I finally got my truck out of the shop late Friday afternoon. I then loaded and secured an over sized load, an airfield snow scraper, heading for an Air National Guard base in Bangor, Maine. I moved the load down to the southern end of WI, just before the IL line, and called it a day. Illegal to haul over sized through IL after dark. Besides, it was my birthday and I wanted to enjoy a few adult beverages to mark the date. I went across the street from the truck stop to a bar/seafood pl...
I've been sitting in a hotel in WI since the day before yesterday. I had been having a few engine related problems with my truck so I put it in the shop to be checked out. I wasn't surprised when they told me it had to go down to the engine shop in Milwaukee for some major work. At last check it might be ready sometime tomorrow. I had grabbed my pipe bag, computer bag, overnight bag with some clothing, and my dop kit containing my grooming supplies. It wasn't until after I had checked in a...
Today was something else. I had to pick up an armored military wrecker from the Navy Weapons Station in North Charleston, SC. That place is always something of a circus as they ship and receive and lot of vehicles and equipment every day. I knew I was in for a long day. The fact that it was raining only added to it being a pretty crappy day. Once I checked in I drove around to where you get in line. There was at least twenty trucks ahead of me in line. Wonderful. Luckily, I had a good...
The rain let up so I made my way over to Emerson's Fine Tobaccos to have a look around. I was a tad disappointed in their selection of pipe tobaccos, especially the lack of any tins of good English tobaccos. I was hoping to find a tin of Squadron Leader, but no such luck. They did have numerous jars of bulk tobacco and, having carried one of my pipes in with me, I helped myself to samples of a few of them. I especially liked one called "Viking". I then checked out their very nice selection...
Yesterday I delivered a fire truck to the port in Norfolk, VA. As usual, it took twice as long as it should have taken as the union port workers don’t like non-union truckers and so make us wait around just because they can. Assholes. As my reload won’t load until Monday, another wreck dump truck, I checked into a relatively cheap motel in Virginia Beach for the weekend. It has pretty much everything I need. Laundry facilities, a c-store next door, my choice of two different bars across the...
It’s raining in Wisconsin tonight. And it’s windy. Umbrellas are great for rain but are, as a rule, not all that good in wind. Tonight my own umbrella, which has been with me for a good many years, a gentleman’s basic black umbrella and not of the cheap variety, fell victim to the wind. My poor, faithful umbrella was truly and completely molested by the vile wind and was rendered useless as I walked between Applebee’s and my hotel thus rendering my good hat and wool dress coat totally drenc...
Written 9/29/09 After delivering a snow blower truck to the Air National Guard airfield in Martinsburg, WV I ran up to a salvage yard just outside of Pittsburgh to pick up a wreck of a dump truck. The cab of the thing has been totally burned out and barely resembles a truck cab at all. It stank of burnt rubber and plastics. The guys there tried picking it up with two large fork lifts to set it on my trailer but one of the forklifts couldn’t handle the weight and it’s rear ...
I've been out to Tacoma, down to Denver, and now back to Wisconsin once again. I saw snow, yuck!!!!, out in Laramie, WY. That really sucks this early in the year. What's worse, I saw it again in CO. Double yuck!!!!! Once I made it back to the yard I lined up my next load, a snow blower truck going to an airfield in WV, and checked into the hotel. Once I was checked in I headed over to the tobacco shop to pick up some pipe tobacco as I was running low. I picked up some more Irish Aromatic blen...
It’s no secret that I love my pipes and pipe tobacco. I’ve found a forum all about pipes and pipe tobacco and the people there are friendly and civil in the extreme, even when they disagree. I find this very refreshing. It’s nice to find a web community where the people go out of their way to be civil and supportive at all times. It’s a breath of fresh air in a medium that can be anything but civil. But then, pipe smokers in general tend to be a friendly, supportive lot anyway. I’ve never ...
I delivered a snow blower truck to the port in Tacoma, WA on Friday. It’ll be loaded on a ship and make it’s way to an Air Force base in AK. As I expected, a reload wasn’t forthcoming and I am spending the weekend in WA. I spent Friday night at the truck stop in North Bend. Well, ok, actually I spent it at the tavern a mile down the road from the truck stop. I had a great time there. Friendly people with which to chat and a really good four man blues band played. I spent a good deal ...
Late this afternoon I called in to the office and spoke with one of our dispatchers (mine is on vacation) and requested that a sum of money be transferred to my fuel card. I was pretty much out of cash and needed that money to purchase dinner tonight. I continued down the road to my planned stop, which I arrived at well after our office had closed. I called the number to check my card balance and found that, despite her assurance that she would transfer the funds, she had failed to put the mo...
Below is my new look, which I happen to like even if others don't. I've received several compliments on my appearance and a few questions, but overall the general consensus is a positive one. Yesterday I stopped at a truck stop in rural NC to refuel my truck. After fueling up I walked inside to the fuel desk to sign and receive a copy of my fuel ticket. As I walked up a driver was standing at the counter who had obviously watched through the window as I walked up and he said "I know you'...
The load I hauled to Antioch, CA this past week was not only a wide load but also it was quite heavy. The normal legal weight for a load is 80,000 lbs and with this one I was weighing nearly 90,000. That's pretty heavy. Due to construction CA wouldn't permit the load the move on I-80 and instead they routed me over 200 miles out of my way on secondary state highways through the mountains. It was a very slow drive through there with a number of steep grades. One downgrade had a truck speed ...
I delivered the load to Antioch, CA late Friday afternoon. I then had to be in Twentynine palms, a mere 500 miles away, at the Marine Corps base there at 8:00am this morning (Saturday) to pick up a 7 ton truck going to Camp Lejeune, NC. Needless to say I am now quite tired. I made the pick up on time, made my way to Kingman, AZ, and promptly checked into a motel for the remainder of the day and night. In a word, I'm pooped. I was also in serious need of a shower as the trip from Antioch...
I'm parked for the night at a truck stop just West of Salt Lake City. It's been a long day of driving, as puliing over sized loads tends to be, and I'm pretty beat. When I pulled in and parked I walked inside to wash up, grab a cold drink, and prepare to settle down for the night with a DVD. As I was standing in line to pay for my purchase I got to talking with a lady trucker standing in the next line over from mine. She mentioned that she had loaded today for WI. I told her that I just ca...