Halloween in South Carolina

Another day, another drive. I started out this morning around 7AM. Woke up at sunrise down in Jacksonville, FL. There were two Geocaches there at the small truck stop, so I found those before taking off.

At 8:00 I hit the road northbound. About an hour later, I had to stop at a T/A in Brunswick, GA to have a D.O.T. Inspection performed on the trailer. Today was the last day for it to be legal. It only took them about 30 minutes and while they were doing that, I went next to the Waffle House for breakfast.

By 10:00 I'm again rolling northbound on I-95.

I stopped at a Pilot in Bowman, SC along I-26 for fuel. After that I turned north on I-77 and arrived in Rock Hill, SC at 3:30 PM. There I parked behind the Michael's craft store where I'll make my delivery at 5:00 AM on Monday.

This afternoon I looked up some Geocaches in the area and found 4 of them. The rest of the time I just played on the Internet and listened to old thriller and suspense shows on the XM Satellite Radio Classics channel.

That's about it for today. See you again tomorrow.

Finally Going Home!

Well I finally made it home! I was awakened at 3:30 AM this morning by the driver who brought me my next load. He had brought it down from NJ and now I'm to take it down to Hollywood, FL.

Since my original delivery appointment was tomorrow morning, I still had plenty of time to deliver. So this morning after hooking up to the loaded trailer, I finished up my blog post from yesterday. Then at 5AM, I get rolling.

I-295 south to I-95 south all the way down non-stop to Ft Pierce, FL. There I stop at the Pilot Travel Center for fuel and breakfast at McDonald's.

By 9:30 AM, I'm rolling again heading south.

When I arrived in Hollywood, I checked in with the customer which is one thing you always want to do. Because instead of waiting until morning to unload, they were able to unload me then. So by Noon, I'm empty and waiting to hear where to go next. Do I get to go home finally?

Well after sitting around and waiting all afternoon, at 5PM they FINALLY send me home empty. Just in time for rush hour traffic. Argggg! But hey, at least I'm going home!

Straight home 225 miles non-stop. Two days off so I'll be seeing you back on Friday. Until then, take care.

From Georgia to South Carolina via Florida!

What? From Georgia to South Carolina via Florida? What kind of driving is that you say?

Well that pretty much sums it up! I was in North Georgia too! I started out in Patillo, which is about halfway between Atlanta and Macon, around 7AM. Drove for an hour before stopping in Vienna, GA at a truck stop with a McDonald's. You know McDonald's has their Monopoly game going on right now and I had won a FREE breakfast sandwich. WOHOO!! So I used that this morning.

Continuing south on I-75 into Florida, east on I-10 all the way to Jacksonville. I dropped my loaded trailer with the appliances at the Sears warehouse and picked up an empty at 1PM. I quickly received my next load info and after inputting the addresses into my Streets & Trips, I was on the way.

Just 30 miles northeast of Jacksonville, I picked up 11 GIANT rolls of paper weighing in at 41,000 lbs in Fernandina Beach, FL. Now I'm heading north on I-95 back up into Georgia. At 4:30, I stop in Woodbine, GA and make a quick ham & cheese sandwich. While at the truck stop, I weigh the truck on the CAT Scales to make sure I'm balanced OK being that heavy.

Now it's non-stop continuing north on I-95 into South Carolina where I turn west onto I-26. I drove as far as Bowman, when I pulled into a Pilot for the night. It's only 180 miles to my final stop in North Carolina and it doesn't deliver until Monday morning. So I have plenty of time.

A pretty good week this past week. I was dispatched on almost 3200 miles! With the economy the way it is, I haven't seen a 3000+ week in several months.

Anyway, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Cool Again From Jacksonville to Hoover

Praise the Lord! My a/c is fixed and quicker than I had expected! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Happy Tuesday to you! I woke up this morning at 5:30 AM in a nice cool hotel room. Checked out at 6:00 and walked back over to the warehouse. They finally showed up at 8:00 and it took them 1 1/2 hours to unload. I must have gotten the slow one, because 4 other truck who docked after me unloaded before me. Oh well, what can you do.

Anyway, once empty I drove 14 miles down the road to the Michael's Distribution Center for my next load. After checking in and dropping off my empty trailer, I bobtailed back a mile to the Kenworth dealer to get my a/c fixed. By now it's about 10:30 and I'm getting hungry. The service advisor told me about the lunch buffet at the nearby Holiday Inn. It was about a mile walk, which was no big deal for me. So I walked on over there.

I had to wait 5 minutes because their lunch buffet doesn't open until 11:00 AM. Well it was definitely worth the walk! I had fried catfish, green beans, mac & cheese, and stuffed cabbage for lunch. They also had some great looking fried chicken, pork chops and more which I was about to get. But after my first plate, I was already eyeing dessert! I tried 2 of the 6 different desserts offered and they were great. Everything was GREAT! So if you're ever in Jacksonville, FL the Holiday Inn on I-295 x 22 has a breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffet.

Once I got back to the truck at 11:45, they had already pulled it into the shop. I figured maybe not until 1PM or so. This was good to see. But then I talked to the service advisor again and after thanking him for the great lunch advise, he told me the issues on the truck. The a/c was a leaking condenser and would take 2 hours and then there was some sort of recall which would take an additional 3 hours. Therefore I was looking at around 5-6PM for completion. That means I wouldn't get to my delivery until around 2 AM! YIKES!!

Then surprisingly around 2PM, the mechanic came in to the driver lounge and said I was ready to go! The parts required for the recall were not in stock and had to be ordered. WOHOO!! Now I won't have a late night of driving.

So I headed back over to Michael's, grabbed my loaded trailer and I was on the road. Westbound on I-10 for 2 1/2 hours, I stopped in Marianna, FL for some fuel. Then non-stop north on US231 to I-65 north all the way to Hoover, Alabama. I arrived there about 10:15 PM and I'm tired. I have a 5:00 AM delivery time in the morning so not much time for sleep. But I'm thinking of my readers here too and wanted to write today's blog first.

But now it's time for bed. Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you down the road.

A Great Weekend Followed By Heat

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I know I did. It started last Friday when I got a load assigned for Jacksonville, FL. Arriving at the Florida Welcome Center on I-95 that night, my wife drove up from Orlando to meet me. Because it was late by then, we stayed there in the truck. On Saturday morning, she followed me down to the Pilot Travel Center on the south side of Jacksonville. There we left the truck and drove on home to Orlando.

After a couple of days home with family and friends its back to work. After my wife got off work today, we drove back up here to Jacksonville. She dropped me off at the truck and returned home. I started up the truck and started putting away my laundry and everything.

But inside the truck wasn't cooling down. The a/c was blowing but it wasn't cold. Not a good thing! I drove up 35 miles to the north side of Jacksonville to the consignee where I deliver in the morning. It still wasn't cold. After about an hour, I couldn't take it anymore. It was over 90 degrees inside. So I called Con-Way and requested a hotel for the night. Kenworth was closed due to the holiday. They agreed so that's where I'm at now. I've already got my next load assignment, so after I unload first thing in the morning and pickup my next load soon there after, then I'll head over to Kenworth to get it fixed.

That's it for now. Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Arriving in Florida Once Again!

Today turned out to be the start of a GREAT weekend! I'm headed home again for the 2nd weekend in a row!! WOW!!

I got my load assignment about 7:00 AM and by 7:30 I left Newport News, VA and headed 80 miles over to Richmond. There I picked up 32,000 lbs of those cup-a-soup packages. About 2 hours to load and then head south on I-95 at 11:30. After about an hour, I stopped for lunch at McDonalds in a little town called Skippers, VA.

Back on the road non-stop all the way down to the Florida Welcome Center. That's about as far as I could get before my clocks ran out so I had to park it there. My wife did drive up from Orlando to meet me here. We'll stay here overnight in the truck. Then in the morning I'll drive down into Jacksonville and leave the truck there. I can't deliver the load until Tuesday morning because of the holiday weekend, so I'll ride home with the wife. Then she'll bring me back Monday night.

So that's it for now. I probably won't have another update until either Monday night or Tuesday. Until then, have a GREAT weekend!