Wednesday, June 15, 2022

 I left at 3:15 this morning and drove to the Port of Baltimore.  Had no traffic problems all the way.  Loaded a Caterpillar 315 Excavator that is going to North Canton, Ohio.  I like the little ones, they are so easy!!

Left there and headed toward Ohio.  On I-695 going around Baltimore, I was in the middle lane following an empty dump truck. He was behind an idiot going 50 mph really screwing up traffic.  The dump truck went to go around him on the right (no trucks allowed in the left lane).  There was a car driving along in his blind spot.  When the dump truck changed lanes he did so into the side of the car.  The car sustained damage to the entire left side.  The car swerved wildly and headed straight for the right-side guard rail.  At the last moment, the driver was able to turn away from the guard rail just before striking it and came to a stop on the shoulder of the road.  The dump truck pulled over as well.  I continued on.  Unfortunately, my dash came is having problems and I didn't get it.  I'll have to replace my dash cam very soon.  I stopped very early at the TA truck stop in Breezewood, PA because my truck was due for service (oil change, etc.).   I got that done.  I'll leave real early in the morning to get to North Canton when they open.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

 I left at 5:15 this morning and drove over to the job site where I was delivering.  WOW, it was difficult to get in there!!!  Then the thunderstorm came.  Fortunately, it didn't last long.  The crane arrived at 6:45.  After they got set up, they unloaded me. 

18,000 pounds "flying" through the air.

I took a much longer but easier way back out of there.  Went to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, MD for my next load.  After checking in I went to get the machine.  The batteries were dead and it needed a jump start.  Then the heavens opened up.  It poured heavy rain.  After about 30 minutes of waiting the rain finally slowed enough to get back to work.  The guy from the Port jump-started the machine, a Caterpillar 906M Wheel Loaded that is going to Whitehall, Pennsylvania.  I loaded it.

Left there and drove up to Whitehall, PA, and delivered it.  My next load is back at the Port of Baltimore.  I started back that way but didn't get very far.  Stopped at the Allentown Service Plaza on I-476 for the night.  I just didn't feel like dealing with Phillidelphia and Baltimore rush hour traffic.  I'll leave very early in the morning to beat it.

Siunday, June 12, 2022

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left.  That was at midnight EDT.  Drove 598 miles to the TA truck stop in Baltimore, Maryland.  Will be here until Tuesday morning.  Have an 8 AM crane appointment at the job site in Baltimore.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left.  That was at about 1:15 AM CDT.  Had a very good day on the road.  Nothing exciting or interesting.  Had a little slo-n'-go traffic in Chatanooga, Tennessee.  Stopped for another 10 hours at the Love's truck stop in Charleston, Tennessee after driving 693 miles. Had 15 minutes left on my clock when I stopped.

Friday, June 10, 2022

 My APU worked great all night!!!!   Drove the rest of the way to Seguin, TX this morning and loaded a Caterpillar Genset that is going to Baltimore, Maryland.

Was glad to get out of there before the real heat of the day set in.  Left there and stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Iowa, Louisiana.

Thursday, June 9, 2022

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Drove to Thermo King in Pharr, Texas.  They were not able to work on my APU until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.  Well, that wasn't going to work so I left and went over to San Juan, TX, and delivered the excavator.  My next load is up in Seguin, TX. I went that way.  Stopped at Thermo King in San Antonio, TX to try to get my APU fixed.  They said that they could get to me this afternoon but I'd have to wait for about 2 or 3 hours.  I checked in and waited. At about 3 PM CDT they brought my truck in to start on it. They found a bunch of stuff wrong with it and fixed them all.  I was out of there at 5 PM CDT.  Went to the Petro truck stop just around the corner from Thermo King for the night.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

 Last night after I had settled in for the night my APU quit working.  I ended up going to a Days Inn hotel that was right behind where I was parked at the truck stop.   Left at sunrise this morning.  My "Check Engine" light was off.  Good.  One less thing to have to deal with.  Very good and long day on the road.  597 miles.  Stopped at the SureStay Best Western hotel in Falfurrias, Texas for the night.  I'll get my APU fixed tomorrow - I hope.

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

 Left a half-hour after sunrise this morning.  Got to Atlanta at rush hour so you know what that means...  Yup...Bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Finally got through Atlanta.  Continued on.  My "Check Engine" light came on.  Talked to the shop about it, but they didn't seem to be worried about it yet.  More slo-n'-go traffic from construction.  Then there was a wreck that blocked 2 of the 3 lanes.  Took a while to get past that.  From then on it was fine all the way to the Petro truck stop in Hammond, Louisiana where I'll be for the night.  564 miles today in spite of all the traffic.

Monday, June 6, 2022

 Went back to Charlotte this morning and delivered the metal thing.  Next load was up in Kernersville, NC.  Drove there and loaded a John Deere 210 Excavator that is going to San Juan, Texas.  That is right at the Mexican border.  

Left there and got on the road.  Lots of construction slo-n'-go traffic today.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Carnesville, Georgia.

Saturday, June 4, 2022

 Left at midnight. Drove to the Love's truck stop in Charlotte, NC, about a half-mile from where I deliver Monday.  It was full.  Not a parking spot to be had in the lot or out on the street.  So I drove about 35 miles to the next one.  I'll be at the Love's truck stop in Blacksburg, South Carolina.  633 miles total today.

Friday, June 3, 2022

 Got started this morning at 2:30.  I got very lucky today.  No traffic problems going around Richmond or  Washington DC.  Traffic was heavy all day. Had a few areas of slow & go between Washington and Baltimore, but it wasn't bad.  No problems in Baltimore or Philadelphia either.  AMAZING!!! Delivered the roller.  Next load was over in Monroe Township, New Jersey.  Went over there and loaded a big thing of metal.  Have no idea what it is or what it's for.  All I know is that it is going to Charlotte, North Carolina to be refurbished.

I was just about out of hours for today after driving 575 miles.  They were kind enough to let me stay there where I loaded so I could get my 10 hours done.  As soon as they are done I'll be heading toward Charlotte.  Lots of night driving so the traffic should be a lot lighter.

Thursday, June 2, 2022

 Left this morning and drove the rest of the way to the Port of Jacksonville and delivered the Caterpillar parts.  They are going to Singapore.  My next load was back up in Pooler, Georgia.  That is right next to Savannah.  I went there and loaded a Sany SSR120 Roller and a parts box that is going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Left there and drove to the Petro truck stop in Florence, South Carolina for my 10 hours.  Even with unloading and loading I still got 488 miles in today.

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

 I left at 2:30 this morning.  There was a wreck on the east Atlanta beltway, I-285, just east of the I-75 interchange.  Traffic was backed up on I-75 for several miles.  I found a way around it.  When I stopped at a traffic light on my detour something happened in front of me that I have never seen before.  

Wasn't a big deal, just something you don't see every day.  Had no other traffic issues today.  Stopped after driving 631 miles and ran out of hours for today, at Grady's truck stop in Metter, Georgia.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

 Left at sunrise this morning.  Had to get ahead of the St. Louis curfew that started at 6:30.  I did and made it to Fenton, MO with 12 minutes to spare.  Delivered the wheel loader.  Then drove up to Decatur, Illinois and loaded five palettes of Caterpillar parts for a Caterpillar 794AC Mining Dump Tuck that are going to the Port of Jacksonville in Florida.

This is what it looks like all put together.

Left there and drove to the Pilot truck stop in Marion, Illinois.  I'll leave here at about 2:30 AM EDT.

Monday, May 30, 2022

 

Saturday, May 28, 2022

 I left a half-hour after sunrise this morning.  My plan from yesterday worked.  I had no traffic issues through Chattanooga or Nashville.  Very nice uneventful day on the road.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Troy, Illinois.  That is just outside of St. Louis.  I'll be here until Tuesday morning because of the holiday. 

Friday, May 27, 2022

 I left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Had about 10 to 15 miles of slow-and-go traffic just south of Atlanta.  Then some more bumper to bumper traffic going around Atlanta and a little more just north of Atlanta.  Continued on to the TA truck stop in Cartersville, Georgia for the night.  Didn't go any farther today because Chattanooga was a parking lot.  I decided to go through there in the morning when there is less traffic, hopefully.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

 I left the yard at about 4:30 this morning and drove to Ocala and delivered the telehandler.  My next load was 7 miles away.  Went there and loaded a John Deere 624K Wheel Loader that is going to Fenton, Missouri. 

I left there and drove back to the Daily yard in Jacksonville.  Had to have some work done on my trailer.  While there ran a few errands.  The terminal manager asked me if I could go over to the Port of Jacksonville and assist another Daily driver.  He had a large forklift on his trailer and didn't know how to get it off.  I went there.  It was a bit of a workout. Had to put a couple pins in to attach the hydraulic ram to the lift part so it could move.  That took a bit of time and energy.  Those things are heavy!!!  Anyway, we got it done and I took the forklift off the trailer and parked it for him.  He was very grateful because he didn't know how to do any of that.  It is going overseas and all the instrumentation on the machine was in a foreign language.  Had to figure out how to run the machine with no help.  It was a good thing I knew what to do and how to do it.

The green arrow (you may have to enlarge the photo to see it) in the photo below points to the pin (one on each side) that had to be put in.

Then went back to the yard.  My trailer is done so I'll be leaving a half-hour before sunrise tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left.  That was at 1 AM EDT.  About an hour north of Charlotte, NC on I-77 traffic was backed up and not moving when a semi truck  caught fire.  I got to the stopped traffic shortly after it happened. The cops had the Interstate shut down.  The fire trucks were arriving at the same time as I came to a stop.  I was only about 2/10 mile from it but couldn't see anything because of all the stopped traffic ahead of me. I heard one of the tires explode. We sat there not moving for just about 30 minutes.  Once that was over I continued on.  Made it to the Daily terminal in Jacksonville, FL for the night.  504 miles today.  I'll deliver in the morning.   I'm tired!!!   Good night.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

 Left this morning at 2 AM EDT.  Drove to McConnellsburg, PA, and got there at 6:45 AM.  Got all set up to load and they told me that my machine was not ready and wouldn't be ready until Thursday, the 26th.  I had to wait until 8 AM for my people to get to work to find out if they had anything else available from here, or somewhere else to go.  It wasn't until about 8:15 that I got my answer.  Fortunately, they had another machine from there going to Ocala, Florida that I could take.  I loaded it, a Caterpillar TL 1255 Telehandler.

I left there and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Ft. Chiswell, Virginia.  Another 638 miles in the books for today.  Going to sleep soon.  Getting started again very early tomorrow morning.

So far for the year, I'm the 10th highest mileage truck out of approximately 250 Daily trucks.

Monday, May 23, 2022

 I left this morning at sunrise.  Drove the rest of the way to Kingston, NY.  The worst part of the trip was the last 35 miles.  It was on windy 2 lane roads in NY state.  But I made it and delivered the crane thing.  My next load is back in McConnellsburg, PA.  I started off that way but stopped for the night at a service plaza on I-87 in Modena, NY.  I'll start again when my 10 hours are up.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

 I left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Another 617 miles behind me today.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend at the Petro truck stop in Raphine, Virginia.  I'm out of hours and my Virginia permit does not allow Sunday driving.

Friday, May 20, 2022

 As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left.  That was about 2:45 AM CDT.  Drove the rest of the way to New Orleans, LA.  Beat the rush hour traffic too.  Loaded a Manitowoc Crane Carbody.  OK, now you are saying "...what the heck is that!!"  Well, it is basically the substructure of a very large crane.  The tracks attach to the side of it and the rest of the crane sits on top of it.  It rotates on the pin that is sticking up out of the middle of it.  This is it sitting on the ground waiting to be lifted, by crane, onto my trailer.  Totally stripped down it still weighs about 50,000 pounds.  It was purchased by a company in Kingston, New York.  It takes 14 trucks to move the entire crane.  I was the second to load.  The "house" or the main part of the crane was the first and it went yesterday.

They had to drive a crane over the levy to where I was to lift it.  Here it comes...

Then position it next to me.

Now it's time to lift it...

Then down on my trailer...

Then I secured it to the trailer...

I had to wait for a little bit to get my Louisiana permit.  When it came in, I left.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Slidel, LA to use the scale and wait for my Mississippi permit.  When it came in, I left.  Had a good day on the road.  Stopped at the Petro truck stop in McAlla, Alabama for the night.  Drove 612 miles today.  I have all the rest of my permits.

Thursday, May 19, 2022

 We left this morning a half-hour before sunrise and drove the rest of the way to the Port of Galveston, Texas, and delivered the tractors.  He had never driven one of those before and asked me to show him how, so I did.  My next load is over in New Orleans, Louisiana.  I headed that way.  Stopped for the night at the Petro in Beaumont, Texas.

Wednwsday, May 18, 2022

 We left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Had a very good day on the road.  Nothing exciting.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Domino, Texas after putting another 575 miles behind us.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

 This morning I loaded a John Deere 9R 540HPPC Tractor that is going to the Port in Galveston, Texas.  This one is a little bigger than the last one.  I am overweight, overwidth, and overheight.

A friend of mine showed up and was loading a tractor a bit smaller (but not by much) than mine.  He is also going to Galveston.  We are going to go down together.  We left there and headed south.  Made it past St. Louis before the curfew so we don't have to worry about that tomorrow.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Bloomsdale, Missouri.  My permit route through Arkansas and Texas is not the same as last time, it's longer.  Here is Arkansas.

Here is Texas

Monday, May 16, 2022

 Left a little before sunrise this morning and drove the 3.5 hour drive to Kansas City and delivered the dozer.  My next load is way up in Waterloo, Iowa.  Drove up there but didn't make it in time to load today.  Will load first thing in the morning.  I parked at John Deere for the night.

Saturday, May 14, 2022

 I left Galveston at 3:30 AM CDT and very soon after I got on I-45 got stuck in a roadblock.  They are doing major construction on I-45. Crews were switching the closed lanes, so the cops stopped all the traffic while they did that.  I could have slept for another hour!!!  Oh well.  Once I got through that it was smooth sailing for the rest of the day.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend after putting another 585 miles behind me, at the Love's truck stop in Big Cabin, Oklahoma.  I'm totally out of hours so I have to do a reset tomorrow.

Friday, May 13, 2022

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Drove to Galveston and delivered the tractor.  Didn't have another load yet.  The bridge coming out of Galveston is weight restricted to 80,000 pounds due to damage to the bridge.  It is really messing up loading out of Galveston.  None of the big stuff can move.  So I headed back to Houston.  About halfway back they found a load for me back in Galveston.  So I turned around and went back and loaded a Caterpillar D5 dozer that is going to Kansas City, Missouri.  

I didn't have many hours left for today so I parked for the night at the parking area just outside of the Port gate.  I'll get started tomorrow when my 10 hours are up.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

 Got a late start this morning but timed it perfectly again.  Arrived at the St. Lewis curfew right at 9 AM when the curfew ended.  No issues on the road and traffic wasn't too bad either. I pushed it pretty hard today.  Drove 665 miles stopping once for that stupid required 30-minute break.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Domino, Texas.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

 Left early this morning and drove to Fort Dodge.  Got there just before they opened.  Delivered the telehandler.  Next load was back in Waterloo.  Drove there and loaded a John Deere 9R 490HPPC Tractor that is going to Galveston, Texas.

Left there and drove to the Love's truck stop in New London, Missouri for the night.  Will be starting a little later than usual.  Have to time it so I get to St. Louis at 9 AM when the curfew ends.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

 Yesterday, while loading, the tag light on the trailer got smashed.  As soon as my 10 hours were up I left.  That was about 1:45 AM.  Didn't sleep very well last night so I got sleepy a couple times and stopped to take a nap.  Stopped at the Daily terminal in Bettendorf, Iowa, and got my tag light replaced. Continued on and stopped when I ran out of hours at the Flying J truck stop in Evansdale, Iowa. Even with all the stopping I still did 653 miles today.

Monday, May 9, 2022

 Left real early this morning and got to Baltimore just before they opened.  Delivered the wheel loader.  My next load was over in McConnellsburg, PA.  Drove there and loaded a JLG Telehandler that is going to Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Hebron, Ohio for the night.

Sunday, May 8, 2022

 Checked out of the hotel this morning and went back to the Daily yard.  Stopped along the way and got fuel and the truck washed.  With all my "chores" done I can veg out for the rest of the day.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

 Still raining!!  Got up early and went down the road to the laundromat and did laundry. They have some huge machines there and I washed all my blankets and quilts.  Then went back to the Daily yard and went back to sleep.  Early afternoon I drove to the Penn Harris Hotel in Camp Hill, PA, and checked in.  I had a room with two double beds.  The TV didn't work and they had to send someone from maintenance to come fix it.  It's always something!!!  The "shindig" started at 5:30.  

Panoramic Photo

The food was pretty good.  The speeches were too long (as usual) and the door prizes were pretty good.  I got another jacket for 10 years.  Hard to believe that I have been at Daily for 10 years.  The time has just flown by.  I guess it is really true that time flies when you are having fun.

Once all the door prizes were finished I left and went back to my room.  I'm not into all that schmoozing that goes on at these things.  

Friday, May 6, 2022

 Last night I got an email telling me that my truck was due for an oil change and lube.  I also got a call from the person that handles the random DOT drug tests at Daily.  She said that my name came up this month.  We set up for it to be done sometime before 3:30 PM this afternoon at a place just down the road from the Daily Yard in Carlisle, PA.  It has been a couple years since my name came up on the random list so I was not surprised.  

Left New Paris, Ohio a little after 2 AM.  More rain again all day.  On the road, I scheduled to have the truck maintenance done at the TA in Wheeling, West Virginia.  I arrived there at about 6:30 AM.  There was a truck in the bay already but I was next in line.  The guy at the desk said that "...it might be a while, the mechanic procrastinates a lot".   I went and had breakfast, came back, and took a nap.  I woke up at 8:30.  The other truck was still in the bay being worked on.  I decided not to wait so I canceled my appointment and left.  While on the road called and scheduled an appointment to have the work done at the Petro in Carlisle at noon.  I arrived at the Petro right at noon.  They were just finishing up another truck and said I was next.  I had time to go to the Daily yard and drop off my trailer.  I got the maintenance work done at the Petro and left there at 3:05 PM and went straight to the clinic to do my drug test.  After leaving my "golden deposit" at the clinic I got my paperwork and went back to the Daily yard.  Tomorrow night is Daily's annual "Safety Banquet".  I'll be going to that.  I'll have a hotel room tomorrow night courtesy of Daily.