From Northern Alabama to Southern Louisiana

Oops! I missed a day yesterday. Sorry about that. So here's a quick update on yesterday. It started out in Hoover, AL at 5:00 AM. I was on a Michael's Arts & Crafts run with 4 stores. The first in Hoover, 2 in Birmingham, and the last one up in Huntsville. Each of the unloads took approximately 1 hour and while they unloaded I managed to find 6 geocaches at the various shopping centers.

After the last store unloaded there in Huntsville, I left the truck at the dock and walked around to Logan's Roadhouse to finally get a bite to eat for what turned out to be my ONLY meal of the day. But it was a good one! Baby back ribs, sweet potato, and a salad.

Then I drove back down to the southern side of Birmingham to be ready for my next load this morning.

Today was another 5:00 AM start. It was a Con-Way Freight load going to Laredo, TX. However the Freight loads typically must keep moving. So I was only taking it to Sulphur, LA where I would swap trailers with another driver who would continue it further. After a quick stop for breakfast at a Hardee's along I-59 southbound, then west on I-10, I arrived in Sulphur at 2:00 PM. I swapped trailers with the other driver, taking his empty.

I already had my next load assignment and had some time to spare so of course I looked up some geocaches. There was one less than 500' from where I parked so I grabbed the GPSr and found it.

My next pickup is back in Baton Rouge in the morning. It's about 135 miles east along I-10, so I wanted get closer to there tonight. I also wanted to find a shower and dinner. I then head back east and stopped in Beaux Bridge, LA at a Pilot Travel Center. There I quickly fueled up and showered. 30 minutes later and I'm off again.

Just a little further east on I-10 is the Tiger Truck Stop. It gets its name because they have had a tiger in a cage at the east end of the parking lot for over 20 years. The current tiger "Tony" was born there at the truck stop in 2000. Anyway, I stopped here because they have a great restaurant. And this is where I sleep tonight.

Tomorrow I pick up a load in Baton Rouge and head to West Memphis, AR. Until then, thanks for stopping by. See you on the road...

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!

A Little Driving, Caching, and a LOT of Traffic

Well today started out pretty good. Woke up to another cool morning of 51 degrees in Sugar Notch, PA. Finally received my next load assignment around 9:00 AM and was off and rolling by 9:30. A short run for today.

I headed south on I-81 to Hagerstown, MD right below the Mason-Dixon Line which separates Maryland and Pennsylvania. There I picked up a pre-loaded trailer of misc items for the Sam's Club store down in Newport News, VA. By 1:00PM I was ready to go, but I still had 8 hours to go only 245 miles. Plenty of time! So I looked up some Geocaches and there were 4 less than a mile away to the north. The first in Maryland, 2 right on the state line, and the other up in Pennsylvania.

So I programmed them into my GPSr and went for a walk. A short 1/4 mile to the first one at a small cemetery there. Found the little nano container quickly on the gated entrance. Then moved on up the hill to the "State Line Park" so aptly named because it lies on the state line. I reached the location of the next cache, but there was a work van parked nearby with the driver taking a lunch break. I was in plain view so I couldn't look too hard. So after a few minutes I decided to just leave that one for another day. In the same park was the 3rd cache, which I found rather quickly. Afterwards I decided to skip the last one and head back.

By 2:30 PM I am on my way down to Virginia. As I approached Washington D.C., traffic slowed to a crawl. Around the I-295 bypass and south on I-95 and still crawling down into Virginia. I think it took about 2 hours to go a mere 40 miles before it started to pickup speed again.

A quick stop for fuel at a Pilot in Peterson's Corner, VA and I'm on my way again.

I arrived in Newport News at 8:15 PM with only 45 minutes to spare and by now I am starving! Fortunately when delivering to a Sam's Club store there are usually good restaurants around from which to choose. I choose to eat at a Golden Corral buffet. They have a wide variety of food and it's quick.

I made it back to the Sam's store at 9:00 PM and the perfect time when the opened their receiving door. So almost a full 12 hour day to go a mere 421 miles. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a nice long run going out west. That's what I requested anyway. So we'll see.

Until then, I'll see you out on the road...

A Smooth Drive to Pennsylvania

Good day everyone! Woke up this morning after a great nights sleep. The temperature was in the upper 50's in North Carolina, so I went to sleep with the truck off. No need to keep the a/c running which also meant no shaky idling, no rattles, and just quiet!

I awoke around 7AM. Wasn't really hungry this morning, so after a short conversation with my wife on the phone I just browsed the internet for a little while. My required 10 hour break wasn't over until 8:00 so I couldn't actually start driving until 8:15 after a 15 minute pre-trip truck/trailer inspection. Then I drove north on I-77 until Noon when I stopped at a truck stop in Wilda, VA and ate lunch at Arby's.

My next stop was along I-81 northbound at the West Virginia welcome center near Bunker Hill. There I found the two Geocaches which were hidden among the trees along the perimeter.

I then continued on north along I-81. Around 5PM, I stopped at a Pilot in Linglestown, PA. There I grabbed a quick shower. For food that Pilot had a Pizza Hut which had just taken out about a half dozen personal pan pizzas which smelt really good! So I bought a meat lovers pizza and ate it for dinner.

Another hour and a half later, at 7PM, I arrived in Sugar Notch, PA just south of Wilkes-Barre. There I dropped off my trailer loaded with 285 lawnmowers to the Sears distribution center. Just in time for the Fall/Winter mowing season right? Anyway, I dropped the loaded trailer and hooked up to an empty. Across the street was a dirt lot where a few other trucks were also parked. So I joined them also and that's where I now sit waiting for my next assignment. Which I probably won't get until morning but that fine.

Not to bad a day today. Thanks for dropping by.

From Georgia to North Carolina

Since I didn't really do a whole lot yesterday, today felt more like a Monday than a Tuesday. Woke up this morning around 7:00 AM at the Petro truck stop in Atlanta. I went inside to the restaurant there for breakfast. Skipping the buffet, I ordered 3 eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, and wheat toast along with sweet tea AND and orange juice. I gotta have something healthy every now and then.

After breakfast I drove on down the road just 5 miles away to the Keystone Automotive warehouse where they unloaded 80 cartons of bumpers that where in the trailer. By 10:45 AM I'm heading down to McRae, GA 160 miles away to pickup my next load. I take the I-285 Atlanta bypass loop south to I-75 south to Macon, then I-16 east.

Since I have plenty of time to make my appointment, I did stop at one rest area along I-16 to grab a Geocache. Then I turn south onto US319 in Dublin to get to McRae. I arrive there at 2:15 PM and by 3:00 PM I'm loaded and headed back north towards Pennsylvania. A quick stop again in Dublin for fuel and McDonald's.

Then it's non-stop east on I-16 to US1 north to I-20 east to I-77 north. Passing through South Carolina, I come to a stop in Troutman, North Carolina at the Hess Travel Center. That's a 535 mile day for today which leaves me 545 miles for tomorrow to my destination.

But now... I'm tired! See ya tomorrow.