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...

Not Much Happening Today

Woke up around 6:00 AM this morning parked at the consignee. I was the only truck there to get unloaded. They came in and unloaded the trailer around 8:00. Afterwards I swept it out because they left a mess.

I checked to see where I was on the board to help determine how long it might be to receive my next load assignment. Well I was #5 so it was probably going to be a while. Therefore I decided to drive the 5 miles down to the Flying J.

Got to the Flying J around 9:30 and went inside to get a shave and shower. By then I moved up to #4 on the board.

I had been here before and knew there weren't any close Geocaches, but I looked it up anyway. Yep, same as before. The nearest cache was 1.5 miles away. I was probably going to be here for several hours so I decided to take a walk. Plus I was starting to get hungry.

Started walking down towards the cache around 11:15. Found it with ease and headed back. All the restaurants were fast food, so I once again settled for the McDonald's. They got the Monopoly Game going so it's hard to pass up. Plus the sweet tea too!

After the 3 mile round trip walk and lunch I got back to the truck about 1:30. At 2PM, they finally assigned me a load. It didn't pickup until 5PM just across the river in Kansas. So I mapped it all out and then just hung out in the truck.

I left the Flying J at 4:30 and arrived in Shawnee, KS at 5:00. By 6:00, I'm back on the road to I-70 eastbound. This loads going all the way to Pompano Beach, FL. AND it doesn't deliver until Tuesday morning, so I'll get to spend at least one night at home!

I drove as far as Wright City, MO tonight just 228 miles. But it's 9:30 here which 10:30 for my body clock and I'm gettin tired.

So like I said, not much happening today. See you back again tomorrow.

Kansas City Here I Come!

After a long day yesterday, I slept in a bit today until almost 8AM. Well mostly because it was just too cold and I didn't want to get out of bed! I was trying not to idle the truck all night because I can sleep a little better without the noise and shaking. It was about 38-40 degrees outside and probably 50 something inside the truck. I had a sheet, a comforter, and a sleeping bag over me. It was nice and warm as long as a didn't move over a few inches into a cold spot!

Anyway, I finally got up and out. I decided to sit down inside the T/A's restaurant and have a good hot eggs and bacon breakfast. I had 580 miles to go and didn't want to stop unless I had to.

It was 11:00 by the time I got on the road. I-70 westbound through Indiana and Illinois. I didn't stop until 5:30 PM in New Florence, MO when I grabbed a quick bite to eat at the McDonald's. Stretched my legs a little and relaxed too. Drove for another hour and fueled up at a Pilot in Boonville, MO.

I finally arrived in Kansas City, MO at 9:30, well actually 8:30 local time. I'm parked here at the consignee. This one actually had instructions to open the doors and back into a dock. They'll start unloading when they get here in the morning. Sounds good to me.

Thanks for spending another trucker's day with me. See you again tomorrow.

Back in Ohio Again.

It's getting colder out there! Hello everyone and welcome back to my regular visitors. If you haven't already please take a moment at the bottom and post your comments and introduce yourself.

Today started out in Hazelton, PA at the Pilot Truck Stop. It was about 39 degrees when I woke up! Brrrrr! I drove about an hour over to Easton to pick up part of my load. That took almost 2 hours for only 1/4 of the trailer full.

Then I drove just 18 miles over to Allentown, PA for the rest of the load. This took almost 2 hours as well. Although on this stop I didn't mind too much. I have been wanting to get back over to this warehouse for 14 months now.

The last time I was here was in August 2008. There is a Geocache called "Road to Nowhere" that's about a 2 mile round trip walk to. I tried unsuccessfully to find it 14 months ago and have always wanted to come back and try again. Now was my opportunity.

While they were loading me up, I walked over to look for it. After reading the previous finders logs, I knew WHAT I was looking for, I just didn't know which one. There were about 20 of these items here. I just had to figure out which one it was in! I looked into the correct one TWICE and still didn't see it. Then I noticed some scribbling on the outside and took another closer look inside. FINALLY! Now I can sleep well knowing I found this sneaky hide.

Anyway, back to work.

After I returned, they finished loading the trailer. A total of 42,000 lbs of pipe fittings loaded all the way to the doors. Crossing 5 states to Kansas City, I need to get to a CAT Scale to have it weighed to make sure I'm balanced correctly. I looked in my truck stop guide book and it says there's one several miles down on I-78. No problem, I'm not going to hit the first weigh station until I-81.

But when I get off at that exit, I don't see any kind of truck stop there. It looks like your typical shopping center area with stores and restaurants. Great, now I got to figure out how to turn around! Fortunately, there's a shoulder I can pull off onto and check. I get a Google satellite image and follow the street around several blocks and I looks like I can do a big loop around. All businesses and no residential. 20 minutes later and I'm back on I-78.

About 20 more miles in Myerstown, I come to a Pilot. A quick run over the CAT Scales to find I'm 4100 lbs overweight on the trailer and 7,000 lbs under on the drives. I had to slide the tandems ALL THE WAY to the rear of the trailer to balance it correctly. That stretches the trailer out and makes for harder turns. Somebody didn't know how to load a trailer very well.

Anyway, after adjusting the trailer I fuel up and off I go. I-78 to I-81 south to I-76 west to I-70 west. I drive all the way to Buckeye Lake, Ohio just before the Indiana border, 654 miles later.

And I'm tired! See ya tomorrow.

A Long But Short Day. HUH?

What kind of a title is that right? Well after you read today's post you'll understand.

I woke up between 5:30-6:00 this morning. Not sure exactly. The consignee started unloading at 7:30 when the first shift came in. They had me done in about an hour so I just hung out there in their parking area. The nearest truck stop was about 15 miles away and closer to the center of Cleveland.

Finally about 9:45 they assigned me the next load and by 10:15 I was on the way. It was a Con-Way Freight load picking up in Lordstown, OH about an hour away. My appointment time wasn't until 4PM, but I was hoping to eat along the way.

I almost stopped at McDonald's, but decided that's not what I wanted. As it turned out there wasn't much for options either. After getting to Con-Way, I decided on just having a Cup-O-Soup.

Around 2PM, I thought I'd just inquire and see and to my surprise the load was ready! So I hooked up to the loaded trailer and rolled east on I-80. Across Pennsylvania to the Pilot Travel Center in Hazelton. There I relayed with another driver who was finishing the run to Massachusetts.

So the long day was that I was up a little early and the waiting around made it seem longer. The short day was only the 333 miles of driving.

Dinner tonight was the Subway here at the truck stop. Tomorrow I pick up a load in Allentown and haul it all the way to Kansas City.

Thanks for stopping by. See ya tomorrow.