When I arrived at the delivery location this morning I spent a couple of minutes talking to the guy before I started working on untarping and unsecuring the load. I made sure he knew that the thing had been sitting outside in the weather, was rusted, and that it had been loaded in the rain. I didn't want him bitching at me for it's condition, especially after going through the trouble of tarping it. He informed me that he knew that it had been sitting outside for a month and that they were...

Dispatch finally called me around 1:00 this afternoon with a load for me to pick up. I had to scramble to get down to Sebring, FL to get the machine picked up before 5:00. Geez, that's cutting it close. I rolled in there at 4:30. Naturally it was raining the whole time I was loading, securing, and tarping (I hate those damn things) this machine. Makes a lot of sense to load a machine outside, in the rain, and then want it tarped (I hate those damn things). Umm, hey dummy, the damn thing is...

My mother went to the doctor today. The doctor informed her that she has cancer yet again. This is the third time. First it was her throat, then breast, and now it's on her ear. I'm assuming the cancer on her ear must be some form of skin cancer, but that's more of a guess than anything. Naturally she is upset about it as she's been through the whole chemo/radiation thing twice already. I had to get a little harsh with her as she was doing the whole "why doesn't God just let me die" thing....

Earlier I went out to shop for a few items to help spruce up the new place. I wound up buying three prints to help decorate the walls and a small decorative fountain for that one corner in the living room that just needed something . The artwork pieces are all prints but I still like them anyway. These two I hung in the living room: And I bought this one for the kitchen: And of course the cheesy little fountain: Nothing really inspiring but they make ...

It's a very relaxing and enjoyable morning at home sweet home. I slept in, well for me anyway, and didn't get up until 7:30. I put on a pot of coffee, a little bummed because I couldn't grind the beans Elie sent me, and just sort of chilled a bit while it was brewing. There are things I need to do today such as making a grocery run, buying a coffee grinder, and returning to my truck to get my laundry which I left yesterday as I was just too damn tired to fool with it at the time. But none ...

I finally made it home late this afternoon. It felt really good to be home again after a month of road bullshit. After dropping my bags on the living room floor I immediately walked over to the c-store for a 12 pack. I wanted to kick back in my recliner with a cold one or two. When I got back I fired up the computer so I could order a pizza for dinner. No internet service! What???!!!! It was supposed to be transferred to the new place a month ago for crying out loud! I looked over at the m...

Typical BS for today. I got up early so I could make it to the GA delivery point, a construction site, on time. I got there 15 minutes early. I then proceeded to waste the morning while these guys tried to figure out how they were going to unload this 14,000 lbs generator. The way the road was graded it was impossible for me to get close to the pad they had pured without getting my trailer hung. I'm pulling a double drop and there is only about 4 inches of clearance. Also, the crane operat...

I still haven't quite got over my amusement at the uproar brought on by the media and certain spotlight hounds over the phrase "nappy headed ho". Frankly, I think it's just hilarious. If that offends you, tough shit go read something else because I think it's damn funny. Seems a lot of other people still find it amusing as well. Today I stopped into the truckstop to get a bite to eat after delivering my load and picking up another military truck from the factory to haul down to the yard. A...

I finally made it up to WI with this heavy load. I intentionally dragged my feet a bit so that I would run through IL today as their weigh stations are usually closed on Sunday. I have permits and all that, it's just a royal pain to have to stop at each weigh station and show it to them. I'm now parked at the truckstop just a few miles from the factory that will rebuild the military truck and will deliver it there tomorrow morning. For now I can just kick back and relax for a while. I d...

I've been here at the port all day. I got here reasonably early in the hope of getting loaded and being on my way. No such luck, which is typical for a port these days. I've been sitting in line, third back from the front, waiting for my turn to load. I spent most of the morning just sitting and watching them loading junk military vehicles onto rail cars which probably won't even leave here before next week at the soonest. After a few hours they finally decided to start loading the trucks ...

JoAnn and I split up in early '04 and I moved from VA back to FL. After 7 years it was over between us. And yet I still got calls from her at least once a month. I was never sure exactly why. After my wreck the day after Christmas in '04 she called me at the hospital in Milwaukee to see how I was doing. That was nice. When I was released from the hospital to fly home at the end of January '05 she paid for my plane ticket. We'd been split up for a little shy of a year by then. She called...

Not having a load to go pick up I was able to sleep in this morning. I was a bit amazed when I finally woke and saw that it was 7:30 am. I haven't slept that late in ages. It was kinda nice. I had myself some coffee and breakfast at the truckstop and finally wandered back out to the truck around 9:00 to call dispatch and see if they had found me a load. They had. He said that I needed to go by the lumber yard and pick up some 4x4 lumber. I cringed when I heard this as the last time I had t...

I was sitting at the counter in the truckstop a little while ago eating my dinner and chatting with the other drivers congregated there. After I finished eating I pulled out the Irish Hiking Scarf I've been working on and started knitting. The driver on my left mentioned that he had been hearing about a lot of truckers taking up knitting recently. Seems they were talking about it on the XM Radio trucker's channels or something. I explained how relaxing it is and he said he could see tha...

I got an early start this morning in the hopes of getting through Houston before traffic got too bad. Unfortunately it seems the Houston variety idiots get up pretty early, and there are a lot of them. Between the accidents, construction zones, and accidents in construction zones, it was a complete idiot-fest. A good 3/4 of the people I could see in their cars, SUVs, and pick ups were holding a cell phone to the side of their head as they were doing their absolute best to create yet anothe...

Today I ran through IL, MO and into OK. Man was it hot! My poor truck's air conditioning just wasn't up to the task as there was just too much space to try and cool from too much heat. I finally closed off the sleeper curtain so that it only had to cool the front of the cab and that helped some. I made three geocaching stops along the way. All I can say is that it's a good thing I'm a Floridian and used to the heat and humidity because it was brutal out there in the woods. I think even th...