Yeah, today is my 43rd birthday. Some folks make a big deal over their birthday. For me, it's another day on the road. I am layed over for the weekend in Hammond, Louisiana and will go to the little bar down the street from the truckstop to have a couple cold ones tonight, but that's the extent of my big plans for the day. I am in a town where I am a stranger, and everyone is a stranger to me. No close freinds or family to celebrate with, or to wish me a good day. But that's ok. I'm too ol...

While I would never pretend to say that racism doesn't exist in America today, it obviously does, some people play that race card just a little too quickly and often. For some people, everything is about race. They see prejudice and bigotry leveled at them all the time, regardless of the situation. Sometimes, maybe people don't like you not because of your race, but maybe they just don't like YOU. Perhaps you're an asshole. Yesterday, while in a truckstop in Mississippi, a young black man ...

Doing a bit of googling around I've found a bunch of rather strange sex-related laws and thought I'd share them. Some are pretty out there. In Oblong,IL it's punishable by law to make love while hunting or fishing on your wedding day. In Alexandria,MN no man is allowed to make love to his wife with the smell of onions, garlic, or sardines on his breath. If his wife so requests, law mandates the he must brush his teeth. In Florida, having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal. ...

Yesterday morning a gasoline tanker exloded on the interstate in Brimingham, Alabama at the junction of I 65 and I 59. When I went by, they were still trying to clean up the mess. I saw that there was nothing at all left of the tanker except the frame which was charred and twisted. The overpass under which the tanker exploded was badly burned and closed down. It will likely have to be torn down and rebuilt. Fortunately, the driver of the tanker managed to escape the wreck just prior to the...

I am now hauling an oversized load down to Pensacola, Florida from Wisconsin. It's a fire truck I am taking to the Naval Air Station there. I normally enjoy oversized loads because they aren't allowed to move at night which means I stop at sun-down and get plenty of rest. This load, I knew, Was going to be a problem. Firstly, I have a bad case of bronchitis which makes driving all day a real chore. I can hardly breath, am coughing all the time, and basically just feel like crap and would...

As I ride around the country, I see and hear some pretty interesting (and not so interesting) things. I hear some of the local lingo which at times can be baffling. Every area has it's expressions that can be confusing to someone just passing through. We truckers have our own special language as well which may not make a lot of sense to someone not famailiar with our lifestyle. Cracker head: an idiot Lot Lizard: A truckstop prostitute a.k.a. Sleeper Leaper a.k.a. Recreational Reptile...

As I spend a tremendous amount of time behind the wheel, I see just about every kind of driving there is on the road today. From the maniacal aggressive driver who weaves in and out of traffic, cutting people off in an attempt to drive faster than the traffic is moving, to the snail powered vehicle riding 10 mph below the speed limit in the passing lane for 50 miles, and everything in between. I am sure that anyone who drives a certain pet peeve that other drivers do that really get's thei...

As a trucker I travel all over the country, moving from one climate to the other, so it's a real wonder I don't get sick more often than I do. Right now I have a really bad chest cold, It came on over the course of a few days, and basically, I feel like shit. This is one of those times where being on the road is definately pretty crappy. I would like nothing better than to just go to bed, have someone tend to me, and feel pretty much pampered. But, I live on the road, and have to deal w...

I have been meaning to post this announcement for some time, but just haven't gotten around to it until now. I will be holding a workshop to help those who suffer from procrastination. While I haven't gotten around to actually scheduling this workshop yet, I hope to get it scheduled in the near future. When I actually do get around to scheduling it, I will try to announce the date sometime or other, hopefully prior to the actually date scheduled. It is my hope that I can be of some hel...

Hello everyone. I know I haven't been on JU much lately, but I have been trying to keep running pretty steady while the weather is still good. It tends to slow down once winter weather hits. Make hay while the sun shines, and all that. I brought a load down from Wisconsin, dropped a skid loader in Arkansas, a military truck at Dyess AFB in Abilinene Tx, and a freight elevator in Round Rock Tx. Now I am sitting in Tyler at the truckstop waiting for them to find me a decent paying load out ...

Just kinda checking in. I haven't written in a while (haven't looked at my stats, I'm sure they're terrible now). I am sitting in Fargo, North Dakota and it's really cold here now. Freezing actually. Today was the first time I've had to wear my carharts in quite a while. This last hurricane, Jeanne, took half the roof off then house according to my mom. I haven't been there since the day before Charlie hit. Such is life. On the road of life, some days you're the windshield, some days yo...

I arrived here in Tacoma, Washington Friday afternoon after a very hard drive from Wisconsin. I had a military load that had to be on a ship that was due to sail on Saturday. I left Wisconsin on Wednesday around noon and made it here Friday afternoon. Naturally there wasn't any freight leaving out of here that late on a Friday, so here I am, resting up over the weekend here in Tacoma. Thank goodness the truckstop here has WiFi service. I was pretty tired after the hard run here so I really...

This past week was National Truck Drivers Appreciation Week. For one week out of the year the truckstops and other trucking-related businesses pretend they appreciate the truck drivers. Usually there are some free things they give away, drawings, etc... Last night I stopped for the night at a truckstop in Missoula, Montana. I was treated to a free dinner (buffalo burger), was given a free pocket knife, and entered into a $300 drawing being held Sept. 1st. Not nad at all, really. It is ni...

In the past month, I have had my notebook in the shop to have some bad solder connections repaired in the power circuits, replaced the modem, and as of yesterday had the hard drive crash. I think it's time to put this thing out to pasture. The hard drive is reporting "imminent failure" on boot and half the drive is now completely unusable. After the crash I was unable to reboot the drive. Everything was trashed. Now, I'm no slouch when it comes to hardware/software issues but I was unable...

After my desperate attempt to escape my life ended in miserable failure and injury I am reflecting on just where I am in life and what the hell I have to live for. Know what? I can't think of a single thing to keep on trudging through life for. My back troubles have literally made it impossible for me to work. If I could get disability the system is set up to make it a long drawn out affair, during which I'll be homeless and starving. My girlfriend of 7 years wants to split up because I...