They finished my trailer last night and it was outside waiting for me this morning. I was at the shop door with the truck before they came in to work. They took it in as soon as they got there. At about 9 AM they finished. Hooked up to my trailer and headed for Shady Grove, PA. Got there and loaded a Grove RT540E Crane that is going to Arlington, Washington.
Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Lamar, PA for the night. After dinner i wanted to take a shower BUT the showers were out of order. They have no water!!!! Just great!!! They said that they were working on it but had no idea when it will be fixed.
Left at sunrise this morning and drove the 25 miles to delivery and delivered the crusher. My trailer still needs work done on it and my truck was due for service so I drove back to Carlisle, PA to get it done. When I got there I was lucky and they took both the truck and trailer in and started on them. Didn't finish the truck today but will finish in the morning. Don't know about the trailer yet. Have to load tomorrow so they put some pressure on the two shops to get it done quick. It seems to have worked.
I woke up real early this morning, 3 AM, and went in and did three loads of laundry, showered, and had breakfast. At 8 AM I left. Had to wait until 8 because of the Harrisburg curfew. One of the few states that curfews apply on weekends. I got there right at 9 AM when the curfew lifted. Took forever getting through Pennsylvania because I was routed on back roads most of the way to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Went through the Amish areas and Pennsylvania Dutch areas too. Went past the beautiful Longwood Gardens. When I finally made it to Philadelphia, I had to wait at the Walt Whitman Bridge for a police escort across the bridge. That is because of my weight. He got here and over we went. I continued on to the Petro truck stop in Bordentown, New Jersey. I'll be here for the rest of the weekend.
Left at sunrise this morning. Very uneventful ride through the mountains of West Virginia. I stopped at the Maryland Welcome Center and waited for my escort car to arrive.
About 45 minutes later she arrived and off we went. As I crossed into Pennsylvania she dropped off since it was only required in Maryland. I stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Greencastle, PA.
Went back over and got my trailer early this morning. More trailer light problems again. Had to fix another broken wire before I could go. Left there at about 7 am. Stopped and scaled...
After a while I stopped to check my chains and found that the rear lights were not working except for the three in middle. Break and turn signals did, however, work. Winter is so hard on the electrical systems on these trailers. Stopped a bit earlier than I had wanted to in order to get them fixed. Stopped at the TA truck stop in Hurricane, West Virginia. Fortunately the shop was not busy and I was pulled into the bay right away.
He worked on it for about two hours tracking the problem down. He found three areas that were messed up and fixed them all. They are all working again. Hopefully it will stay that way. Will be back on the road again at sunrise. Have to have a pilot escort car in Maryland so I'll meet him/her at the line when I get there.
Left this morning with all my lights working!!!! Drove to Evansville, Indiana. Wasn't supposed to load until tomorrow, but I got lucky!! They let me load today and leave my trailer there until tomorrow morning. My permit is not valid until tomorrow. Loaded a Screen Machine 4043T Crusher that is going to Millstone, New Jersey. More mud again!! Yesterday I spent several hours cleaning the last batch. Have to start all over again to clean this mess up, although this mud was not as bad as the last batch.
I bobtailed to the Flying J truck stop about 13 miles away for the night.
My next load is in Evansville, Indiana and loads Thursday. I went to leave today and head that way but my trailer lights were messed up and half of them didn't work. So instead of leaving, I went into the shop and got them fixed. I'll head to Evansville tomorrow.
Went in to Cleveland this morning. Loaded a Screen Machine from a job site that was ankle deep in mud. You can see from my tires how deep it was.
I did, however, find a place on pavement to load so I wouldn't get stuck.
Left there and drove to Pataskala, Ohio and delivered it. Don't have another load yet so I went to the TA truck stop in Hebron, Ohio for the night. Needed a jack hammer to get all the mud off me. It's all over the inside of the truck too. I've got a big mess to clean up.
Didn't get any snow last night. It started just before I left this morning. At exactly a half hour before sunrise I left. Stayed in snow pretty much all the way to Ohio. It was a very wet snow and was not sticking to anything. Continued to a huge landfill in Cincinnati, Ohio and delivered the dozer. Next load is Monday u in Cleveland. I went that direction. Stopped for the rest of the weekend at the TA truck stop in Lodi, Ohio. Supposed to get a little more snow here tonight.
I forgot to put in the blog yesterday the crash I went past just after it happened. This was in Illinois on I-74 just south (east) of I-80 at exit 32.
We got more snow last night. several inches. Woke up to the plow clearing the parking lot. When the mechanics arrived for work I put my trailer back in the shop first thing to get the lights fixed. As I returned from breakfast they had just finished. All better now. I attached to my trailer and left. Went to the Caterpillar Proving Grounds in Washington, Illinois and loaded a Caterpillar D8 Dozer that is going to a landfill in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Left there and drove to the Pilot truck stop in Crawfordsville, Indiana for the night. Supposed to get more snow tonight. They say up to 3 inches.
They worked on my trailer all day. I took my truck to the Kenworth shop in Rock Island, Illinois to get a light fixed. They found the problem in the wiring harness after they took it apart to track it down. Fixed it and I went back to Daily. My trailer was out side when I got there so I hooked up to it. Unfortunately it was still not fixed. The trailer lights on the right side were not working.
This is how they are supposed to look...
So it will go back inside in the morning to try again. So far they have done a lot of work on the trailer and have done a great job. I have a load for tomorrow too. Hope they can find the problem quick.
Once again, as soon as my 10 hours was up (00:15 CST) I continued east. The weather system was just arriving as I left this morning. Started off in freezing rain. After about 25 miles I drove out of it. Drove to the truck wash in Walcott, Iowa and got all that gunk washed off the truck and trailer. After that over to the famous Iowa 80 truck stop for the rest of the day. Now the weather can catch up with me while I'm sleeping today.
Nothing exciting today. Left when my 10 hours was up and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Avoca, Iowa for the night. Might be here a little longer that I want. Weather coming tonight. Rain, Ice, and snow. Not much snow, only a couple inches. We'll see.
As soon as my 10 hours was up I left. Heavy fog this morning. Developed a large air leak in my trailer so I had to stop and get it fixed. Stopped at Little America and they fixed it, but as usual, it took a while. When I got out of there I continued on and stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Laramie, WY. Went in the restaurant for dinner. Once again the service was horrible even though it was not busy at all in there. Took over a half hour to get a cheese burger. When it finally got to my table it was under cooked and wrong. I made no secret on how mad I was. I was not even offered a discount, they charged me full price!!! She got NO tip. Single people in restaurants get horrible service. Happens far too often. I won't be eating there again.
After checking the weather and travel conditions on all the mountain passes that I was going to go through, I left and headed east at 1 AM PST. Great day on the road. No problems at all. Stopped for the night at a small truck plaza in Heyburn, Idaho. Going to sleep now so I can start in the middle of the night as soon as my 10 hours is up.
I don't have another load yet, but yesterday my dispatcher said to head east. Since the weather here and, more importantly, up on Snoqualmie was not good at all I decided to just stay put for a day. I can get caught up on laundry and get a reset out of the way. Did 4 loads this morning. Always feels good to get that done. Really needed it too!! Weather permitting, I'll head east when my 34 hours is up. This time of year everything is always weather permitting.
They dropped all restrictions along I-90 at about 7:30 PM PST. I debated for about an hour as to whether or not to go. I decided to go. I pulled out of the truck stop at about 9:30 PM PST. Smooth sailing until I was about 10 miles from Snoqualmie Pass Summit. Notice how fast the road gets bad.
Up ahead on the east bound side there were a bunch of wrecks. They closed the east bound side and enabled the chain law again. I stopped at the chain up area off to the side of the road to wait. I got lucky the other day and was able to continue. Wasn't going to press my luck and continue. If I got caught continuing the cops would pull my permit and ticket me with a very costly fine.
I sat in the chain up area and waited for the restrictions to lift.
When I woke up in the morning...
I continued to wait.
Here is how deep the snow is up here...
I sat there for almost 13 hours. Finally a Road Department supervisor came by and said we will get you out of here. He said to go and he would let the State Police know I was going through and to leave me alone. I immediately left!!!
Here are some pictures of Snoqualmie with fresh snow...
Here is a short video of Snoqualmie...
I finally made it to Tukwila, WA Caterpillar dealer and delivered the wheel loader. Headed straight back to the TA truck stop in North Bend, WA. for a big meal and a long hot shower!!!!! Weather is supposed to get even worse this weekend. Glad I'm empty!!!!!
It doesn't look good for getting over Snoqualmie anytime soon. Here is what it looked like at 8 AM PST. I called up to the truck stop that I want to get to, and they are overflowing with trucks. So I just stayed in Yakima for the time being.
At noon PST it was still a no go...
At 3 PM PST still a no go, but it looks better...
At 6 PM PST things are looking better. Maybe tomorrow....I hope!!
Compared to yesterday, today was pretty boring. This morning I still didn't have my Washington permit that was ordered on the 8th. I decided to get a little closer to Washington State so I left and drove to the Pilot truck stop in Stanfield, Oregon to wait. After about an hour my permit arrived. It expired yesterday!!! Good job!!!!!! I sent an email telling my dispatcher that it was expired. About 15 minutes later a current permit arrived. I left there and drove to the Gear Jammer Truck Stop in Yakima, Washington for the night. It is snowing. There is no hurry to go further. My next (and last for this load) mountain pass is Snoqualmie. Conditions up there are not good.
Went to take a shower. I went in the shower room and could not believe it. Horrible!!!! Took the key and towels back and refused the room. That is the first time I have ever done that. Tomorrow I'll move to the Flying J in Ellensburg, WA to wait for Snoqualmie to open. Should get a real shower there. Weather reports do not look favorable to getting across until next week. We'll see.
We got some more snow last night and this morning.
The roads got worse. Chain Law is still in effect in more sections of the road.
There are 6 other oversize loads sitting here waiting along with me.
At about 1 PM PST they dropped the chain law on I-84. Most of the oversized loads left, myself included. Roads were real good for quite a while. But then it changed.
I had gone past the "point of no return" when they put chain restrictions back in place. Just a few miles past that photo, traffic came to a stand still. Up ahead at the chain up parking area, along side the road, a driver was putting his chains on his truck. Another truck hit him. They did CPR on him while waiting for the ambulance. Sat there for 2 hours. When I got past that, I stopped and chained up. Once my tire chains were on, I continued. I had cleared it with the Highway Patrol to keep going. Here is a time lapse video of part of my trip. Sorry about the annoying amber warning light.
Once I got over the mountain and past Cabbage Pass the next problem was where to park. The only place was at Arrowhead truck stop in Pendelton, Oregon. There is also the Wildhorse Casino there with a large truck parking lot. Of course by the time I got there both parking lots were full to capacity and security was turning trucks away and sending them to an overflow area. Fortunately the casino had other property on the other side of the Interstate and they were sending the overflow of trucks over there to park. They also provided a shuttle back to the casino. Here is a video of how I got to, and where I parked for the night. It took 6 hours, 15 minutes to drive 91 miles.
After parking I took the shuttle to the casino and had dinner. Then back to the truck for some much needed sleep. Hopefully the weather and traffic cooperates better tomorrow.
Cabbage Hill was still bad this morning. Chain law still in effect. But where I was it was nice. There is another truck stop about an hour north of where I was so I decided to move a little closer. Here are some photos of my short trip this morning.
Stopped at a small truck stop in Baker City, Oregon. Great restaurant here. The place is packed. Was lucky to get a parking place. A guy was pulling out as I approached. Had to parallel park to get in.
Have no idea how long I'll be here. Here is the DOT camera at the top of Cabbage. Chain law still in effect. I can't go if chain law is in effect.
At least the food is good here. Had a second breakfast. Well, at least I can watch the last college football game of the season. The National Championship between...
Left at sunrise this morning. The weather seemed to be holding. Here is my view as I left Ogden, UT.
Then the snow started.
Followed a plow for a little bit until there was enough room to go around him.
After a little while I drove out of it. The rest of the day went pretty good. Made it all the way to Oregon, much to my surprise!! Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Ontario, Oregon.
The most challenging section of the entire trip lies ahead. If the weather permits, I'll be going through Deadman Pass also known as Cabbage Hill. It is a very treacherous portion of I-84. Click here for more information on it. For a live traffic camera from Oregon DOT, click here.
If chains are required, then I can't move. Permit loads are not allowed if the Chain Law is in effect. The weather there is not supposed to be very good, so we'll just have to play it by ear. Right now, I'm about 3 hours from there.
