Am in WI for Christmas Eve. I’ll be hauling an over-sized load down to Jacksonville, FL but due to regulations can’t do so until Saturday morning. They don’t allow us to move over-sized load over holidays. There was a nasty snowstorm here last night. It became something of an adventure for me as about 10 miles from the yard my driver’s side wiper blade decided to go flying off the truck. That made for an interesting 10 mile drive. This morning I drove down to v...

Am on my way back to WI from the snow buried East Coast. I hauled a snow blower truck out there so they can get themselves out from under all that snow. Am doing ok, all things considered. I will be working over the holidays. As I haven't been home in a year now I see no reason to go there at this point. In fact I have decided to put the place up for sale as the burden of paying for a place I never visit seems a bit too much. Life is what it is and I am just going with the flow for the mos...

I am in Carlisle, Pa tonight.Nothing of import to write about really. I visited Uhle's Pipe Shop in Milwaukee this weekend and picked up a couple of new pipes as well as a lamb skin pipe case. Here are the pipes I have purchased recently: Peterson bulldog Graco   Viking Classic     Nording bulldog     Petersoin XL90   All very good smokes.

Today I picked up a machine in Charlotte, NC heading for Milwaukee, WI. They had said the machine would be ready to pick up after noon today so I rolled in there at 1:00PM. It wasn't ready to load until 4:00PM. Well, 4:00PM is after noon. The thing needed to be tarped and is so big that it took four tarps to cover the damn thing. I'm now quite exhausted and my bum hip is killing me. I won't be able to walk right again for a few days now. Time to break out the handy dandy walking stick for the...

I finally got a call from dispatch late this afternoon that informed me that I have a load to pick up in Charlotte, NC around noon tomorrow. As I have already been sitting in SC since yesterday I decided that I'll just sit here until tomorrow morning so as to gain a 34 hour restart. The hours of service regulations governing truckers states that remaining in one place, off duty, for 34 hours results in a restart on the maximum of 70 hours one is allowed to work in a week. As I am off duty ...

It's been a busy couple of weeks during which I've had very little down time, let alone internet time until today. I've been zig zagging back and forth around the country, which of course is a good thing as I don't get paid to sit still, but the poor economy still has freight rates depressed and despite the constant work the money is very poor. I'm just trying to hang in there until things improve. I am currently sitting in South Carolina after delivering two stops in WV and two in SC. The...

I recently purchased a leather pipe holster but the thing turned out to be worse than useless. The strap that is supposed to hold the pipe in the holster comes unsnapped too easily and the pipe falls out. My new Savinelli pipe has a nasty scratch now as a result. This evening I decided to try and knit myself something that would work better. It's nothing fancy, and doesn't look all that great, but it works.

This morning I picked up a backhoe and a skid steer in Chambersburg, PA heading for WI. It was a little chilly there, but not too bad at all. As I headed across the PA Turnpike it wasn't too long before I ran into a snowstorm. It was especially bad going across the mountain at Somerset. The roads themselves were ok enough despite the morons who insisted on hitting their brakes every time they thought the road might be a little bit slick (utter stupidity) but visibility was pretty crappy at so...

Yesterday I delivered an over sized load, an airfield fire truck, to the port in Baltimore. It was on it’s way to Libya. I hate that port and, true to it’s nature, the delivery took me all damn day. Such is delivering to that damn port. I was hoping to make it to my oldest nephew’s house for Thanksgiving. He lives in Ohio. Things just didn’t work out and instead I am spending the time in PA instead. Such is trucking. I called my brother, next youngest to me (I’m the oldest) and let him...

Firstly, I wish to say hello and welcome to any new readers who may have wandered here from the pipe forums. I know a few have expressed interest in my silly drivel about life on the road, and perhaps have even taken a bit of their precious time to visit my little blog to see what sort of nonsense I have managed to pound out on my keyboard. Don’t expect glorious works of prose here, dear reader, because the truth is most of it is rather boring minutia and rather badly written minutia at...

I arrived at the delivery point in Alabama, a new steel plant under construction, only to find they couldn’t offload me until today (Monday) as the crane was to be tied up all weekend. They were kind enough to allow me to drop the trailer there on the site, which made it a lot easier for to get around and find a motel. This morning I went back to the jobsite to get unloaded only yo find that “they” had sent the wrong size lift booms for a something this heavy (35,000 lbs). He said the right...

This afternoon I walked to the sports bar down the street from my motel to watch the Louisiana/Alabama football game. I went in, sat down, ordered a beer, and packed a pipe expecting to enjoy the game. There was a woman there who was, well, LOUD. She screamed at the top of her lungs the entire game. I wanted to strangle her. While I can understand some fan enthusiasm, she was way, way over board and was a distraction. All I can think is that she was ignored as a child and had a need to be the...

Yesterday I left the yard with an over sized load. A pretty long one. Most of our trailers are either 48 or 50 feet long, but we have a couple like the one I am now pulling that can stretch out much longer. Mine is currently stretched out to 63 feet, which is 10 feet longer than the legal maximum. The load is a very large control house for a very large crane. I am hauling it to a steel plant in Alabama. While it’s only 9 1/2 feet wide, it’s length is the real issue ...

After delivering my load to the Air National Guard base in Bangor, ME I went to the truck stop for a hot meal. I wound up staying there until the following day as no load was to be found. The following day, around 1:00PM, dispatch calls me and says I am to dead-head (run empty) down to Fleetwood, PA to pick up some industrial presses going to MI. As soon as I heard presses I knew what was next. Yep, they want them tarped. Ugh. She also said she wanted me there “first thing” in the morn...

I reached Wisconsin this afternoon after picking up a pair of Marine Corps Hum Vs in Michigan. I'd been wanting to visit a 100 year old tobacconist shop in Kenosha called Andrea's that another pipe smoker had told me about. I checked into a motel, dropped my trailer, and bobtailed down to Kenosha to visit the place. It wasn't what I expected at all. It's mostly a gift shop with one corner of the place dedicated to pipes, cigars, and tobaccos. I mainly went there just to pick up a Zippo...