I got up and got going fairly early this morning. With an oversized load you have to make the best of the daylight. I pulled out of the little truckstop and started through the PA countryside. It was several hours of woods, mountains, and small town before finally reaching I-80. The other driver took the lead for that section, but when we reached the interstate I jumped out and passed him and took the lead. I really didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything, but my truck pulls the hill...

I'm sitting at the port in Philly. I just loaded an oversized crate and am waiting for permits so I can move with it. It's some sort of giant machine used to make chocolate of all things. Now it's a matter of time. I can move after the sun sets because it's an oversized load, and I also can't move with it until at least the PA permit arrives via fax. Now it's a question of who will win this little race. Will Mother nature win and the sun go down on me sitting here in this port, or will our...

I made the first delivery over by Pittsburgh first thing this morning. I had to turn into a very narrow alley in order to unload the excavator. My rig is not designed for turns that tight. I did the best I could to swing as wide as possible but still managed to clip a poorly placed street sign. Oh well, they should have set it further away from the corner. Once the excavator was unloaded I had the guys stop traffic for me (loads of fun during morning rush hour) so I could back out of the a...

I made it across IN and OH and am now parked about 30 minutes away from my first stop for tomorrow. It was an uneventful trip except for one near miss with an idiot of the first order who decided that it would be a great idea to pass me, jump over in front of me so close I couldn't see his tail lights, and then slam on the brakes to take the exit he nearly missed just so he could pass me. Asshole. If I'd felt like dealing with the paperwork I would have run over his dumb ass. I just finish...

The worst of the Winter storm passed North of my location. It was just high winds and sleet here instead of the foot of snow that fell where I was yesterday. The parking lot is a bit slick from the slush left over from the sleet, but that's a lot better than being buried under a bunch of snow. I'm about 8 hours from my first stop and am getting ready to start heading that way so I can find a decent parking spot for tonight. I'll finish my coffee, fuel my truck, and start that way. With any...

I made it out of WI today. I am loaded up with a military truck, a generator, and an excavator (heavy load) all heading East. I will drop the excavator just South of Pittsburgh Monday morning, the military truck in Baltimore Monday afternoon, and the generator in Jessup, MD Tuesday morning. I haven't been over in that particular neck of the woods in a few years, so it'll be a bit different scenery for me. Of course, there's a reason I haven't run over that way in a while; I'm not overly fo...

I know JU has been wonky of late and many are finding that when they log into their blogs they don't have the edit feature available to them. I have discovered a way to get that edit button back, at least using Firefox. I log into my blog. Normally the edit feature is missing. I will close the browser and immediately reopen it so that I am still logged into my blog (you have to be quick). Voila! The edit feature is now available to me. Sometimes I have to do this a couple of times, but it ...

It started with a few large, fluffy flakes drifting down out of the sky. Within 10 minutes it became a blizzard. The white stuff, what I call cloud shit, is pouring down from the sky at an amazing rate now. The parking lot that was bare just an hour ago is now completely buried in the crap. It's literally a blizzard at the moment. I really, really wish I were somewhere much further South right about now. I have a feeling it's going to be tough going to get back to the yard in the morning. ...

Late this morning I went back to the same place I delivered to last night. I was to pick up some pieces going to a sand blasting company in Oak Creek, WI (just South of Milwaukee). When I got there I found out that the large piece was 12 feet wide. Over sized load. I called the dispatcher to find out if he knew it was a wide load as he had failed to mention that fact earlier. It turns out the customer hadn't told him. I told him if he wanted me to haul it he would have to call and get more...

Yesterday was a busy one. I made delivery in the Chicago area, then raced up to Manitowoc to deliver there. I had to make it to that second stop before they went home at 2:30 (doesn't anyone work until 5:00 any more?). I then had to go down to Milwaukee and pick up a large machine piece and run it over to the Madison area for an express delivery. I finally finished up around 6:00 last night and was pretty tired by that point. I pulled into a small truck stop there and noticed that the hote...

I'm tired after being up sick most of the night last night, but am otherwise feeling a bit better today. Whether it was some bad chow or a violent but short lived bug, the worst of it seems to have passed. I guess I got it out of my system. I'm in KY now after fighting my way through a really bad traffic back up in Nashville. I'm going to try and eat some breakfast. Hopefully it'll stay down as my stomach seems to have settled quite a bit. I shouldn't have too much in the way of delays ...

I'm parked at the truck stop on top of the mountain in Monteagle, TN for the night. I made pretty decent time today. I was planning on making my first stop, in IL, tomorrow afternoon but when I called them this morning to make delivery arrangements the guy told me they only accept deliveries in the mornings. So I set it up for Thursday morning. That will still allow me time to make the WI delivery Thursday afternoon. I had a pretty decent country dinner here. Catfish, coleslaw, green beans...

Dispatch gave me a call this morning with a load coming out of Tampa with 1 stop in the Chicago area and another in WI. Cool, Tampa is just 30 minutes from me. I jumped in the truck and headed on over here thinking I could get the load picked up and make some miles up the road. It seems this place had a big auction yesterday and there are a bunch of trucks here picking up a bunch of stuff. So I get to sit here for who knows how long, the guy just said it would be "a while". Such is the tru...

I hate gnats. They're annoying little bastards that travel in groups of a few hundred at least. I really, really find them annoying as hell. The cold snap here in Florida has driven these annoying little pests indoors wherever they can find a way in out of the cold. I've been killing gnats for two days now and their ranks just don't seem to be depleting. I really wish I had some sort of weapon with which I could just kill them all, all at once, and once and for all. Did I mention how mu...

I just finished knitting the second sock of my very first pair of hand knitted socks. Once the second sock was finished I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is exactly the same size as the first one. I was really expecting that I would somehow screw it up and wind up with two different size socks. They may not be anything really fancy or anything, but as my first attempt at socks and only my second knitting project, I'm pretty damn pleased with myself.