Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise and drove straight through to Lafayette, Indiana, and delivered the dump truck.  Next load is in Davenport, Iowa.  Started off that way and stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Remington, Indiana.  

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Pretty uneventful day.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Hayti, Missouri. 485 miles today.

Monday, March 13, 2023

 Went to the other side of Houston this morning and loaded a Caterpillar 730 Dump Truck that is going to Lafayette, Indiana.

These things are not real easy to load by yourself.  You can't see the trailer when loading so you have to do it by feel.  Sometimes I get it right the first time, and sometimes I don't.  Today was an I don't.  Took about 3 or 4 tries to get it right.  Left there and headed north.  Stopped and scaled up.  As I suspected, it was too heavy on the trailer axles.  Had to move the machine back a couple feet.  Once that was done I was on my way again.  Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Henderson, Texas.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

 At about 9:30 PM CST Friday night, I left and drove to the Daily yard in Houston.  Going back to sleep.

Friday, March 10, 2023

 As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left.  That was at about 9:30 PM CST.  Drove to San Antonio, Texas stopping only once for that required 30-minute break.  727 miles today.  When I finished I had 1 minute left on my clock today.  I'm exhausted. Going to sleep.  Good night.

Thursday, March 9, 2023

 As soon as my 10 hours were up, I left.  Drove 700.2 miles today and stopped with 8 minutes left on my clock at the TA truck stop in Meridian, Mississippi.  The delivery location was changed from Houston to San Antonio.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

 First thing this morning I got my trailer lights fixed.  Then drove to Shippensburg, PA, and loaded a Volvo L90H Wheel Loader that is going to Houston, Texas.  While loading I ripped out my air lines and electric line to the trailer.  I did good!!!

Daily sent a service truck from Carlisle and he repaired my screw-up.  While he was fixing my trailer the truck next to me did the same thing!!  I didn't feel so bad anymore.  When he finished I left.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Lexington, Virginia for my 10 hours.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

 The International dealer in Harrisburg was sending a service truck here to do the warranty work on my truck. He was supposed to be here early this morning.  He didn't arrive until 1 PM EST.  I was lucky to get a car from Daily so I spent most of the day driving around Carlisle bored out of my mind!!  He finished at about 5:30 PM.  I hooked back to my trailer and now half my trailer lights don't work!!!!   I'll have to get that fixed in the morning before I go.  It's always something!!!!

Monday, March 6, 2023

 This morning I drove the rest of the way to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, MD.  Got there and was 27th in line to check in.  Once I got checked in I went and unloaded the tractor.  A forklift from the Port came over and unloaded the tires.  I was reloading right there so I went and found the machine, a Chinese wheel loader that is going to Shippensburg, PA.  The Port people that unloaded it from the ship left the batteries on and the batteries were dead.  Had to wait for a guy to come around and jump-start the machine.  Once we got it running, he left.  I let it run for a bit to charge the very dead batteries.  When I started to move it, it stalled.  GREAT!!!  The batteries charged enough to light up the dash but not enough to start it.  Had to wait for the guy to come back and jump it again.  He came and we got it running again. This time it didn't stall when I moved it.  It was surrounded by a lot of other machines so I had to "wiggle" it out of there to get it over to my trailer.  Got it loaded on my trailer but didn't shut it off until I was ready to leave.  The Port forklift brought over two small boxes and placed them on the front upper deck.  They weren't heavy.

I finally got out of there and drove to Shippensburg, PA, and delivered it.  After that went up to Carlisle, PA to the "home office".  They have to do some warranty work on the truck.

Friday, March 3, 2023

 Left a half hour before sunrise this morning with hopes of delivering today.  My hopes were quickly dashed when I figured out how long I had to go to get there.  If Waterloo hadn't screwed up and loaded me when they should have, I would have been able to deliver today.  The weather didn't help much either.  The rain started when I was in Pennsylvania.  By the time I got to Maryland, it was starting to change to snow.  

And it got worse.

Then much worse.  A lot of plows and salt/sand spreaders were out doing the best they could.

Once I started going back down from the highest elevations conditions improved a lot.  As it was, I would get to the Port 15 minutes too late.  So now I have to sit and wait until Monday. Instead of going into that "Hell hole", Baltimore, I stopped for the weekend at a truck stop in Hagerstown, Maryland. By the time I got there, it was just raining.  No more snow.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

 Left early this morning and stopped at Iowa 80 on the way because I needed to get some stuff that I knew they had.  Did real good until Indianapolis.  There was a crash on the beltway that had traffic backed up several miles.  I decided to chance it and went around Indy the other way, which was not on my permit route.  I got lucky and made it without getting caught.  Continued on to the Love's truck stop in Springfield, Ohio for the night. Another 586 miles today.

Tuesday, March 1, 2023

 Left real early this morning and drove the rest of the way to Mason City, Iowa, and delivered the excavator stuff.  From there drove to Waterloo, Iowa, and loaded a John Deere 7R 290 Tractor and a couple tires that are going to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland.  It took them an hour and a half to load me.  Ran out of hours so I had to spend the night at the Flying J truck stop just down the road.  522 miles today.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

 As soon as my 10 hours were up, I was back on the road.  Drove straight through the middle of Dallas with no traffic issues at all.  Drove 648 miles today to the Flying J truck stop in Nevada, Missouri.

Monday, February 27, 2023

 Delivered the genset first thing this morning in Corpus Christi.  Next load was up in Victoria, TX.  Drove there and loaded Some stuff from a Caterpillar excavator that is going to Mason City, Iowa.  

From there drove to Richie Brothers Auction in Humble, Texas.  Was to load an excavator bucket that another truck was unable to take when he loaded the machine.  But unbeknownst to us, I needed a loading appointment.  They wouldn't load it without one.  SO, I called my dispatcher and told him of this development.  He said to disregard it and continue on.  They would send someone else to get it.  I left and drove to the Flying J truck stop in New Caney, Texas for my 10 hours.

Saturday, February 25, 2023

 Early this morning I drove to the Flying J truck stop in George West, Texas for the rest of the weekend. Now I can catch up on a LOT of sleep.

Friday, February 24, 2023

 Once again I left when my ten hours were up.  When I started off this morning the temperatures were in the 60s.  Drove through a cold front and watched the temps drop.  By the time I got to Irving, it was in the mid-40s.  Drove to Irving, Texas, and delivered the four parts boxes. Left there and headed towards Corpus Christi, TX where the genset and a parts box will be dropped off.  Stopped for the rest of the day at the Flying J truck stop in Waco, Texas.  Another 626 miles today.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left and drove to Griffin, Georgia.  I wasn't supposed to load until tomorrow but I got very lucky and was able to load today.  That doesn't happen very often.  Loaded four parts boxes that are going to Irving, Texas and a Caterpillar Genset, and a parts box that are going to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Left there but didn't get too far before the shrink wrap disintegrated.  Had to stop just west of Atlanta and cut it all off.  They did a lousy job wrapping it.

Last night I got an email that said my truck was due for maintenance.  So when I stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Meridian, Mississippi I went to the shop and had it done.  635 miles today.  I'm pretty tired tonight.  Good night.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

 Left at sunrise this morning and drove the rest of the way to LaVergne, Tennesse, and delivered the wheel loader.  My next load is Friday morning in Griffin, Georgia.  I'll head that way tomorrow.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop a mile from where I delivered.

Tuesday, February 21, 2022

 Left a half hour before sunrise this morning.  LOTS of bumper-to-bumper traffic from south of Houston and all the way through Houston.  Took forever to get through there.  Then more delays from construction!!  Very frustrating morning.  To top it all off, just north of Houston a bird flew into my mirror and knocked off the plastic cover.

Because of all the delays, I didn't get as far as I wanted to today.  I pushed it, against my better judgment, and tried to get a bit more miles instead of stopping when I normally do.  The truck stop that I had in my sights was totally full.  I was lucky to even get back out again.  It was very tight.  So I went to another, and it too was full.  I ended up stopping for the night at a convenience store with some truck parking in the back.  Crap for food options.  

Monday, February 20, 2023

 Went over to the job site in San Antonio this morning and delivered the drill stuff.  My next load was over in Freeport, Texas at the Port.  Drove the 4 1/2 hour drive over there and loaded a Caterpillar 972 Wheel Loader that is going to LaVergne, Tennessee.

Left there but didn't go very far.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Angleton, Texas.