Saturday, February 9, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Nothing exciting today.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Lebanon, Tennessee.  Will get started at about 4 am tomorrow morning.

Friday, February 8, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning and drove the rest of the way to Raleigh, NC and delivered the excavator.  Next load was not that far away in Clayton, NC.  Went there and loaded a Caterpillar D5 Dozer that is going to Houston, Texas.  Easy load!!! 

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Whitsett, NC.  I was really tired, my back hurts, and I had some more laundry to do.  Finished the laundry, showered, and had dinner.  Time for bed.  Good night.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Last night when I got to the truck stop I paid for 2 reserved parking places.  At midnight one of the staff was banging on my truck.  When I decided to find out what she wanted she was saying that I was parked in 2 spaces and her sheet says that I paid for one.  I was so pissed!!!!  She even tried arguing with me when I tried showing her the receipt!!  Finally she apologized.  Too late.  I was so pissed I couldn't go back to sleep.  At 4 am I left.  Had another good day on the road except for another jackass cop in the Knoxville scale.  What a jerk.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Mocksville, North Carolina.  Will deliver tomorrow and reload too.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise.  Overcast with rain on and off all day.  At least the temperatures were in the 70s.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Denmark, Tennessee.  When I got there found that my rear beacon shorted out.  Looks like it got water in it.  Tried to fix it, in the rain, but wasn't able to.  Had to replace it.  By the time I was fiinished I was soaked to the skin. Changed clothes and went in for dinner.  It took over a half hour to get a cheese burger and fries.  It wasn't right and I sent it back.  Took another half hour to get the new one.  Wanted hot apple pie and ice cream for desert.  After waiting another fifteen minutes for it I decided that I wasn't going to wait any longer.  I had had enough!!  Paid for the crap that I ate and left.  Unbelievable!!!  I can drive at night in Tennessee so I'll leave here at 4 am tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Left early this morning and was in Victoria at Caterpillar waiting for them to open.  When they opened I went in and loaded a Caterpillar 349F Excavator that is going up to Raleigh, North Carolina.  First time I scaled It was a tad too heavy on the trailer axles.  Had to move it back about 6 inches to get it right.  Scaled again and it was perfect.  When I finished securing it to the trailer had to wait a while because it was very foggy.  The State donesn't allow permit loads to move in heavy fog.  You can see from the photos below how foggy it was.

Once the fog lifted a bit more I left.  Had a good day on the road.  Stopped for the night at a Valero convenience store with truck parking in Tyler, Texas at I-20.

Monday, February 4, 2019

Delivered the Compactor as soon as they opened this mornning.  Then Headed toward Houston.  Part way there got diverted to Victoria for a load.  But hey wanted another trailer inspection first.  So I went to the TA truck stop in Ganado.  When I got there they said they wouldn't have anyone available to do the inspection until Thursday.  Then went to the Kenworth dealer in Victoria. They had someone and they did the inspection.  With that done, I drove back to the TA in Ganado for the night.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Got up early this morning, dropped the trailer and went for some fresh donuts.  Then over to the Laundromat and washed clothes.  After lunch I went over to Walmart and picked up my medication prescriptions.  Now I'm good to go for another month.  Now I'm settled in for the rest of the day. 

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Had a good day on the road today except my back was acting up again, what else is new.  Oh well.  Drove all the way to my delivery location in Austin, Texas.  There is plenty of room to park here until Monday morning when I can deliver the machine.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Left at about 8:30 CST.  Was nice to sleep in.  Good day on the road.  Haven't put one of these in the blog lately so here is another one.

Two miles before I was going to stop for the night I got pulled over for a "random permit check".  When you are in a truck you have no rights.  They do not need probable cause to stop you.  They can stop you anytime they feel like it, they don't need a reason. Everything was fine so I continued on to the truck stop in Malvern, Arkansas.  Nice "mom & pop" truck stop here with a good restaurant.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

As soon as my 10 hours was up I was on the road.  Drove to Decatur, Illinois and loaded a Caterpillar 815K Compactor that is going to Austin, Texas.

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Troy, Illinois.  That is right next to St. Louis.  Can't go through St. Louis until 9 am tomorrow morning so I can sleep in.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Left this morning a half hour before sunrise.  It was -3 degrees this morning when I left.  About 50 miles east of Kansis City my left headlight bulb blew.  It also started snowing. The Interstate highways were fine but when I got off the Interstate on the back roads that led up to the power plant where I was delivering the excavator, the roads were not as good.  In a car, not too bad, but in a big truck that is wide and weighs 129,000 pounds, not so good.  Below is a brief time lapse video of the back road.

Here is another brief time lapse video of me arriving at the delivery site. It starts off as I clear security and then I follow the pick up truck back in to where I was to unload.

It didn't stop snowing until I was ready to leave.  After I delivered the Excavator I drove back to the Petro truck stop in Oak Grove, Missouri for the night.  Then it started snowing agin.  Didn't snow much.  Just enough to make it slippery.  Here is my view for the night.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Got up early this morning and went back for my trailer.  The bad weather they were predicting did not happen.  All it did was rain although this morning there were snow flurries.  Pulled out of there right at a half hour before sunrise.  Stopped at the scale again to make sure my weight was ok, fortunately it was.  Continued on toward Kansas City, Missouri.  That's where I will deliver this thing.  About a half hour before I stopped for the night it started snowing hard.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Effingham, Illinois.  Here are some pictures I took after I stopped.

 

Monday, January 28, 2019

This morning I went in to load.  Was there at 6:30.  Got loaded and was out of there at 8 am.  Things were going so smoothly, I just knew something would go wrong. I was right.  I stopped at the scale at a Pilot about 48 miles away.  It was the closest scale that I could stop at - because of my permit.  I was WAY overweight. I sat there for an hour while the "desk jockys" figured out what to do. They decided that I had to take it back.  So I drove back and unloaded the machine.  The office wanted an empty weight on my truck and trailer so I drove back to the TA truck stop.  That was 38 miles away.  I scaled up and then had lunch.  Here is the machine:

Then they decided to take the boom off so It would fit on my truck.  I drove back.  They had just finished removing the boom when I got there.  I reloaded the machine and secured it to the trailer.  By now it was getting late so I dropped my trailer there and will return in the morning to get it.  Then I drove bobtail back to the TA truck stop for the night. Drove 230 miles today to go nowhere. So far the weather has not been bad.  It started raining late this afternoon.  Hopefully it won't be as bad as they said it would.  The saga continues...

Sunday, January 27, 2019

We got more snow this time, enough to plow.  There were two pick up truck plows and a wheel loader plow.  I don't think I have ever seen a worse job of plowing.  They were terrible!!

Didn't get much sleep last night.  Don't know why but I just couldn't sleep. So at 2:30 am EST I decided to just go.  The snow had stopped in Gary, Indiana.  I did not take the toll road over toward Cleveland.  Instead I took US-30 all the way across.  In Indiana, the roads were not cleared very well even though there were plows everywhere.  I caught up with the snow in Ohio.  Ohio roads were cleared very well.  By the time I got to the TA truck stop in Seville, Ohio it was snowing hard.  Got about 4 inches. Unbelievable as it seems, the plows clearing this parking lot were not any better!!  Even the staff inside said that they do a lousy job.  It was a lot warmer too, in the 20's.  I checked into the shop and got the trailer tires replaced that I couldn't get done yesterday.  After that I parked for the rest of the day.  I load in the morning about 35 miles from here just outside of Cleveland.  Big snow storm supposed to come in tomorrow.  Hope I can load and get moving before it arrives.  We shall see!!!

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Was parked at the repair shop at 6:30 this morning to get all the work done. Had the truck and trailer serviced, and DOT inspected.  Need two tires on the trailer but they didn't have them in stock.  Will have to get that done later.  I got out of there at about 3 pm CST.  Started snowing again shortly after I got parked for the night.  They say we will get another inch tonight.  Here is what it looks like as of now.

Tomorrow morning I'll head toward Cleveland.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Boy oh boy did the cold air come in last night!!  It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-20.5 degrees Celsius) this morning when I left. Drove the rest of the way to Elmhurst, Illinois.  That is up near O'Hare International Airport.  Delivered the Excavator.  My next load isn't until Monday and it is over in Independence, Ohio.  That is very near Cleveland.  I drove to the Petro truck stop in Gary, Indiana.  I need to have the truck and trailer serviced so I'll have it done there.  Wish I knew about it when I was in Carlisle, could have had it all done while I was there. Oh well.  The sun didn't warm things up much, it is 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15.5 degrees Celsius)  now.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Had some more snow last night.  About a half inch covered everything this morning.  I left a half hour before sunrise.  Had a good day on the road.  When I stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Monee, Illinois it was snowing pretty good.  TV weather geeks say that there won't be any accumulation.  I should deliver early tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

My escort car met me this morning and at 5:30 we were off.  It was nice to have trailer breaks going over the mountains on I-70 and I-68.   When we got to the West Virginia state line he dropped off as I continued on.  The the rain started.  Temperature was very mild, in the mid 40s.  Didn't even need a jacket.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Wheeling, West Virginia to wait for my Ohio permit to come in.  While there I got fuel, had breakfast and took a much needed shower. Ohio finally came in and I was back on the road again.  Stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Hebron, Ohio for the night.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

First thing this morning, as soon as there were people in our shop, I had some more work done to this trailer.  When they were finished I left and drove into the Port of Baltimore in Dundalk, Maryland.  Loaded a Caterpillar 335FL Excavator that is going to Elmhurst, Illinois.

Met my Maryland pilot escort car as I left the Port.  Have to have one in Maryland if the weight is over 120,000 pounds.  Soon after getting started realized that I had no trailer breaks.  It was an interesting trip with no trailer breaks.  Good thing I know how to, and when to, down shift. Continued on and stopped for the night at the Exon station across from the Pilot in Haggerstown, MD.  Had a repair guy come out and fix my trailer breaks.  Will leave here early tomorrow morning.

Monday, January 21, 2019

This morning I talked to the shop about my jeep.  They brought it in right away.  As usual for me, it would not be a quick fix.  Will take all day to fix it.  Then talked to the woman that arranges escorts, she took care of it.  Talked to my dispatcher and rescheduled my Maryland State Police escort to tomorrow morning.  With all that done I decided to start my truck and make sure everything was ok with it.  It wasn't.  My secondary air tank was frozen and would not fill.  Was able to put the truck in an empty shop bay to let it thaw.  Outside air temperature is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius).  Sunny, still breezy, but not as bad as yesterday.  Once it thawed out everything was fine again.  Took it back outside and parked.  Left it idling instead of using the APU.

This afternoon I got the jeep back from the shop.  After hooking it up and a LOT of "monkeying around" with it, we came to a mutual decision the another truck would do the load. I was very happy about that.  So I parked it out of the way, took off all my chains, and hooked up to my next trailer.  I'll load tomorrow in Baltimore.