One year ago I went for my required D.O.T. physical to be medically re-certified to drive a commercial vehicle. At that time my blood pressure was above the maximum allowed and I was given 90 days to get it down or lose my certification to drive. My blood sugar was also borderline.  I managed to just barely get the blood pressure under the limit and was only certified for one year instead of the normal two. That was my wake up call.  Advance to a year later. Today I went for...

As I am laid over since Friday I have been visiting a local watering hole. I have met several of the local regulars there, including several women. Tonight I was chatting again with one of the local women. Nothing special, just shooting the shit so to speak. When she was ready to leave she gave me a kiss. I was totally surprised by it. Up to that point I had thought she was a pretty intelligent and interesting woman, but now I question her judgement and taste LOL. I'm just an...

This has been "one of those days". I got ready to roll this morning and the amber beacons I have to use when pulling over-size blew a fuse. Had to wait for road service to come and repair the problem. At that point it was too late to go anywhere. I had ripped a few DVDs and was in the process of renaming some of the files. Somehow while renaming one of them I accidentally selected ALL of the movie files and they all wound up with the same name. ARGH! Late this afternoon I decided t take a ...

Yesterday I unloaded the fire truck at one of the ports in Baltimore. I then came up to North East, MD to load an excavator. I got it loaded and made it to the truck stop just before the evening over-size curfew kicked in. This morning I got up and was ready to roll as soon as the curfew ended. When I switched on the amber beacons on top of my truck the fuse blew. I stuck in a new one, hoping it was just a tired fuse, but not surprisingly that one blew as well. Damn short in the system. I ...

I am hauling a fire truck, which is an over-size load, out to Baltimore. Over-size loads are not allowed to move on a holiday and have to be parked by noon on the weekday prior to a holiday. I've been sitting here at the Ohio/Indiana line since a little before noon yesterday and can't leave out again until tomorrow morning. It could be worse, at least it's a full service truck stop with decent food, showers, laundry facilities and all that. There are a few other drivers also stuck...

Today I discovered another great advantage to the Surface tablet over my iPad and Android tablets. I am able to print directly from the tablet to my printer either with USB cable or wireless network. I just had to plug the printer into the USB port of the Surface once and it downloaded the correct drivers. It will be really nice to not have to drag out my laptop every time they email me load permits or other paperwork. I can print them straight from the tablet. I am liking the Surface more an...

I now have a 64GB Surface Tablet. Yeah, I know, everyone knows that I am primarily a Linux user, but guess what? There aren't any true Linux tablets out there. I have an iPad (1st gen), had a 10" Android tablet until I broke it, a Nexus 7 Android tablet, and an Android phone (Galaxy S3), and I like them all well enough, but until now a tablet was, to me, just a really big phone that doesn't make phone calls as opposed to smaller, portable touch screen computers. The Surface has cha...

I'm looking forward to the end of the world tomorrow. Maybe there will be fewer cars on the road, shorter lines at the grocery, and all that. I was planning on doing laundry on Saturday and that has me a little concerned. Does the end of the world mean no water? Damn hard to wash clothes if there isn't any water. And what about air? Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a pipe lit if there isn't any damn air? I mean, really, how frustrating would that be? Oh yeah, and ...

I am so disgusted by those who are trying to make political hay, i.e. advancing political ideology, from the deaths of innocent school children. Within a couple of hours of the reports of the shootings at an elementary school in Connecticut the Leftists began their campaign. I've read everything from the usual anti-gun stuff to "access to mental health care". These are the truly sick people in the world. When I heard about this tragic incident I literally cried for the deaths of these ...

Am in Carlisle, PA tonight and there really isn't anything new to report. I did have an incident in Roseland, IN last night but it was pretty minor. Due to a relatively new state law in Indiana hotels are no longer allowed to have smoking rooms. I was standing outside the hotel enjoying a pipe when some douche bag looking guy started accosting me about my smoking. Normally I would have tried to handle it with a combination of humor and intelligence but something about the guy's dem...

After my truck being in the shop all week I had an odd assignment this morning. I had to go over to the fairgrounds and act as an unloading dock for trucks going in there. They are having an agriculture/construction equipment show there next week and had a lot of equipment coming in on flatbed type trailers. The thing they didn't have was a ramp to unload such trailers. I was there, with a beaver tail trailer (ramps on the back) so they could back to my trailer, drive the equipment from t...

Holy shit! Damn near got run down by a car tonight. I'm still burning off the adrenaline. I was walking across the street from my motel to get some beer when a car came tearing ass around a corner, tires squealing, ass end fishtailing, and heading straight for me. I dodged out of the way but my left hand came down on the hood of the car as I was getting out of it's path. I swear, if I could have got my hands on that driver I would be on my way to jail for homicide. ...

Am in Marianna Florida this weekend. I delivered my last stop on Thursday at the Naval base in Panama City then came up here to get a reasonably priced hotel room. There was a bike rally in Panama City Beach this weekend and even if I could have found a room down there it would have cost an arm and a leg. Friday dispatch called me with a reload about an hour from here, in Alabama. By the time I got within 3 miles of the place they called me let me know the load had canceled. Oh well, back her...

It sure does feel like Fall now. As my back was bothering me quite a bit from too much load tarping last week I decided to take the weekend off here in Wisconsin. It has been very chilly all weekend. Had to break out my sweatshirt and jacket just to be comfortable. The porch of the motel was covered with leaves this morning after a breezy night. Sigh. Winter will be along very soon. Yuck. I am really not looking forward to Winter this year. After such a hot, dry Summer I think it's goi...

Being on the road sometimes requires finding alternative ways of doing things that are simply done at home. Blending/mixing things is one of those tasks. It just isn't practical to carry an electric blender in the truck. I recently bought a Blender Bottle and am finding it really handy. Basically it's a plastic shaker bottle with a stainless steel wire ball inside that acts like a whisk when the bottle is shaken. I am using it to make protein shakes. The first shake I tried was 8 o...