I've been putting off going to the laundrymat all week. I hate those places. But, after over six weeks on the road I have way too much laundry to be able to get it done in my little machine here at home. The laundrymat is the only reasonable option and I have to get it done as I'll probably be leaving back out again on Friday. I sorted out all the warm weather clothing and will do that here at home as I won't really be needing much of it on the road now. That still leaves a helluva lot of ...

Now this is the kind of story I enjoy seeing on the local news channels. There is a BBQ place in Carrolwood, FL (Tampa suburb) called Alex's Southern Style Bar-B-Q. It seems the owner of the place, oddly enough named Alex, has his own special Christmas season tradition. He explained that when he was a kid his parents were poor and they could never afford to get him a bicycle for Christmas. Now that he has a successful business he does a collection drive every year to purchase bicycles to d...

Saturday morning I noticed that the rear tire on my bent was flat as a pancake. I know it wasn't flat when I moved it out of the house when I got home on Friday, but I figured after sitting for more than six weeks the air may have simply seeped out and a night outside on the carport finished the process. Saturday afternoon I carried my pump outside to air up the tires to go for a ride. The rear tire wouldn't take air at all and the air came out as fast as I pumped it in. Great. I thought p...

I finally rolled into home about an hour or so ago. I kicked off my shoes, put on a pair of shorts, opened a cold one, and put my feet up. Ahhhhhhhh, heaven. Shortly after I got comfortable my mother walked over and told me they were heading for Wal Mart to do some shopping and asked if I wanted to go along. "Yeah Mom, I just walked in the door after more than six weeks on the road and I want to go to Wally World. Thanks, but I think I'll pass." Inertia has hit me like a ton of bricks. ...

I made a delivery in Northern Indiana yesterday, one in Georgia today, and am now spending the night in Florida. I'll make my final stop here in Florida tomorrow before noon and then make the 90 minute drive from there to home. I've been out around six weeks this time and am looking forward to getting home for a few days. I have an amazing amount of laundry to do. I might just take one day and go to the laundrymat to do it instead of spending my entire home time doing it a little at a time...

Last night I spent a little time over at Applebee's having a few adult beverages, some dinner, and knitting a bit at the bar. I guess the bartender likes the hat that I made for her. She said that she had shown it to her mother who complimented the work. While there a few of her friends wandered in and she introduced me as "The guy who made me the cool hat I showed you". I guess it's a hit with her. One of the young guys even asked me if knitting was hard to learn. I told him that learnin...

It's kind of a strange feeling for someone who is normally on the go. I have nothing at all to do today. Nothing. At some point I will probably run down to the truckstop and put a little fuel into the truck, but even that isn't really a pressing need unless I decide that I need to go some place but honestly, there really isn't any place I can think of that I need to go. Everything that I need is within easy walking distance. There's Applebee's next door, a grocery store, a liquor store (if...

I finished the hat I was knitting for one of the Applebee's bartenders. She wasn't working when I got there but "C" was working. She's the one who calls me "Sam" as she thinks my voice sounds like Sam Elliott. During our conversation she told me when "M" would be coming to work and after seeing the hat I had made told me she was sure she would love it. I hung around and eventually "M" showed up for work. I called her over and gave her the finished hat. She checked it out and gave me a big ...

I hung around the hotel until check out time this morning. I then went down to the truckstop for brunch. Shortly after eating dispatch called me. He said that he had been running the numbers on a load to get me home. I basically had two choices. I could either take a cheap paying load that only goes within a few hundred miles of home today or hang around until Monday for a good paying one that actually goes to FL. He also said that the boss was willing to pay for the hotel room if I opted...

Despite my best efforts I won't be making it home for Thanksgiving. Things just didn't play out for it to happen. Oh well. I guess It'll be a truckstop Thanksgiving meal this year. Won't be the first time. I am currently sitting in KY waiting to see if dispatch is going to be able to find me something out of here. As many places are closing up shop early today it's highly doubtful they will be able to do so. I am hoping they'll just tell me to dead-head back to the yard in WI. It's rain...

I finally made it to the yard today. My alternator went south on me in SD and I had to rely on my generator to keep my batteries charged from there. I rolled into the yard with the genny running and promptly rolled into the shop. Once they replaced the alternator I went to the hotel and after checking in (my frequent guest card was full so I got $40 off the rate) walked over to Applebee's for dinner and a couple of cold ones. It was an interesting Monday at Applebee's. I received the us...

For reasons I won't go in to I haven't seen or heard from my three sons in over 11 years. Today I received an email from my oldest. It was a very brief message basically asking if I am his father. For reasons I won't go in to I agonized over whether or not to reply to that email. Doing so meant the possibility of opening a can of worms I am not yet in a position to deal with, but not doing so would hurt me in a very personal way. Most fathers would understand the latter if they knew the sp...

Warning signs are good things when one bothers to actually read and heed them. There is a section of I-90 in ID that is typical mountain roadway. It's very curvy and there are signs warning truckers that 45 mph is the maximum safe speed through there. As I came through there yesterday I was running between 40 - 45 mph around those sharp curves. When I rounded one of them I was greeted by the sight of a flatbed on the shoulder with his load leaning way over and just about to fall off the t...

I'm stopped in a small little MT town called Missoula. It has a truckstop, a casino called the Wye West Casino. and a strip club and as far as I can tell that's about it. I spent some time in the casino enjoying a few adult beverages, knitting a bit, and engaging in some conversation. One of the guys with whom I conversed is a brand new owner operator. He's only been driving a truck for a year and bought himself a truck. As is my nature I told him exactly what I thought which is that he's...

I've been checking the WA state DOT site all morning waiting for them to open up the pass so I can get rolling. They finally lifted the restrictions a few minutes ago. Dispatch is working on getting a new oversized permit as mine expired yesterday. As soon as they fax it to the motel I'll be good to go. Today is a sharp contrast to yesterday. The sun is shining and the fierce wind has died down. It's still pretty chilly but the weatherman says it will be in the 50s today. That should be go...