Welcome to AZ....can't wait for summer!!!

Made it to Tolleson, AZ today, got the drop off, and remembered something!!!

I will gladly go to the "high desert" from now on....you can keep the low desert!! It was 110 degrees on the road today....and the humidity hung around 30%....just not fun!!!

But the view on the drive down from Flagstaff is really nice!

Headed for Martinez, CA in the morning, should be there by lunch Thursday....then from there, no telling!!  :-)

Memorial Day! Gorgeous Day!

It has been a very relaxing weekend! 

An enjoyable visit with Allene on Saturday.

A quiet Sunday....The Indy 500 and then the Coca-Cola 600....a very good day!  :-)

Today will be finishing up cleaning up truck, more visit with Allene, getting ready for the rest of the run to CA.

It has been raining all weekend off and on, a record rain in Roswell-over 4 inches this weekend.....but water is needed!

Have a Great Day gang!  :-D

In Belen, NM for the weekend :-)

I have made it to Belen for the weekend, seeing as I don't deliver in Albuquerque until Tuesday morning. Thanks to the holiday weekend. But it will be a nice break, in a part of the country that I just love!  Even if I it is raining on and off all weekend! In fact, they are calling for rain & thunderstorms for the next 5 days here!  But it is a welcome thing to have rain.....seeing as they have been in severe drought for the past 5 years basically!  

I started the day south of Amarillo, delivered there at 9am, then headed this way. And it was raining from the time I started until I got to Santa Rosa, NM....it was a heavy soaking rain, which was great, but then the thunderstorms started rolling in as it "warmed" up a little. It got bad enough that I pulled off and parked twice. But then out came the NM sun and blue skies!  It was really nice. The winds were not too bad today, which was a nice change.

Made it to Allene's about the time she got done with her last student for the day....so it was supper time!  And Chinese it was!  The little buffet that we go to is in Los Lunas and it is very good!  As usual, I pretty well just filled up with "protein" items!  LOL  And as usual, probably ate a little too much protein!  But boy is it good!

Then we just went back to the house and had a nice nite-cap, sat and looked up at the stars out here....and there are so many of them....which is one of the things that I love about out here. You can really see stars here, especially when you get away from a lot of the light pollution.  After all the rain, the air doesn't have dust in it and the sky is just full of stars!  Wanted to see some of the meteor shower from that new asteroid, but so far I have not seen any.  Too bad!

The Rio Grande has water!!!

Tomorrow is a full day for Allene....she plays for the morning services, then has a meeting that she does early afternoon, and then another something later in the day, so it is a busy day for her. So I will lay low and work on the truck, clean it up, do a little shopping at WallyWorld here and just relax.  Monday we are going to go and do something....have no idea what we shall do, but there is enough around here to be able to find something. We might just do a picnic on the Rio Grande!  Never can tell.  Maybe take in a movie early. And a good steak dinner sounds good to round off the day!  :-D

Made it back to TX...weekend off...Loading Monday for CA :-)

It has been an interesting week and this will be a LONG post!!  LOL  I didn't take too many pics with phone, several with little camera, so will be uploading them later. But this week's weather has gone from clear and sunny to tornado sirens going off while I loaded!!!  Very interesting week!

The load that got me to OH from MI was a load of "Bandit Mfg" chippers...they are a really neat company....their range of chippers and stump removers range from the size of a bobcat to....

"The BEAST"   LOL  :-)

 

The Beast is the size of a small bus...and from the looks of it you can put a small house into it!!  Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration....but it can take up to an 18-24 inch tree if I understood them correctly. It is a monster!!

The last load that got me back to TX was loaded out of Mt Sterling, OH....a load of fencing....and right in the middle of that major storm front...

 that went thru Ohio last Wed and Thur. I was actually loading about 25 miles from where that tornado touch down and the lightening was just awesome!

The run out to TX was basically uneventful....except for the tension roller failure...that cost about 3 hours in time sitting in the shop. But it got there and installed and I got back on the road......

THEN.....about 20 miles east of Jackson, TN I ran into a parking lot on I-40W...there had been an accident (apparently the little blue vehicle that passed us doing about 90+mph had lost it and was on its top in the middle of the highway under an overpass....parts of the vehicle and supposedly parts of it's passengers were scattered over a large part of the highway and shoulder and median. That said, there was at least one fatality, which means that you can't move anything until the coroner gets there....so we set out brakes, got out of the vehicles and stood the median looking, visiting, getting to know our new/temporary neighbors....and spend a relaxing 2+ hours there! 

Made it to TX by 2pm Friday for my drop. Then fought my way over to NRH to stay at Cary & Tif's for weekend.  Cary and I had supper at Frijoles last night...& we did the manly thing when alone with out female direction....we ordered dinner the appetizer menu!!!!  I guess it is hard to beat old habits....or maybe we are both trained very well!!!!  LOL  But it was good!!  ;-)

Woke up this morning, went out back and was introduced to the slow start of "in town miniature farm"!!

And so it BEGINS!!!

I'll add more later when I get a chance before leaving tomorrow evening. Next stop on this adventure is Boyd, TX to load up some more of those revolving auto displays and taking them to Commerce City, CA (I think that's where they're going!  LOL  ). 

Headed for TX....bad day!

Well, things have been smooth for a few weeks...I'm headed for DFW to decrease tomorrow.....but right now I'm in Kingston, TN getting the tension roller for the A/C belt replaced. We won't discuss how much that dang little thing costs!

In MI for wknd, OH on Monday

It has been a relaxing day here in MI. Slept in, had a peaceful morning, Abbie got here booster shots and a bath....and I just relaxed!  

It is amazing how things improve sometimes....I have spent my life having to get pets shots every year.....Abbie's shots are good for THREE YEARS!!!  That is just outstanding!  I didn't know that they had gotten the vacines to that point. It makes life just so simple, especially since I now don't have to worry about it for 3 years...that is just so nice!

Have had a really good visit with Brad and Amanda. It is still just hard to accept that I had not been up there for about 2 years! Time just travels by too opioid fast!

I've also decided that property is for the young, to spruce up & fix up.....then us old darts can come along and enjoy it, play with the little ones....then be on our merry way before we slow down so much that we can't move again!!!!!   LOL.  :-D

Brad's been working on this one, and it's looking good! He even has space for the odd traveler coming thru for a few days!

Oh.....and by the way.....HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOM'S!!!!  I hope each of you has a great day!

On the road to NJ

Got my load off yesterday morning...and it wasn't too bad...in fact, I was empty by 0830.  So it was a really smooth morning.

Then Vanessa found me a load out of Red River to NJ (you know, it's the state that you can't turn left in!!  LOL ). The load is 3 Hummers that have been reworked/refurbished and are being shipped to Israel. 

And talk about a difference, all three of these vehicles weigh less than 19,000 pounds. The two that I brought down from WI weighed a little over 20,000! That is the difference between stripped down...only chains in place of doors, no armour, no bullet proof glass, etc.  I'll get a couple of pics on here later.

I'll be in NJ by lunch tomorrow and empty by then also....I hope!!

Guess that is about it for right now. I'll get some pics of the load on here in the morning and maybe even know where I headed from NJ by then.  :-)

Feel like I'm back in the gov't again!! LOL

Made it to Texarkana today and can't get thru the gate until 0530 tomorrow...why am I not surprised....they have quite a parking area there, but unlike like many of the companies that I deliver to, they make no effort to help the drivers....0530-7pm M-F...no "overnight" parking....so needless to say, I am expecting to see quite a zoo in the morning!

 I must admit that having 3 days to make a one day drive has had it benefits....like I actually have gotten the sleeper of the truck pretty well setup....almost everything has a place now....and there is actually room!!!  I can actually walk around in here without having to step over or around or trip over stuff to get from front to back and back to front...make life much nicer in here!

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 And last night I made it to one of my favorite rest areas...it is about a half hour south of Ft Smith, AR. It is almost always pretty well empty, very quiet and really a nice, well kept up rest area. Almost like camping!!
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 What I have on board right now are two Hummers....REAL hummers...that are headed in to either be refitted/reworked.....or to be scrapped. One of them was driven on....the other one was pushed on with a forklift....LOL....never know what will be on here.

 They were picked up at Camp Douglas in WI.  It is an old AF base that is now a WI Air Natl Gd and WI Army Natl Gd. There was not enough room to park, so just got a couple of shots of the plane park as you come into the base....I do love military bases....if we could just get our cities to look this good!  Fat Chance!!!!

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The last load I had onboard, that got me to WI, was a load of aluminum power line....and of course it would be a mess where they were going...an actual job site where they are upgrading and putting in new towers...so needless to say, with the snow and the rain that they have been having, it was a mess.

Have no idea where we're headed from here, so Abbie and I will just sit it out tomorrow and see what happens....hopefully I won't have to wait all day to get empty....but, with gov't workers....you never know!!!  LOL

Headed for Texarkana

I made it to KY, picked up 3 spools of aluminum power wires (18K, 16K & 8K in weight) and took them to Couderay, WI. And it has either been raining or wind blowing or both for the whole trip! But got there in one piece and off loaded them just fine.

I then spent the night at the Wally in Rice Lake, WI....and it rained the whole time. And the wind kept blowing also.....it has finally about rained itself out late this afternoon. There is not much for loads out of this area when you don't tarp....but Vanessa finally found me a load out of Camp Douglas, WI ..... hauling 2 HumV's to Texarkana, TX for the WI ANG. But have all weekend to get there. I have to call down there first thing in the morning and get an appointment for delivery. Hopefully I will be empty by mid-morning Monday. But it is a DLA (Defense Logistics Agency) operation, that is who runs Anniston Army Depot....so there is no telling just when I will get unloaded. 

Made it into IA tonight before stopping....No sense in running into the ground...have 3+ days for a 1.5 day run! Tomorrow will be a laundry day and shower day and enjoy the scenery day!