Saturday, June 27, 2015

Went over to the Caterpillar dealer in Columbus, Ohio first thing this morning and dropped off the excavator.  Then went up to New Philadelphia, Ohio and loaded a Gradall XL3100 Excavator that is going to Forest Park, Georgia.

Left there and drove down to the TA truck stop in Walton, Kentucky for the rest of the weekend.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Left the TA in Baltimore this morning at 9 am. Good day on the road.  BUT at about 4:15 this afternoon I still did not have my Michigan permit. I called to find out where it is.  By 5 pm it still was not here.  The problem with that is that I have another load that HAS to be picked up tomorrow.  Without a Michigan permit I can't go into Michigan to deliver this load until it comes in Monday sometime.  Created quite a pickle!!  So they made arrangements for me to drop this machine off at the Caterpillar dealer in Columbus, Ohio.  Someone else will come get it and take it the rest of the way to Michigan next week.  That way I can still pick up the next load on time tomorrow.  I stopped for the night at the west bound rest area on I-70 in Hebron, Ohio.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

This morning went back to the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland and loaded a Caterpillar 323 Excavator that is going to Brownstown, Michigan.

Went back to the TA in Baltimore to scale and wait for my Maryland Permit.  

Maryland is running about a day behind on their permits and it did not come in before the Baltimore curfew started.  I'm here until, at the earliest, 9 am tomorrow morning provided it comes in before 9 am.

Severe thunderstorms predicted for tonight.  Might be an interesting evening.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Short day today.  Left Morgantown, WV this morning at sunrise and drove in to the Port of Baltimore and delivered the skidder.  Don't have another load yet so I went to the TA truck stop in Baltimore took a shower, and had lunch.  I didn't sleep very well last night so I am really tired today.  Glad it was a short day. Going to take a much needed nap.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Left Bloomington, Illinois half hour before sunrise this morning.  Good day on the road.  No problems.  After driving 571 miles I stopped for the night at the West Virginia Welcome Center on I-79 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Finally got another load. It was over in Davenport, Iowa.  Drove over there and loaded a John Deere 648L Skidder.  It is going to the Port of Baltimore.

Had to wait a while for my Iowa permit.  When it came in I left.  Passed a little crash in Illinois.

Here is the lock and dam in the Illinois river.  It is really underwater now!

Stopped for the night back at the TA truck stop where I started from this morning in Bloomington, Illinois.

Friday, June 19, 2015

This morning I still didn't have another load but I wasn't staying at that Pilot truck stop any longer.  If you didn't know already, I hate Pilot truck stops!! So I left and drove to the TA truck stop in Bloomington, Illinois.  That gets me closer to potential loads.  By the end of the day I still didn't have anything worth a flip so I'm here for the weekend.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Left just before sunrise this morning and drove in to Indianapolis and delivered the excavator. Went from there over to the Pilot truck stop just east of Indy to have lunch and wait for my next load.  They had a possible load in Indy.  When that fell through I just stayed there for the night.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Went to the Port of Baltimore first thing this morning and loaded a Caterpillar 323 Excavator. It is going to Indianapolis, Indiana.  Not as heavy as I thought it would be.  I'm only 102,000 pounds.

Left there and drove the ups and downs of I-70 and I-68 in Maryland and West Virginia.  That always takes forever!!  Started raining in western Maryland and continued pretty much for the rest of the day.  Stopped for the night at the north bound rest area on I-77 at mile marker 39 in Ohio.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Went back to the tire shop this morning and got my two front tires.  Truck rides and drives a whole lot better!!  Then went back to the Daily yard to get my trailer.  When I hooked back up to it and was checking it out I found another flat tire!!!!!  So I unhooked and waited for it to get fixed.  Took all day for them to change two tires.  At 4 pm I finally left there to go to Baltimore.  I load at the port in the morning.  Because it took so long to get out of Carlisle there were no parking places left at the only truck stop in Baltimore, the TA.  So I left there and drove about 25 miles north to the Maryland House Rest Area on I-95. I'll be there for the night.

The guy was here first thing this morning and did my three axle alignment.  It was definitely out of wack.  But I already knew that, I could feel it.  After that I went to the tire shop.  He did not have my tires in stock so he ordered them.  Will be here in the morning.  Went back to the Daily yard for the rest of the day.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Left the truck stop at sunrise this morning and drove to Clifton, NJ to the delivery site.  It is in the parking lot of a NJ Transit Park n' Ride at the corner of the Garden State Parkway and Route 3.  We are about 20 miles from the Lincoln Tunnel.  Nothing is easy in this part of the country.  When I arrived the crane and everyone was there.  Half the parking lot was taped off for us.  Apparently this ruffled a lot of feathers.  Someone called New Jersey Transit, they came out and they called the State Police.  The cop wanted the permits for all of this.  They were not on site.  After they made a zillion phone calls someone brought the permits.  All was legal BUT they did not call 24 hours ahead so no work could be done.  Well, more people came out and more phone calls were made and FINALLY they got approval to do the work.  It went all the way to the number two guy in the State Police.  GOOD GRIEF!!!!  In the time it took to do all this stupidity we could have been done and outa' there!!!  Just one more reason why I hate this part of the country!!!!

Here is the parking lot.  Directly behind the crane is The Garden State Parkway.  The road next to me is Route 3.

Here is the way in and out.

They finally unloaded me. They had to "fly" it over a power line to set it on its pad.

Left there and drove back to the TA in Columbia, NJ and had another flat tire on the trailer fixed.  Then drove down to Carlisle, PA to the "home office".  Thought I'd never get here!!  TONS of bumper to bumper traffic for a lot of the trip. Then rain during rush hour from about Harrisburg all the way to Carlisle.  That made the idiots worse!!  So glad to be here.  Very frustrating day!!  Going to have the trailer serviced while I'm here and have some work done on the trucks too.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Didn't get much sleep last night.  Don't know why, just couldn't seem to fall asleep.  When I finally did I got about 3 hours.  Got started this morning at sunrise. Didn't get too far before I got stuck in some bumper to bumper traffic from a wreck. It was almost cleaned up when I passed it. Have no idea what happened but I snapped off a quick picture as I went by.

Drove to the TA truck stop in Columbia, New Jersey for the night.  Deliver tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Left at sunrise this morning.  Nice easy day on the road.  Nothing at all interesting.  Drove 578 miles and stopped for the night at the north bound rest area on I-81 in Ellison, Virginia.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Went back over there first thing this morning and hooked back up to my trailer.  It wouldn't be a loading day if it didn't rain.  Thunderstorm!!  Fortunately it didn't last long.  My building arrived and they took it off the other trailer and put it on mine.  It is going to Caldwell, NJ.  

Because of the flooding I had to get a new permit with a new route on it.  Had to go all the way around Shreveport to get about 5 miles from where I loaded.  Took an hour and a half.  Had quite a bit of bumper to bumper traffic going around Memphis, TN.  About 40 miles from where I planned on stopping for the night another driver told me, on the radio, that I had a flat trailer tire.  At the next exit I stopped and checked it out.  Sure enough, he was right.  Left front trailer tire was flat.  I continued on to the TA truck stop in Denmark, TN.  Had it repaired there and stayed for the night.  It is really crowded in here.  Hope no one hits my truck!!

Monday, June 8, 2015

My loading appointment was not until 1 pm local time but I went over a bit early.  On the way went over  the Red River on I-220 in Bossier City, LA.  Here is a picture I was able to snap off going past a submerged mobile home park.

Here is a view going over the bridge leading up to the Red River.

Below is an edited video of driving on I-220 east bound. At the very beginning of the video notice the crane off to the right.  It is half under water.

When I got to where I was to load I was told that the building that I was supposed to get left about two hours ago.  Once again, that "black cloud" is still there.  After a few phone calls and waiting a couple hours They decided that the other truck that had my building shouldn't have it so they called him and sent him back. I'm very glad I went over early!!!  

At 3 pm local time they said that he was still too far out to unload and reload today.  I dropped my trailer there and went to a small truck stop a couple miles away for the night.

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.