I parked my rig in this truckstop on the KY/TN line and went inside for some dinner. After eating I decided to wander into the tv lounge and sit and knit a while while watching whatever was playing on the wide screen tv. I found a comfortable chair, took my knitting out of my backpack, and started working on it. After a minute or so an older guy mentioned that he used to "do that" when he was younger and that his mother had taught him. Another driver then made a comment and asked what I wa...

I got my load all loaded up this morning at the yard. A couple of very large generators going to GA and some sort of doohicky that's part of an overhead crane assembly of some sort. It's an odd, X shaped thing, about ten feet across from end to end of each part of the X, with cable wheels on each end. The doohicky is just slightly too large to actually fit on the trailer, even set kinda sideways as it is, and sticks out a couple of inches on each side. Just enough to technically be an over...

I pulled into the yard today and put my truck into the shop to have some minor damage dealt with. While unloading yesterday I kinda broke my truck. It was really muddy where I was unloading and while up on the top deck of the trailer I slipped and let go of the ratchet binder I was holding. Ratchet binders are all steel and weigh around 6 lbs each. It flew out of my hand and slammed against the edge of the fiberglass fairing right behind my sleeper. The fiberglass shattered. Shit happens. ...

I'm checked into a hotel again tonight. Still feeling a bit ragged from too much sun. I wandered into the hotel lounge around 5:00 to have a beer or two. Of course I took my knitting with me as hotel lounges tend to be a bit slow and boring. The bartender was an older lady who took interest in my knitting and who happens to knit herself. She complimented my work and we chatted about such things for a little while until the locals began filtering in from their fields. The locals here in thi...

Despite being a little on the ill side from the after effects of heat exhaustion, and simply getting old, I'm not yet out of the game. I got bored and felt like I needed to get at least some sort of exercise. I decided that lifting weights for a little while might make me feel better. But no weights. The dresser in this motel room has a large enough opening underneath that I can fit under it. I did a couple of bench presses with it but it's far too light. I put the tv on it but it was stil...

The sun makes life possible, and also makes it impossible. Today was an impossible day. The load I am hauling to WI is a bunch of fabricated steel, a bunch of parts to build a conveyor system, and took me about four hours to load and secure. The sun was beating down the whole time. After about two hours I was starting to feel the effects of the brutal sunshine. I was getting a little light headed and was feeling weak. I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade out of the fridge and drank down a good b...

Since I had some time to kill I called a cab and went to a local bar for a few cold ones. While there I became engaged in conversation with a rather attractive young lady who happens to smoke. I have been off tobacco for two months as of today. I totally blew my quit. I smoked several of her cigarettes and wound up buying a a pack and smoked most of it. I make no excuses, I did it because I wanted to do so, but am highly disappointed in myself right now. Two months of being quit went right...

After sitting around since Monday afternoon I am finally loaded and on my way to Texas. I picked up the pavement roller at a road construction site. I had to just park and detach on the shoulder while trying to not get run over by the idiots whizzing past much faster than the posted work zone speed limit. Once I was detached the guy pointed to the roller and said "There she is." I told him that's great and that everything was ready for him to drive it onto the trailer. "What?" he asked, "y...

One of the annoyances of trucking is the lot lizard. They are creatures that wander the parking lots of truckstops knocking on truck doors. As I was sitting here surfing the net I heard a knock on my door. I didn't even need to look to know it was such a creature. I hit the button to roll down my window a bit and asked her what she wanted although I already knew the answer. "Want some company?" she asked. "No" was my reply. That is usually enough for them but this one responded with "No? ...

As i am stuck here at the truckstop in Denver until tomorrow afternoon I decided to go exploring. I fired up my GPS and inquired as to the location of the nearest bar. It informed me that there was a Mexican restaurant about a half a mile away that had a bar. Off I went. I walked down to the place and found that it was indeed a Mexican joint. I was the only gringo in the place. I didn't care as I wanted a beer so I sat down and ordered one from the very pretty Mexican bartender who was all...

The good paying oversized load to Miami fell through. It happens. They booked me on a legal load to TX instead. It was supposed to load after 2:00 this afternoon. I called the guy around 1:00 to let him know I was about to leave and head his way. He informed me that the roller loads tomorrow afternoon, not this afternoon. WTF? I called dispatch and let them know there was some confusion about the load and left it to them to handle it. Not my job, man. I finally got a call back saying to...

I spoke with dispatch this morning. He said he found a very good paying load going to Miami that loads close to here. It can't load until tomorrow but it pays well enough to make it worth waiting. It's a dozer and will be an oversized load. So I have an entire day to kill here in Denver. I suppose there are far worse places to be stuck for a day. At least I have a nice view of the mountains from here. I have my laptop, Sirius radio, and my knitting to keep me occupied as well as food and ...

I delivered the snowplow blade to the Air Force base in Colorado Springs this morning and then the snowplow truck to a dealer in Denver this afternoon. Everything went surprisingly well despite all the road construction and some tight turns. I'm now parked at a truckstop in Denver awaiting a reload. Same old story, hurry up and wait. Makes me kinda glad I took my time getting here. I'm going to wander inside and see what's to eat as I haven't eaten all day and my stomach is starting to...

It's pretty damn chilly in WI about now. Long sleeves and jackets chilly. It's too early for this crap. When I was in VT earlier this week I noticed that the leaves on the trees are already starting to change colors. It's too early for that too. I've opened up the heat valves in my truck and have the heat going in my hotel room now. I checked into the hotel today and spent the evening hanging out at the Appleby's next door. I worked on my knitting a bit while I was there and it was confirm...

I'm currently on I-80 in central PA enjoying a bit of quiet time before hitting the road again. The trip into the NE was interesting and served to remind me once again why I don't like running up there. The first stop, in VT, required driving through some beautiful country on narrow, winding roads. When I finally rolled into the little town and came upon the place I was to deliver it was painfully obvious that it was simply impossible to turn my rig into that narrow, sharply angled gravel ...