I made it to the yard this morning, dropped my trailer and pulled all of my chains and straps off the load. I traded tarps with the driver who will be delivering the one tarped generator to save me having to pull mine and him having to retarp it. Seemed like a good idea to the both of us. I am now just hanging around in the shop waiting for the mechanics to do the repairs needed to the truck and the generator. We got lucky on the windshield in that the dealer had one in stock. It should ar...

I delivered the Army trucks this morning at Ft McCoy and then had to drop down through the woods to Northern IA, just South of Dubuque to pick up three large generators. One of them doesn't have a housing and so had to be tarped. grrrrrrrr I hate those big, dirty, wet, slimy, heavy-ass things. I did get the guy on the loading dock to help me put it on the generator, which was a huge help, but I still put quite a strain on my back just heaving the damn thing up onto the top deck (of course...

Today's driving was a very windy affair and was basically just going from one white-out to the next and hoping that some moron wasn't stopped on the road in the middle of one of them. I finally made it to Albert Lea, MN and called it a day. I'm about 3 hours from the delivery point; close enough as this is the last major truck stop between here and there. On a cold, windy night like this I prefer to be parked some place with ample services. The truck stop was already filling up when I p...

Mother Nature is putting on quite the blow this morning in SD. The wind is blowing so hard that it's snowing sideways and I'm having to drop gears on small hills that normally wouldn't slow me down at all. It's a constant battle just to keep the truck on the road which is very tiring. I took some Advil this morning but it isn't helping at all. The pain kept me from sleeping well last night and between that and fighting the wind I'm already tired. Today I'm not sure which is bothering me mo...

The 8 weeks update on the current state of my ugly mug,

Hot sun beating down Burning my feet just walking around. Hot sun making me sweat gators getting close, hasnt got me yet I cant dance, I cant talk. Only thing about me is the way I walk. I cant dance, I cant sing Im just standing here selling everything. After getting a bite to eat in Gillette, WY I climbed back into my rig to get rolling. The heavy food had made me a little bit sleepy so I tuned the XM radio to the Big Tracks channel to hear some classic rock. As I got roll...

I stopped at the truck stop in Belgrade, MT tonight. They have a bar, excuse me the bartender Brook corrected me, a casino in the truck stop. I was drinking so as far as I was concerned it was a bar. The bartender was a very cute little blonde named Brook (I promised that I would mention her by name) who looks to be about 21 but is actually 26 and has 3 kids. I would never have guessed. I had a few brews and shot the shit with some fellow drivers. I also performed my favorite magic tric...

Hanoi Jane Fonda was among celebrities joining in an anti-war demonstration in Washington D.C. today. Naturally seeking to be in the spotlight once again, she said, "I haven't spoken at an anti-war rally in 34 years because of lies about me that were used to hurt the anti-war movement,'' Academy Award-winning actress and fitness guru Fonda told the cheering crowd. Fonda was referring to the criticism that dogged her for decades for speaking against the Vietnam War from Hanoi in 1972 and be...

This morning I accidentally clicked the "delete" link on my most recent article and although I clicked the "cancel" button in the dialog box the article was deleted anyway. *sigh* Oh well, it wasn't a very good article anyway. Now the JU wonky monster won't even allow me to access my blog. Hopefully it'll be straightened out later and I can post articles again. In the comments of the now defunct article LW mentioned not being able to find truck stops with bars when she and her then husband...

This morning I grabbed a cup of coffee and as is my normal routine I did a quick walk around of my truck checking the tires, brakes, and lights. Everything was good so I filled out my log book and started down the road. About 30 miles later I entered the OR weigh station. They pulled me around for an inspection. As I had just checked everything a half an hour earlier, was running legal, and my log was current, I wasn't worried. I should have been. It seems that somewhere in that 30 ...

I woke this morning to find the world shrouded in a thick fog. While I'd hoped it was just a local fog I have been in the Northwest enough times to know that wasn't likely. It never ceases to amaze me how many dumbasses are out there who lack the common sense to turn on their damn lights in the fog. Amazing stupidity. I made my way through the fog to Boring, OR and to my pick up location to find that another truck, one of our competitors, had beaten me here by about two minutes. Luckily, h...

I've been sitting here in the truck munching on Jelly Belly jelly beans, knitting, and watching a DVD. The movie ended and as I was killing the player application I looked out and realized that at some point during the knitting/movie watching/Jelly Belly binge that the sun had moved on to other realms. It got dark out and I hadn't even noticed. Being out here on the Pacific coast is almost like summer (well, without the warmth) in that it gets dark at a reasonable time if I am going by my ...

Well I finally got a call from dispatch about a load. I am to pick up a couple of truck chassis tomorrow morning in an Oregon town by the probably very truthful name of Boring. It's just a little bit East of Portland. I've moved my rig South and am now at a truck stop between Tacoma, WA and Portland, OR about 57 miles from the OR line. As I can't pick up the load until 9:00am Pacific time, I'm close enough for now. It'll take me a couple of hours to reach the pick up location which means I...

Still no load out of here. I called the office around 4:30 their time as I knew they'd be closing up shop around then. "D" said that he had been looking for a load all day and had so far not had any luck. He sounded a bit stressed out so I made a couple of jokes to chill him out a bit. Even though I am losing a great deal of money sitting here, I know so is the company so we're all in the same boat so to speak. I'm not one of those people who gets all bent out of shape over things we can...

I've been really curious about using 4 double pointed needles (DPNS) to knit in the round so I'm taking a little break from the scarf to give it a try. I don't have enough sport weight yarn to make a pair of socks so I have to use worsted weight. The trouble is, the only DPNS I have are US size 3. Not the ideal combination and I had to adjust the pattern accordingly. I just hope I adjusted correctly or they'll be an odd looking pair of socks for sure. This is the first time I've attempted ...