Sunday, April 16, 2017

Friday, April 14, 2017

Left at sunrise this morning.  Heavy traffic in both directions on I-95.  Stopped for the holiday weekend at the Daily yard in Jacksonville, Florida.  Will deliver on Tuesday.  

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Left at sunrise this morning and drove the rest of the way to the quarry in Kittrell, NC and delivered the metal thing.  Next load was in Kernersville, NC so I drove back over to there.   Loaded a Hitachi 210LC Excavator that is going to Lutz, Florida.

Left there and drove down to the Pilot truck stop in Salisbury, North Carolina for the night.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Had to wait until the Louisville, KY curfew was over in order to start.  While waiting, fixed a light on the trailer and the APU.  Then got on the road.  

Had a good and uneventful day on the road.  Only bad spot was going through the gorge on I-40 through the Great Smokey Mountains.  Construction had it down to one lane.  Took an hour and a half to go fifteen miles.  Stopped for the night at a Love's truck stop in Marion, North Carolina.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

As soon as my 10 hours was up I left and drove down to the Daily yard in Lannon (Milwaukee), Wisconsin.  I left my trailer there and hooked up to a trailer there that was already loaded with a bug metal thing.  It is going to a quarry in Kittrell, North Carolina.

Left there and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Franklin, Indiana for the night.  My APU quit working this morning so I'll have to idle the truck all night.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Drove all the way up to Eau Claire, Wisconsin and delivered the dump truck late this afternoon.  Next load is waiting for me at the Daily yard in Milwaukee. Started to head that way but ran out of hours.  Stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

VERY windy here all day.  This truck has been rockin' all day, especially with this big "wind catcher" on the back!!

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Nothing exciting or interesting today, just a nice day on the road.   Left Wheeling, WV at sunrise this morning and drove to a truck stop in Oakwood, Illinois.  Will be here until Monday morning.

Friday, April 7, 2017

First thing this morning went over to the Port of Baltimore and loaded a Caterpillar 745C Dump Truck that is going to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

I'm a bit heavy.  Here is my scale ticket.

To put that in some perspective for those of you that do not drive a truck, I weigh more than TWO fully loaded semi trucks.

Had to have an escort car in Maryland.  He was waiting for me just outside the Port gates, and off we went.

Western Maryland is still in winter.  Snowing hard out there.  2 inches on the ground but not sticking to the roads. It stuck to the parking lot, not the roads.

At the Maryland / West Virginia state line my escort dropped off as I continued on.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Left at sunrise this morning and drove up to Frederick, Maryland and delivered the excavator.  Next load is tomorrow morning at the Port of Baltimore.  Drove over to the TA truck stop in Baltimore for the night.

Wednesday, April, 5, 2017

As soon as my 10 hours was up I was back on the road.  Made it down to Columbia, South Carolina and loaded a Doosan 300 Excavator that is going to Frederick, Maryland.

My "maiden voyage" in my new (to me) truck.

Left there and drove to the Love's truck stop in Lambsburg, Virginia for the night.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Got up real early this morning to get a good start going down to Columbia, South Carolina.  Went to the Daily yard to get my trailer but it was not there.  I dropped my trailer there about a week ago and told them it needed servicing.  It sat there all that time.  Now the day I was going to go with it, they decide to pull it into the shop to work on it.  They worked on it all day!!!!  At about 2:30 this afternoon the finally finished it.  I got it and left. Now I'm going to be late loading tomorrow. Drove to the Pilot truck stop in Raphine, Virginia for the night.  I'll start in the morning as soon as my 10 hours is up.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Went back over to Daily this morning and got things switched over in their computers and some other "admin" stuff.  My truck was finished in the shop a little while later and I finished (sort of) getting moved into it.  Then went and filled up the fuel tanks.  The CB antenna were both missing, so I went to the truck stop and got a couple of them and put them on. Did  a few more things around Daily then back to the hotel for one more night.

My load Wednesday morning has changed a bit.  Someone got the pick up location and the destination switched.  They are going to pay me to go down to Columbia, SC and load Wednesday morning.  I'll be delivering in Frederick, MD on Thursday.  So, tomorrow morning I will drive down there.  I'll go to bed early and leave here whenever I get up.  Actually this works out better.  I'l get a little driving time empty with this truck to get a better "feel" for it before putting a 70,000 pound (31,751 kg) machine on it.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Sad news:

Please join me in remembering yet another great icon of the entertainment community.  The Pillsbury Dough Boy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes to the belly.  He was 71.  He is survived by his wife Play Dough, and his three children, John Dough, Jane Dough, and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven.  Services were held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

We had a Daily car for the weekend so this morning we decided to do some "tourist" stuff.  We drove over to Strasburg, PA to the Rail Road Museum of Pennsylvania.  It was very interesting and a lot of fun. Here are some photos of it.

Then we rode the coal burning steam train that boarded across the street at the Strasburg Rail Road Company.  

We got the best seat on the train in the President's Car.  

After that we went to the National Toy Train Museum.  It was OK, but nothing special.  I have seen a lot better layouts.

Right next door to that was a motel unlike anything I have seen anywhere.  All the rooms were real train cabooses.  It's called The Red Caboose Motel.  

After that we were done for the day.  Went back to the hotel.

Friday, March 31, 2017

Rained and cold all day!!  Went back, with my trainee, over to the JLG plant in McConnellsburg, PA and loaded another man lift.

When we got back to Carlisle, unloading didn't go so smoothly.  As I got the wheels to the end of the trailer at the unloading ramp, one side of the trailer sank causing the machine to lean.  Also the trailer ended up being too low for the machine to drive off onto the ramp.  The tire ended half off the trailer.  Was not a good thing!!  

I went inside the shop and got a bunch of help.  They brought a big fork lift out, and to make a long, cold, wet, story short, I was able to drive it off without any further problems.  

After lunch, went back for another.  Loaded another man lift.

When we got back to Carlisle I unloaded it.  The trailer did it again, but this time I was able to compensate for it.  Wasn't easy, but I did it.  Plus this machine was not as heavy as the other one.  After that was done, I dropped the trailer in the yard and was done for the weekend.

I have a new dispatcher starting Monday.  I have been transferred to the Heavy Haul Division.  My truck should be ready Tuesday.  I'll be in the hotel until then.  I have my next two loads lined up already.  First one loads Wednesday.  Looking forward to getting back to a normal routine again. 

Thursday, March 30, 2017

This morning left the hotel and drove back to the Daily yard and picked up a step deck trailer.  Then I went with two other trucks over to the JLG plant in McConnellsburg, PA and loaded a JLG fork lift.

Took it back to the Daily yard in Carlisle, PA and dropped it off.  While there picked up a new guy and took him with me to do some training.  Nice guy, but has very little experience with flat bedding and no experience with oversize loads.  That is his back in the photo below.  He was photographing how to secure that load.  Then we went back for another.  This time loaded a JLG  man lift.

Left there and went back to Carlisle and dropped it off.  Done for the day. Went to dinner and then the hotel.  Will do it again tomorrow.  My new guy will be with me again tomorrow too.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Got up early this morning and finished cleaning all my stuff out of the truck into the new (to me) truck.  Then took the old truck over to Cummins in Harrisburg to the repair shop.  When I got back I took my new truck over to our shop for them to get started on the repairs to it.  They said it would most likely be at least a week before it is done.  Then got the other truck - the one that I was initially going to get yesterday.  I will be using that one until my truck is done in the shop.  Starting tomorrow I will be going with several other trucks to do "shuttle runs" bringing JLG man lifts over to our yard in Carlisle.  More on that tomorrow.

Now I am checked into the Best Western hotel.  Will be "living" here until my truck is done in the repair shop.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

This morning I left real early and got to Bethlehem, PA right when they opened.  Delivered the fans.  Then drove back to the "home office" in Carlisle, PA.  Dropped off my trailer so it can get serviced.  Then talked to the truck shop guy about my truck.  It has been using a LOT of oil since I got it.  So tomorrow it is going to the shop to get fixed.  Here is where it got yucky.  I had to swap into another truck because my truck was going to be down for at least a week, maybe longer.  They had three available.  One was gross!!  Was one big ash tray.  No way was I going to be in that one.  The other one was a bit better.  The third one was still in the shop in Harrisburg but was ready to be picked up.  Decided I'd wait to see about that one.  It was supposed to be in better shape.  I went with another driver to Harrisburg and picked up the truck and brought it back to Carlisle.   It was OK, not great, just OK. After lunch I started to swap into it.  I was not a happy camper at all.  Just after I got started I was told to go look at another truck.  That truck was going to a Daily driver that had been at Daily for a long time but had quit.  He was coming back and was to get that truck.  Apparently he changed his mind and had just told them he wasn't coming back.  They offered me that truck instead.  I happily took it!!  It was much better.  Spent the rest of the afternoon moving into it.  Only got half of it done.  I'll get the rest of it later.

The only thing is the truck is not ready to go yet.  It has a few mechanical issues so it will be going to the shop to get fixed before I get it.  There is more to the story, but I'll fill you in on more of it tomorrow.  Long day, I'm very tired, my back hurts, and I'm going to bed.  Good night!

Monday, March 27, 2017

This morning went back to Louisville, KY to a decommissioned power plant that was being demolished and loaded two large industrial fans that are going up to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

Left there in pretty good time this morning.  No issues on the road today.  Drove up to the "home office" in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the night.  Will deliver tomorrow.