Saturday, March 13, 2021

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Went past a bad wreck in Lufkin, TX.  A semi that was pulling doubles had crashed and burned.  It was quite a mess.  Fortunately, it was on the northbound side and I was going south.  Continued on down into Houston where they were doing road repairs and had traffic backed up pretty bad.  They had 6 lanes merge into 2.  What a mess!!!!  After that, it was smooth sailing down to Refugio, TX where I'll be until Monday morning.

Friday, March 12, 2021

 Left at sunrise this morning.  Very uneventful day on the road.  Drove to the TA Truck Stop in Nacogdoches, Texas for the night.  

Thursday, March 11, 2021

 This morning when I went to leave I had been blocked in by three trucks.  It took a half-hour of backing up and "wiggling" between them to get out.  Believe me, it wasn't easy!!!  By 2:30 am I was pulling out of the parking lot and on my way, damage-free of course.  Made good time until I got to Nashville.  Just west of Nashville my permit routed me on a wicked set of back roads.  It was slow going.  That added an extra hour to my travel times today.

About an hour after I got back on I-40 traffic came to a standstill.  Road construction.  It took an hour to go 7 miles!!!!  Once I got past that mess I continued on into Arkansas.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Earle, AR.  While doing my post-trip inspection found that a mud flap had fallen off my truck sometime today.  Have no idea where.  It was there this morning.  Checked in at the repair shop to have it replaced.  They were backed up so it took a long time before they were able to do the work.  

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

 Left a half-hour before sunrise this morning.  Drove to Broadview Heights, Ohio and delivered the Excavator.  Next load was down in New Philidelphia, Ohio.  Drove down there and loaded a Gradall XL5210 that is going down to Sinton, Texas.

Left there in real good time.  Was just able to beat the Cincinnati curfew when I stopped for the night at the Flying J truck stop in Walton, Kentucky.  I'll leave here as soon as my 10 hours are up.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

 Left Baltimore this morning.  Had to time it so that I didn't get to York, PA before 9 am.  I did good.  I entered York at 9:01 am.  Had a nice day on the road going through the Pennsylvania mountains.  Stopped for the night at the Petro truck stop in Girard, Ohio.  Will deliver tomorrow morning.

Monday, March 8, 2021

 Left this morning and drove to Upper Marlboro, Maryland and delivered the dump truck.  Next load was up at the Port of Baltimore.  Drove up there and loaded a Caterpillar 325 Excavator that is going over to Broadview Heights, Ohio.

Left there but didn't go far.  Stopped at the TA truck stop in Baltimore for the night.  

Saturday, March 6, 2021

 Easy day. Drove to the Flying J truck stop in Ruther Glen, Virginia.  Will be here until Monday morning.

Friday, March 5, 2021

 Left at 3 am this morning and drove to Savannah, Georgia and loaded a Terex TA300 Dump Truck that is going up to Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Got out of there a little after 9 am.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Kenly, North Carolina for the night.  Went inside to get my dinner, picked it up and when I got to the truck found that of the 2 items I ordered they got them both wrong.  Had to go back in and try again. After dinner, I did three loads of laundry.  Then replaced a couple flags.  While replacing the flags, found two lights on my trailer were out.  My tag light was an easy fix.  The other had a corroded plug so that had to be replaced as well.  Once all that was done I hit the sack.  I'll start at sunrise tomorrow morning.  Good night.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

 Was up and at it again at 1 am.  Just west of Knoxville I got a flat on one of my trailer tires.  I was able to get it to the Petro truck stop in Knoxville.  Got the tire fixed and was back on the road again.  Drove the rest of the way to Charlotte, NC and delivered the excavator.  Then hightailed it out of there and down to the Flying J truck stop in Rock Hill, SC for the night.  Got there with only 10 minutes left on my "electronic baby sitter".   I load tomorrow morning in Savannah, GA.  Good night.

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left and drove the rest of the way to Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Loaded a Caterpillar 330FL Excavator that is going to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Denmark, Tennessee.  Once again, as soon as my 10 hours are up I'll be outa here.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

 As soon as my 10 hours were up I left.  Drove to Cushing, Oklahoma.  Went to a tank farm that they were expanding.  This place was a very difficult place to get into and out of.  On the map, it looked like it was no problem, but in reality, it was a nightmare!!   I have no idea how they got all the materials in there to build everything.  Anyway, I got there right at 6:30 am. Had to wait for the crane to get there.  It arrived at about 9:30.  Then we had to go do their COVID stuff.  After that over to get a safety briefing and vehicle pass.  Once all that stuff was done the crane went in and got set up.  The area was all the way around back.  Very tight getting in.  Every turn  I had to back up a couple times to make it around the corner. It was like that on all the roads getting in and out too.  Once I got to the crane, they attached the rigging to the genset.  Then waited.  The "safety" guys at the job site didn't like the rigging.  Honestly, I didn't either.  So they disassembled everything and started over.  To make a very long story short, they finally got the correct rigging attached and lifted the genset off and placed it where it will live for the rest of it's life.  All that took over 7 hours. Then I had to back out.  I did and got myself turned around and made my way to the entrance that I went in.  It was the only one.  I tried to get out multiple times but couldn't make it around the corner.  They had to remove a pole so I could get out.  To make another very long story short, it took an hour to get to a main road.  At one point I had to back up 3/4 mile because the road was closed and nowhere to turn around.  By the time I got down to I-40, I had run out of hours.  Had to go on "Personal Conveyance" to get to the closest truck stop.  I stopped at the Love's truck stop in Seminole, Oklahoma.  This place was so small.  It only had about 6 truck parking places. I was lucky to get one.  Wiggled my way into it and settled in for my 10 hours.  As soon as they are up, I'm outa here!!  Heading to Jonesboro, Arkansas to load in the morning.

Monday, March 1, 2021

 Went the rest of the way into Corpus Christi this morning and delivered the machine.  Next load was over in Seguin, TX.  Went over there and loaded a Caterpillar Genset that is going up to Cushing, Oklahoma.

Left there and hit the road.  Saw a 3 car crash happen right in front of me in Austin.  Then passed another crash south of Waco.  Then in Waco passed a rollover that was blocking 2 of the 3 lanes.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Hillsboro, Texas.  Will get started again as soon as my 10 hours are up.  Good night.

Saturday, February 27, 2021

 I left Hammond, LA last night at 10:30 pm.  Had a couple places of bumper-to-bumper traffic from road construction in Louisianna.  Other than that, smooth sailing all night.  Stopped in Baytown. TX and got the truck washed.  There was no line at all.  Yesterday, in Hammond, the truck wash had a line of 20 trucks.  They were lined up from the wash bays out of their driveway, through the truck stop parking lot, and out to the road.  I try to get my truck washed in the middle of the night to avoid those long lines.  I continued on down to a truck stop in Refugio, Texas where I'll sit until Monday morning.

Friday, February 26, 2021

 Left Knoxville, TN at 10:30 last night.  I love being able to drive at night!!  I was able to beat most of the rain the was moving through.  Drove to the Petro truck stop in Hammond, Louisiana for the day.  Going to sleep now.  Phone is off again.  Good night.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

 Left at 3 am this morning.  Very nice uneventful day on the road. Drove to the Petro in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Got there a little after noon.  Going to sleep now.  The phone is off.  Good night.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

 My truck was FINALLY finished this morning.  Went up to Harrisburg and picked it up.  Then back to the hotel to check out and then to Daily to get my trailer. My next load was in Bedford, Pennsylvania.  I drove up there.  I was the last truck they loaded today.  I was their 22nd. They were busy today!!  Loaded a JLG Boom Lift that is going down to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Left there but didn't go very far.  Stopped for the night at the TA truck stop in Breezewood, PA.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

 

Monday, February 22, 2021

 We got another 4 inches of snow today.

Other than that, I'm still sitting here in this hotel bored out of my mind!!!!  Have no idea when my truck will be done.

Sunday, February 21, 2021

 

Saturday, February 20, 2021