  Can't go into Tennessee until Monday.