When the gates opened at the Port I was the first one through. Loaded a Caterpillar 317 GC Excavator that is going up to Little Rock, Arkansas.
As soon as my reset was finished this morning I drove over to Galveston. I load here in the morning.
Left before sunrise this morning. Had no problems with traffic getting to Georgetown, TX to deliver. On the way, I was 3 miles from the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, TX. For those of you that don't know what that is or can't remember, CLICK HERE for more information on it. Delivered the wheel loader. Next load was in Galveston, TX. Started off that way. Very quickly I got into heavy traffic. Then bumper to bumper near Austin. After I got out of that I continued toward Galveston. Traffic stayed very heavy. Several areas of bumper-to-bumper traffic from construction. It soon became evident that I was not going to make it to Galveston in time to load. Then came the big backup. 8 miles of stop-and-go traffic caused by a wreck. Took forever to get through that. Instead of going to Galveston, I headed for the Daily yard in Houston. Hit Houston in the middle of rush hour. LOTS of bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way through Houston. I thought I'd never get through there!! But I made it to the yard and will be here until Monday morning.
Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning. No problems through Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The wind really picked up this afternoon in western Louisiana and east Texas. The truck was really buffeted a lot. Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Kilgore, Texas.
Left real early this morning and drove to the Port of Savannah, Georgia. Loaded a Caterpillar 950M Wheel Loader that is going to Georgetown, Texas.
I made really good time in there and was out and on the road before 9 AM. Had about 10 miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic south of Atlanta. After I got through that mess, I had no other problems today. Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Lincoln, Alabama. That is right next to the Talladega Superspeedway.
Was at the Port of Savannah when they opened this morning. Delivered the wheel loader. After that drove to the Daily terminal in Jacksonville. Had a little work done on my trailer. Ran a bunch of personal errands. My next load is back at the Port of Savannah tomorrow morning. I'll leave here early in the morning to go up there.
Left at sunrise this morning and drove to Hope Mills and delivered the dump truck. My next load was back in Clayton, NC. I drove there and loaded a Caterpillar 926M Wheel loader with bucket and forks. It is going to the Port in Savannah, Georgia. From there it is going on an ocean cruise to Bremerhaven, Germany.
Left there and headed for Savannah. On the way passed a really cool truck fire. Got to see a couple tires explode. That always looks cool. The fire dept. or cops had not got there yet.
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Couldn't make it to the Port before their quittin' time (union hours) so I stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Hardeeville, South Carolina for the night.
I thought I'd share with you my dining experience from last night. I went across the parking lot to a restaurant called Sadler Milestone Restaurant.
I ordered the ribeye steak dinner which normally comes with one side and salad bar. They didn't have the salad bar that night so I was given the choice of a second side. I ordered the $15.00 (approximately) ribeye steak cooked medium, baked potato, and corn. This is what I got.
I ate those, but they were small and not good!!!! Then when I went to pay my bill the server charged me $21+ !!!!! When I refused, she removed the ribeye meal from my bill.
Needless to say, I will NEVER EVER eat there again.
This morning while I was getting ready to go, a truck came into the truck stop. It stopped in the drive just past me a few trucks down. It was experiencing a runaway engine. For a better explanation than I could give you of what a runaway diesel engine is, click here. Here is a YouTube video of a semi-truck with a runaway engine.
Left the truck stop in Ohio a half hour before sunrise this morning. Most of the way through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the first half of Maryland was in snow. It was more like slush falling from the sky. Roads were just wet. No accumulation. Made it all the way to Baltimore and delivered the wheel loader in the mud. The weather had improved but got real windy. Next load was at the Port of Baltimore. Went over there and loaded a Caterpillar 730 Articulating Dump Truck that is going to Hope Mills, North Carolina.
Didn't have a spotter today so it took a little longer to load. When that was done I went over to the TA truck stop in Baltimore for the night. Hope the wind dies down. This thing is like a huge sail on the trailer. Could really feel it just going over to the truck stop.
Left 45 minutes before sunrise this morning. Good day on the road today in spite of heavy traffic most of the day. Stopped for the night after driving 588 miles, at a truck stop in Lore City, Ohio.
Left real early this morning and drove to Breese, Illinois. It rained all day, hard at times. I got there before they opened. When they got there it only took a few minutes to unload the yellow thing. Then I drove up to Monmouth, IL. I got stuck in their mud and had to be pulled out with one of their tractors. Then I unloaded the tractor. After that drove up to Davenport, Iowa and loaded a John Deere 644 Wheel Loader that is going to a dealer in Baltimore, Maryland.
Left there and drove over to the Flying J truck stop in Davenport for the night. I was soaked to the skin, covered in greese and mud, hungry, and tired. Would really like to find a way to keep my back from hurting so much. Oh well, it's been that way for years. I'll survive.
At about midnight last night, my APU shut down again.
When my 10 hours were up, that was about 2 AM EDT, I left and drove to Springfield, Ohio. When Thermo King opened I was there to get my APU fixed. Fortunately, they took me right in and fixed it. The alternator went bad and had to be replaced. After that was done I got back on the road. Drove to the TA truck stop in Effingham, Illinois for the night.
Left Hagerstown at 3 AM EDT and drove to the Port of Baltimore. When they opened I unloaded the tractor. My next load was right there and I loaded a smaller John Deere 6145M Tractor and a forklift put on a John Deere KM649PC Wind Row Pick Up. The 649 is going to Breese, Illinois and the 6145 Tractor is going to Monmouth, Illinois.
Left there as it started to snow. It snowed off and on the rest of the day. No accumulation, except in Garrett County, Maryland. Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning. Snow off and on most of the day. No accumulation. Roads were fine. By the time I stopped for the rest of the weekend in Hagerstown, Maryland the sky cleared up.
Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning. Here is the only interesting thing today.
Snowing a bit this morning. Light dusting on my trailer. As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left. Drove down to John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa. Loadded a John Deere 8RT 370 Tractor that is going to the Port of Baltimore. It is going on a cruise to Melbourne, Austrailia.
Wasn't able to leave right away. Had to wait for permits to come in. After about 2 hours I finally left. Drove to the Daily terminal in Bettendorf, Iowa and had a trailer light fixed. Then drove to the Daily terminal in Mrton, Illinois for the night. Went to Walmart while I was there and restocked a few things.
Left in the rain at 8 AM CDT to time it so that I didn't enter Kansas City before 9 AM. Just south of Kansas City the rain changed over to snow. The thick heavy wet snow that melts as soon as it touches anything. After a while it changed back to rain. The rain changed back to snow again in Minnesota. Same as before. It was right on the verge of being rain. Drove non-stop all the way to Minneapolis and delivered the dozer. In the process of unloading the dozed ran over the tip of one of my trailer air lines.
Left about an hour and a half before sunrise this morning. I could drive at night in Texas but only on the Interstates. Had to time it so that I exited the Interstate in Dallas at a half-hour before sunrise. I was three minutes late. Not too shabby. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful on up through Oklahoma and into Missouri. Stopped for the night at the pilot truck stop in Nevada, Missouri. I'll have a late start tomorrow. Can't go into Kansas City until 9 AM CDT.
Sunday morning at about midnight I drove the two hour drive to the Daily terminal in Houston, Texas.
This morning I drove over and delivered the telehandler. My next load was over at the Port of Galveston. Went there and loaded a Caterpillar D5 Dozer that is going to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of course, it was raining.
