Saturday, September 15, 2018

While the mechanic worked on my trailer I settled in for another afternoon of SEC Football!!  I really love this time of year!!!!!!!!!!

 The Gators did good today too.

Next week could be a different story.  Next few games don't look too good for them.  Oh well, enjoy this win.  It may be the last for a while.

Tomorrow will be a little more work on the trailer.  Hopefully it will be all better.

Friday, September 14, 2018

This morning drove to the Port of Jacksonville in Blount Island, Florida.  Delivered the dump truck.  Then went to the Daily terminal in Jacksonville to have our mechanic fix my trailer.  

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Left real early this morning. Another good day on the road.  Lost about 30 minutes in bumper to bumper traffic in Atlanta because of a wreck.  Other than that, no other problems.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Brunswick, Georgia when I ran out of hours. 

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

As soon as it was legal for me to drive I left the Daily terminal in Bettendorf, Iowa and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Oak Grove, Kentucky. Good day on the road, no problems.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

My trailer got fixed late this afternoon.  Well, fixed enough to get back to Jacksonville.  Will need more work there.  I went back over to the Bettendorf terminal and hooked back to my trailer.  I'll leave first thing in the morning.

Monday, September 10, 2018

My next load came in late this morning.  It was up i Davenport, Iowa.  I left the TA and drove up there and loaded a John Deere 310E Articulating Dump Truck that is going to Jacksonville, Florida.  Got the thing on but the trailer broke and had difficulty getting it reconnected.  Had the mechanic come out from the Bettendorf terminal.  He saw the problem but was not able to fix it there.  Was able to get it reconnected enough to get back to the terminal.  So I secured the truck to the trailer and drove over to the Bettendorf terminal.

I got there at quitting time so I dropped the trailer there.  He will start on it in the morning.  I drove out to the Iowa 80 truck stop for the night.  

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Last night didn't go as well as hoped. 

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Got on the road real early this morning and drove over to the TA truck stop in Bloomington, Illinois.  Wanted to get here early enough to watch ESPN College Game Day.  I love this time of year!!!!!!!!! So glad football is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now it's time to settle in for an afternoon of SEC Football.

And then tonight.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Got an early start this morning.  Was doing pretty good until an idiot driving a Jeep SUV bounced off a couple guard rails and came to a stop blocking half the bridge.  No emergency vehicles on scene when I went by.

Met up with my two pilot escort cars at I-75 exit 41 in Kentucky.  Had to have them for the re-route.

After that I continued on up to Cincinnati, Ohio and delivered the drill.  Next load will probably be in either Decatur or Morton, Illinois so I started off in that direction.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Greensburg, Indiana.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Went back over to Pembroke, GA this morning and picked up my trailer.

Left there a half hour after sunrise.  Amazingly had absolutely no problems going through Atlanta!!  Continued up to the Petro truck stop in Knoxville, Tennessee for the night.  I'll get an early start in the morning.  Will have 2 pilot escort cars through a portion of Kentucky that they have routed me off I-75.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

It sure was nice to be off for a while.  Had a fantastic vacation.  But now it is time to come back to reality. 

 I left the yard in Jacksonville this morning at 5 am EDT and drove up to Pembroke, Georgia.  That is about 25 miles west of the Savannah exit off I-95.  To start my triumphant return to work off just right, the machine was not ready.  They said it wouldn't be ready until this afternoon sometime. So I took a long nap.  At 5 pm it still was not ready, but I was well rested!!  At about 5:30 they were ready.  Loaded a CZM Drill Rig.  It was not easy.  Finally got it on, but it is not centered real well so it leans a little.  Oh well, I'll deal with it.  Once I finished securing it to the trailer, I dropped the trailer there and drove bobtail to the TA truck stop 32 miles away in Richmond Hill, GA for the night.  I'll have photos tomorrow for you.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

FINALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Twitter Results

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Only one more week!!!!!!!

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Left at midnight and drove the rest of the way home to the Daily Jacksonville, Florida terminal. Will be off for about a week and a half.

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Once again, as soon as my 10 hours was up I was on the road.  Was really nice to be done for the day before noon!!  Stopped for another 10 hours at the TA truck stop in Jackson, Georgia.

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

As soon as my 10 hours was up I was back on the road again heading south.  Stopped at the truck wash at the Iowa 80 truck stop on the way. There was no line, I just pulled right in.  That never happens!!!  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Mount Vernon, Illinois.  Went across the street and had dinner at Chili's again.  So good!!!  Going to sleep real early tonight so I can get started again as soon as my 10 hours is up.

Monday, August 20, 2018

Fortunately it didn't take long for my Iowa permit to come in.  Left as soon as it arrived.  Drove in the rain, some of it heavy, all day.  Here is the detour the State of Minnesota send me on because of construction on I-35.

Finally got there and delivered the dump truck.  Amazingly, it stopped raining while I unloaded.  It is usually the opposite!!  Left there and drove down to the Petro truck stop in Albert Lea for the night.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Left this morning and drove to the TA truck stop in Brooklyn, Iowa.  Won't have my Iowa permit until tomorrow sometime - I hope.  I went as far as I dared go in Iowa without one.  There is a weigh station a little further and it was open today.  Couldn't go through there without a permit.  That would be a very bad thing.  Hopefully it will come in early tomorrow morning.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

When they fixed the fuel tank they drained 100 gallons out of it and didn't replace it.  So, first thing this morning I went down the road and filled up the fuel tanks.  Then back to Kenworth and got my trailer.  At exactly one half hour after sunrise I was pulling out of the parking lot.  Felt so good to be moving again!!!  No problems going through Atlanta, Chattanooga, or Nashville.  Drove 7 3/4 hours non stop, not even to pee - didn't have to.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Mount Vernon, Illinois.  Then walked across the street and ate dinner at Chili's.  It was so good!!  Tomorrow will be a short day.  My Iowa permit expired today.  Friday they ordered a new one but it has not come in yet.  I'll drive as far as I can tomorrow then I'll have to wait until Monday morning for it to come in.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Finally got my truck back this afternoon.  Unfortunately it was too late to go anywhere.  Here is how it looks now.

I'll head out a half hour after sunrise tomorrow morning.  So glad to get out of that hotel!!!!

Thursday, August 16, 2018

I'm still at the hotel. 

The fuel tank still is not back from getting welded. 

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Talked to Kenworth this afternoon.  They said that the fuel tank should be back from getting repaired this afternoon.  They hope to have it back installed and ready to go tomorrow afternoon.  I sure hope so!!  I'm bored out of my freekin' mind !!!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

No news on the truck other than they are going to fix it.  I am so bored!!!!

Monday, August 8, 2018

Went over to the Port of Savannah first thing this morning and loaded a Caterpillar 745 Articulating Dump Truck that is going up to Bloomington, Minnesota.  

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Jackson, Georgia.  Filled the fuel tanks and parked.  After my shower I went back to the truck an found that fuel was leaking out of the tank onto the ground.

The leak was from the top of the tank.  The tank broke where one of the lines comes out of it.  Since I had just fueled up, and it was hot, and the fuel inside the tank was expanding, it was being pushed out the broken place.

TA came over and dumped a lot of cat litter on the fuel spill.  I left my trailer there and drove into the shop.  They pumped 10 gallons of fuel out of the tank and the leak stopped.  Then hooked back to my trailer and left the TA and went over the the Kenworth dealer 17 miles up I-75 in McDonough, GA.   They are open 24 hours a day. Dropped my trailer there and checked in to get it fixed.  They have to order another fuel tank. It will take several days.  I checked into a hotel and will be here for at least 3 days, most likely longer.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

My next load is back up at the Port of Savannah, Georgia.  This morning I drove up to the TA truck stop in Richmond Hill, GA.  Will be here until Monday morning.

Only three weeks until...

Can't wait!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Well, got a load today.  Not much of a load, but at least it was something to do.  Took a step deck trailer over to the Port of Jacksonville and loaded a Caterpillar 914M Wheel Loader and it's bucket.  

Took them up to the Caterpillar dealer in Pooler, Georgia and delivered them.  Felt weird doing a load that didn't need any permits.  After that drove back to the terminal in Jacksonville and dropped off the step deck trailer.  Check out this idiot...

Friday, August 3, 2018

Left a half hour after sunrise this morning and  drove the rest of the way to the Port in Savannah, GA.  Delivered the dump truck.  Don't have another load yet so I went home to Jacksonville, Florida for the weekend.

ALSO.....

1 month till....

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Put all the lights on my load and my reflective "Oversize Load" banners for night traveling.  

Left Oak Grove, KY at about 1:45 CDT.  No problems with traffic through Nashville that early in the morning.  Got to Chattanooga and there was a wreck involving two semi trucks and 4 or 5 cars.  Fortunately it was on the other side.  Traffic on that side was at a stand still.  I-24 was totally shut down.  Our side was moving fine!!!  Got to the Tennessee / Georgia state line a bit early, which was just fine because we beat all the curfews.  I couldn't cross into Georgia until a half hour after sunrise.   When I was legally able to move again I left.  Didn't need my pilot escort car in Georgia so she left.  Atlanta was no fun.  Lots of bumper to bumper traffic.  The rain didn't help either.  Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Pulaski, Georgia.  I'll deliver tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

My Kentucky and Tennessee escort pilot car met me here at Mt. Vernon this morning and we left at sunrise in some fog.  Fortunately it cleared fairly quickly.  Didn't have my Tennessee permit so we had to stop at the Flying J truck stop just north of the Tennessee State line in Oak Grove, Kentucky to wait for it.  It arrived this afternoon but not in time for us to make the Nashville curfew so we are going to get some sleep now and leave here at about 1:30 tomorrow morning to beat the Nashville and Chattanooga curfews.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Went down to Decatur first thing this morning.  Got there before they opened.  Sat there all morning.  They finally started loading me at 1 pm CDT.  Loaded a Caterpillar 772G Dump Truck that is going to the Port in Savannah, Georgia.  Of course it started to rain when they started to load me.

Left there and drove down to the TA truck stop in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for the night.

Friday, July 27, 2018

This morning I drove to the Daily terminal in Morton, Illinois.  On the way head over the radio that there was a roll over wreck ahead of me with an extensive traffic back up.  Not wanting to sit in that, I took the back way over to Peoria through "farm country".  When I got to Morton I swapped all my stuff over to a different trailer.  My next load won't fit on the trailer that I had.  

After all that was done I left there and drove over to the TA truck stop in Bloomington, Illinois for the rest of the weekend.  I load in Decatur on Tuesday.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

As soon as my 10 hours was up I left.  Since I don't have another load yet, I stopped for the night at the Iowa 80 truck stop in Walcott, Iowa.  That is right in the middle of several areas of potential loads.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Got a very slow start this morning, but when I finally did get going I drove 684 miles.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in North Platte, Nebraska.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

As soon as my 10 hours was up I left Sacramento.  Had a difficult time getting out of the truck stop.  It was packed.  I like driving through the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Donner Pass when I'm empty a lot better.  Was so happy to get the heck out of California!!  Things were going good until I heard on the CB radio that the road was shut down due to a motor home that was on fire. I got off at the exit before and waited it out at the Pilot truck stop.  An hour later traffic was moving again.  To make matters worse, traffic was already down to one lane because they were repaving the road. Here was the culprit.

Once I got past that it was smooth sailing again.  Here is the world famous Bonneville Salt Flat.  Not much to see, salt and mountains. **yawn**

And here is the stupid "Tree of Life".

Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Tooele, Utah with 5 minutes left on the clock.  Tooele is at the southern tip of the Great Salt Lake just west of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Monday, July 23, 2018

At 12:15 am PDT we all pulled out of here.  Drove into San Francisco.  Our permit route took us 100 extra miles out of the way and right through the heart of the tourist district of San Francisco.  We went right down the Embarcadero past Fisherman's Warf, Alcatraz boat ferry, and Ghiradelli Chocolate.  Ended up in a residential area.  Glad we did it at night.  We arrived there at 5 am PDT.  We had to stage in the middle of the road.

Here is what it looks like in front of us.

We had to go, one at a time, to the other side of the construction barrier and back in off the street into an alleyway to get unloaded.  Here is the alleyway.

Once the crane arrived and got set up, the first truck went in.  When he was done and out of the way, it was my turn.  I backed in without any difficulty. Only had to pull up one time.  Oh, one other thing...had to avoid hitting this pipe sticking up out of the concrete.  Otherwise the trailer would hit it and get stuck on it.

They lifted the thing off my trailer and I pulled out.

The first truck and I then left with me leading the way out.  We were getting very low on hours and could not wait for the other truck.  Getting out was just like driving in New York City, lots of traffic and not much room.  We drove back to the Sacramento 49er Travel Plaza.  Right back where we started.  Arrived and parked with only one minute left on my clock.  Dinner, shower, and bed.  Will pull out of here as soon as my 10 hours is up.  Good night.  I'm tired.