This has been "one of those days". I got ready to roll this morning and the amber beacons I have to use when pulling over-size blew a fuse. Had to wait for road service to come and repair the problem. At that point it was too late to go anywhere. I had ripped a few DVDs and was in the process of renaming some of the files. Somehow while renaming one of them I accidentally selected ALL of the movie files and they all wound up with the same name. ARGH! Late this afternoon I decided t take a ...

Yesterday I unloaded the fire truck at one of the ports in Baltimore. I then came up to North East, MD to load an excavator. I got it loaded and made it to the truck stop just before the evening over-size curfew kicked in. This morning I got up and was ready to roll as soon as the curfew ended. When I switched on the amber beacons on top of my truck the fuse blew. I stuck in a new one, hoping it was just a tired fuse, but not surprisingly that one blew as well. Damn short in the system. I ...

I am hauling a fire truck, which is an over-size load, out to Baltimore. Over-size loads are not allowed to move on a holiday and have to be parked by noon on the weekday prior to a holiday. I've been sitting here at the Ohio/Indiana line since a little before noon yesterday and can't leave out again until tomorrow morning. It could be worse, at least it's a full service truck stop with decent food, showers, laundry facilities and all that. There are a few other drivers also stuck...

I'm looking forward to the end of the world tomorrow. Maybe there will be fewer cars on the road, shorter lines at the grocery, and all that. I was planning on doing laundry on Saturday and that has me a little concerned. Does the end of the world mean no water? Damn hard to wash clothes if there isn't any water. And what about air? Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a pipe lit if there isn't any damn air? I mean, really, how frustrating would that be? Oh yeah, and ...

Am in Carlisle, PA tonight and there really isn't anything new to report. I did have an incident in Roseland, IN last night but it was pretty minor. Due to a relatively new state law in Indiana hotels are no longer allowed to have smoking rooms. I was standing outside the hotel enjoying a pipe when some douche bag looking guy started accosting me about my smoking. Normally I would have tried to handle it with a combination of humor and intelligence but something about the guy's dem...

After my truck being in the shop all week I had an odd assignment this morning. I had to go over to the fairgrounds and act as an unloading dock for trucks going in there. They are having an agriculture/construction equipment show there next week and had a lot of equipment coming in on flatbed type trailers. The thing they didn't have was a ramp to unload such trailers. I was there, with a beaver tail trailer (ramps on the back) so they could back to my trailer, drive the equipment from t...

Holy shit! Damn near got run down by a car tonight. I'm still burning off the adrenaline. I was walking across the street from my motel to get some beer when a car came tearing ass around a corner, tires squealing, ass end fishtailing, and heading straight for me. I dodged out of the way but my left hand came down on the hood of the car as I was getting out of it's path. I swear, if I could have got my hands on that driver I would be on my way to jail for homicide. ...

Am in Marianna Florida this weekend. I delivered my last stop on Thursday at the Naval base in Panama City then came up here to get a reasonably priced hotel room. There was a bike rally in Panama City Beach this weekend and even if I could have found a room down there it would have cost an arm and a leg. Friday dispatch called me with a reload about an hour from here, in Alabama. By the time I got within 3 miles of the place they called me let me know the load had canceled. Oh well, back her...

It sure does feel like Fall now. As my back was bothering me quite a bit from too much load tarping last week I decided to take the weekend off here in Wisconsin. It has been very chilly all weekend. Had to break out my sweatshirt and jacket just to be comfortable. The porch of the motel was covered with leaves this morning after a breezy night. Sigh. Winter will be along very soon. Yuck. I am really not looking forward to Winter this year. After such a hot, dry Summer I think it's goi...

Being on the road sometimes requires finding alternative ways of doing things that are simply done at home. Blending/mixing things is one of those tasks. It just isn't practical to carry an electric blender in the truck. I recently bought a Blender Bottle and am finding it really handy. Basically it's a plastic shaker bottle with a stainless steel wire ball inside that acts like a whisk when the bottle is shaken. I am using it to make protein shakes. The first shake I tried was 8 o...

I am in the Richmond, VA area. I will be delivering a military vehicle to Ft. Pickett later this morning. This morning I did my weekly weigh in and have now lost a total of 25.5 lbs. That takes me almost half way to my goal weight. Yesterday I bought a new polo shirt. I bought an XL thinking that would be about right, but when I got back to my motel room and tried it on it was too big. I returned it and got an L. The L fits very well. I haven't been able to wear a size L shirt in years...

After running harder than I like to get a stretch trailer back here from Houston I have a bit of time off. The boss knew what I had to do to get it done and scheduled my next load to let me get some much needed rest. I dropped the trailer at the yard around 11:00 PM Wednesday night after leaving Houston around 4:40 Tuesday afternoon. I was beat. My next load is a six stop load, the first of which is only about 5 hours from here, for Monday, so I have pretty much been off Thursday and most ...

The past several weeks have just been crazy at work. I have had very little in the way of down time as a result. Also, my weight loss/fitness progress has really slowed as well (down 21 lbs at this point). I am still counting calories and doing well there, but just haven't had the time to get out and do much walking or jogging. I am currently sitting just outside of Houston and will be delivering a fire truck to the port there in the morning. I then have to scramble to get back to Wiscons...

I am taking the weekend off in Wisconsin. There is a very nice nature trail here and yesterday I went for a walk/run (50/50) on it. It's a great place for a run and/or walk. I did my weekly weigh in this morning. I have now dropped a total of 18 pounds since I started trying to get healthier. Not too bad for a fat old man. I have to do some laundry later today, but plan to go for another run on the trail before I do. 

I have been doing my walking for exercise wearing an old pair of lightweight hiking shoes. My feet have been killing me because those shoes are simply not made for what I have been doing. This morning I went over to Dick's Sporting Goods. I lucked out in that the young lady working the shoe department is a runner and actually knows what she's talking about. Once I explained to her that all of this is new to me, I know nothing at all about picking out the right athletic shoes, and what...