Saturday, November 14, 2020

 As soon as my 10 hours was up, I left.  Almost hit a deer in South Dakota.  Drove up to the Petro truck stop in Fargo, North Dakota.  I stopped along the way at Wal Mart.  I was down to my last 8 cans of Mt. Dew.  Thats not good!!!!  But I'm all stocked up now.  Crisis averted!!!   I'll be here until Monday morning.

Friday, November 13, 2020

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Drove to the Caterpillar dealer in Rapid City, South Dakota and delivered the wheel loader.  My next load is in Fargo, North Dakota Monday morning.  I started off that way.  Stopped for the night at the Pilot truck stop in Murdo, South Dakota.  As soon as my 10 hours is up, I'll be back on the road to Fargo, don't ya know!!

Thursday, November 12, 2020

 Couldn't leave when I wanted to this morning.  Had to time it so that I didn't get to Wichita, Kansas before 9 am.  I think I did pretty good.  I entered Wichita at 9:03 am.  Other than that, nothing interesting today.  Drove to a small truck stop in Ansley, Nebraska for the night.

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

 Stopped on the scale this morning shortly after I got started.  Couldn't find one yesterday.  My weights were wrong so I had to move the machine.  Then scaled again.  Still off.  Moved the machine again.  This time it was fine.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  No traffic issues in Fort Worth or Oklahoma City!  Stopped for the night at a truck stop in Billings, Oklahoma.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

 Late this morning I got my next load.  I drove down to the Port of Galveston and loaded a Caterpillar 966M Wheel Loader that is going to Rapid City, South Dakota.

While I was there I helped another driver.  He had not loaded a Motor Grader before.  They can be very intimidating.  The one he had was a very large one.  I loaded it for him.  He was very grateful.  

Once I finished securing my machine, I left.  Drove to a small truck stop in Normangee, Texas for the night.

Monday, November 9, 2020

 Left a little before sunrise this morning and drove the rest of the way to Corpus Cristi.  About 6 miles from delivery, while still on I-37, a trailer tire blew.  I pulled over to the side of the Interstate and determined that I could continue on without causing any further damage.  I drove slowly to the oil refinery where I was delivering.  While waiting for them to get set up in there, I had the tire guy come out to change both tires on the trailer.  He arrived and pulled the first tire off.  It was the outside tire. It was the one that did not blow.  It just had some really bad wear and needed replacing.

He was unable to get the inside tire, the blown tire, off.  Did everything possible to do there, but nothing worked.

I had him put it all back together and said I would go to his shop after they unloaded me.  Shortly after putting it back on, I went in to unload.  That only took a few minutes and I was on my way to the tire shop.

He used a forklift with a chain from the forklift around the tire to pull it off.   It put up quite a fight.  After several attempts to get it off, it finally came off.  

Two new tires were put on and I was out of there.  Don't have another load yet so I drove back to Houston to the Daily terminal to wait. 

Sunday, November 8, 2020

 Nothing exciting today.  Drove down to a truck stop in Refugio, Texas until tomorrow morning.

Saturday, November 7, 2020

 Left this morning a half-hour before sunrise in a thunderstorm.  Fortunately, it didn't last too long. After a while it cleared up and ended up being a beautiful day.  Another good day on the road.  All along I-10 in Mississippi and I-12 in Louisianna there is still a lot of damage visible from the hurricanes this year.  But it was worst in the Lake Charles area.  Lots of severe damage to the area.  "Blue roofs" are everywhere. Trees snapped in half, debris all over the place, lots of structural damage to homes and businesses.  It wasn't as bad as the damage from Hurricane Andrew in the Miami area, but this was still bad.  I stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Baytown, Texas.  Tomorrow will be a short day.

Friday, November 6, 2020

 Left the Jacksonville yard at 3 am and drove to Thomasville, Georgia.  Gott here a bit early and had to wait for them to open.  Once they opened they loaded a Cleaver-Brooks boiler that is going to Corpus Christi, Texas.  

Had to wait about a half-hour for my permits to come in. Then I left.  Drove to the Flying J truck stop in Gulf Port, Mississippi.  This area is still cleaning up after the hurricane.  There are a lot of signs along I-10 that are still blown over.  There was a section of I-10 that was closed to one lane while they were clearing a lot of downed trees. This truck stop is getting its roof replaced.  All the eves around the building are gone too.  Very tired again tonight.  Going to sleep now.  See ya!!!!

FYI... My Blog readers from the past 7 days.  

Thursday, November 5, 2020

 Left a half-hour after sunrise this morning.  Had several areas of bumper to bumper traffic in the Atlanta area.  Had to wait for about a half-hour for my Florida pilot escort car before entering Florida.  I made good use of the time and got fuel.  When he arrived we continued on to the Port of Jacksonville.  I delivered the chassis.  My trailer had some serious repair issues that needed attention so I went to the Daily yard.  I ended up swapping out of my trailer to another one.  Have a load tomorrow in Thomasville, Georgia.  Will leave real early in the morning.  I'm exhausted!!!!!   Good night.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Had to have an escort car in Kentucky, and two for the first detour just because I am 12 feet, 6 inches wide. Met both at the state line.  After we finished the first detour, which was very short, One of the cars dropped off and the two of us continued on.  Once we passed into Tennessee the other escort car dropped off and I continued on "flying solo".  

On the north side of Nashville, on the Briley Parkway, right at I-65 a semi dump truck crashed spilling his full load of dirt all over the place.  He ended up laying on its side blocking the entire road.  Fortunately for me, it happened on the other side and didn't affect me.

In Georgia, I passed a Swift truck in its natural habitat, crashed off the road.

Stopped at the TA truck stop in Cartersville, Georgia for the night.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

 Left real early this morning and drove to Decatur.  Was first in line except my dispatcher didn't send me the right paperwork. Had to wait till he came to work for him to send it to me.  So instead of being first, I was 7th.  About five and a half hours later they loaded a Caterpillar 789D Dump Truck Chassis on my trailer.  It is going to the port in Jacksonville, Florida.  It will eventually end up in Mumbai, India.

After securing it and scaling, I left.  Drove to the TA truck stop in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for the night.  This is what the truck looks like when it is all put together.

Monday, November 2, 2020

 Nothing all day.  Then late this afternoon I got my next load.  Loads tomorrow in Decatur, Illinois.  I'll go over there in the morning.

Saturday, October 31, 2020

 I left Knoxville a little after midnight.  I got to Illinois a little too soon so I stopped and took a nap until I could go again.  Had to wait until a half-hour before sunrise before I could enter Illinois.  Then I continued on to St. Louis, Missouri to the International Airport.  Delivered the wheel loader there.  It is a new addition to their snow removal fleet.  From there I drove over to the TA truck stop in Troy, Illinois.  Will be here for the rest of the weekend.  Drove 548 miles today.  Will find out Monday where my next adventure starts.

Friday, October 30, 2020

 Went to sleep real early last night.  Woke up at midnight.  Was on the road at 3 am.  Drove to Newberry, South Carolina and loaded a Komatsu WA380 Wheel Loader that is going to Saint Louis, Missouri.  

Got out of there in good time.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Knoxville, Tennessee for the night.  My truck was due for it's 90 day inspection so I had it done as soon as I got there. Now I'm going to sleep.  I'm tired.  As soon as my 10 hours are up, I'll be back on the road again.  Good night.

Thursday, October 29, 2020

 Left real early this morning and drove to Ring Power in Ocala to load the wondering motorgrader.  As it turns out, this machine is owned by Caterpillar Corporation.  It is decked out with a bunch of fancy stuff.  They send it to different dealers around the country to try out.  I got to drive it around quite a bit this morning after jump starting it.  Then I put it up on the trailer.

Left there at about 8:30 am.  Made really good time in there.  Drove up to the Caterpillar dealer in Macon, Georgia and delivered the machine.  Next load is tomorrow morning in Newberry, South Carolina.  I went over to the Love's truck stop, just down the road from where I delivered, for a much needed shower and sleep.  I'll leave real early tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

 They finally found the motorgrader.  It is over in Ocala.  I'll go over there in the morning to pick it up.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

 This afternoon went over to Ring Power Caterpillar in Saint Augustine to load a Caterpillar 120M Motorgrader (road grader).  They couldn't find it.  I rode in an ATV with the guy all around the property looking for it.  Couldn't find it anywhere.  He dropped me off back at my truck while he went back to his office to try to locate it.  I called our office to have them try from our end too.  After a while, I ended up going back to our yard in Jacksonville because they had no firm idea where it was.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow if they can find out where it is.

Monday, October 26, 2020

 Left Fort Pierce this morning a half-hour before sunrise and drove down to Miami and delivered the excavator.  Several areas of bumper to bumper traffic on the way.  Wasn't too bad for Miami.  Where I delivered was on the west side of the Miami International Airport.  When that was done I drove back to Jacksonville.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

 Yesterday I drove to the Flying J truck stop in St. Augustine, FL for the night.  Nothing even remotely interesting happened.

Today I left a half-hour before sunrise and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Fort Peirce, FL.  Not the greatest place to spend the night, but pickin's are slim down here.