This morning I picked up a load at the Las Vegas Convention Center. They had a huge construction trade show there which ended this weekend and there were hundreds of trucks picking up the stuff that had been on display to take it all back where it came from. Trade shows are always a circus, and this one was no exception. I had originally been dispatched to drive down to Vegas on Friday so I could pick up on Saturday. Shortly after crossing from AZ into NV I got the word that the schedule had ...

This has been a pretty good trip so far. I stopped Sunday night in SD and accidentally wandered into the bar next to the truckstop for a couple of cold ones before hitting the sack. Being Sunday it wasn't overly busy, just a few truckers and a few locals. As I was sitting at the bar knitting a sweater with some alpaca yarn I bought down in Ocala this big dude walked over from the other end of the bar and asked what kind of yarn I was using as he could tell that it wasn't regular wool. That gu...

Geez, between the whining about the new JU layout and the whining about the whining about the new JU layout I'm not sure which is worse. Either way there seems to be a lot of whining going on. Maybe it's just the fact that everyone is sick of the Winter weather. It sure makes me less than agreeable and far more bellicose than I would normally be. Folks get a bit depressed during the Winter months, some of us more than others. Some folks get downright cranky this time of year. That's no...

I finally delivered the two farm tractors in MI yesterday. As with the rest of this trip things didn't go smoothly. Neither tractor would start and so after spending a good deal of time trying to start them they simply dragged them off the trailer so I could be on my way. I had called in and let dispatch know that there were several minor things on the truck that needed to be repaired, basically a laundry list of items, and so after delivery I was told to just start making my way here so that...

I just spoke with the engine shop and once again my truck is supposedly repaired, reassembled, and ready to roll. I called dispatch so they could get busy ordering the new oversize permits for the load and am now waiting for the cab to take me over to the shop. As parking is a bit cramped here I'll leave my wide load at the shop until I have the permits and am ready to go. If the permits come early enough this afternoon I'll go ahead and hit the road, but if it's too late in the day I'll just...

After sitting in the hotel most of this past week I was bored to tears so I did a bit of googling, found a yarn shop a few miles from here, and called a cab for a ride. $25 later I was there. The yarn shop itself was a  bit of a disappointment as they didn't have a very good selection of good quality yarns. Most of what they had was the same acrylic yarns you can find at any Hobby Lobby anywhere in the country. I spent some time pouring through what they had anyway and did find a 1 lb ba...

Day-o, day-o Daylight come and me wan' go home Day, me say day, me say day, me say day Me say day, me say day-o Daylight come and me wan' go home   I spoke with the garage a few minutes ago. They've replaced the EGR cooler that was leaking but now there is another coolant leak blowing coolant out the exhaust. The truck won't be ready until Monday at the earliest. Isn't that special? I called the boss and filled him in. We decided that it would be cheaper to rent a car for m...

I'm still holed up in a hotel while the engine shop tries to figure out why my truck is losing coolant. I was bored yesterday around lunch time and took a walk to look around a bit and stretch my legs while seeking out something to eat, A couple of blocks down I found a brand new Whataburger. I would never have expected to find one here. You find Whataburgers all over Texas but until recently you never saw them anywhere else. The company has started expanding and building locations in other s...

I left the house early Monday morning to go pick up a wide load, a couple of farm tractors heading to MI, at an auction location a couple of hours from my house. The trip  to the place took longer than expected due to heavy fog most of the way, but I did eventually get there. The place was really busy and it took a while for me to get to a ramp to be loaded. Finally I saw one of the tractors coming to the ramp and saw a problem. The tratcors have dual rear wheels and I was told that the ...

Monday morning I'll be heading to an auction yard about 2 hours from here to pick up a wide load. It's a large John Deere farm tractor. The guy was wanting me to come and pick it up today but that simply wouldn't have worked. Being a wide load I would have to get oversized permits before I could actually roll with the thing and the states' permit offices aren't open on the weekends much like any other state office. No way I was going to go down there and load the thing today and then have to ...

As I will be home over the weekend I made a grocery run to pick up enough supplies to last a couple of days.  I should say that I never cook from any recipes, I just kind of make things up as I go along. While shopping I had an idea for a chili mac sort of thing and picked up the ingredients for same. It's on the stove now and is smelling pretty good. Basically I just browned some lean ground beef with onions, diced red and green bell peppers, diced onion, and a dash of chili powder and ...

So far dispatch hasn't found me a decent load out so I am still hanging out at home. The day isn't over yet and they could call any time. Somehow I suspect I'll be here over the weekend. That's ok.   During the Winter I don't normally cut my hair as the extra insulation comes in handy when out in the cold weather chaining/strapping loads. But today I noticed that I was really looking pretty shaggy and decided to go ahead and walk over to the barber shop and get it cut. I have to admit...

I was sleeping well this morning and had no reason to be getting up early. At 6:00 am some asshat with a much too loud car stereo with thumping base felt it was time for everyone in the neighborhood to get up. The car was parked at the c-store across the street and was blasting the stereo so loud my windows were rattling.   Needless to say I was pissed.  I heard someone yelling at the driver of the car but the stereo didn't abate. Screw this, I got up, grabbed my cell phone, and ...

I was concernedd that it was going to be too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse tonight but Mother Nature was kind and the clouds cleared out just in time for the start of the show. I stood and watched it start and will walk back out shortly to see it when it reaches full eclipse. I love a good show!

I just walked over to the c-store to pick up a six pack. One the way over I noticed several kids on bicycles and one, a black kid of around 9 or 10, was pushing his. As I drew closer I saw that both his tires were flat. I felt sorry for the kid and asked him what happened to his tires. I intended to offer to check out the tubes and patch them for him if needed as I have a full tire repair kit on hand.   The kid was so damn rude that I immediately changed my mind about helping him out....