South Dakota...I like this land!

I'm sitting in Watertown, SD doing a 34 hour restart...and it has been cool, quiet and relaxing. Now, there have been a lot of storms, wind, drove thru hail and heavy wind and rain on the way up here from CA....but I really do like the land up here. It is rolling hills, the Badlands, grasslands, gorgeous farm land...

 The really nice thing about storms out in the plains is you really get to have a good look at the clouds!  And they can be magnificient! The thunderhead above took on the look of an atomic blast in the light of the setting sun....that you don't see very often...if at all!!  :-)

 The other nice thing about the plains is the cars that you get to see....and you can see just about anything out here!  Caught this rod while looking for a spot to park here in Watertown.

 The drive up here thru the Badlands is just fabulous! The rolling hills go on for ever, it seems, and just blend into the horizon. And there was so much snow this past winter and they are getting so much rain so far this year that everything is green....and I mean everything!!

And I was not sure when I would be back thru this area, so while I had the chance I stopped at the Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD to pick up a couple of books on the ghost and gold towns of this part of the world. That is one of the things I plan on doing is getting back up here and finding some of these old towns from the gold rush days...and the silver rush days.

And what I hauled up here from CA was about 24,000 pounds of "bee protein"....honey bee food!!  And it was rainy and wet and windy and stormy for over half of the run. In fact, we unloaded in a nice steady rain that was just enough to get you soaked in 30 minutes!  But the storm that came along after that was just really massive!  I sat and watched it pass by...missed where I was sitting by just a couple of miles...but once it went by....on the rain that we got here for the next several hours....such fabulous sleeping weather!!!











I was able to get a couple of more of the modular drawers to try to finish up my storage issues in the truck. Added a 5 drawer to the closet since I have very little that needs to be hung up (because in the cold weather I keep my coats hanging on hooks that I can get to easy), almost all my clothing is in drawers (or will be before the night is over).  I'll get a pic of them when I get them all set up.

I have no real idea yet of where I am headed tomorrow. I'll be heading down towards Sioux Falls, SD to get a load out. And am working on making another run to CA for the AutoDisplay folks. We'll have to see how that one comes together.

But I think that the rest of the evening will be a movie night, just kick back and relax, get a good night's sleep and be ready to run for 7 days. Of course, tomorrow is the first day of the annual 3 day escapade of the DOT to check trucks, as many as they can, in their annual crack down on bad trucks. Let's just hope I can roll thru it without getting stopped....kind of like last year...it is just an inconvenience for time!  I'm not worried about passing one of them, it is just the hassle of it all. But if there were not so many crappy trucks out here with equally crappy drivers they wouldn't have to be doing it.  That is just the point that the trucking industry has gotten to. Not like it was several decades ago....and it just keeps getting worse!  

805 more days to go!!!  :-)

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!

Folks....you have to watch this!!

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In VA...heading for KY

I got unloaded Friday morning in Ford, VA....then drove over to Colonial Hts, VA and loaded out for Henderson, KY.  It is about a 1 day drive....and I deliver  Monday morning.....so a nice leisurely drive for the weekend!

I stayed in Colonial Heights for the night Friday, and most of the day yesterday!  Just chilled and relaxed and cleaned up a little more in the truck!  It rained and thundered and had lightening....it was a beautiful night for sleeping! And I did very deeply!!!  LOL

Had a few issues with my DEF (exhaust system) yesterday...but seem to have gotten it straightened out over the course of the evening...all is well for the time being....now just have to get my APU serviced and running.

I'm at the Welcome Center for TN on I-81S....got a few hours sleep and took the dog out and have had coffee (2 cups working on 2 gallons!!!  Heheheheheheh).  I'll be in Henderson, KY late this afternoon for delivery in the morning. Then where to?....who knows!  LOL

(And I might even get Bertha a bath today!! )

And as you can tell from the last picture....summer is getting here!  See the bug guts?!?!?!?!?!?  Almost makes you miss winter....at least the windshield stays clean for days!!!  LOL

Taking the day off for Easter....Basically!!

I'm at a little rest area about 20 miles north of Coffeeville, KS that I almost always stop at when I come thru this way. It is very quiet, peaceful, nice view and almost always breezy!  I got here yesterday and setup camp....and I'll leave sometime later this evening.  I'll be traveling thru OKC under cover of darkness...which is the best way to get thru OKC!!  LOL

I'll be in Duncan, OK for delivery in the morning and then load out for a run down to the Houston area. And I plan on running for the next 7-8 days straight. 

But it was nice to be still and cool and restful for a day without any worries about being on time for a drop....and not worrying about snow or ice!!  This past week was a long week thanks to that white lumpy stuff!!

Day before Easter

Had a good nite's sleep and in a quiet spot. I'm about 30 mi north of Des Moines,  IA.  I'll be in OK tonite, in time to pull a 34 and reload my log. All I can say is that I'm glad to be out of that white lumpy stuff. Supposed to be in the upper 70's today almost everywhere I'm headed!   :-D

Getting out of cold country!

About to load out from Woodville, WI with some hand built equipment frames for Halliburton in Duncan, OK. Just found out that I'll be here til after 6pm, the last piece still has to be painted.  So a couple of more hours of detention on this settlement.   :-)

An Interesting Day!

It was an interesting day today. It started with my delivery....it has been a while since I drove a tractor trailer into a cave!  It was rather neat....and the underground storage in Springfield is a lot better/nicer than the ones in Kansas City!

 It is a mining operation that is almost over/complete. They have been mining limestone from this area for several decades. It is almost complete, rather, they have almost used up all their mineral rights. So they are shutting down the mining and finishing up making "warehouses" out of it.

 Where I delivered to has been there a while. The guy that offloaded me said he had been working there for that company for 13 years. So it is well founded in the area.

 But what got me was just how "new" everything looked. It looks like it is just a few years old...not pushing 20 years as warehousing....not to mention just how old the mining operation is.

Then, once I got that delivery done and then fueled up and headed north for tomorrow's delivery....oh, what an interesting drive!

 The picture on top doesn't show it too well, but the radar shot from phone makes it pretty clear....I drove thru snow/sleet/rain/mess for about half of the day. And the wind was gusting up to 35+mph.  It was just a cruddy day to drive for the most part.

It is just the winter that just keeps on giving!!!!

In the morning I deliver to a wind farm....so it should be interesting...more pics tomorrow night. I will be in Minneapolis tomorrow night and Duluth on Wednesday morning.

From there.....who knows...chasing the dollar for now!!  :-)

Drove until late....a day of rest!

I made it to my load point in Oklahoma City by 12:30pm yesterday and got loaded with plastic (PVC) conduit again. I like these loads. Found a Home Depot just a couple of miles from my load point and parked behind it for "a break"...LOL...made some supper, watched some Ancient Aliens and got comfortable....and took about a 4.5 hour nap!  Needless to say it was late when I started driving.  It was late enough that Brad was headed in for his overnight run, so we talked and drove for several hours.  I finally stopped about 3:30-4am this morning.  Slept until about 8:30-9am and then drove on up to Springfield for the rest of the weekend.

I pretty well just rested today. Have cleaned up a little bit more, going to get another drawer or two tonight at Wally. That should be enough storage for me to just about have a home for everything and the floor will be clear except for the dog's bowl and my small toolbox.

I should have my drop off in Springfield by 8am Monday, hopefully.  Then it will be hammer down for Ft Dodge, IA...I might actually be able to get there for that drop before 5pm.  Going to try hard. That should set me up to be empty by either 2pm Tuesday or 0630 Wednesday morning.  The only problem with this run is.....

Have you been looking at the weather forecasts for the next 3 days???  There is a blasted cold front coming down into the US out of Canada that is gonna be GOOD!!!!  Bah-humbug!  The highs in Duluth while I'm there is supposed to be basically freezing, 31°-33° degrees with lows of 12°-15° degrees!!  Sheesh!!!  And I have been in shorts for the past week! Will have to break out my heavy coat and cap for a couple of days.  This is the winter that just keeps on giving!!!

Found a Jackie Chan movie that I had not heard of the other day...."Chinese Zodiac".....I'll probably be watching it tonight. Hopefully it is good....I haven't seen a bad movie by him yet.

Oh, back to the weather....the wind is also going to get pretty bad here tomorrow. They are calling for 20-30mph today and basically tomorrow with gusts up to 35mph. But tomorrow is also supposed to rain for most of the day....oh joy!

It is getting a little cooler now, sun going down and wind still blowing. It was 80 here today. Need to get my stuff together to hit the shower in a while and probably go ahead and do my laundry later tonight.

More tomorrow....hopefully I won't forget to get in here and keep this current. Trying to get to the point that I hit it every day!  Now, that is a challenge to me from me!!!  LOL

Cya later....  :-)

Run to KY to OH to OK....Stillwater tomorrow morning..OKC to MO/IA/MN also!

Another post that is just a little bit behind the curve in time!!!  LOL  But I'll finish it and the bring it up to date!  :-)

On the road again!  And back at home in Bertha. Had to get 2 new steer tires and had the alignment checked/done again. She is running like a new truck and handling much better.

I'll be at Ok State Univ in the morning unloading concrete forms that I have onboard. Can't make it there today due to traffic and construction....oh, the construction!....in every state. So will meander on down there over the evening, stopping in Joplin and fueling and get Bertha a bath there. Then find a spot close to Tulsa/Stillwater for the night, probably find a Home Depot for decent wifi or maybe a Staples.

  

I ended up spending the night on a wide spot just past a highway intersection about 17 miles from my drop in Stillwater.  It was nice and quiet...so quiet that I slept right thru my 2 alarms and a call from Brad!  Ahhhh, peace!!!  LOL

Made it to my drop this morning. And a very typical job site...in a city....the concept of "room" to move a large vehicle around just does not exist!  LOL

 
As you can tell from the pic above, there just was not much space to get around. I came in from the east side and it was so tight to get in that I had to drive about 2 miles down the road to find a spot to turn around and come back to be able to get thru the gate.

Once in...well, you can see how little room there is to unload.

Then once I got settled in, had to wait for a skylift to get from the other side of the site to unload me. It was a lift that is able to reach up 3 or 4 stories...so it was a tight fit for the driver.

Now in the next pic you see a small blue dot in the middle rear of the lot....that is the lift taking the items from my truck to where they had to store them for now.  About 100 yards away....nice!!!

Then, once I was unloaded...I had to back out of the lot, two guys had to go out in the street and stop traffic so I could back up into the street across from the lot entrance to be able to get on the road.

There were a couple of cars that almost decided that they were not going to stop...until they realized that I was coming out of the lot and my trailer and I would win any fight over who was going to have control of that little piece of asphalt!!  LOL  Then on top of that, there was a university cop sitting in the street that I was backing into that just sat there and watched as we did battle with the morning traffic to get me out. He did back up a little as I started down the street in reverse at a gaining speed attitude towards him!

I have made it to OKC, OK to load and head out. Made it here by lunch time to get another load of plastic conduit. Have drops in...Springfield, MO...Fort Dodge, IA....Minneapolis and Duluth, MN. I haven't taken any pics of this load yet, I'll add them later.

I can't deliver in Springfield until Monday morning at 7am, so I have another weekend to sit and relax....oh, joy!!  But that is the way it goes.

I did find 2 of the drawers for my truck storage that I had been looking for, so it is getting better each day as far as storage in here goes. I think tomorrow I'll be trying to get my work and backup lights on the truck and wired in.  And I might just try to get my tv antenna mounted too!!!  :-D

A Weekend at Gadsden :-)

It has been a pleasant weekend at Tabitha and Jason's house.  I have not had a chance to visit since Christmas. And man are the kids growing!  And boy am I getting old!  LOL  But that is the way of life and we just carry on.

Friday was basically spent at the Petro shop here getting Bertha worked on. She is now, I believe, in top condition and I will be rolling out of here sometime Monday morning and will be out on the road for the next several weeks.  So there is no telling wehre I will be come Monday night!!  LOL

I spent the day today (Saturday) running around with the boys.  We ran down to Trussville to go to the Sprint Store.....which is no longer there!  A great drive down to spend time visiting with the boys.  :-)   We took the long way back up Hwy 11 and the boys got to see Sleepy Hollow Road and the backwoods of Attalla.  In fact, there is an area of the woods there on the southern end that is "swamped" out and you can see the beaver lodge that is the result of the daming of the creek.  It was really pretty.

Then lunch at Zaxby's...my first trip to Zaxby's....not bad!!!!  And the fries are fabulous!!!  :-)

Josh and I ran down to Best Buy in Oxford, to take a look at the new Galaxy Note Tablet....and of course they didn't have one there. They had the Tab Pro and my main concern was the new UI in the new models and the new OS.....and I was pleasantly surprised with it. In fact, I was very impressed.  But that will be coming in several months....all things in due time!

Back at Tabitha's for the evening....then I am going to crash in my truck for the night and work on it some tonight and in the morning.  It is supposed to rain here most of the day tomorrow, so I will work in Bertha and get it cleaned up and throw some more stuff out and then do some more rearranging.

Time to eat some sever layer mexican cassarole.....YES!!!