After getting stuck in the mud at a delivery in Ennis, TX yesterday and paying a wrecker $200 to pull me out, I was hoping today would go better. No such luck. The day started out with my arriving at the airport fire station in Austin, right on time, to deliver their supplies. It took over an hour for them to get a forklift there to start the unloading. This caused me to be running late for Houston. I decided to try a short cut to Houston, only to find it under construction. No help there....

After spending last night at the bar celebrating St. Paddy's day with a number of other drivers and office people from work, and sleeping it off, I am now headed for Texas. This load is a real hodgepodge. There is a generator on a trailer, a large air compressor, a "wet cutter" which is some kind of machine for cutting concrete, a large industrial saw for a factory, and a whole bunch of military fire fighting/supression stuff including a large tank of halon, a couple of skids of Purple K, ...

Another beautiful day for driving. A tad chilly but not bad at all. Clear sunny skies and no wind. After several days of driving in very heavy cross winds it's a nice change of pace. I'll be in WIsconisn this evening and unload the truck first thing tomorrow morning. And then, who knows? I'm hoping for a nice Texas run, but will have to wait and see. The trucck I am hauling just returned from overseas and is going back to the factory for refurbishment. I don't think it came from the Mid...

I'm not exactly in the best physical condition these days. Between the wreck and just abusing my body over the years, I'm less than a perfect physical specimen. These days I try to avoid anything overly pyhsical such as bar fights, but tonight it just wouldn't be avoided. I was in a Mexican place across the street from the truckstop here in South Carolina, minding my own business (as much as I know how) and enjoying a few beers and some good conversation. A younger guy came in, already drun...

I'm now on my way from Wisconsin to Ft. Bragg, NC. I have a military truck to deliver there on Monday. Since I'm not pressed for time I stayed at the yard last night and walked down to the little bar at the bottom of the hill. I had a pretty good time. There were three people, a guy and two girls, who came in after a bit and wanted to shoot pool. One of the girls asked me to be her partner so I joined them. The other girl was quite amazing to look at. She could easily pass as Angelina Joli...

Well I finally got word of another pick up to fill out my load to Wisconsin. I'll be stopping in Fort Knox, KY tomorrow to pick up a Bushmaster truck and a rocket launcher frame. This will be my first visit to Fort Knox in quite a long time. I can't load the truck until 3PM and Fort Knox is only 5 hours from here I didn't see much point in leaving out of here until tomorrow morning. I'll get up, eat breakfast, and then mosey on up that way. If I drag my feet enough I shouldn't have to wait...

Well, it turns out that I keyed in the wrong exit number on my routing software last night when I got to the truckstop. I was 90 minutes from my destination, not 3 hours. I remember thinking that I should have been closer than 3 hours, but I was tired and didn't look into it any closer. Usually when I make that mistake, it's the other way around and I'm actually farther than I thought. Oh, well. I got up early, ran the load up to the base and delivered the 2 vehicles. It all went very smoo...

I got lucky finding a parking spot in this truckstop on the north side of Birmingham. I got here at a quarter to eight and the parking lot was already full. Luckily a driver saw me cruising the lot looking for a space and yelled at me on the radio telling me he was about to pull out. He held the space until I could swing back around for it. So now I am parked for the night with only 3 hours to go in the morning to get to Redstone Arsenal, near Huntsville, to deliver the Hum V and 5 ton tr...

I have two military vehicles, a Hum V and a 5 ton truck I will be running up to Alabama tomorrow morning to deliver on Tuesday. It's only about a 10 1/2 hour drive from here (discounting traffic delays) so not too bad. Pays reasonably well. Now that I have the new laptop I'll be able to keep in touch online more often although realistically not daily. Serious lack of planning: I loaded all of my clean laundry in the truck today. ALL of it. Forgot to leave out a clean pair of undies for tom...

Yesterday I bought a new laptop. Well, ok, I don't have the cash to actually buy one outright. I got it from a local "rent to own" place. I know, not the best way to buy something, but the payments are affordable, and if I can manage to pay it off in six months I'll save about $1,000 on it, which is my plan. It's a Dell Inspiron 2200 with a 1.5GHz Celeron M processor, CD-RW, 15" screen, integrated wireless and ethernet, and 256M RAM (which I'll upgrade to 512M after it's paid off. All in a...

I found a parking spot in a small truckstop in Huntsville, TX. I ate my dinner, showered, and settled into my sleeper with a good book. I was reading just about two hours when I was suddenly jarred almost to the point of falling out of my bed. I looked out the sleeper curtain and saw a rig in my mirrors. He had hit my trailer. What a way to spend the evening! I put on my jeans, shirt, and boots, and grabbed my maglight on the way out the door. Once outside I was met by a young black gu...

I pulled into a small truckstop in Florida a couple of nights ago. The air was warm and humid, not hot. I parked my rig and stepped out, stretching after several hours in the driver's seat, while I walked towards the building. I was stopped by two men, one about my age I guessed, and one several years older. The younger of the two addressed me, saying he and his father, pointing to the older man, were from New Orleans and were trying to get back home. After an elaborate and lengthy story h...

Found this on linuxquestions.org Three bulls were standing around the barnyard. The biggest bull turns to the other 2 and says, "I hear farmer Johnson is getting a new bull today. He’s trying to upgrade the herd. "l tell you boys what, I don't care HOW BIG and BAD this new bull THINKS he is. I've got 60 cows in this yard and he AIN'T having NONE of mine!" The medium bull says, "Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I'VE got 40 cows in this yard and if this new bull THINKS he's getting any of MY co...

Found this on linuxquestions.org Three bulls were standing around the barnyard. The biggest bull turns to the other 2 and says, "I hear farmer Johnson is getting a new bull today. He’s trying to upgrade the herd. "l tell you boys what, I don't care HOW BIG and BAD this new bull THINKS he is. I've got 60 cows in this yard and he AIN'T having NONE of mine!" The medium bull says, "Yeah, yeah. I hear you. I'VE got 40 cows in this yard and if this new bull THINKS he's getting any of MY co...

Joe, (Shovelheat), what town are you in? I run Texas a lot and would love to get together and knock back a few brews. (Can always use a ride from the truckstop to the bar LOL)