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...

I got up this morning expecting to roll into the Seattle area just about the time the morning rush hour oversized load curfew ended. As I approached the bottom of Snoqualmie Pass the big electronic signs advised that traction tires were advised and oversized vehicles are prohibited. Damn! A quick check of 511 confirmed that it's snowing up there (it's snowing/raining down here too) and that they are prohibiting oversized vehicles until the conditions improve. No idea when that might be. ...

Yuck. That pretty much expresses my opinion regarding the white crap that's currently falling from the sky here. I really do hate Winter. I was sitting here surfing the web and glanced out the window. I could see the snow illuminated by the lights in the parking lot. Not one of my favorite sights. I don't think the ground is yet cold enough for it to stick though, and that's about the only good thing I can think of about it. Yuck.

I finally received my permits via fax for this 102,000 lbs load and was just about to pull out of the truckstop when I got a call from dispatch asking if I had put tires chains on my truck for this trip. I reminded him that when I asked yesterday about when the chain laws went into effect he had told me the 15th so I didn't bother grabbing any. He made a couple of calls and found that he had misinformed me and that the chain laws actually went into effect on the 1st. Wonderful. The fines i...

I'm about to depart the yard heading for Tacoma, WA. I picked this Marine Corps truck up in Oshkosh yesterday. We knew it was going to be heavy as it's armor plated so I am using a brand new three axle heavy haul trailer. I'm the first one to use this trailer and it's the first one of it's kind we have purchased. I'm sitting here now as the mechanics are finishing making it ready for the road as I found a few mechanical problems with it when I picked up this load. Kinda sucks that a brand new...

I popped over to Applebee's for lunch and wound up staying for several hours. I was having a good time and some good conversation so I stuck around. The bartender for whom I am knitting a hat came on shift. My first thought was to just put away my knitting so she wouldn't see it but I decided to see if she approved of the colorway instead. She liked it so I guess it's a winner. While there my favorite bartender there, who became a manager and lately transferred to another location, came in...

I finally made it back to the yard late this morning and promptly put my truck in the shop to have the belt replaced on my generator. I checked with dispatch and as "R" hadn't yet planned anything for me I told him I was going to go hide out in the hotel over the weekend as I was tired as hell and my bum hip is killing me. He understood and said he would just plan on my being ready on Monday and may use me for some local stuff that day. That worked for me and as soon as my truck was ready ...

I had a pretty long day today. I started out this morning in NE (edited...thanks LW) OH, right on the PA line and, after swinging by the yard to pick up an additional piece to deliver over in MN, am now parked for the night in western WI. I only covered about 650 miles today as I was held up in several back ups the causes for which ranged from a big rig on fire on the shoulder of the highway to a flatbed that dumped his load taking a ramp too fast to a couple of run of the mill car crashes. A...