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...

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...

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...

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...

This past Thursday marked one month since I stopped smoking cigarettes. I had promised myself when that time came I would buy myself a new pipe, but wasn't around any pipe shops on that day. On Saturday I stopped at Truck World in Hubbard, Ohio. They have a small tobacco shop inside the truck stop so I looked around a bit in there. I spotted a Dr Grabow Big Pipe and since that is one Dr Grabow model I didn't yet own I bought it. Not a fancy, high end celebratory pipe, but I like it ju...

Wow, I don't know what the deal is, but I have been doing some serious sleeping of late. Wednesday night I went to bed at my usual time, 10:00PM and didn't wake until 8:00AM. I normally wake, without an alarm precisely at 6:00AM. Last night I went to bed again at 10:00PM and didn't wake until 9:30AM. That's just ridiculous. I about shit when I looked at the clock and saw the time. I never, ever sleep that long. I am just guessing that for whatever reason my body was needi...

Well I am now back in Wisconsin once again. It was raining down in Texas and I saw a lot of flooded out roads, not to mention all of the lakes that are normally fields. There was even a few cars I could just see the roofs above the water. Dumb asses actually drove into it, can you believe it? After spending a day in Kansas delivering one load and picking up another I made my way towards Wisconsin, I stopped in Council Bluffs, Iowa for the night and visited a little redneck, hole-in-the-wall d...

Well, the burden of yet another new regulation has been placed upon the trucking industry. No hand-held cell phone use at all. One must use a hands-free device and must use voice dial or one button speed dial. Pressing more than one button, or failing to use a hands-free device will result in a fine to the driver between $1,000 - $2,750 and a fine to the driver's company of $11,000 (and most likely costing that driver his job). In order to be certain to comply with this new law, and to ma...

This morning I delivered a farm tractor to a, well, farm. I pulled up and stopped at the place, climbed out of my truck, and immediately heard ferocious barking a little way from me and moving closer, fast. It was a medium sized black dog. There was a larger dog loping along behind her but he wasn't barking, just running along for the hell of it. I stood my ground and waited for the barking dog to get closer. I was watching her the whole way. She was barking madly but her tail was wagg...

Today I had to go in for my bi-annual D.O.T. physical. It's normally just a routine bit of nonsense needed to get a medical certification card for two more years. Today my blood pressure was 6 points too high for me to pass the physical. I have never had high blood pressure, not even close. The doctor did say that it could be due to the cold medicine I have been taking for the past week or so. She then issued me a 3 month medical card. I have to follow up with my regular doctor in a coupl...

I am holed up in a hotel in York, NE. I will be delivering over in Lincoln, NE tomorrow morning but in the interim I am trying to stay inside, slug down Nyquil, and try to get over this damn cold. I've been battling this cold for nearly a week now and I think it has hit it's peak now. I spent a lot of last night coughing and blowing my nose despite the Nyquil. It was the worst night since I started having cold symptoms. Hopefully I am on the downhill side of this thing now. I had p...

This morning finds me sitting in Houston. Yesterday I arrived at the jobsite with the large generator at precisely 9:30 am, as promised. My part of the job was over at that point. It went downhill from there. It only took a couple of minutes for me to figure out that the crane operator and his rigger didn't have the slightest idea of how to rig the straps to this big generator to lift it off my trailer. I stood and watched them for a few minutes as they discussed their various options....

This afternoon finds me just outside of Houston, Texas. I hauled a very large generator down here from Wisconsin. The load is 10' 7" wide, 13' 11" tall, and has my rig weighing in at 90,000 lbs. When I went to bed last night in Little Rock the temperature was pleasant so I didn't bother running my APU. I have caught a cold and wanted some nice, quiet sleep time between coughing and blowing my nose. When I woke this morning and tossed back the blanket it was downright frigid...

I am spending the holiday weekend in a small motel in Wisconsin. Could be worse, I suppose. There was some snow last night, just enough to cover the ground a bit but not enough to be a real traffic hazard. The folks around here seem happy to have the snow for the holiday. I'll be hitting the Piggly Wiggly later this morning to stock up on some food as I am sure nothing will be open tomorrow. The room has a fridge and microwave. My weekend layover is more or less forced. I had hoped ...