Friday, June 5, 2015

Went over to the Port of Houston this morning and delivered the thing.  My next load is Monday up in Bossier City, Louisiana.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Shreveport, LA for the weekend.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Left this morning at sunrise.  Nice day on the road,  Heard an air leak while checking the load but couldn't find it.  So when I got to Houston I went straight to the Daily yard to have it fixed.  It didn't take long to find it.  Just had to have the right person look for it.  On the inside of one of the trailer tires was a hole.  The trailer has automatic tire inflation system. It was putting air in the tire as fast as it was going out so the tire never went flat.

Stayed there for the night.  Have an unload appointment tomorrow morning at 8.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

This morning drove up to Concordia, Kansas and loaded a thing called a wind box. I have no idea what it is or what it is for.  It is going to Houston Texas to be put on a big boat to Chennai, India.

Left there and had a nice day on the road.  Went through Moore, Oklahoma and saw some of the damage from the latest tornado. Not as much (that I could see anyway) as the last one.  Stopped for the night at a small truck stop in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.

Sprint internet really SUCKS!!!!  I do not recommend it at all.  Still no Sprint internet.  No camera.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Wanted to get my truck and trailer washed yesterday when I got here but the line was way too long.  This morning I got up real early and went over and got it washed.  No line this time.  After that went to the service department and had the truck chassis greased and the oil and filter changed in my generator.  I changed the generator air filter and cleaned out the exhaust plug while I was waiting to get in the service bay. After that was done I drove to the Pilot truck stop in Salina, Kansas.  My next load is tomorrow morning in Concordia, KS.  That is a little less than an hour north of here.

Monday, June 1, 2015

It looked a little better this morning for getting unloaded.  At 11 am local time, (Mountain Daylight Time) they came and got us!!  Had to wait for a nacelle to get unloaded first. A nacelle weighs 112,000 pounds.  For more information on GE Wind Energy, click here.

After that was done I got unloaded.  I only needed one crane.  My hub weighs 59,000 pounds.  Finally empty!!!

Don't have another load lined up yet (because of the uncertainty of when I would get unloaded) so I went east to the TA truck stop in Oakley, Kansas.  

After dinner and a shower I came back to the truck to find this parked next to me.

For those of you that don't know, that is one of NOAA's mobile Doppler weather radar that the tornado chasers use.  They go to areas where they have strong indications of the potential for tornado activity.  Since I am in the heart of "tornado ally" I always expect to see these when I'm out here. Fortunately, there is nothing expected here tonight.  For more information on the NOAA truck, click here.

Sprint internet still sucks here so no camera.

I found this video.  It is excellent.  It is the construction of a wind energy turbine.  It is not a GE but the construction is the same.  CLICK HERE TO SEE.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

This morning was told that we have a "slim chance" of getting unloaded today. I dropped my trailer and went into town.  Got fuel, filled my water tank, showered, got some more groceries, and bought supplies to replace the light on my trailer that fell off.  When I got back I hooked back up to my trailer and fixed the trailer light.  Once again it is good as new. Now I'm settled in for the rest of the weekend.  Hope to get empty Monday. Sprint internet sucks here so the camera will not be working.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Went over to the job site this morning. Got in line at 7 am local time.  I was behind 3 blades and 2 tower sections.  Because of the rain last night they had to repair the dirt roads this morning before anything could go in.  At about noon local time they took the 3 blades back in.  At 4 local time the took the 2 tower sections back.  Then I was first in line.  This is what it looked like behind me.

At 6:30 local time they came and got us and took us back to the yard for the night. They were going to be working tomorrow but were not sure if we would get unloaded.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Easy day today.  Drove the rest of the way up to Burlington, Colorado.  Stopped at a truck stop there to spend the night.  Deliver in the morning.  Doing a time lapse video of the weather. Lots of thunderstorms around.  If it is any good I'll post it tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Left this morning at sunrise.  Had some bumper to bumper traffic going through Dallas.  About 40 miles south of Amarillo I ran into another pretty good storm.  Pea to nickle size hail, heavy rain, and a lot of wind.  Fortunately no glass broken but one of my new rear beacon lights broke off somewhere.  Oh well!!  Stopped for the night in Amarillo, TX.  Of course in Amarillo I had to park and eat at the "Big Texan".

They still have the limos to pick you up.

Here is my dinner tonight.

Delicious!!!!!!!!

Very windy here tonight.  Lots of storms around.  News is reporting that a tornado took out an oil drilling rig somewhere around here.  Could be an interesting night, but I doubt it.  Radar shows nothing headed this way.  They are all around here but not heading this way.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

This morning loaded a GE Wind Energy Hub that is going to Burlington, Colorado.

Left there and drove through a couple brief periods of very heavy rain.  Then it was mostly cloudy for the rest of the day.  Stopped for the night at the Petro Truck Stop in Shreveport, LA.  While waiting for my dinner to get to my table we had a hail storm.  It was a pretty good one too.  Hail was about the size of a quarter.  Took out a few windshields in the parking lot.

The only damage to my truck was a broken amber beacon lens on the trailer.  WHEW!!!!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Got a lot done while I was home.  But now it's time to get back on the road.  Took a nice easy drive over to the GE Wind Energy plant in Pensacola, FL.  I load another hub here in the morning.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

This morning improved the rear beacon lights on my trailer.  Went and bought all the supplies needed and then got to work.  I have been holding them down and in place on the trailer with bungee cords.  I have never been comfortable with that set up so today I did something about it.  Had our mechanic here weld a couple pieces to the trailer. The rest of what I did you can see in the photo below.  It looks a LOT better.

When I finished that I took the truck over to Kenworth so they could do a more thorough appraisal of the repairs needed to fix the damage from the latest incident.

My next load is Tuesday in Pensacola.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Left this morning and still had a lot of bumper to bumper traffic going around Atlanta.  But I finally made it through and it was "smooth sailing" from then on.  Drove to Unadillia, GA and delivered the Skid Steer.  Then drove over to Statesboro, GA and delivered the tractor and tires.  Then drove home to Jacksonville, FL.  Got rid of that trailer and got my trailer back!!!!!!  Drove 528 miles today and I'm exhausted!!!!!!!  Good night.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Another good day on the road.  A couple areas of bumper to bumper traffic from construction but nothing too bad.  I stopped early tonight at the TA truck stop in Cartersville, GA because I was hearing on the radio of about ten miles of bumper to bumper traffic ahead of me.  I decided that sitting in that much traffic was not on my "bucket list", so I stopped.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Went over to deliver the things a few miles from where I was parked.  They are building a power plant there.  The things I had were two small sections of one of the smoke stacks.  Anyway, they unloaded me fairly quick and I left for my next load.

Drove to Waterloo, IA and loaded a John Deere 8270 Tractor and a couple wheels.  They are going to Statesboro, GA.

From there drove over to Dubuque, IA and picked up a John Deere Skid Steer that is going to Unadilla, GA.

Left there and had a nice day on the road.  Drove 558 miles today.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

Saturday. May 16, 2015

Easy day.  Started just before sunrise this morning.  Drove to the Iowa 80 truck stop and got fuel, bought a couple things and took a shower.  Then drove to a very small truck stop (a convenience store with truck parking) in Marshalltown, Iowa.  I deliver a few blocks from here Monday morning.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Left Monteagle, TN just before sunrise this morning.  Very good day on the road.  Some bumper to bumper south of Nashville, TN.  Stopped for the night at the Daily yard in Mortin, Illinois after driving 560 miles.  Tomorrow will be an easy day.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Well... I was awoken at 5 am with a bang.  Yup, you guessed it!!  It happened again. The guy across from me was backing out of his parking place and backed right into my truck. This time the damage wasn't as bad.  Got the other headlight this time. Broke my new hood.  Unbelievable!!!!

After exchanging paperwork with the other driver I went in to Neeses, SC and loaded two sections of something.  Not really sure what they are for.  The are going to Marshalltown, Iowa.

I loaded with another Daily driver so we stayed together today on the road.  Stopped at the Wilco-Hess truck stop in Monteagle, TN. so he could get fuel. He noticed that a lug nut and bolt had sheered off on his left front wheel.  That is not a good thing.  Its a sign of bigger problems.  Fortunately there was an independent truck repair shop next door.  We went there and he ended up replacing a bunch of stuff, including the wheel.  Since the day was almost over we stayed there for the night.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Started off at 4 am this morning.  Was having a good day on the road.  Beat the Charlotte rush hour traffic.  South of Charlotte on I-77 I blew a trailer tire.  Stopped at a rest area and waited for road service to come and fix it.

Over three hours later, I was back on the road.  Went in to a huge steel mill in Huger, SC and delivered the thing.  Next load is tomorrow morning in Neese, SC.  Stopped for the night at the Love's truck stop in Orangeburg, SC.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Drove the rest of the way in to Cranberry, PA and loaded a Trimac TML300 Excavator.  It is driven by remote control.

Left there and drove to the scales and found out that I was too heavy on the trailer axles so I had to untie it and move it forward.  Then tie it back down again.  Finally got it right and took off.  Was having a good day going up and down the Appalachian mountains until just before Virginia on I-77.  Looked in the mirror and saw that my trailer breaks were smoking a lot.  Pulled over an let them cool.  Fortunately they were not on fire.  Not really sure why they did that because I wasn't even using the breaks.  Stopped a bit early tonight to get them checked.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Wytheville, VA and went straight to the shop.