As my GPS unit has the ability to play MP3s and audio books through it's internal FM transmitter to my FM radio I've been downloading audio books from various websites that offer them for free download. I've found them to be a great way to pass the time while driving over long distances. There are a wide variety of genres to download and anyone can find something to suit their taste. Most are classics which are always nice to revisit from time to time. I'm especially fond of the Sherlock Holm...

I'm back in WI and taking the weekend off. Monday I have to pick up a military vehicle from the factory's testing and development department and run it out to CA. Not sure what it is yet, or exactly where it goes as most T&D loads are classified, but I do know it's going to be an oversized load. I normally wouldn't want to take a CA load, but T&D loads pay especially well and I need the money. Thursday I got a call from my friend in FL who keeps an eye on my place while I am on the...

I'm back in WI again. It's been a really rough week for me and it seemed like everything I hauled needed to be tarped. By the time I finally reached the yard yesterday afternoon my bum hip was killing me and I could barely walk. The fact that it has turned chilly here didn't help as it just made the hip ache more. I told dispatch that I was hurting and was going to go check into the hotel and get some rest. Everything else would just have to wait. They worked with me and set me up a load that...

I ran down to Texas and delivered my load. I was supposed to pick up from the same site and run back to Wisconsin but things being things they weren't finished with that machine so it wasn't ready to go back to WI. I wound up sitting a couple of days in TX. It was hot. Really, really hot. Like would fry a lizard on a rock hot. I finally got a load out of Ft Worth going to OH. Better than nothing. It was a load of roll roofiing and had to be tarped. This is not a good thing IMHO as the t...

Feeling the need for a bit of image change I've reverted back to an old style of mine, wearing a tie. It's really funny how such a stupid thing as a piece of cloth tied around your neck can change how people react amd interact with you. Just wearing a tie really does change how people act around you. Since I've started wearing a a tie again my customers want to shake hands with me, people call me "sir", and folks in general talk to me differently. Pretty absurd really, but it's true. I was...

After spending all weekend holed up in a cheap motel Dispatch has found me a load out of TX. Tomorrow morning I am to pick up down in Victoria, TX at a National Guard post. I'll be picking up a couple of Humvees and a trailer. Victoria is a couple of hours from here, and as I don't have the cash for another night in the motel anyway, I'll be checking out shortly and moving down closer to there so I can pick up first thing in the morning. Yesterday I started downloading the Windows 7 RC DVD...

One lesson I learned at an early age was "Never beat a lady at pool" and I have always stuck to that. If she's really good ya shoot your best but if you get the kill shot, let it pass. It has always served me well. Tonight I walked from my motel room to the bar. There was nobody else in the place. I got to talking with the bartender and she asked me "Do you shoot pool?" I gave her my standard answer "Badly". She invited me to shoot a game. I should say here that I grew up shooting pool and...

I delivered my load in Houston yesterday afternoon after a hard drive down from WI. As I expected there wasn't any reload available. As motels are way too expensive in the Houston area I head about 80 miles North to a little town called Seven Oaks where I know of a cheap motel. On the way up I got caught in a major traffic jam. An accident up ahead, with fatalities, had brought the highway to stand still. After about two hours I finally crawled past the accident scene. This was a divided h...

Around lunch time I decided to drive over to the local Galleria mall, mostly just to walk around a bit and check things out. I wandered around a bit and came across a vision center having a pretty good sale. They were offering a complete pair of glasses, plus eye exam, for $99. I've been needing new glasses for some time now so I decided to use some of my down time to take care of that. I explained to the doc that I'd had problems with my last two pairs of bifocals and that the distance part ...

Yesterday I picked up a large loader (construction equipment) at Camp Edwards in Buzzards Bay, MA, which is near Cape Cod. The amount of traffic heading out to the Cape for the weekend was unreal. It was supposed to be a legal load but when I got there I could see right off it was wide and so an oversized load. That late in the afternoon this was a problem as it takes time to order and receive permits. Scramble time. And of course it also meant they would have to pay us more to move it. Alway...

I finally made it back to the yard yesterday. I put my truck in the shop for serviceing and a couple of minor repairs. They finally finished up on it around 7:30 last night and I checked into the hotel for a shower and some rest. I'm still fighting this Summer cold. This morning I have to go to the yard and chain down the fire truck I will be hauling to NJ. It's going to a port there where it will then be shipped off to one of our airfields in Iraq. I really hate driving in NJ but right no...

Around 11:00 this morning I was starting to feel pretty hungry so I walked over to the BBQ place just down from my motel. It wasn't open. Damn. I really wanted a BBQ sandwich too. I was just about to walk back to my room when the owner pulled up. I asked what time they opened and he said noon, and then asked what I was wanting. I told him I just wanted a BBQ sandwich but could wait until then. He said he had come in early this morning and had it all ready and then invited me in to get a sandw...

This morning I drove over to the outlet mall near my motel. I went mostly just to wander around and kill some time before getting some lunch. I wandered into the Old Navy store. They were having a buy 1 get 1 free sale on many items. I wound up picking up two new tee shirts and two new polo shirts for a total of $25. Not a bad deal at all. As I was looking around the outlet mall I spotted a discount beauty supply and remembered that I was running low on shampoo and popped in there to pick som...

After delivering the fire truck in Lubbock and then spending a couple of nights in a motel up in Amarillo, they found me a decent paying load, some power transformers, from Lubbock to Wills Point, TX. I loaded them up on Wednesday and delivered them on Thursday morning. Then then went down to the truck stop in Terrell to await my next load. Nothing on Thursday so I spent the night there at the truck stop. I spoke with the dispatcher Friday morning and , as I expected, he said it wasn't too li...

Been coughing for a couple of days now. Sinus issues too. Seems I've come down with a Summer cold. Sucks.