I left at 1 AM EDT. Drove 645 miles to the Flying J truck stop in Pontoon Beach, Illinois for my 10 hours. Then settled in for an afternoon of college football. SEC football is the best!!! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!!!
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Well from the looks of things, the Gators have not improved much since last year. It is going to be another very long season for them. It doesn't matter; I still love them!! I have a feeling they will be looking for another new coach next year.
I was at JLG in Shippensburg, PA at 6 AM EDT to load this morning. They have no record of the machine I was to load. Had to wait until 8 AM for the folks at Daily to get to work and figure out what went wrong with the paperwork. Great way to start the day!!
At 8 AM my dispatcher called and said that my machine was at the yard in Carlisle. He also wanted me to go to McConnellsburg, PA, pick up a Caterpillar Telehandler, bring it to the yard in Carlisle, and then load my machine. So nice when the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!!! So I drove to McConnellsburg and loaded a Caterpillar TL1055 Telehandler.
When I got to Carlisle I unloaded it and then loaded the JLG 660SJ Boom Lift that is going to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
My truck is all finished with routine maintenance. My trailer is going to stay here. I got a brand-new trailer instead. It came in yesterday. After the shop finished doing what they do with new trailers and adding the 6 new "D" rings that I requested, they brought it out for me to swap into. Of course, just as I started to move all my equipment over to the new trailer it started to rain. It has been sunny the entire time I have been here and the moment I start to work on my trailer it rains!!
When I finished I was soaked through to the skin. Went and showered. I will load tomorrow morning in Shippensburg, PA.
They finished all the work on my truck this afternoon. My trailer is another story. They brought it into the shop this afternoon. Still don't know what they are going to do with it. They offered me a hotel room tonight so I took them up on the offer. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
I left this morning at about 2:30 AM EDT and drove the rest of the way to Bear, Delaware. No traffic issues at all. Delivered the skid steers and went to the "home office" in Carlisle, PA. Dropped my trailer in the parking lot. It wasn't too long before they brought my truck into the truck shop and got to work on it. Meanwhile, I got a car and did a few errands. They got a lot of the routine maintenance done to the truck. Still have to replace the windshield and a few other things.
Found a problem with my trailer too. It could potentially be a major one. They will look into it further in the morning. The picture will mean nothing to you, but here it is anyway.
After a long off-season...
I left at about 2 AM EDT. Shortly after getting started I realized that I didn't have enough hours left on my 70-hour clock to make it to deliver today as hoped. So instead of going through Washington DC and Baltimore at rush hour today, I decided to stop at the Flying J truck stop in Ruther Glen, Virginia. There is a Golden Coral restaurant there. I'll leave early enough Monday morning to beat rush hour.
I left at about 2:15 AM EDT and drove the rest of the way to Raleigh, NC, and delivered the compactor. Along the way, my "Check Engine" light came on again.
Instead of reloading this morning, I went to the International dealer in Raleigh to get it fixed again. It turned out to be an easy fix. A faulty sensor that was covered under warranty. I was out of there in time to drive over to Sanford, North Carolina to the Keen yard and load three Caterpillar Skid Steers that are going to Bear, Delaware.
I left at midnight last night. Had no problems with traffic again today!! Made it through Atlanta long before rush hour. Drive 472 miles today to the TA truck stop in Cowpens, South Carolina.
Left when my 10 hours were up at about 3:30 AM CDT. No traffic issues today. Stopped for my 10 hours after driving 561 miles at the TA truck stop in Meridian, Mississippi.
Delivered the thing this morning. Thought I was going to have a load in Dallas so I started off that way. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out so I stopped at a little truck stop and took a nap while waiting to find out where I was going next.
Finally got my next load. Drove to Holt Caterpillar in Waco, Texas, and loaded a Caterpillar CP56B Compactoe that is going to Raleigh, North Carolina.
It was 105 degrees F (40.5 C) here and no shade. Left there and drove to the TA truck stop in Hillsboro, Texas for my 10 hours.
Last night I left at about 10:30 PM CDT when my 10 hours were up. Nothing exciting or interesting today. Stopped along the way and took about an hour nap. Drove 641 miles to the Love's truck stop in Seguin, Texas. I'll deliver in the morning.
My blog readers this week...
I left at about 2 AM EDT. Very uneventful day on the road. Drove 583 miles to the TA truck stop in Earle, Arkansas. I'll start again around midnight.
I checked out of my hotel this morning and went over to Thermo King. Was there when they opened. They took my truck in right away, diagnosed the problem, and fixed it. The alternator was bad. I was out of there at about 9:30 AM EDT. Amazing!! That never happens that fast!!! My next load was over in New Philadelphia, Ohio. It was not supposed to load until Monday. I called them and they said that the machine was ready and to come on over and load. I did. Loaded a Mantis PM201FR. This company just started to make these machines in the USA and I got the very first one. It is going to Seguin, Texas.
I left there and drove to the Flying J truck stop in Jeffersonville, Ohio for my ten hours.
I checked out of my hotel around 3 AM EDT and drove to Pataskala, Ohio. I got there just as he was opening the gate. Unloaded and headed toward Thermoking in Columbus, Ohio. They were booked up today but can get to me in the morning. So I got a hotel room at the Best Western just down the street from Thermoking. I was able to check in right away!! Amazing.
Nothing interesting today. This machine is going to Pataskala, Ohio. I left as soon as my 10 hours were up. I drove 650 miles to the Pilot truck stop in Sulphur, Kentucky for the night.
This evening my APU died again.
So I bundled everything up and went to a hotel in LaGrange, Kentucky for the night. I'll deliver in the morning then head to Thermoking for repairs.
First thing this morning I went about 30 miles west to a job site where the machine was that I was to load. They had to bring it out to me and I had to load on the road. Loaded a Screen Machine 50TJ Jaw Crusher. Cute little machine.
Well, today started off great!! I was greeted with a "Check Engine" light.
I left at sunrise this morning. Had some bumper-to-bumper traffic in Dallas. Texas routed me through city streets in Dallas so it took forever to get up to Aubrey, but I finally made it and delivered the dozer. My next load is on Monday in Santo, Texas. I drove to the Petro truck stop in Weatherford, Texas for the rest of the weekend.
