Off The Road

My last day for driving was May 6th, 2010 due to traffic violation. Thanks all for riding along.

SE Missouri to St Louis to Kansas City - 396 Miles

Kinda tired, so this will be short.

Unloaded this morning in Scott City, MO down in the southeast corner. I quickly received my next load. So I mapped it out and headed north on I-55 into St Louis, crossing the river over into Illinois. Just a few miles later I pulled into the Pilot at East St Louis, IL. There I was receiving my next load as a relay from another driver.

While I waited, I ate at the Taco Bell and fueled up the truck.

At 1:00 PM, the other driver showed up and we swapped trailers. Jumping on I-70, I rolled on westbound non-stop to Kansas City, MO and our drop yard.

My next load picks up at 3:00 tomorrow morning at the Con-Way Freight depot across the river in Kansas City, KS. So that's where I sit now. I got an early morning wake up call so goodnight everyone.

Atlanta, GA to Southeast Missouri - 495 Miles

Well last night I was supposed to drive down to Jacksonville, FL. But as I awoke from my nap around 7PM to get ready to drive, I received a message stating my load was canceled. Arrrggggg!! In a rare achievement of actually getting a good nap before an all night drive, now I have to try and sleep again tonight. Which I did finally just after midnight.

Anyway, so I wake up this morning about 6:30. Waited and waited, finally getting a load assignment about 9:30. I drove about 6 miles away over to the Forest Park area of southeast Atlanta to O'Reilly Auto Parts. They finished loading my trailer at 11:00 AM with a bunch of junk car batteries. 38,700 lbs worth.

Let there and headed around the I-285 loop, north to I-75 and stopped in Cartersville, GA for fuel and lunch. I also scaled the load which was a good thing because I was 3,000 lbs overweight on the trailer tandems. So I had to slide the axles back.

Now back on the way north on I-75 to I-24 west, through Tennessee and into Kentucky. At Paduca, KY I got off the interstate and onto US60 west down some 2 lane back roads into Missouri. By then it was dark and raining. And with the narrow roads and the narrow 2 lane bridges crossing both the Kentucky and Mississippi Rivers, it was just a little tense. I think I've been this route before, but it was during the day. At night and in the rain though...

But I made it to Scott City, MO to the battery recyclers where I will unload in the morning.

That's another day in the life of a trucker. See ya tomorrow.

Playing Catch Up

OK, so I got lazy again about my daily updates. Time to catch up.

After Omaha, NE, I went back to the Tractor Supply DC in Waverly, NE and picked up another load going to a store in Independence, MO on Monday January 19th.

Tuesday morning at 0700 I unloaded and then waited most of the day for my next load assignment. It finally came around 3PM. I picked up in Kansas City, MO and had to haul it 428 miles all the way across Kansas to Hugoton, KS. What a drive! It was a heavy fog after sunset and going down through the back roads and small towns was difficult at times. But I did arrive there at 2 AM and was VERY tired to say the least. I unloaded that morning at 0700.

After unloading that morning, I reversed course and headed back across Kansas to the K-Mart DC in Lawrence. There I picked up a load which delivered to 2 K-Mart stores around Wichita on Thursday morning the 21st.

By noon the 21st I left the last K-Mart store and drove a few miles away to SFB Plastics there in Wichita, KS. I then picked up a load of empty plastic jugs and hauled them 743 miles down to El Paso, TX. They were going across the border to be filled with something and probably brought back over here. But that's for somebody else.

On the way down o El Paso on Friday morning of the 22nd, I encountered some snow along US 54 south of Santa Rosa, NM. Here's a few pics:

After dropping the trailer there in El Paso, I only had to wait a few hours before getting my next load. I left Friday night driving 1379 miles to LaGrange, GA hauling a load of vacuum cleaners to a WalMart DC.

I arrived in LaGrange on Sunday evening of the 24th and delivered at 6:30 AM on the 25th. Yesterday was Monday the 25th and I sat around all day in the truck waiting for my next load assignment. Which by the way never came.

Finally at 10 AM this morning I received my next load. I left LaGrange and drove north on I-85 into Atlanta where I pick up my load this evening headed to Jacksonville, FL.

That's what I've been up to. Sorry for the long gap. I'll try not to let that happen too often.

See ya tomorrow.

Bored in Omaha, NE, So Let's Go Play In The Snow!

Well I got tired of sitting here inside the truck for the 2nd day in a row in Omaha, NE. It's 34 degrees outside, foggy, and snow on the ground. There's not much wind so it doesn't feel very cold. I decide to go walking. There's a lake down the hill about a 1/2 mile behind the truck stop with some Geocaches around it. Program the GPSr, bundle up, and off I go. I get to the lake and it's frozen over with about a half dozen groups of ice fishers out there. I decide to wait until after I circle the lake, then walk out to take a closer look and some pictures. I've never been on a frozen lake before and thought it would be cool.

So, I start down the paved bike path around the lake. Only there isn't a paved path anymore. It's covered in snow. Anywhere from an ankle deep to knee deep! And the problem is that you can't really tell where the knee deep snow is until you're into it! But hey, I'm an adventurous guy and I press on. I got my hiking boots (waterproof), gloves, sweater, and jacket. I didn't feel cold at all.

The first Geocache was 1/4 mile away so I started tromping through the snow. Being from Florida, I don't experience this kinda thing too often. But I manage to get to the first cache, a micro in the woods disguised as a pine cone. Took about 15 minutes for me to find it. Then back to the "paved sidewalk", HA!

The next cache was another half mile away, so I continue on after it. I'm staying on the so called path, following all the deer and bunny tracks. I'm the only fool out here creating human foot steps. For the most part it's an easy walk, but every 50 yards or so the path tends to dip although the snow is still level. And when the snow gets deeper it wants to push my jeans up and get into the tops of my boots! But everything so far is still warm and comfortable.

I get about 250 ft from the 2nd cache and have to leave path, not that it matters with the snow. And in some cases, it's actually better! When you walk between a group of the trees, the snow is only a few inches. I walk down through some trees following my GPSr towards ground zero. I get to 40 ft away and here's this open path. Looks like it could have been a shallow creek. Of course now frozen over and covered with snow. The wind has actually formed what looks like dunes on a beach so I can't really tell how deep it is.

I see what looks to be a fallen tree on the other side. Of course most of it is buried in snow as well. Well I can't get this close and turn back, so I start forward. YEP, it's just above the kneecaps deep! I get across and can feel my ankles getting cold with the snow that has gotten in around the boot tops. I get to the tree and that seems to be where the cache is hidden.

This Geocache is a large sized ammo box, slightly larger than a shoe box. But it's also under a bunch of snow. I start at one end of the fallen tree and begin digging out the snow along one side. As it turns out, I started at the wrong end! After digging 6-7 feet down the side of this fallen tree trunk, I find the hollowed out end with the large ammo box inside. Success!

After covering the one end back up with snow, I make my way back to the main path. By then, quite a bit of snow has gotten into my boots and my feet are getting pretty cold. And I've only gotten less than a 1/4 of the way around the lake. There's no way I'm going to make it completely around. I gotta head back. Trying to follow into my same footsteps, I trudge on back through the snow. All the while trying to wiggle my toes within the boots to make sure they're still moving. With the exception of my feet and toes, the rest of me feels pretty good. I actually though about taking off my jacket because I was getting too warm.

Anyway, I make it back to my truck and quickly remove my soaked boots and socks, dry my feet and put on clean socks and sneakers to warm my feet. Then I grabbed my bath kit and some clean clothes and headed inside for a shower. The hot water felt good to my toes!

BUT THE WORST PART OF ALL, I STILL NEVER MADE IT OUT ONTO THE FROZEN LAKE! That will just have to wait for another time.

A Long Drive From Oklahoma to Illinois - 710 Miles

This will be short because I'm fairly tired. Started out this morning at 6:30 AM in Calumet, OK, just west of Oklahoma City. I drove for 1 1/2 hours and stopped in Stroud, OK for breakfast at McDonald's.

After eating, I continued east on I-44 into Missouri and stopped again at 2 PM for fuel and a Subway sub. I relaxed for about an hour, taking my time eating.

Then back on the road, merging onto I-70 in St Louis, then north on I-57. I arrived in Pesotum, IL at a rest area around 7:45 Central Time. I'm about 19 miles from my final destination where I deliver tomorrow morning at 7 AM.

That's about it for me today. Not much excitement today. Just a long drive.

Good night for now and see ya back again tomorrow.

Las Cruces, NM to Oklahoma City - 646 Miles

What a long day today! I woke up around 5 AM in Las Cruces, NM at the T/A truck stop. After reading another chapter in my book, I got out of bed and went inside for breakfast. French toast was the meal for the morning and it was good.

After topping off the truck with fuel, I hit the road at 7 AM. I had a lot of stops planned for the beginning of my run today due to some Geocaches along the route. Starting out on US70 east and then onto US54 north. Passing through the White Sands Missile Range and the White Sands National Monument, lots of mountains and beautiful scenery.

During that stretch between Las Cruces and Santa Rosa, I found 6 Geocaches and took plenty of pictures. However the battery on the camera died and I can't upload them just yet. Gotta find the charger.

In Santa Rosa, NM I merged onto I-40 eastbound. By the time I got to Amarillo, TX I was getting hungry. I wanted to stop at The Big Texan again and try one of their steaks. However, since I had been playing most of the morning I needed to keep moving. So I pulled into a McDonald's for a quick burger.

After eating quickly, I continued on down to Calumet, OK which is about 20 miles west of Oklahoma City. Tomorrow's going to be a long day with no playing around. Gotta drive 720 miles tomorrow for a Friday morning delivery. Come back to see how I do.

That's it for now. See ya on the highways.

Tucson, AZ to Las Cruces, NM - 289 Miles

Another early morning today, waking up around 4 AM local time here in Tucson, AZ. Temperature wasn't bad at 49 degrees. Today actually got up into the 70's here.

But I started out at the TTT Truck Stop and drove the 8 miles over to where I was delivering. I got there around 6:30 and they started unloading soon there after. It was only about a 1/3 of the trailer left if that, so it didn't take long. By 7:40 they were done.

I already had my next load assignment to pick up there in Tucson later in the afternoon. I looked up Geocaches and there was one about 3 tenths of a mile away, so I walked down and made the find.

I drove back over to the TTT Truck Stop for breakfast and then over to the shipper to see about picking up the load. You never know, sometimes they can get you done early. Sure enough I had a 3 PM appointment time and they had me loaded and ready by 1PM.

Afterwards I walked across the street into an open field for about a 1/2 mile. There was a regular sized Geocache there and I made the find. I also dropped off a Jeep TB which I had been carrying for a while. I've been waiting to drop it off out west here to go 4wheeling with some real Jeeps.

At 2:45 PM, I jump onto I-10 eastbound and go non-stop all the way to Las Cruces, NM. It had just gotten dark when I arrived there, so I stopped for the night. If I didn't, I'm not sure of anyplace I could stop for the next several hundred miles. You'll see tomorrow why so.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by again. Here's just a few pics from today in Arizona.

Albuquerque to Tucson - 551 Miles

Woke up this morning around 2:30 AM local time. Of course, my body is still on Eastern Time and I went to bed about 10:30 (8:30 here). Anyway, couldn't get back to sleep. So I read another chapter in my "The Exemplary Husband" book. I recommend it to all the husbands out there. (And for you wives: The Excellent Wife book to go along with it.)

Around 5 AM, I decide to go inside and get something to eat at the T/A. Then at 6 AM, I drive the few miles down the road to Rio Rancho, NM and find the consignee. It was kinda strange pulling up to them because it was a residential street. Their work shop was in their backyard and a school across the street. By the time they arrived so I could back down the side of the house, the school was getting under way. Needless to say I caused a big traffic jamb by blocking the street! Oh well...

From the top of the hill there I got a nice view of the sunrise over Rio Rancho.

 

At the end of the street was a Geocache, so of course I found it before leaving too!

By 8:45 AM, I'm back on I-25 headed south. I stop at a rest area in La Joya, NM for another Geocaching break. Then at 1:30 PM, I stop in Las Cruces, NM for fuel, lunch, and a shower.

Now at 3:15 PM, it's non-stop all the way westbound on I-10 until I reach Tucson, AZ where I park at the TTT Truck Stop for the night.

That's it for today. Here's a few more photos through NM for you to enjoy.

Amarillo to Albuquerque - 299 Miles

Today was a short drive to a warmer climate. Started out in Amarillo, TX at about 19 degrees out. It took a while to venture out into the cold, but I eventually did.

I was at the Flying J on the north side of I-40 and drove across the highway to the Tourist Center on the south side to look for a Geocache. Spent about an hour and could not find it. I just don't like it when I come up empty.

Then I drive a mile down the frontage road on the north side again heading west to an abandoned gas station where there was supposed to be another Geocache hidden. I didn't find that one either. ARGHH!! Strike 2!

OK, one more to go after. Another mile down the frontage road was The Big Texan Steak House. One of the roadside attractions from the Route 66 days. I did find the Texas sized Geocache there. It was the size of your typical plastic storage bin you keep all your Christmas decorations in. After finding the cache, I decided to go inside and eat. It was still a little early, so I had breakfast instead of BBQ.

Finally about 11AM, I'm out on I-40 westbound headed to NM. Just over an hour later I stop at the New Mexico welcome center in Glenrio to grab another cache. This one I found also.

Then continue west all the way to Albuquerque where I am parked for the night. A short drive today, only 299 miles. I did get to temperatures as high as 57 degrees across NM, but as I climbed higher towards Albuquerque they dropped back down into the upper 40's.

Tomorrow I deliver at 7am about 20 miles north of here. But there's no place to park there. So I'm staying put here at the T/A.

That's it for now. Here's a few pics for you to enjoy. See ya later.

I also passed by Cadillac Ranch along I-40 on the west side of town.

Still Cold, But the Snow is Gone in TX - 476 Miles

Finally out of the snow and sub-zero temperatures! Hello everyone and welcome back to A Truckers Day.

Well just as I was falling asleep last night, the truck starts talking to me and wakes me up. Yes, it does that. When I receive messages over the Qualcomm, a voice plays over the speakers telling me I have a message. I think it was about 11pm last night when I received the message to go visit the local dispatcher. So I get out of bed, get dressed for the cold, and walk inside.

I get my choice of a load going to either PA or a 2-stop load going to NM and AZ. Hmmmm. Let's see. I have a choice between colder or warmer. I choose warmer! And the first stop in New Mexico isn't due until Monday morning. Good, I'm going back to bed!

So I wake up around 7 AM this morning and decide to do laundry first there at the terminal before taking off. At 9 AM, the laundry is completed, I hook up to my load, fuel up and head for the truck wash. By 9:30, I'm on I-44 and driving westbound.

But I don't get very far. Just a few exits down, I hit a Hardee's and grab a sausage egg and cheese biscuit. I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and was getting kinda hungry.

A quick stop and back on the road. At 1:15 PM, I stop at a rest area in Kellyville, OK to grab a Geocache. At the next rest area in Stroud, OK, I stopped again for another Geocache. WOHOO!! That makes 1400 Geocaches found so far around the country.

About half-way across Oklahoma, I stopped seeing the snow on the ground. While it is still cold out, in the mid 20's, it is still warmer than what it had been in Joplin, MO the past few days.

I continue driving westbound, now on I-40, all the way to Amarillo, TX. There I pulled into a Flying J for the night. That leaves with with an easy day of just over 300 miles for tomorrow.

Well that's my day. Thanks for riding along.
See Ya down the highways.

Back In The Truck And Ready To Roll!

Well hello everyone and welcome back. These last two days have been well quite boring! I waited around all day yesterday and they finally got the truck into the shop around 4PM. About 8PM, they finally sent me to the Holiday Inn to get a room.

This morning I get back over here around 7:30 AM hoping they completed the work overnight, only to find that it was STILL being worked on. I hung around here all day in the drivers lounge. Then I checked once again around 6:30 PM and the truck is finished! Yea!

Well what they worked on was finished anyway. I had 3 things that needed fixing that I knew about. 1) windshield cracked: replaced; 2) check engine light on: still on; and 3) engine noise: they replaced a cracked exhaust manifold. Well a cracked manifold needs to be replaced, but a cracked manifold doesn't make the same noise as what I heard. But of course it's not making the noise anymore. Just like it did a few days before Christmas. The noise was there for about an hour and hasn't repeated itself until a few days ago. So we'll see.

But now I'm back in the truck to get a good nights sleep tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good long road to a warmer climate. LIKE HAWAII!! Well as soon as they build that Pacific Highway anyway! One can always hope.

That's it for now. See ya down the highway...

A Shortened Trip - Truck In Shop Again

I guess it was just meant to be. Trying to avoid stopping at the home office in Joplin, MO, but ended up there anyway.

Started out this morning in Rockford, IL at A&B Freight. They never did come and wake me up when the load was ready around midnight. That was fine with me because I couldn't start driving until 3:30 AM anyway when my break was over. I did wake up at 2AM, so I went inside to check on it. They just finished loading the trailer, so I got my paperwork, hooked up, and get ready to go.

Oh by the way. The temperature was a frigid -4 degrees. Don't know what the wind chill was. Where's global warming? The whole global warming thing is a scam and just another tool for the government to control it's citizens. But that's an issue for another blog.

Anyway, got underway at 3:30 and headed south on I-39. Drove all the way down to Bloomington, IL where I stopped at a T/A for breakfast. All you can eat french toast! Yum!

Now I had been contemplating stopping by our home office in Joplin, MO to get the truck washed. It was really filthy and almost white due to the snow and road salts. But I didn't want to take a chance of going through the inspection lane and having them find something wrong. That would put the truck in the shop and I'd probably have to give up the load losing the remaining 180 miles.

Well continuing on down the road, I had a rock fly up from another truck and put a chip in the windshield. A little later I noticed another crack about 4-5 inches coming down from the top of the right side of the windshield. That will definitely put me in the shop and lose the load. Hmmm. Do I stop or keep going.

Well now I'm in Missouri heading west in I-44. I was leaning towards skipping the stop in Joplin and continue on. About 100 miles from Joplin and now the truck starts making the same engine noise that happened a few days before Christmas. Now I have to stop. Arghh!

So I call my dispatcher and tell her the situation. The load was considered Hot Freight and HAD to be delivered in Oklahoma the next morning. She basically tells me to inform the local dispatcher upon arrival. So I did and sure enough he had taken me off the load. The inspection lane did find some issues with the trailer as well, but they were able to get the trailer into the shop quicker and re-assigned to another truck.

As for me, I get to hang out here in Joplin, MO and wait for the shop to fix my truck. Hopefully it won't take long.

See ya tomorrow.

Snow Snow Snow!! - Today's Drive 450 Miles

Snow Snow Snow!! Woke up this morning in Broadview Heights, OH just south of Cleveland about 6 am. The snowfall ended shortly after I went to bed last night. That's what I assume anyway because there was only a thin layer on the truck this morning.

Quickly got up, dressed, and ready to go all to find that I was blocked in by other trucks. Hmmm. So I checked and answered some email and checked out my Facebook updates. After about 20 minutes, one of the trucks not directly in front but next to it pulled away. Fortunately there was just enough room for me to maneuver through and drive out.

About 30 minutes after heading out, the snow started falling and falling and falling! For most of the day it was snow. The roads weren't to bad though. They had them plowed and salted pretty good. It wasn't until about the last 75-100 miles before it cleared up.

At 10 AM, I stopped in Fremont, IN for fuel at the Pilot Travel Center. Food there consisted of Wendy's and I wasn't too interested in breakfast there. As I was about to pull out of the parking lot, everything started looking familiar. I had been here before. Right across the street was the Red Arrow restaurant. I've had lunch there before and it was pretty good.

So I backed up, parked the truck, and walked across the street. I ordered the Big Breakfast; 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, and wheat toast. They didn't have sweet tea, so I ordered an orange juice. A VERY GOOD BREAKFAST! I got to mark this down in my book to come back again!

Off again westbound on I-80 for two hours and stopping at a service plaza in Portage, IN for a break and grab a Geocache.

At 2:30 PM, I arrived in Bedford Park, IL, just outside Chicago, where I checked in with the receiver. My appointment time wasn't until tomorrow morning, but they were able to unload me today. YEA!

About 4PM, I had my next load assignment, mapped it out, and ready to go. North on I-294 to I-290 to I-90 westbound. Just before my destination at Rockford, IL, there was another service plaza where I stopped for dinner. I passed by the McDonald's, almost had the Panda Express, then finally decided to go with a Greek salad from the Gyro Cafe. It was pretty good. I also grabbed another Geocache there too.

Now I'm at the shipper. The load will be ready about 12:00-1:00 AM, so they will probably be waking me up in the middle of the night. But all I'm going to do is hook up to it, get my paperwork, then go back to bed. It's 12 degrees here right now and supposed to be down to ZERO before morning. YIKES!

Tomorrow I'll be headed down to Oklahoma. Snow is in the forecast again. That's the way it goes. Thanks for stopping by. See ya down the road.

A Cold Sunny Morning Followed By Snow

Welcome back everyone and thanks for stopping by. I woke up at 3am this morning and just couldn't get back to sleep. I think eating those 5 or 6 chocolate covered cherries about an hour before bed had me waking up early.

The outside temp gauge on the truck said it was 18 degrees. But it was nice and warm on the inside. The heater was on low, but I was buried underneath a sheet, a comforter, AND a sleeping bag!

At 4 am I decided to try reading, but that didn't help. I just wasn't tired anymore after only 4 1/2 hours of sleep.

Finally at 5am, I gave up and got out of bed. I caught my logbook up from the weekend and started today's log. Then I bundled up and went outside to sweep the trailer out. I'm not sure how good I did, holding a small flashlight in one hand while using the push broom too. But it passed when I got to the shipper.

Then around 6am, I headed over to the north side of town to QVC to pick up my load. After dropping my empty trailer, I checked in with the shipping office to get my paperwork. There was another driver there walking up into the office as well. He had been sleeping there overnight and told me his alternator belt broke during the night. Therefore his truck died and he hadn't any heat. I sure he was feeling a bit cold!

Anyway, hooked up to my loaded trailer and drove back over to the truck stop. Parked the truck and then hopped into the rental car. Drove it downtown to IHOP for some breakfast while waiting for Enterprise to open at 8am. By 8:15, Enterprise had given me a ride back to the truck and I'm set to go.

From Suffolk, I drove west on US460 to I-95 north towards Washington DC. I take the western beltway around DC to I-270 west into Maryland. Then I-70 westbound into Pennsylvania. I had a gotten a few snow flurries off and on in Maryland, but by Pennsylvania it was steady but lite.

I merged onto I-76 west going around Pittsburgh and into Ohio where I jumped onto I-80 westbound. By now the snow was getting heavier. I-80 through Ohio is their toll road and they actually have truckers lounges in their service plazas with showers, laundry, and TV. I think the only ones in the country with them and that's where I wanted to park for the night.

Well with the snow coming down, I was focused on the driving and missed the first service plaza. The second one though, I was watching out for. It was located on the turnpike just south of Cleveland in Broadview Heights. The snow was still coming down and it was getting dark. Two reasons why I didn't want to be driving anymore.

So after parking the truck, I grabbed my stuff and went in for a shower. It was nice to finally get one. That small truck stop back in Suffolk was so little, it didn't have any showers. Good thing it's cold out and I wasn't sweating much!

Anyway, so that's where I'm at now. I'll see how much snow comes down overnight and maybe I'll get some pictures in the morning for ya.

See ya down the road.

Geocaching in Suffolk, VA Day #2

Well I'm still here in Suffolk, VA. When I woke up this morning it was 21 degrees out and that doesn't include the wind chill. I believe that put it down into single digits!

But I did venture out eventually. Around 8am, I went next door for breakfast at the Red Robin Restaurant. Afterwards, I grabbed the GPS'r, camera, and hopped into the rental.

Today I managed to find 22 Geocaches and drove 47 miles around town. That's about all there was to my day. Here's some photos for you to enjoy.

Tomorrow, I finally pick up my load at QVC and head towards Chicago where I will probably run into some snow. Not looking forward to that!

Until then, see ya down the highway...

For my son Adam who loves trains.
This is the old train depot.

Some interesting trees at the cemetery.

Geocaching In Suffolk, VA Day #1

Brrrr!! It's cold out there!! Hello everyone. Didn't do much work today. I woke up this morning in Pleasant Hill, NC about 6AM and was assigned a load around 8AM. After mapping out my route, I hit the road.

Just across the Virginia state line to US58 eastbound all the way into Suffolk, VA. I parked the truck at the Hess truck stop along US13 on the south side of town.

That's it! That was my work day. Done by 11AM. I don't pick up my load until Monday morning.

So, I called Enterprise Rent-A-Car and they came and picked me up. I rented a Chevy HHR for the weekend to go sight seeing and Geocaching. Hey if I gotta sit here all weekend I might as well enjoy it!

Too bad it's so cold out. The high for the day was 32 degrees, but with a strong wind it felt more like 20!

By the time I looked up all the Geocaches in town and programmed the GPS'r, it was 2:30 pm. I did the outskirts first, seeing the rural areas. I drove 49 miles and found 13 caches. Took lots of pictures too! Then it got dark and I came back to the truck.

Tomorrow I plan to cache more in town and visit the historical sites. For now, here's the photos. Enjoy!

Grabbing a cache on the guardrail on my left.
That's rental waiting to go winding around the curves!



Remnants of an old mill that used to be there.





Another guardrail cache on the bridge.

From Central Florida to North Carolina - 662 Miles

Having these past 6 days off made it really tough to get out of bed this morning. Especially since I had the alarm set for 5am! But I had a full days drive and I wanted to beat the other 3 Con-Way drivers whom I knew had the same load as I. One of which had an hour head start on me. The other two loaded after me. But I didn't go far last night.

Anyway, by the time I rolled out of bed and got ready to go, it was about 6:15 AM. I left the Pilot truck stop in Wildwood, FL and jumped onto I-75 northbound. Turned off into Ocala and over to US301 northbound all the way to I-10. Then I-10 east to Jacksonville, I-295 north loop to I-95 northbound.

At 9:15 AM, I stopped at the Flying J Travel Center in Brunswick, GA for their breakfast buffet. Took my time and relaxed a bit too, talking with a couple of others drivers too. At 10:15, it was back on the highway.

Through South Carolina and then stopping in Dunn, NC at 3:45 for fuel at the Pilot Travel Center.

I arrived at the Lowe's DC in Garysburg, NC at 5:45 pm. Turns out that I was the 1st of the Con-Way drivers to make it here. Not sure what happened to the others. Maybe they'll arrive here at the truck stop which I'm parked at tonight and I'll see them in the morning.

Anyway, a quick drop of the loaded trailer and hooking to an empty. Then I drive 4 miles north on I-95 to the Pilot truck stop here in Pheasant Hill, NC, just a couple miles south of the Virginia state line. Dinner at the Subway and that about does it for me.

Thanks for stopping by. See ya tomorrow.