Saturday, April 21, 2018

Drove to the Petro truck stop in Orange Lake, Florida this morning.  I'll deliver a few miles from here Monday morning.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Left at sunrise this morning.  Pretty good day on the road.  Made it through Baton Rouge, LA with no bumper to bumper traffic.  That is rare!!  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Marianna, Florida.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Went to Caterpillar in Victoria, Texas first thing this morning.  For a very nice change everything went smoothly this morning.  Loaded a Caterpillar 336F Excavator that is going to Ocala, Florida.

I was out of there before 9 am.  Not too long after I got on the road traffic came to a stand still because of a wreck up ahead. Earlier a flat bed semi truck carrying train wheels crashed dumping all the train wheels all over the place.  Fortunately my luck was holding and they started to let traffic go through just a few minutes after I got there.  They had removed the truck but were still picking up the train wheels.

Continued on without any problems.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop.  Did three loads of laundry tonight.  Glad that's done!!!

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Left at sunrise this morning and drove over to Prairieville, LA and delivered the dozer.  Next load is tomorrow in Victoria, Texas.  I drove that way.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Ganado, Texas.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Left the Daily yard in Jacksonville a half hour before sunrise this morning.  Had an excellent day on the road.  Traffic was light most of the day and the weather was perfect.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Hammond, Louisiana. 

Monday, April 16, 2018

Went up to Pooler, GA first thing this morning.  As usual there was a problem with the paperwork (I had nothing to do with the problem, it was all at their end) and I had to wait for over an hour and a half for it to get straightened  out.  So I went from second in line this morning to being last to get loaded.  Finally got loaded with a Caterpillar D6T Dozer that is going to Prairieville, Louisiana.

Left there but because of the delay this morning, I didn't get very far.  I stopped for the night at the Daily yard in Jacksonville, Florida.  Had to have some minor trailer repairs too so it was a good thing to stop here for the night.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Left this morning a half hour after sunrise. Didn't have too much trouble in Atlanta.  Traffic was very heavy and some slow downs and a little bumper to bumper.  It is always interesting in heavy traffic when I am wider than the travel lane.  Made it to the Port of Savannah and delivered the dump truck.  Here is an edited video of me unloading it.

My next load is Monday morning in Pooler, Georgia.  I went to the TA truck stop in Richmond Hill, Georgia for the rest of the weekend.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Left this morning a half hour before sunrise.  About 45 minutes before I got to Kentucky I got a call from my new escort.  The one scheduled had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and wasn't coming today.  The good news was that the new one was on his way to meet me.  He arrived at the state line about 30 seconds before I did so I didn't have to stop and wait.  Great day on the road.  weather was perfect.  Only had a minor slow down in Nashville.  Once I got to the Georgia state line my escort dropped off and I continued on.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Cartersville, GA.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

This morning I drove the rest of the way in to Caterpillar in Decatur, Illinois.  Took forever for them to get around to loading me, but finally got loaded with a Caterpillar 772G Dump Truck that is going on an ocean cruise from the Port of Savannah, Georgia.  My gross weight is about 129,000 pounds (58,513 kg).

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for the night.  Tomorrow I pick up my rear escort car at the Illinois / Kentucky state line.  He will be with me until I get to Georgia.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Getting my reset out of the way so tomorrow I will load in Decatur.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Left this morning and drove up to Indianapolis, Indiana and delivered the Wheel Loader.  Don't have another load yet so I started off west on I-74.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Champaign , Illinois.  That is a good spot to wait.  Decatur, Peoria, and Montgomery are not too far from here. Chances are pretty good that I'll go to one of those.  If I was to place a bet, I'd bet on Decatur.  We will see.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

I wasn't planning on going anywhere today, but I changed my mind.  I  left this morning around 10 am.  Drove up to London, Kentucky to a truck stop there.  I had about a 110 mile detour in Kentucky and that's where it started.  While in the detour route I have to have an escort car.  We were planning on meeting tomorrow but he was available today, so I waited for him to get there.  When he arrived we left.  When we finished the detour he dropped off and I continued on to the Flying J truck stop in Waddy, Kentucky for the night.

Saturday, April 7, 2017

Left this morning and drove in very heavy traffic all day.  All the spring break people are going back home and really clogging up the Interstate.  Stopped at the Petro truck stop in Knoxville, Tennessee until Monday.

Friday, April 6, 2018

Left the Daily yard this morning and drove up to Pooler, Georgia and delivered the crane.  Then went over to the Port of Savannah and loaded a Caterpillar 982M Wheel Loader that is going up to Indianapolis, Indiana.  Had one Hell of a time getting that thing loaded.  For some reason I just couldn't seem to get it centered on the trailer.  After about two hours, I finally got it.  Very frustrating!!

Left there and drove to a truck stop in Pulaski, Georgia for the night.  Once again I'm exhausted and hurt all over.  Good night.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Went over to Richie Brothers at 8 am when they opened.  Once again, there was no key to the machine.  They borrowed one from another machine so I could load.  Went to the machine, the key worked.

This is how the machine is when I get to it, yesterday's machine was the same way. Sorry that the focus didn't work very well.

Loaded it on my trailer.

Left there and immediately upon entering I-4 it was very slow bumper to bumper traffic.  Took an hour to go 20 miles.

 It was pretty much slow bumper to bumper all the way past the attractions, Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World. Cleared a bit then all the way through Orlando it was back to bumper to bumper.  Finally cleared just south of Sanford.  Did pretty good until about 15 miles south of the Jacksonville Beltway, I-295.  There was a wreck that caused a 15 mile back up.  Sat in that for a while.  Finally cleared that mess.  Then more bumper to bumper traffic for about 5 miles on the South Beltway.  Cleared that.  Then just past one of the exits that I take to get to the Daily yard in Jacksonville, traffic came to a very rapid stop.  When I braked real hard the machine shifted and fell off the blocks it was sitting on.  Fortunately it stayed on the trailer and all the wheels were still off the ground.  I slowly drove to the next exit and headed for the Daily yard.  When I got there, I took off all the chains and raised the machine, re-positioned the trailer under it, put new blocks under it and set it back down.  Chained it down again.  Good to go now.  Didn't damage anything.  Replaced the wood that broke too.  Stayed here for the night.  I'm exhausted, my back and feet are very sore.  Good night!!

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

A half hour after sunrise this morning I left and drove the rest of the way to Pooler, GA and delivered the crane.  Drove back down to Davenport, Florida to pick up another one tomorrow morning.  Parked for the night at the McDonald's that had a few truck parking places across the street from Richie Brothers.  The Love's was full already.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Went back over to Richie Brothers this morning to see if they found the key.  When I checked in at the gate, it wasn't there.  I went over to the machine and looked inside.  Lo and behold, there it was.  Somebody found it and left it in there for me.  I loaded the Terex RT 555 Crane on the trailer.  It took a long time to get it up there. But I finally got it.  It is going up to Pooler, Georgia. My gross weight is over 129,000 pounds (13,154 kg).

Left there and headed north.  Orlando traffic was it's usual nightmare!!  On the north side of Jacksonville I saw another RV rollover.  Just like yesterday's rollover except I actually saw this one happen!!  It also didn't block the entire interstate.  This one took out a street light pole.  I got it on video.  You might have to watch it a few times to see it.  It is on the opposite side of I-95, south bound.  Yesterday and today's wrecks are two great examples of why I do not like bumper pull RVs.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  I stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Brunswick, Georgia.

Monday, April, 2, 2018

Really enjoyed my time off.  Had one of the best Easter's that I have had in a very long time.  unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and it's time to go back to work.  

Left this morning and drove down to Davenport, Florida.  There was a wreck in Palm Coast on the north bound side of I-95 that blocked the entire north bound side.  The idiots on the south bound side just HAD to rubber neck so traffic on my side was backed up for a couple miles for no reason.

Supposed to load tomorrow but I went in to Richie Brothers and tried to load today.  Everything went fine until they went to give me the keys.  They couldn't find them.  I waited for a while, but no luck.  I left my trailer next t o the machine I am to load and went to the Love's truck stop across the road for the night.  I'll try again tomorrow.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Monday, March 26, 2018

Left at sunrise this morning.  Drove in to Austell, Georgia and delivered the dump truck.  After that drove home to Jacksonville, Florida.  Will be here for about a week.