Monday, March 11, 2019

Couldn't leave when I wanted to this morning.  The fog was too thick.  Couldn't see across the parking lot.  Permit loads can not move in dense fog.  So I went back to sleep for a couple hours.  When the fog lifted enough to move, I left and drove the rest of the way into Corpus Cristi and delivered the excavator.  Then drove back up to Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going up to Milford, Massachusetts.

Left there but didn't go very far.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in  Schulenburg, Texas.  Went to the resteraunt across the street for dinner.  Was much better than "truck stop food".

Very tired tonight and my back really hurts.  Glad to be in bed now.  Hope it isn't foggy in the morning.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  No problems through Baton Rouge.  That wasn't the case in Houston.  Had to take a detour around I-10 in Baytown due to the barge hitting the bridge last week.  All overweight vehicles must take that detour.   It will be a while before that is fixed.  Then when I got to Houston they had shut down I-610 at I-45.  What a mess!!!!!!  The first map below is a photo of my permit route.  The second map is the route I took because of I-610 being closed.

Permit Route

Took I-45 back up to I-10.  Then west to Loop 6, and then south to I-69 to get back to my permit route.

Actual Route Because of Detour

Most of all that was bumper to bumper.  It took a couple hours to get past all that.  The last part on Loop 6 going south from I-10 to I-69 in Sugar Land was traffic light after traffic light all the way down.  I got at least 3/4 of them red.  Some of them I had to stop for twice.  UGGGG!!!!!!  Very aggravating!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Finally made it through all that mess and continued on down toward Corpus Cristi.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend at a new travel center in Refugio, Texas.  Nice place.

Just in case you forgot, or didn't know, you can click on any photo to enlarge them for easier viewing.

 

Friday, March 8, 2019

Left a half hour after sunrise this morning.  Another uneventful day.  I passed a small crash on the other side of the Interstate.  Not really sure what happened but there was damage to the front of the semi truck and a van laying on it's side.  The wierd thing about it was that there was about 10 cop cars there.  That is very unusual to see that many at a simple crash.  Maybe there was something else going on.  Hmmmm....we will never know.

Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Livingston, Louisiana.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning. Had a couple construction detours in South Carolina. Here is the first one just inside the State.  Not too bad, very short.

Here is the second one.  This one took a while.  Initially got off on a frontage road that ran right next to the Interstate.  Then it seperated.

The rest of the day went pretty smooth.  Made it around Atlanta with very little traffic problems.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Newnan, Georgia.  Will be starting a half hour after sunrise tomorrow. I'll get an extra half hour of sleep.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Left very early this morning and arrived at Caterpillar in Clayton, North Carolina at 6:30 am. and delivered the jeep.

My next load is up in Kernersville, North Caroilina.  I headed that way.  Atlanta rush hour traffic was a mess.  I took a bunch of back roads to get around it.  Had to get to Kernersville before 3 pm.  They do not load after 3.  I made it with 15 minutes to spare!!!  Loaded a John Deere 470G Excavator that is going to Corpus Cristi, Texas.

By the time I got it secured to the trailer it was too late to go anywhere plus I was out of hours.  I parked there at the John Deere plant for the night.  I'll leave at sunrse in the morning.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Left Houston at midnight.  It is great leaving at that hour.  No traffic to speak of.  Drove pretty much non stop for 650 miles (1046 km) to the Petro truck stop in Shorter, Alabama.  That is just east of Montgomery.  Was done with everything and lunch before noon. 

Monday, March 4, 2019

No loads yet.  I went over to the Daily yard in Houston.  Had a couple trailer lights shorting out that I had fixed when I got there.  This afternoon They asked me to take a jeep to Griffin, Georgia.  Loaded it on my trailer and chained it down. 

Then had some real good Texas BBQ ribs!!  I'll leave here in the middle of the night tonight.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Left this morning at sunrise.  Drove to Sulphur, Louisiana and delivered the excavator.  After that I sent my dispatcher an email telling him I was empty and asked if I should head to Victoria, Texas.  Then I started toward Victoria.  I made it a little past Beaumont, Texas when he finally replied to my email.  He said not to go to Victoria, and that he didn't have anything in Texas at the moment.  I turned around and went to the Petro truck stop in Beaumont, Texas to wait.  Sent him an email telling him where I was.  So I'll be here for the weekend. 

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise in the rain.  It cleared up by the time I got to Birmingham.  Lots of bumper to bumper traffic going around Birmingham.  Once that cleared up made it to just past Tuscaloosa.  That is where things got real bad.  A tractor trailer cattle hauler, full of cattle, rolled over at mm 58.  The driver was killed.  They had the Interstate closed in both directions because of the crash and there were cattle loose all around the scene.  A big mess.  They were routing south bound traffic off at exit 62.  Fortunately I was there early enough to get stopped three miles from exit 62.  It took three hours to go those three miles!!!!  Once I got off at the exit it didn't take long to follow the detour back onto the interstate at exit 52.  That is where they were routing the north bound traffic off.  By that time the back up was past Tuscaloosa, over 20 miles.  Needless to say, I didn't get as far as I wanted today.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Slidell, Louisiana.  Thunderstorms here.  I just checked the road conditions back where the crash was.  The south bound side of the interstate is still closed. I went through there about noon.  Here is a screen shot of it now, 5:03 pm CST.  

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Nothing exciting or interesting today, just a good day on the road.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Gadsden, Alabama.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

This morning hooked up to my trailer to go and lo and behold I had a light out.  Had to put it in the shop for it to be fixed.  When that was done I drove about 3 miles down the road to the Keen yard and loaded a Link Belt 490X4 Excavator that is going down to Sulphur, Louisianna. 

Left there and drove down to the Flying J truck stop at the West Virginia / Virginia state line.  Waited there an hour and a half for my Virginia permit to come in.  Then I drove to the Petro truck stop in Raphine, Virginia for the night.

Monday, February 25, 2019

This morning I checked out of the hotel and took my rental car back. I got lucky with the car.  Had a brand new Cadillac.  It was very nice.

Got my next load, but it doesn't load until tomorrow.  So I took a nap.  I like to sleep.  :) 

Friday, February 22, 2019

My truck was finished at Kenworth so I went over there and brought it back to the Daily shop.  The did some more work on it.  This afternoon I took it over to the tire shop for some tires.  Finally all the work on it is done!!  But too late for a load today so I have to wait until Monday.  I still have the hotel until Monday so I'll camp out in the hotel until then.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

First thing this morning my truck was back in the Daily shop.  I got the pick up again and went for breakfast and another Walmart trip.  When I got back they told me that my truck had to go to Kenworth.  They found a transmission leak and an air leak from a valve block that only Kenworth could fix.  I took my truck over to KW and dropped it off.  There was another Daily truck there that needed to come back so I brought it back.  Had someone drop me off at a hotel where I'll be for a few days.  Not sure when it will be ready.  Might be tomorrow, might not.  We'll see.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Started snowing just as I was pulling my truck into the bay for them to service it.  Snowed hard all morning and built up fast on the roads. While they worked on my truck I got the company pick up truck and went for breakfast, shower, and laundromat.  Washed all my heavy blankets and comforter. Roads were really bad by this time.  Plows not able to keep up.  Went back to the yard and put my stuff back into the truck.  Then took another driver to Walmart.  We both needed to get our prescriptions refilled and do some shopping.  I was almost out of Mt. Dew, crisis averted!! The pick up truck did not have snow tires and was not four wheel drive.  Driving was really fun!!  I love a good challenge like that.  When we got back another driver took the pick up to get lunch.  When he got back, I went out for lunch too.  By the time I finished lunch I had a massive headache.  This afternoon they finished working on my truck for today and I took it back outside for the night.  The snow had stopped and had changed to freezing rain.  We got about 6 inches of snow. With my headache still raging I went to sleep.  Woke up around 8 pm and my headache was gone!!!  Still a little freezing rain outside.  Everything covered in a thick coating of ice.  Just walking across the street to get dinner was a real challenge staying upright.  Tomorrow they will finish working on my truck in the shop.  Then I'll go to the tire shop for new tires. 

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

As soon as the Harrisburg curfew was over I left this morning.  Here is the route the State of Pennsylvania sent me on...

The route wasn't too bad except for a few spots.  Here is one of those spots.  Had to take a short detour for construction.  Here it is...

Here is a time lapse video of the detour...

Remember when you watch these I am wider than the travel lane and 82 feet long.  You can see the full video of the route in real time here...

Then I went through a narrow construction zone a little later on.  Here is a time lapse video of that...

I finally made it to Bensalem and delivered the excavator.  After that I returned to the "home office" in Carlisle, PA.  When I got  there I swapped into a different trailer.  Unfortunately the guy that had the trailer last left all his stuff on it. I had to unload all his stuff before I could transfer all my stuff to it.  That was a lot of work!!  Tomorrow the shop will be doing a bunch of preventative maintenance on my truck.  Picked a good day to do it.  Supposed to get about 4 inches of snow then it will turn into an ice storm before it changes to rain.  Big weather mess tomorrow.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Timed it this morning so that I would get to the Virginia state line at sunrise.  Pretty uneventful day.  Picked up my Maryland escort at the state line.  12 miles later when I entered Pennsylvania he dropped off and I continued on.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Saturday, February 16, 2019

As soon as my 10 hours was up I left.  Only had 8 hours and 10 minutes of time available today.  For a change, everything worked out as planned.  Oh yes, here is another good one from today...

I stopped at the TA truck stop in Greenville, Tennessee for the rest of the weekend.  I had only 10 minutes left on my clock when I stopped.  WHEW!!  Just made it!!!  I'll be here until Monday.  Can't drive in Virginia on Sunday.

Friday, February 15, 2019

What a day!!  I have been running with another Daily driver since we left Victoria.  He is going up to Massachusetts but we were both routed on the same route for most of the trip.  Anyway, we left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  We were doing real good until we were just west of Little Rock.  That is when he got pulled over by the Arkansas State Police. I kept going.  Don't know what happened to him, haven't seen him since.  Made it over to Tennessee.  Got stuck in Memphis rush hour traffic, in the rain, and bumper to bumper traffic caused by a roll over crash.  2 of the 4 lanes were blocked.  I sat in that traffic for over an hour and a half to go 6 miles.  

Because of that I went over on my hours by 50 minutes.  Couldn't be avoided.  Oh well.  Stopped for the night at the first place I could, a small truck stop in Mason, Tennessee.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Got up very early this morning and drove down to Victoria, TX.  Stopped at the TA truck stop for fuel and breakfast.  Waited there for an hour and three quarters for my Texas permit (that was ordered on 2-8-2019) to come in.  Then I went in to Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going up to Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Left there and drove to the Pilot truck stop in Buffalo, Texas for the night.  Had some more good Texas BBQ again today.  YUMMY!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Got up at midnight to go back to the Daily yard.  Saw that there were only two trucks in line at the truck wash.  They were lined up out to the road all day.  I went over and got the truck washed.  It was WAY overdue!!!  Then went back to the yard, hooked back up to my trailer and went back to bed for a couple hours.

When I got up, I drove over to Huffman, TX to load a building.  I got there before they opened.  After they get there they started to get my building in position to load it.  While they were doing that I set up the trailer.  Had to stretch it about 12 feet.  Just as I hooked up the air line to stretch the trailer, it broke!!  I knew things were going too smooth.  So everything got put on hold while I drove back to the Daily yard and had the mechanic fix it.  He had it fixed in 5 minutes and I went back.  To load the building they didn't have a crane.  They used three fork lifts, one big one and two smaller ones, to lift it up and I backed underneath it.

Once it was centered and all settled down I secured it to the trailer.

My escort car arrived and I used her as a pole car.  The load is 15 feet, 2 inches high and 14 feet wide.  All together I was 97 feet long. 

Left there and drove over to Beaumont, Texas.  Not too far at all.  They were waiting for me when I got there.  Crane all set up and everything!  That doesn't happen very often.  They lifted the building up and I pulled out from under it.  Then reduced the trailer to it's normal length and drove back to the Daily yard for the night.  I finally got some good Texas BBQ today!!!  Back to Victoria in the morning.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Started off this morning with only a little over 6 hours left on my clock.  Went into Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going to Houston, Texas. 

Got out of there in great time and drove to Houston and delivered the excavator.  Then drove to the Daily yard in Houston.  Made it there with 11 minutes to spare.  Dropped my trailer there.  Then went on personal convanience mode and drove to the TA truck stop in Baytown.  Got fuel, showered, had lunch, and did some more laundry.  I was going to go back to the yard for the night and grab some dinner on the way.  Got started that way but didn't get very far.  A barge hit the west bound bridge on I-10 in Baytown yesterday.  They had completely shut down the west bound side of I-10.  It was rush hour and nothing was moving very fast.  All the west bound traffic was routed on the frontage road and then at the bridge it was diverted on a detour.  It took me an hour to go to the next place I could do a "U" turn to go back to the truck stop.  I'll try it again a different way sometime in the middle of the night.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Was doing pretty good until I got south of Lufkin, TX.  The road was in the process of being closed due to a tank truck that rolled over.  Troopers said the road would be closed for at least 6 to 8 hours. They were diverting traffic off of US-59. It took about an hour to get through that mess.  Made it down to Houston to deliver.  Got the machine off the trailer BUT, as usual nothing ever goes smooth, he would not accept paperwork I had.  So I sat there for over an hour and a half waiting for them to figure it all out.  Finally got out of there but it was too late for me to reload today down in Victoria, TX where my next load is.  I drove down to the TA truck stop in Ganado, TX for the night.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

 Got up very early this morning and hit the road. It didn't take long for the rain to start.  Rained on and off all day, mostly on.  Stopped for the night at a small truck stop in Carthage, Texas.  Did 642 miles (1033 km) today.  Long day.  Very tired.  Going to bed early again.  Will deliver tomorrow in Houston.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Nothing exciting today.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Lebanon, Tennessee.  Will get started at about 4 am tomorrow morning.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning and drove the rest of the way to Raleigh, NC and delivered the excavator.  Next load was not that far away in Clayton, NC.  Went there and loaded a Caterpillar D5 Dozer that is going to Houston, Texas.  Easy load!!! 

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Whitsett, NC.  I was really tired, my back hurts, and I had some more laundry to do.  Finished the laundry, showered, and had dinner.  Time for bed.  Good night.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Last night when I got to the truck stop I paid for 2 reserved parking places.  At midnight one of the staff was banging on my truck.  When I decided to find out what she wanted she was saying that I was parked in 2 spaces and her sheet says that I paid for one.  I was so pissed!!!!  She even tried arguing with me when I tried showing her the receipt!!  Finally she apologized.  Too late.  I was so pissed I couldn't go back to sleep.  At 4 am I left.  Had another good day on the road except for another jackass cop in the Knoxville scale.  What a jerk.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Mocksville, North Carolina.  Will deliver tomorrow and reload too.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise.  Overcast with rain on and off all day.  At least the temperatures were in the 70s.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Denmark, Tennessee.  When I got there found that my rear beacon shorted out.  Looks like it got water in it.  Tried to fix it, in the rain, but wasn't able to.  Had to replace it.  By the time I was fiinished I was soaked to the skin. Changed clothes and went in for dinner.  It took over a half hour to get a cheese burger and fries.  It wasn't right and I sent it back.  Took another half hour to get the new one.  Wanted hot apple pie and ice cream for desert.  After waiting another fifteen minutes for it I decided that I wasn't going to wait any longer.  I had had enough!!  Paid for the crap that I ate and left.  Unbelievable!!!  I can drive at night in Tennessee so I'll leave here at 4 am tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Left early this morning and was in Victoria at Caterpillar waiting for them to open.  When they opened I went in and loaded a Caterpillar 349F Excavator that is going up to Raleigh, North Carolina.  First time I scaled It was a tad too heavy on the trailer axles.  Had to move it back about 6 inches to get it right.  Scaled again and it was perfect.  When I finished securing it to the trailer had to wait a while because it was very foggy.  The State donesn't allow permit loads to move in heavy fog.  You can see from the photos below how foggy it was.

Once the fog lifted a bit more I left.  Had a good day on the road.  Stopped for the night at a Valero convenience store with truck parking in Tyler, Texas at I-20.

Monday, February 4, 2019

Delivered the Compactor as soon as they opened this mornning.  Then Headed toward Houston.  Part way there got diverted to Victoria for a load.  But hey wanted another trailer inspection first.  So I went to the TA truck stop in Ganado.  When I got there they said they wouldn't have anyone available to do the inspection until Thursday.  Then went to the Kenworth dealer in Victoria. They had someone and they did the inspection.  With that done, I drove back to the TA in Ganado for the night.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Got up early this morning, dropped the trailer and went for some fresh donuts.  Then over to the Laundromat and washed clothes.  After lunch I went over to Walmart and picked up my medication prescriptions.  Now I'm good to go for another month.  Now I'm settled in for the rest of the day. 

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Had a good day on the road today except my back was acting up again, what else is new.  Oh well.  Drove all the way to my delivery location in Austin, Texas.  There is plenty of room to park here until Monday morning when I can deliver the machine.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Left at about 8:30 CST.  Was nice to sleep in.  Good day on the road.  Haven't put one of these in the blog lately so here is another one.

Two miles before I was going to stop for the night I got pulled over for a "random permit check".  When you are in a truck you have no rights.  They do not need probable cause to stop you.  They can stop you anytime they feel like it, they don't need a reason. Everything was fine so I continued on to the truck stop in Malvern, Arkansas.  Nice "mom & pop" truck stop here with a good restaurant.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

As soon as my 10 hours was up I was on the road.  Drove to Decatur, Illinois and loaded a Caterpillar 815K Compactor that is going to Austin, Texas.

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Troy, Illinois.  That is right next to St. Louis.  Can't go through St. Louis until 9 am tomorrow morning so I can sleep in.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Left this morning a half hour before sunrise.  It was -3 degrees this morning when I left.  About 50 miles east of Kansis City my left headlight bulb blew.  It also started snowing. The Interstate highways were fine but when I got off the Interstate on the back roads that led up to the power plant where I was delivering the excavator, the roads were not as good.  In a car, not too bad, but in a big truck that is wide and weighs 129,000 pounds, not so good.  Below is a brief time lapse video of the back road.

Here is another brief time lapse video of me arriving at the delivery site. It starts off as I clear security and then I follow the pick up truck back in to where I was to unload.

It didn't stop snowing until I was ready to leave.  After I delivered the Excavator I drove back to the Petro truck stop in Oak Grove, Missouri for the night.  Then it started snowing agin.  Didn't snow much.  Just enough to make it slippery.  Here is my view for the night.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Got up early this morning and went back for my trailer.  The bad weather they were predicting did not happen.  All it did was rain although this morning there were snow flurries.  Pulled out of there right at a half hour before sunrise.  Stopped at the scale again to make sure my weight was ok, fortunately it was.  Continued on toward Kansas City, Missouri.  That's where I will deliver this thing.  About a half hour before I stopped for the night it started snowing hard.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Effingham, Illinois.  Here are some pictures I took after I stopped.

 

Monday, January 28, 2019

This morning I went in to load.  Was there at 6:30.  Got loaded and was out of there at 8 am.  Things were going so smoothly, I just knew something would go wrong. I was right.  I stopped at the scale at a Pilot about 48 miles away.  It was the closest scale that I could stop at - because of my permit.  I was WAY overweight. I sat there for an hour while the "desk jockys" figured out what to do. They decided that I had to take it back.  So I drove back and unloaded the machine.  The office wanted an empty weight on my truck and trailer so I drove back to the TA truck stop.  That was 38 miles away.  I scaled up and then had lunch.  Here is the machine:

Then they decided to take the boom off so It would fit on my truck.  I drove back.  They had just finished removing the boom when I got there.  I reloaded the machine and secured it to the trailer.  By now it was getting late so I dropped my trailer there and will return in the morning to get it.  Then I drove bobtail back to the TA truck stop for the night. Drove 230 miles today to go nowhere. So far the weather has not been bad.  It started raining late this afternoon.  Hopefully it won't be as bad as they said it would.  The saga continues...

Sunday, January 27, 2019

We got more snow this time, enough to plow.  There were two pick up truck plows and a wheel loader plow.  I don't think I have ever seen a worse job of plowing.  They were terrible!!

Didn't get much sleep last night.  Don't know why but I just couldn't sleep. So at 2:30 am EST I decided to just go.  The snow had stopped in Gary, Indiana.  I did not take the toll road over toward Cleveland.  Instead I took US-30 all the way across.  In Indiana, the roads were not cleared very well even though there were plows everywhere.  I caught up with the snow in Ohio.  Ohio roads were cleared very well.  By the time I got to the TA truck stop in Seville, Ohio it was snowing hard.  Got about 4 inches. Unbelievable as it seems, the plows clearing this parking lot were not any better!!  Even the staff inside said that they do a lousy job.  It was a lot warmer too, in the 20's.  I checked into the shop and got the trailer tires replaced that I couldn't get done yesterday.  After that I parked for the rest of the day.  I load in the morning about 35 miles from here just outside of Cleveland.  Big snow storm supposed to come in tomorrow.  Hope I can load and get moving before it arrives.  We shall see!!!

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Was parked at the repair shop at 6:30 this morning to get all the work done. Had the truck and trailer serviced, and DOT inspected.  Need two tires on the trailer but they didn't have them in stock.  Will have to get that done later.  I got out of there at about 3 pm CST.  Started snowing again shortly after I got parked for the night.  They say we will get another inch tonight.  Here is what it looks like as of now.

Tomorrow morning I'll head toward Cleveland.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Boy oh boy did the cold air come in last night!!  It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-20.5 degrees Celsius) this morning when I left. Drove the rest of the way to Elmhurst, Illinois.  That is up near O'Hare International Airport.  Delivered the Excavator.  My next load isn't until Monday and it is over in Independence, Ohio.  That is very near Cleveland.  I drove to the Petro truck stop in Gary, Indiana.  I need to have the truck and trailer serviced so I'll have it done there.  Wish I knew about it when I was in Carlisle, could have had it all done while I was there. Oh well.  The sun didn't warm things up much, it is 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15.5 degrees Celsius)  now.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Had some more snow last night.  About a half inch covered everything this morning.  I left a half hour before sunrise.  Had a good day on the road.  When I stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Monee, Illinois it was snowing pretty good.  TV weather geeks say that there won't be any accumulation.  I should deliver early tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

My escort car met me this morning and at 5:30 we were off.  It was nice to have trailer breaks going over the mountains on I-70 and I-68.   When we got to the West Virginia state line he dropped off as I continued on.  The the rain started.  Temperature was very mild, in the mid 40s.  Didn't even need a jacket.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia to wait for my Ohio permit to come in.  While there I got fuel, had breakfast and took a much needed shower. Ohio finally came in and I was back on the road again.  Stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Hebron, Ohio for the night.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

First thing this morning, as soon as there were people in our shop, I had some more work done to this trailer.  When they were finished I left and drove into the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland.  Loaded a Caterpillar 335FL Excavator that is going to Elmhurst, Illinois.

Met my Maryland pilot escort car as I left the Port.  Have to have one in Maryland if the weight is over 120,000 pounds.  Soon after getting started realized that I had no trailer breaks.  It was an interesting trip with no trailer breaks.  Good thing I know how to, and when to, down shift. Continued on and stopped for the night at the Exon station across from the Pilot in Haggerstown, MD.  Had a repair guy come out and fix my trailer breaks.  Will leave here early tomorrow morning.

Monday, January 21, 2019

This morning I talked to the shop about my jeep.  They brought it in right away.  As usual for me, it would not be a quick fix.  Will take all day to fix it.  Then talked to the woman that arranges escorts, she took care of it.  Talked to my dispatcher and rescheduled my Maryland State Police escort to tomorrow morning.  With all that done I decided to start my truck and make sure everything was ok with it.  It wasn't.  My secondary air tank was frozen and would not fill.  Was able to put the truck in an empty shop bay to let it thaw.  Outside air temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius).  Sunny, still breezy, but not as bad as yesterday.  Once it thawed out everything was fine again.  Took it back outside and parked.  Left it idling instead of using the APU.

This afternoon I got the jeep back from the shop.  After hooking it up and a LOT of "monkeying around" with it, we came to a mutual decision the another truck would do the load. I was very happy about that.  So I parked it out of the way, took off all my chains, and hooked up to my next trailer.  I'll load tomorrow in Baltimore.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The weather didn't turn out to be as bad as they were saying.  The travel restrictions were all lifted.  We ended up with about 4 inches of snow before it changed to rain.  Got up early, had breakfast then checked out of the hotel.  The plows had done an excellent job of clearing the roads.  Drove back to the Daily yard in Carlisle.  Our plows had not cleared our parking lot yet.  There was about 3 inches of very wet slush covering everything.  The rain had almost stopped.  I parked and went back to sleep.  I've been fighting off a cold for the past few days, really need the sleep.  By the time I woke up this afternoon our plows had cleared the parking lot.  It was sunny, very windy, and much colder.  The slush was starting to change to ice. My escort car called me and canceled for tomorrow.  His transmission went out on him about half way here.  He was stranded.  I'm going to go back to sleep and hope that this cold goes away!!

Saturday, January 19, 2019

This morning I finished securing the machine to the trailer.  When I hooked up to the trailer I broke the "landing gear" on the jeep.  They will have to fix it Monday. 

Tonight is Daily's Safety Banquet at the Radisson Hotel in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

They put on a nice spread with food, band, and lots of door prises.  They also pay for the hotel room.  I went over to there.  Had to be there before noon.  Very bad weather is coming this afternoon.  The state of Pennsylvania put in effect at noon a ban on all commercial traffic on the Interstate highways until noon tomorrow.  Supposed to get snow, changing to rain, then freezing rain, then back to snow again before this is all over.  Going to be a real mess!!  I checked in to the hotel.  Nice room.  Then took a shower and a nap.

Went to the banquet.  Sat with some friends and had a very good time.  The food was good, the speeches were (as always) too long, and the door prizes were good.  We all had a back pack on our seats.

For my years of safe driving was given a vest and a couple trinkets.

And for the door prize, I won a rechargable LED work light with magnetic base.

As soon as the door prizes were finished and the band started, I went back to my room. I don't like the "smooze fest" that goes on afterward so I get the heck out.  Besides, Don't want to be around that many people.    So far, about three inches of snow on the ground.