The camera adds 10 lbs...

Unscripted and unedited, what? You say you couldn't tell? gee, that's awful nice of you to say... George Lucas ain't got nothing on me! I promise to do a better job in the future!

My trip brought me through southern Utah. If you have never been through Moab, I highly recommend it. My multimedia machine consists of a camera phone that can take marginal photos, and even worse video. Pictures don't really do justice for just how BIG the deserts in the west are. Of course, the deserts are followed by the mountains. Fortunately, my load of chips was very light, and I had no problem getting here.

Having lived in Utah for four years, I was excited to come back and see all the changes that have taken place. I left before the Olympics happened here, and there has been a lot of construction going on, that's for sure!

I Found my way to my destination with no trouble, I didn't even need Edith to point the way, That may be a first!

Funny thing, when I lived out here, my commute took me past a large truck stop called Sapp Brothers, I always wanted to go there, but at the time I had a "real job", and felt like that would be a foolish thing to do. Well, my first stop when I dropped my trailer was said truck stop, which is where I am now. It is a nice place to spend the afternoon. My next pickup is tomorrow morning, I will spend the night here with my free Internet connection. Back to Texas in the morning!

Hot Temps and a cool load...

I've finally made it back to a web connection, this one in West Memphis AR, so the saga can continue.

I made it to Chester PA in good time, dropped a trailer and waited to hear from the dispatch gods where I was going next, and waited, and waited.

I figured this would be a good time to get some grocery shopping done, I fired up Edith, and she showed me a supermarket less than a mile from my location. "Awesome" I thought "I'll just walk it, I could use the excercise". Well after walking past several burned out houses and abandoned house lots, I got to the "supermarket", which was basically a house converted to a mom and pop store where pop had left years ago. They sold chips, soda, and toilet paper. Not needing any of these staples, I decided to walk back to the truck and wait it out there.

Yes, the walk did require me to pass a state prison. Not a good neighborhood...

Getting back underway, I headed to Paulsboro NJ. OK sis, a made a trip to the Jersey shore just for you! and loaded for Nitro West Virginia. This took me through western Maryland, which is beautiful country but it is steep and slow going. When I reached the West VA side, I found the sun! Haven't seen the big orange ball for days, and this was a welcome sign.

Got to Nitro, and got unloaded which led me to what has been my favorite stop to date.

There is a Kellogg plant in Kimper KY. This was my next pickup. I pull into the lot and see this river of water running out of one of the loading doors. Having worked at a dairy for a while, I'm used to seeing some water used to wash the production floors, but this was a river. Obviously something was wrong in this building I was about to walk into.

Getting inside the Shipping area, I can see through a locked door that there is a huge lake forming in the middle of the warehouse. People are running around trying to figure out what to do, and someone passes me saying It'll be a minute before they can help me.

I cannot do the Kentucky/southern accent justice, so just ad lib your own through this story.

Another trucker comes in, He's from Texas, nice guy with a really big mouth who starts in with "Y'all got a problem in there." no kidding.

The shipping manager finds a couple minutes to help me out, but the pickup number I give him doesn't match anything in his system, He starts helping the other driver out while I go to the truck to call and get confirmation on my pickup. Fortunately, I know the trailer number I am supposed to pickup, and I see it in the lot. Unfortunately, my trailer has yellow caution tape run around it like a college TP party. Now I'm concerned. I go back inside Lake Kellogg, where now there are suits and ties looking at the big puddle. Going back to the shipping office, I give the man my new number, which still doesn't match anything in his computer. He now explaines to me that a woman on a forklift accidently hit the water main for the fire supression system, this is like a 6-8" diameter high pressure water pipe, and that is where all the water is coming from.

"OK" I say, not knowing exactly what I can do to make that situation better, "Now about my load to pickup. I know it is the trailer covered in caution tape."

At this point the guy's eyes light up "Well why didn't you say so!" (KY accent please) "I got that paperwork right here!"

Before he hands it to me, One of the people working on the broken pipe comes out and grabs the Shipping guy away from me. Seeme the valve for the water pipe is locked out and cannot be turned off. Sounds like a job for someone from shipping to me...

Getting back to me, he hands me the paperwork, 23,000lbs of pop tarts. It's the pop tart factory! I still don't know the meaning of the yellow caution tape, and probably never will, but as I'm about to walk out the door, the guy says (in your best KY accent please)

"Hey, Yew want some pop tarts?"

"Yes, yes I do Please" I said very calmly. He proceded to give me four big boxes of them.

These were the happiest people I've met. Great spirit working hard, and laughing non-stop. I mean, hey, I'ts a pop tart factory. Feel comfort in knowing that the next box of pop tarts you buy was made by very happy people.

I made it through most of KY before I bedded down for the night at a rest area. I was back on the road by 6am feeling good about getting an early start, when I was passed by a fire truck which I was hoping was not making it's way to the Kellogg plant 300 miles away. Nope, for right in fromt of me traffic had stopped. A minivan that had rolled over and the LifeFlight helicopter had landed in the southbound lanes. So much for an early start to my day. I was there for an hour and a half waiting for traffic to clear. Most of us were out of our vehicles walking around, and I had a good conversation with many of the people surrounding me.

View in front all stopped...

View Behind me

Every day is a new adventure out here!

Back in PA.

I've been on a roundabout trip these last few days. My last entry was uploaded in Indianapolis, since then I have headed north to Wisconsin, and made it back to PA. where I will drop a trailer today.

Glad I have finally got Chicago figured out. That place is busy all the time. I have been chasing this rainstorm east since I left Wisconsin. Heavy rain tends to slow down my traveling, and for good reason. I passed a rollover in Ohio, and I-81 was closed in PA due to an accident with a fatality. I'm keepin' Big Orange outta trouble!

My planned time at home is around Sept 5th, so I still have a bunch of days and miles to go on this run, stay tuned!

Long Time Gone...

OOPS...









I've been letting this blogging thing get away from me for a while, what with time at home two weeks ago, and not being able to find a good Internet connection for the last week on the road. Anyhoo, time to bring things back up to date, I will do this in one update vs. the multiple updates I did before.









Got back in the ruck on Aug 11, headed to Rumford to pick up paper headed for Newport News VA. I made it through NYC and settled down for the night in my favorite New Jersey rest area. (This is a funny joke, there is nothing in my world that is a favorite anything in Jersey). Headed out the next morning headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, when somewhere near Onancock I hear this big BOOM! Looking in my mirror I see that I am throwing pieces of a tire all over the road. Let me tell you, there are some really dumb drivers out there that like to tailgate big trucks. Blowing out a tire and covering them with rubber will back them WAY back! Gee, If only I could do that trick on demand...







Because of my somewhat remote location, when I called the roadside assistance help line, they told me it was going to take a while to get someone out to change the tire.







No, I don't carry a spare.







Three hours later, I was rolling again. Made it to the bridge/tunnel, Paid my $35.00 toll, and headed to my stop. By the time I got there, the receiving dept. had closed for the day, and I got stuck at the port for the night. They were kind enough to let me park and sleep there.





The next morning was beautiful weather, I had an ocean view, and it was a blue sky morning. I got myself up and drove the 50 yds to the loading dock where they got me unloaded, and I was on my way to my next pickup.



After carrying a heavy load of paper for 750 miles, my next load was a pleasure, 1,700 lbs of foam packing. To put this in perspective, I carry more weight in fuel than this whole load weighed! It filled the trailer though.



This load got me to Eatonton GA, a hot place to be right now. I was glad to get this unloaded and move on to another paper mill in Krannert GA. Another big heavy load of paper going to Lexington NC. This trip put me through Atlanta GA. Why is there so much traffic in Atlanta? Day or night, the place is non stop traffic! Sorry, Random Rant...Anyway, I digress...



That was an uneventful trip. Pick it up, drop it off. I'm getting into the mojo of the short trip at this point. 300-500 mile trips are a days drive, They tend to be more physical work than the long hauls where I am sitting behind the wheel, but I'm OK with that. It's not like I'm lifting refrigerators or something!



From Lexington, I headed to Greensboro for a load, and am on my way to WI. I must admit that I am looking forward to some cooler temps, and less humidity. This load is not to be delivered for a couple days, and I'm already 350 miles from Where I need to be, so this may just be a day off for me! One doesn't get too many of these on the road, so I think I will take advantage of a very nice day in the Midwest.

Hey Dad, here is a photo of the antenna mount. Hoping to get the whole setup working today.