Rain Rain Go Away!

It's been raining almost the entire day today. I started out this morning at the T/A in Harrisburg, PA. After getting up and in between showers, I decided to go inside and have breakfast there. The buffet wasn't too bad, so that's what I choose.

I still had a few hours yet and the rain has gone yet again. There were two Geocaches in the parking lot so I thought I'd go for them. Couldn't find the first one, but found the second one. On the way back to the truck I noticed a Perkins Restaurant across the street. Arrgggg! I suffered through the T/A restaurant when I could have had better. Oh well.

Got back to the truck and drove 17 miles over to New Cumberland, PA where I'm to pickup at noon. There's a tiny truck stop for me to wait at. It's still just 10:45 AM, so I again look up some caches there. Turns out there were 3 just within 1/4 mile and again a break between showers. So I went for a walk and found all three. YEA!

Finally at 11:45, I drive over to the shipper to get my load and checked in a few minutes later. It still wasn't ready yet, but by 1:00 PM I was loaded and rolling. I-76 west to US15 southbound.

US15 was a new route for me and when I crossed over from Pennsylvania into Maryland there was a welcome center there. The rain had let up again, so I pulled in to look up Geocaches. I was in luck, there were two.

The first was a micro just 400' from where I parked. Just as I found it, the rains came back! I stood under the tree for a minute and then walked about 100' to the nearest picnic table with a roof. OK, so now I'm wet. I then decide to just go for the other one since I'm already wet. I walked to the back of the rest area and found the 2nd cache. Then back to the truck. NOW I'M SOAKED!! So I dry off and change into some dry clothes and once again get rolling.

US15 south to I-270 east towards Washington DC. I take the I-495 beltway south to I-95 south. A quick stop at the Pilot in Richmond, VA for fuel and continue on.

Another hour later and I stop at the McDonald's for dinner in Skipper, VA. Again another hour later and it's parking time in Kenly, NC at 9PM. Sitting here at another T/A and I'm done for the night.

Off and on rain all day, some flooded sections of highway causing traffic delays, but I still managed to find 6 caches! So not all was bad!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

What? I've Been Cancelled?

Well not exactly. Hello again everyone. Yep today is the day the Lord has made and I should be glad and rejoice in it!

I awoke this morning around 6AM I think. Don't remember exactly, it may have been a little later. Read my bible a little bit. Today being the 23rd, it was Proverbs chapter 23 and then a few chapters in Jeremiah.

After getting out of bed around 7AM, I sent in a message over the Qualcomm to dispatch requesting the pickup # for my load this morning. It seems they only sent me part of it last night before I arrived here.

About 10 minutes later, I get a message stating the load was unassigned and canceled! Well that's nice! So I waited for about another hour then decided to go for a walk and find the ONLY Geocache in this little town of Topton, PA. Round trip it was a short 1 mile hike on a cool 58 degree morning. Found the cache quickly too.

By the time I got back to the truck, I had a load assignment message waiting for me. Looks like a short day today. Pickup location is only 80 miles away, but doesn't pickup until noon tomorrow. But for now, breakfast and a shower.

I drove 40 miles west on I-78 to a Pilot in Bethal, PA and pull off there. Parked the truck, grab my shower bag and go in. There's a line of about 8 people at the counter and the clerk was slower than slow. I then remembered coming here a few weeks ago and it was the same way. A few minutes go by and the only part of the line that moved was me walking back out the door.

Continue west on I-78 to I-81 south and 15 minutes later I pull into another Pilot. I park the truck, grab my shower bag, and walk into it. No line at the counter, but the clerk informs me that they do not have any clean showers currently available. Also, that I would be the first in line when one does become available. BUT, she then informs me that the manager and the maintenance person were busy in the parking lot attending to an emergency and didn't know how long it would be before they would be able to clean a shower. So I said never mind and returned to my truck.

I then drove across the street to the T/A, parked the truck, grabbed my shower bag and walked inside. Finally, I was able to get a shower.

By this time it was just after noon and I was really hungry now. After putting my shower bag back in the truck, I was back inside and headed to the T/A's restaurant. The buffet didn't look to bad today, didn't look great either. Just your average truck stop buffet. Where's a Ryan's or Golden Corral when you need one!

This afternoon, I didn't do much of anything. Browsed the internet for a while. It rained for the most part from about 2PM on, so I stayed in the truck.

Tomorrow I go about 20 miles down into Harrisburg to pick up my load at noon. Can't go early so I'll be sitting here until then.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

You're Sending Me The Wrong Way!!!

What a day! Sometimes you just gotta wonder what some people are thinking.

I woke to the alarm this morning at 4:30 AM. The Michael's store crew was in and began unloading at 5AM and finishing up around 7:30.

Now I'm sitting there in Raleigh, North Carolina and have already requested to go home for the weekend in Central Florida. At 9AM I get my next load assignment... GOING TO PENNSYLVANIA!! That's 400 miles in the wrong direction! You just have to wonder what the so-called "Planners" are thinking sometimes.

I called my fleet manager, but she wasn't much help. Didn't hear any concern in her voice over the phone like she'd be finding out anything from the planners, so I just let it go and accepted the load. That puts the chances of getting home this weekend VERY SLIM!

So I drove for an hour over to Rocky Mount, NC at the QVC warehouse. My trailer was supposed to be ready, but it wasn't. Two hours later, I'm finally hooked up and rolling.

North on I-95 non-stop all the way to Horsham, PA which is just to the north of Philadelphia. I arrived at the UPS distribution center at 8PM due to the rush hour traffic around DC, Baltimore, and Philly! I dropped the loaded trailer and picked up an empty.

After programming my next pickup location in the GPS, I was rolling westbound by 8:45 PM. I arrived in Topton, PA at 10PM where my next load picks up in the morning. It delivers down in Winston-Salem, NC on Monday. So much for my weekend at home.

See ya next time.

From Florida to North Carolina

Last night when I posted my daily blog, I was still in Gainesville waiting to unload at the Sam's store. Well after unloading I decided to go ahead and make the drive to Jacksonville to get ready for my pickup this morning. I still had 2 hours of available driving time and it was only 72 miles away.

So I left Gainesville at 9:30 PM and took SR24 east to US301 north into Baldwin. There I turned east on I-10 into Jacksonville, arriving at the Michael's Distribution Center. They have 2 DC's there in Jacksonville and this was the first time at this particular location. I've been to the other many times.

So as usual upon arriving to a new place, I look up Geocaches. There were several within this office/warehouse complex, but I only program the 2 closest ones within a 1/4 mile. And yep, I'm walking around there at midnight, 54 degrees, wearing shorts and a tshirt, looking for Geocaches! I found the small one, but not the micro. The flashlight just wasn't good enough to find the micro.

After that I get some sleep.

About 6AM, the security guard comes knocking on my door to wake me up. After getting up and checking in, I find out that my loads not ready. Oh well. I dropped my empty and waited just a little while.

It wasn't too much longer and now I'm hooking up to a loaded trailer. Get all my paperwork ready, my GPS up and going, and now I'm rolling northbound on I-95.

I stopped once in Port Wentworth, GA (near Savanna) for fuel and breakfast. Then it's nonstop all the way to Raleigh, NC, arriving about 4:30PM.

A quick check on Geocaches again and I go for another walk. And again I only find 1 of the two I had looked for. But I walked about 3 miles.

Now I sit and wait behind the Michael's store for a 5AM delivery time in the morning.

That's it for now. See you again tomorrow.

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.

From Georgia to South Florida VIA HOME!

It's always good to get home! Hello again and sorry for the missed post yesterday. When you get a chance to be home, you just don't think about blogging sometimes.

Let's see where was I last. I started out Saturday morning in Patillo, GA around 7:45 AM. Going south on I-75 for just over an hour before stopping in Vienna, GA to fuel up at the Pilot there and grabbing a quick McDonald's breakfast.

Then it was non-stop all the way down to Winter Garden, FL arriving at 2:30 in the afternoon. I parked the truck and called my lovely wife to come and pick me up. A few minutes later and there she was.

It's so good to be home even if just for one night!

Back to work today. I left Winter Garden at noon. South on the Florida Turnpike to Yeehaw Junction where I decided to take a different route this time and save on some tolls. In Yeehaw Junction I went south on US441 down to Okeechobee. There I went east on SR-70 to Hwy 710 to I-95. Not too bad a drive. Once on I-95, I drove another 45 miles south to Pompano Beach.

A few turns off the Interstate and I'm at Pet Meds to make my delivery in the morning. Fortunately they have a large parking lot so I can stay here overnight. I thought I may have to go about a mile or so north of here to the Con-Way Freight yard for the night. I didn't really want to do that because it isn't that big there.

But I arrived down here at 4PM on a cool 74 degree afternoon. So I went for a 3 mile walk to grab a bite to eat and a Geocache (of course!). Ate some spaghetti and Meatballs with a side Italian salad at a place called Bobbie's. I was the only one in there which kinda worried me. But it was a Monday and a little early for the dinner crowd. But it wasn't too bad. Still not as good as MY spaghetti sauce though!

After dinner, I walked over and grabbed the cache still another 1/2 mile away. So it was a good 3 mile walk round trip.

That's it for now. See you again tomorrow. OH, and watch for an announcement soon on a way you can supplement your income during these tough economic times.

From Missouri to Georgia

A long day today. I started out this morning at 8:30 in Wright City, MO after a quick bite to eat at McDonald's. It was east on I-70 into St Louis, then east on I-64 in Illinois, to south on I-57.

I stopped in southern Illinois around 12:15 at a rest area in Metropolis to stretch my legs for 30 minutes. I was going to grab the Geocache there, but there were too many people around.

From there I turned onto I-24 eastbound through Kentucky, Tennessee, and into Georgia.

At 5:30 I pulled off into a truck stop along I-75 in Sugartown, GA. I saw a sign that said BBQ so I thought I'd give it a try. The small restaurant was pretty busy, so I took a seat and sat there for a while. Looking around a bit, I never did see any waitresses. About half the people were eating and most of those were burgers. I didn't really see or smell BBQ. And after about 5 minutes without seeing a waitress anywhere, I finally just got up and left.

I continued south on I-75 for another 45 minutes and just pulled into a T/A in Cartersville and ate there. The buffet looked better than it tasted.

After that I drove a bit further and came to a stop in Patillo, GA about halfway between Atlanta and Macon. That's 665 miles for the day. ONLY 378 miles for tomorrow and I get to see my wife and sleep in my own bed for a change. I'll be passing right by home on the way to Pompano Beach, FL. The load can't deliver until Tuesday morning so I'm taking a HOME day off.

WOHOO!!

Well, that was my day today. See you on the road...