Saturday, March 16, 2019

Left Carlisle at sunrise this morning.  Stopped in Scranton to top off my fuel tanks.  As I was getting back in I-81 had another good one for you.

 I get cut off every day, but I only show you the really good ones.  

Now it's time to start to deal with the stupid regulations in the New England area.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend at a truck stop in Lake Ariel, PA.  Will be here until Monday morning.  Can't drive in New York on weekends.  Also can't go over the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge that crosses the Hudson River until 10:30 Monday morning.  Can only cross the bridge twice a day Monday through Friday.  They close the Interstate and then escort the oversized loads across the bridge, then reopen the Interstate.  Once across they charge us $100 each PLUS the bridge toll to do that.

Friday, March 15, 2019

The weather front caught back up with me again but this time it was much weaker.  Just a little rain.  Didn't take long for it to clear and become a beautiful day.  Temperatures in the 70s and sunny. Left at sunrise this morning.  When I got to the West Virginia / Maryland state line on I-81 I picked up my Maryland escort car.  He followed me for a whopping 12.2 miles (19.6 km).  He dropped off as I passed into Pennsylvania.  Continued on up to the Petro truck stop in Carlisle, Pa for the night.  Tomorrow will be a very short day.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

The weather front that I was outrunning yesterday caught up with me.  I left very early this morning in the rain.  It was still pretty windy.  After a while I drove out of it and I was ahead of it again.  Had a very good day on the road.  Was behind another truck when one of his trailer tires blew.  Sounded like a bomb and rubber went flying all over.  That was the extent of my excitement for the day.  I stopped for the night after driving 533 miles (858 km) at the Flying J truck stop in Wytheville, Virginia.  Felt good to be done for the day before noon!  For the rest of the trip I have to plan a lot more (which I have done already) because of curfews and restrictions.  I hate going up into New England!! 

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Had to wait this morning.  There was a construction curfew until 10 am on I-30 between exit 54 and exit 63.  I timed it so that I would get to exit 54 as curfew ended.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  Cloudy and very windy all day.  I was able to stay ahead of the weather front that is following behind me.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Denmark, Tennessee.  Going to bed now so I can get started at 1 am.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

It was foggy again this morning but I decided to go anyway.  Left just before sunrise.  After an hour or so the fog had lifted enough to where it wasn't a problem anymore. Had a pretty good day on the road.  Had several marker lights on the trailer and my rear beacon went out.  I could tell there was a short in the wiring someplace but couldn't find it.  When I stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Texarkana, Arkansas I had  the mechanic come over and look at it when he finished changing a tire.  A truck pulled up to the fuel pump and his tire blew.  Sounded like a bomb went off.  Scared the crap out of a lot of people.

This is why I stop early every day.  It is only 4 pm local time. Fortunately I got here an hour ago.  This place is a zoo!!!

The Flying J mechanic came over and tried to figure out my electrical problem.  He couldn't.  So I went next door to another repair shop.  They couldn't look at it, they were too busy.  They recommended another place just down the road.  I called them.  They came over and found the problem.  Had a couple wires rub together and shorted out the lights and blew the fuse.  He fixed it and now everything works fine.  Glad that is done!!  Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Couldn't leave when I wanted to this morning.  The fog was too thick.  Couldn't see across the parking lot.  Permit loads can not move in dense fog.  So I went back to sleep for a couple hours.  When the fog lifted enough to move, I left and drove the rest of the way into Corpus Cristi and delivered the excavator.  Then drove back up to Victoria and loaded a Caterpillar 336 Excavator that is going up to Milford, Massachusetts.

Left there but didn't go very far.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in  Schulenburg, Texas.  Went to the resteraunt across the street for dinner.  Was much better than "truck stop food".

Very tired tonight and my back really hurts.  Glad to be in bed now.  Hope it isn't foggy in the morning.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  No problems through Baton Rouge.  That wasn't the case in Houston.  Had to take a detour around I-10 in Baytown due to the barge hitting the bridge last week.  All overweight vehicles must take that detour.   It will be a while before that is fixed.  Then when I got to Houston they had shut down I-610 at I-45.  What a mess!!!!!!  The first map below is a photo of my permit route.  The second map is the route I took because of I-610 being closed.

Permit Route

Took I-45 back up to I-10.  Then west to Loop 6, and then south to I-69 to get back to my permit route.

Actual Route Because of Detour

Most of all that was bumper to bumper.  It took a couple hours to get past all that.  The last part on Loop 6 going south from I-10 to I-69 in Sugar Land was traffic light after traffic light all the way down.  I got at least 3/4 of them red.  Some of them I had to stop for twice.  UGGGG!!!!!!  Very aggravating!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Finally made it through all that mess and continued on down toward Corpus Cristi.  Stopped for the rest of the weekend at a new travel center in Refugio, Texas.  Nice place.

Just in case you forgot, or didn't know, you can click on any photo to enlarge them for easier viewing.

 

Friday, March 8, 2019

Left a half hour after sunrise this morning.  Another uneventful day.  I passed a small crash on the other side of the Interstate.  Not really sure what happened but there was damage to the front of the semi truck and a van laying on it's side.  The wierd thing about it was that there was about 10 cop cars there.  That is very unusual to see that many at a simple crash.  Maybe there was something else going on.  Hmmmm....we will never know.

Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Livingston, Louisiana.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning. Had a couple construction detours in South Carolina. Here is the first one just inside the State.  Not too bad, very short.

Here is the second one.  This one took a while.  Initially got off on a frontage road that ran right next to the Interstate.  Then it seperated.

The rest of the day went pretty smooth.  Made it around Atlanta with very little traffic problems.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Newnan, Georgia.  Will be starting a half hour after sunrise tomorrow. I'll get an extra half hour of sleep.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Left very early this morning and arrived at Caterpillar in Clayton, North Carolina at 6:30 am. and delivered the jeep.

My next load is up in Kernersville, North Caroilina.  I headed that way.  Atlanta rush hour traffic was a mess.  I took a bunch of back roads to get around it.  Had to get to Kernersville before 3 pm.  They do not load after 3.  I made it with 15 minutes to spare!!!  Loaded a John Deere 470G Excavator that is going to Corpus Cristi, Texas.

By the time I got it secured to the trailer it was too late to go anywhere plus I was out of hours.  I parked there at the John Deere plant for the night.  I'll leave at sunrse in the morning.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Left Houston at midnight.  It is great leaving at that hour.  No traffic to speak of.  Drove pretty much non stop for 650 miles (1046 km) to the Petro truck stop in Shorter, Alabama.  That is just east of Montgomery.  Was done with everything and lunch before noon. 

Monday, March 4, 2019

No loads yet.  I went over to the Daily yard in Houston.  Had a couple trailer lights shorting out that I had fixed when I got there.  This afternoon They asked me to take a jeep to Griffin, Georgia.  Loaded it on my trailer and chained it down. 

Then had some real good Texas BBQ ribs!!  I'll leave here in the middle of the night tonight.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Left this morning at sunrise.  Drove to Sulphur, Louisiana and delivered the excavator.  After that I sent my dispatcher an email telling him I was empty and asked if I should head to Victoria, Texas.  Then I started toward Victoria.  I made it a little past Beaumont, Texas when he finally replied to my email.  He said not to go to Victoria, and that he didn't have anything in Texas at the moment.  I turned around and went to the Petro truck stop in Beaumont, Texas to wait.  Sent him an email telling him where I was.  So I'll be here for the weekend. 

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Left a half hour before sunrise in the rain.  It cleared up by the time I got to Birmingham.  Lots of bumper to bumper traffic going around Birmingham.  Once that cleared up made it to just past Tuscaloosa.  That is where things got real bad.  A tractor trailer cattle hauler, full of cattle, rolled over at mm 58.  The driver was killed.  They had the Interstate closed in both directions because of the crash and there were cattle loose all around the scene.  A big mess.  They were routing south bound traffic off at exit 62.  Fortunately I was there early enough to get stopped three miles from exit 62.  It took three hours to go those three miles!!!!  Once I got off at the exit it didn't take long to follow the detour back onto the interstate at exit 52.  That is where they were routing the north bound traffic off.  By that time the back up was past Tuscaloosa, over 20 miles.  Needless to say, I didn't get as far as I wanted today.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Slidell, Louisiana.  Thunderstorms here.  I just checked the road conditions back where the crash was.  The south bound side of the interstate is still closed. I went through there about noon.  Here is a screen shot of it now, 5:03 pm CST.  

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Left at sunrise this morning.  Nothing exciting or interesting today, just a good day on the road.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Gadsden, Alabama.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

This morning hooked up to my trailer to go and lo and behold I had a light out.  Had to put it in the shop for it to be fixed.  When that was done I drove about 3 miles down the road to the Keen yard and loaded a Link Belt 490X4 Excavator that is going down to Sulphur, Louisianna. 

Left there and drove down to the Flying J truck stop at the West Virginia / Virginia state line.  Waited there an hour and a half for my Virginia permit to come in.  Then I drove to the Petro truck stop in Raphine, Virginia for the night.

Monday, February 25, 2019

This morning I checked out of the hotel and took my rental car back. I got lucky with the car.  Had a brand new Cadillac.  It was very nice.

Got my next load, but it doesn't load until tomorrow.  So I took a nap.  I like to sleep.  :) 

Friday, February 22, 2019

My truck was finished at Kenworth so I went over there and brought it back to the Daily shop.  The did some more work on it.  This afternoon I took it over to the tire shop for some tires.  Finally all the work on it is done!!  But too late for a load today so I have to wait until Monday.  I still have the hotel until Monday so I'll camp out in the hotel until then.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

First thing this morning my truck was back in the Daily shop.  I got the pick up again and went for breakfast and another Walmart trip.  When I got back they told me that my truck had to go to Kenworth.  They found a transmission leak and an air leak from a valve block that only Kenworth could fix.  I took my truck over to KW and dropped it off.  There was another Daily truck there that needed to come back so I brought it back.  Had someone drop me off at a hotel where I'll be for a few days.  Not sure when it will be ready.  Might be tomorrow, might not.  We'll see.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Started snowing just as I was pulling my truck into the bay for them to service it.  Snowed hard all morning and built up fast on the roads. While they worked on my truck I got the company pick up truck and went for breakfast, shower, and laundromat.  Washed all my heavy blankets and comforter. Roads were really bad by this time.  Plows not able to keep up.  Went back to the yard and put my stuff back into the truck.  Then took another driver to Walmart.  We both needed to get our prescriptions refilled and do some shopping.  I was almost out of Mt. Dew, crisis averted!! The pick up truck did not have snow tires and was not four wheel drive.  Driving was really fun!!  I love a good challenge like that.  When we got back another driver took the pick up to get lunch.  When he got back, I went out for lunch too.  By the time I finished lunch I had a massive headache.  This afternoon they finished working on my truck for today and I took it back outside for the night.  The snow had stopped and had changed to freezing rain.  We got about 6 inches of snow. With my headache still raging I went to sleep.  Woke up around 8 pm and my headache was gone!!!  Still a little freezing rain outside.  Everything covered in a thick coating of ice.  Just walking across the street to get dinner was a real challenge staying upright.  Tomorrow they will finish working on my truck in the shop.  Then I'll go to the tire shop for new tires.