Pompano Beach to Gainesville, FL

Woke up this morning to a lite rain in Pompano Beach, FL behind the Pet Meds warehouse around 6AM. Wasn't a whole lot going on until they finally started unloading around 8:30. It didn't take them long and by 10:00 AM I already had my next load and was headed north.

Back tracked the same way I came down here, I-95 north to SR710 to SR70 to US441 north. Once I got to Yeehaw Junction though, I went west on SR60 over to Lakeland, FL. I arrived at the Sam's DC at 1:45 PM.

I dropped my empty trailer there and picked up a 45,000 lb loaded trailer. A quick exchange, but the loaded trailers tandems were slid all the way to the rear. And I could not get them to move at all. After playing with it for 1/2 an hour, I gave up.

I drove a few miles up I-4 to the Love's to scale out. Great! It shows 29,000 lbs on the trailer but 36,000 lbs on the drives! That's 2,000 lbs overweight on the drives and I can't adjust the trailer tandems. That means taking the slow route up US27 into Ocala before jumping onto I-75 north into Gainesville. Oh well, I got plenty of time to get there.

Along the way, I finally stop at a McDonald's on the corner of I-4 and US27 for my first and only meal of the day at 3:45 PM. So would that be called Brunchinner?

Arrived at the Sam's store in Gainesville, FL at 7:15 PM. Now I sit and wait. The night crew comes in at 9PM. That's when I should be able to drop my load and hook to an empty.

That's it for now. See ya tomorrow.

On The Road Again

Well I'm back on the road again. Had a GREAT weekend though! Spent some time with family, friends, and church. Got to do some more geocaching and off-roading in the Jeep up in the Ocala National Forest. Our friends actually got stuck in a large mud hole in his truck, but hooked up the Jeep and we pulled him out. Except for getting stung on the hand by a wasp yesterday, it was a great 3-day weekend. My hand is still a little sore and swollen.

Today, I started out around 10:00 AM and headed up to Jacksonville, FL to pick up my load. I arrived at the shipper around 1:00 PM. The was a pre-loaded trailer, so a quick drop and hook and I'm on my way westbound. This is also a 2 stop delivery. The first in Mobile, AL and the last in Mandeville, LA.

The difficulty here is how quick to get to Mobile. I can't deliver the first stop until 5:00 AM on Thursday. So what to do in the meantime. It's only 403 miles, so it can easily be done in one day. Do I stay at a truck stop for Wednesday? Do I drive the distance and stay at the receiver? The advantage of that is the location is a retail store in a shopping area. That usually means good restaurants to choose from. Hmmmm. What to do?

I drove until about 5:00 PM, going halfway before stopping at a truck stop for dinner. The Flying J buffet wasn't too bad today so that's what I chose.

After eating I decided to drive all the way to Mobile. This way I have the good restaurants to choose from, plus having sit 2 nights and a day there I'll get a reset again on my work clock.

I arrived here in Mobile around 10:00 PM. Had a little difficulty getting into the parking lot, but not too bad. The cars were mindful and careful not to get into my way. So I was able to maneuver around and park.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and I'll be seeing you out on the highways.