Buddy Is The Greatest Exercise Machine Ever! 173

Buddy was my running mate from the time I adopted her until I had to take a few months off for medical reasons. We were both at home during my recovery.

When I went back to work, the only truck AMX had available was an old Kenworth. I was glad to get it, but there wasn't enough room in it for Buddy to jump into the passenger seat. So I had to leave her at home until I got a bigger truck. Not the whole story, but that's part of the reason Buddy hasn't been with me lately.

When I decided I couldn't afford Plavix and Crestor for a while, and was going to make a real effort to get myself in better physical shape, I decided to take Buddy back out on the road with me. Buddy loves to walk, and I knew I'd come closer to walking myself if I had her along.

Last Friday I swung by the house with my load of Dr. Pepper to pick Buddy up. We left for Pensacola late Sunday (yesterday) afternoon. Since then I've purposely walked more than I have in the last ... several years probably. Two or three times around a truck stop parking lot; all over the Coca-cola complex in Pensacola; up and down the road where we picked up today; completely around the WalMart/parking lot in Thomasville AL. Buddy is the greatest exercise machine ever - for me anyway.

(Remember, you can click the pics for a bigger view.) This is her bed, where she rides while we're moving (maybe you can see it in the passenger seat):



(Pardon my cluttered truck.) I cut a piece of plywood to fit/slide between the seat and backrest - it stays in place that way. The other end extends to the dash. She has enough room to stretch out if she wants to, and she can look out the window and wave at all the 4wheelers.

This is how Buddy gets in and out of the truck:



And this is how/where I store her ramp - on top of the fuel tank:



This is the trip we're under now:



My route brought me by the house, where I am now. I'm taking a 10 hour break here - mostly because I needed to modify Buddy's bed with my jig saw a little, and pick up one of her old mattresses. From here I have about 545 miles to go - 10 hours at 55 mph. We're doing good on time.

I'm so tired .... It takes time to write the posts, and it's especially hard when I don't really feel like writing. But I wanted to post this update before I got too far behind. Now I'm going to bed.

Pensacola Bound With Dr. Pepper 172

I picked this up after I delivered Calhoun GA this afternoon. I know 007 put me on it so I could swing by the house (it's on the way) to pick up my little Buddy - my exercise machine. (007 is the best dispatcher I've ever had. She's tough, but by golly, if you work for her she'll work for you.)

I stopped by the house to pick Buddy up on the way to Danville VA last Wednesday, but she was at the beauty parlor. Remember Saratech - the girl from Dr. Herriot's who picks Buddy up on her way to work once a month for grooming? Last Wednesday was bath day for Buddy, and I didn't have time to wait for her. So I'm picking her up on the way to Pensacola.

Right this minute though, I'm at the Pilot in Rising Fawn GA on my 10 hour break.

My Blogs Come Up In Google Searches 171

I love Google. This blogging service, the one I do my blog(s) on, is a free Google service. AdSense, the Google Ads that appear on my blog, is also a free service; it allows people/companies/etc. to advertise on my blog, and I get to collect a tiny little fee for the space - for legitimate clicks, that it. As of now I'm up to $3.75. When I get up to $100.00, Google will mail me a check. I actually got a check from Google once.

And Google provides all kinds of analytical tools so I can see (when I can figure the reports out) how my little blogs are doing otherwise ....

For instance, I know that somebody typed “cra quest” on the main Google website, and a page from my Economic Understand blog showed up in the 8th position in the search results:



And it looks like this on the results page:



I know people typed in these Queries, and pages from this blog showed up in various positions in the search results:



(Anyone can Google the words in the graphic for themselves to see how the search results look.)

All this stuff is so interesting to me. Wish I could get paid to study it.... Anyway, these are a few reasons I do a blog like this one instead of putting content on MySpace or Facebook. I really like the way Facebook works though - very interwoven and organized.

It's Cheaper To Be Healthy 170

I've been taking a bunch of expensive prescription medicines since my Angina attacks and stent placement last March. (That story begins with This Fence Is Killing Me!, posted on 3/9/09.) It was getting to the point that I could only buy 1/2 of them at a time.

For instance, on 7/31 I bought 15 tablets of 75mg Plavix and they were $76.43! 15 tablets of 40mg Crestor were $59.83! I felt like I was working just so I could buy all the medicine I take:



So on 8/15/09, when I ran out again in Jacksonville FL, I decided to buy 15 of my Effexor ($72.92), all the Aspirin, and and all the Lisinopril. (Effexor is for depression, and I definately don't want to be without it.) I had a few Plavix left, and I was totally out of Crestor. I knew that, unless I cut back on some of this stuff, I'd never get back to where I was before I got sick. That's my decision, and I'm sticking to it for at least a couple of months.

The point in all this is that I've decided to make a real effort to be healthier. It's cheaper that way. This is the fax I sent to Dr. Feelgood and Cinderella:



But I haven't heard back from them yet. (At some point before I had bloodwork done on 8/24/09, I called Cinderella just to touch base about my decision. She said she'd leave some Crestor and Plavix samples at the lab for me. And sure enough, she did.)

I'm real tired now; so let me say I'm posting from the Flying J in Carnesville GA, and this is the trip I'm under now:



Goodnight!

How Can A Man Be His Own Grandpa? 169

I heard Phil Harris singing this old song on the XM last week. It was too fast for me to grasp it all, and I've been wondering ever since ... how could a man become his own grandpa? Is that possible?

He's His Own Grandpa
(performed by Phil Harris)

I met a guy today I knew years ago, when he was 23,
And he was married to a widow who was as pretty as could be.
Now this widow had a grown-up daughter who had beautiful hair of red,
And this guy's father fell in love with her and soon the two were wed.

Now this made the guy's dad his son-in-law and changed his very life
For his daughter was his mother because she was his father's wife.
Now to complicate the matter even though it brought him joy,
He soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy.

Now his little baby then became a brother-in-law to his dad,
And so became his uncle and though that made him very sad,
For if the baby was his uncle then that also made him brother,
Of the widow's grown-up daughter who was of course his step-mother

[chorus]
(He's his own grandpa) Now you're catching on.
(He's his own grandpa) Well naturally!
It sounds funny I know, but really its so.
(He's his own grandpa) Well wait a minute, get a load of this!

Now his father's wife had a son who kept them on the run,
So he became his grandchild for he was his daughter's son.
His wife is now his mother's mother and of course that makes him blue
Because although she's his wife she's his grandmother too!

(He's his own grandpa) Fun in the living room
(He's his own grandpa) Absolutely!
It sounds funny i know, but really it's so.
(He's his own grandpa) Yea, but look, get the payoff.

Now his wife is his grandmother, then he is her grandchild.
And every time the guy thinks of it it nearly drives him wild!
For now he has become the strangest case you ever saw,
As husband of his grandmother, he's his own grandpa!

Phil Harris is another one of my favorites on the Old Time Radio Classics.

Star Trek Scotty's Wedding Album 168

(Posting from the TA in Duncan SC on 8/26/09 at 9:15PM)

While I was home last weekend I uploaded all of Star Trek Scotty's wedding pictures to a Picasa photo album. Molly McGee had emailed them to Mother, and this was the easiest way to fix them so she could view them.

Click this link, then put the album in your "Favorites" to separate it from this blog.

Molly, there's a place to add comments under each picture in the album (click the picture first.) If you want to, you could say something about them.... For that matter, anybody can add a comment if they want to.

I'm not even sure when the wedding was, but I know Scotty doesn't hold it against me. He knows I'm a little scatter-brained. And I hope he knows I love him and wish him all the best.

In other news: This is a little video I make while waiting to unload at International Paper in Selma, AL on 8/25



I was hoping my camera would capture the stuff floating around in the air.... You can't see it here, but the air was thick with stuff I thought must be ash from the smokestacks in the background. Then I thought maybe it was something coming from the trees or plants around the place. I was thoroughly surprised to find out it was foam coming off the pond(s) somewhere on the property - it happens when the pond(s) are aerated.

Then, from Selma I went to Thomasville, AL to pick up this trip:



It was scheduled to pick up at 6PM, and it was 8PM when I finally got completely loaded. I only had 2 hours left on my log book by that time, so I spent the night in Thomasville Tuesday night.

Njoy Electronic Cigarettes - 167

Now for the business at hand:



(It doesn't deliver until Tuesday (8/25) because I have a doctor's appointment on Monday.)

From Warren PA I went to Wilmerding PA (which is really a part of Pittsburgh) and dropped/hooked a load of recycle at Cintas Document Management. This stuff isn't just garbage like most of the recycle we haul. (Remember They Should Still Call It Garbage?) This is stuff that companies purposely have destroyed to "Minimize [their] risk of identity theft, government fines and lawsuits...." These guys do it right too.

I wasn't allowed inside the building, but looking in from the ground at the dock doors the place was clean and organized. When the Cintas 6wheelers (panel vans or small delivery trucks) backed up to the docks, the drivers immediately wheeled out their plastic collection bins and went to work. I couldn't see what they did with the bins, but when the drivers came back out, they looked hot and sweaty. They take destroying sensitive stuff seriously.







Because it was almost 5:00PM in Pittsburgh (mega rush hour) and one of Cintas little trucks had me blocked anyway, I took a long 10 hour break at the place. I didn't wake up until around 3:00AM this morning - nice and easy getting back out of there in the dead of night and no traffic. (It's a little tricky getting in and out of that area.) And then, when I got to a truck stop that had a scale, I went back to sleep for a while - I just can't seem to get moving for some reason. Maybe it's because I don't have any pressing deadlines. Who knows.

Anyway, now I'm at the TA in Wheeling, West Virginia, where I had to stop and get fuel. See? There's a tiny little sliver of WVA between PA and OH:



And here's my route:



From here it's 725 miles to the house.

Somewhere along the way I've got to stop and get a money order for the ticket I got in Harrisburg PA the other day. I finally read the back of the ticket to see when it was due and YIKES! it's today! I called the number on the ticket to let them know I was putting it in the mail TODAY. The girl said she'd note it on the file.

12:08PM Quick update: This TA sells money orders, envelopes, and has a stamp machine, so the payment for my ticket is a done deal. I called to let them know, and a different girl said "No problem". Nice to have that taken care of now.

And now maybe I'm ready to get moving again....

Heading Back To Pennsylvania 166

Just taking a short break at the Love's in Orangeburg SC. Since I had to fill up here, I parked for a few minutes to get caught up. (I needed a little break from driving anyway.)

From Tampa I deadheaded all the way back up to AMX, and picked up a loaded trailer bound for Albany:



And now I'm headed back up to PA:



Warren PA is about 1/2 way between Buffalo NY and Pittsburg PA on the map.

From here I've got about 746 miles to go, so I'm signing off now to get a few more miles down the road before my legal work time runs out.

I'll be going I77 through Charlotte, NC; up through Virginia; through West Virginia; then into PA, hugging the Ohio border until I80. Then I'll turn east for a little bit, then up through the woods to get to Warren.

Still Tampa Bound With Samuel Adams 165

Posting from the Flying J in Brunswick GA, about 30 miles from the FL border. The only eventful thing that happened today is I got my hair cut at WalMart Manning SC. I've been wanting to do it forever, but just haven't had the time or place. Today I stopped at the TA in Manning to see if they had a barber shop. Some TAs rent space to stylists and other vendors; for instance, the TA in Harrisburg PA has a barber shop, cb shop, and a masseuse.

Anyway, the girl at the fuel desk told me WalMart was less than a mile down the road, and it had a SmartStyle. I decided to go ahead get it done because my hair was beginning to feel so hot and heavy. And, I guess because I'm around a lot of dusty/dirty environments in my work, my hair feels dirty much sooner that it should. The solution? Whack it all off.

I guess this picture comes the closest to describing it, except mine's somewhat shorter on top. The back and sides are "buzzed" like this girl's, but my buzz comes up further on my head:



I really like it. Light, cool, and easy. One of the best haircuts I've ever had.

In other news, me and Sam Adams are down to 295 miles now. And we're trying not to think about the tourists that'll be crawling all over Orlando (Disney World, etc.) tomorrow. It's going to be murder trying to dodge all those 4wheelers that don't know how to get to where they're going.

Speaking of Disney World - just a little tidbit I remembered: Back when I used to run to the west coast, I picked up a load of Disney World tickets in Oregon and brought them to Orlando. I guess somebody up there offered Disney World a helluva deal on printing....

Go Home - I'm Trying To Work Here! 164

Traffic down I95, from Baltimore all the way through Richmond and southwards, was unreal today. My average speed for the day was 45mph. The only other time(s) I've ever seen the highways this crowded is Thanksgiving Eve. No construction or wrecks, just people getting out of town on Friday. Where do they all come from? I put a sign in my window that said, "Go home! I'm trying to work here!" Talk about nerve-racking!

I got as far as exit 4 in VA and decided I'd had enough. I'm posting from the Love's in Skippers VA. I've got 753 miles to go from here. Next state is NC. Don't have much else to say. Don't feel very good. Gonna go to bed in a little while.

Smucker Owns Folgers, And Folgers Makes 163

I wondered about all this because the coffee I carried up to Breinigsville PA came from a warehouse that stores Folgers coffee. Dunkin Donuts coffee was listed on the manifest too. The freight charges were to be billed to the J.M. Smucker Co.

When I had the time (and wifi access) I Googled it

Apparently, it's old news. Here's a Forbes.com article, dated 6/4/08, about the deal. (If you get that annoying introduction screen, click the part that says to skip it.) The article states, "J.M. Smucker has woken up and smelled the coffee. Rather than try to finance its $3.3 billion purchase of the Folger's coffee brand [from Procter & Gamble] in a bond market still leery of risky debt, the peanut-butter-and-jelly maker is buying the java label with its own stock. Lots of its own stock."

And from the Millstone Coffee Company's website : "...Folgers, founded in 1850, is the leading producer of retail packaged coffee products in the United States. Folgers broad product offering includes its original Folgers(R) brand, Millstone(R) and a license to manufacture and distribute Dunkin' Donuts(R) coffee in the retail grocery market."

Procter & Gamble (Folgers) and Dunkin Donuts must'ave made this deal in August 2007. All the articles about it are dated around that time; although Dunkin's own website announcement is dated February 28, 2007.

Interesting stuff!

In other news, this is my next trip:



Seems I'm hauling some high-class freight lately This one's heavy - 45,900 pounds of the stuff. I came back west on I78 because the closest scale I knew of was in that direction. I had to be sure about the weight distribution because it's one of the heaviest loads I've ever pulled.

Anyway, traffic was dense (in more ways than one), so I decided to go ahead and stop for a 10 hour break - maybe more since this doesn't deliver until Monday. I'm at the TA in Harrisburg PA. Gonna finish up the blog for today; get something to eat; play some Spider; then go to bed. I'll probably leave here early in the morning.

One last thing. I have discovered how to make tiny little movies with my digital camera. The sound you hear is XM radio - I don't know how to get rid of it. This is going through Chattanooga on the way up to PA:



401(K) is listed in the tags below because it's mentioned in the comments for this post.

What kind of a name is "Breinigsville" anyway? 162

First of all, my trip by the house last Tuesday AM (yesterday) was wonderful! Mother and my little Buddy

Trip 188's info says Allentown is the final delivery city, but it's really Breinigsville PA - a 'burb of Allentown.

I called the delivery site earlier today to see if I could get unloaded tonight instead of in the morning. I had so much extra legal work time that I thought maybe I could get unloaded and reloaded today. Getting just that much ahead would help my campaign to make more money this month. Anyway, the guy said they received 24 hours a day, and he'd see what he could do about getting me worked in if I came on early. Not true. When I got up here I learned that if I'd been a drop/hook I probably could'ave done that, but not live unload.

So here I sit, outside the huge warehouse, on a street with "no parking" signs everywhere. There's nowhere else (close) to park that isn't already filled up at this time of night. I'm not too worried about it though. There's another truck parked a little ways behind me, and warehouses are the only buildings around here. Not much traffic. I'm not blocking anything.

It irks me though, because the guy told me wrong. Didn't know what he was talking about. Dummy. And what kind of a name is "Breinigsville" anyway? Hard to spell - hope I got it right on my log book.

And to top it all off, I got a traffic ticket in Harrisburg PA on the way up here. Trucks aren't allowed in the leftmost lane of I78 going through Harrisburg, but I jumped out there to pass a 4wheeler that was going real slow. I couldn't get over in the right lane, plus, I could see where the two right lanes exited off - the point at which it would be legal to use the left lane again. I would'ave been legal in another 5 seconds.

The PA state officer was hiding behind a concrete wall in the median when I went by. When I saw him turning around in my mirror, I knew my goose was cooked. I worked my way over to the shoulder and he pulled up behind me. He did a level 3 inspection, which included a check of my driver´s license, medical examiner´s certificate, hours of service (log book), registration for the truck, and shipping papers. All that stuff was in good order.

The fine for being in the left lane is $109.50

For more info on truck inspections click here and scroll to Types of truck safety inspections conducted throughout North America. This comes from the state of Oregon's website, but applies almost everywhere.

So Close, Yet So Far Away 161

It took forever to get unloaded at Harahan (New Orleans) this morning. The freight was flat corrigated pieces of cardboard that were wax coated. According to the receiver, the shipper never bundles the stuff right - the cardboard slips out of the bundles. Thankfully my bundles were still together, but it took a long time for the forklift driver to take them off and make them nice, neat bundles again. I didn't get away from there until around lunch time.

Then I went to pick up my next load:


The route to PA brings me right through the house, but I ran out of time for today (on the 14 hour limit) in Tuscaloosa. So close, yet so far away. It's probably just as well though. This is only a 10 hour sleep break, and I usually don't get much sleep at the house during such a short time. But I fully intend to stop by there for 2 or 3 hours in the morning for hugs from Mother and my little Buddy.

I'll have all day Tuesday and Wednesday to go 950 miles. That's 475 miles per day, so there's plenty of time for a quick stop at the house to "recharge", so to speak.

I'm posting from the TA in Tuscaloosa, and I'm pretty tired. I ought to sleep soundly tonight.

From Gulfport MS 160

Yesterday 007 told me to bring Trip 186, the load of recycle going to the Boise paper mill in Jackson AL, to the terminal because she had a Harahan LA load she needed me to deliver Monday (tomorrow). So, for me, Trip 186 terminated in Ashford AL. Somebody else will take it on to Jackson - 192 actual miles from the terminal.

The trip I'm under now - "under" because you back a bobtail under a trailer - pays 352 miles. AMX terminal to Jackson vs. AMX terminal to Harahan. 192 miles vs. 352 miles. It amounts to about 160 extra miles. Not the long trip I was hoping for, but it's still 160 miles I wouldn't have had otherwise, and I'm glad to get them.



After I dropped/hooked at the terminal, I made it to the Flying J in Gulfport MS - where I am now. I only have 83 miles to go, so I'll be here all day. I haven't taken down my curtain-things yet, but I think it's bright and sunny outside. Another one of those yucky days. The 4wheelers will be thick and more idiotic than ever, so I'll wait until tonight to finish up this trip.

When I first woke up I had a lot of little things I wanted to do, but now I'm so sleepy I can't hold my eyes open.

ZZZzzz

P.S. Was looking through my collections of animations and smilies for a sleeping smilie. I don't have any, but I (still) think this one is so funny:



(No offense to Mr. Spock. He knows I love him.)

Even More Trivia From XM Radio Classics 159

A lot of Fibber McGee and Molly (Jim and Marion Jordan) radio shows were originally broadcast during WW2, and the McGees/Jordans were big supporters of the war effort. They were talking about federally imposed sugar rationing at the end of one of the shows this week, when Marion Jordan said, "It takes 1/5th of an acre of sugar cane to fire a big gun just once." I thought that was pretty interesting.

Molly and Fibber were talking about Christmas gifts on a show I heard last year. The Christmas themed broadcast originally aired shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Mayor LaTrivia, voiced by Gale Gordon, mentioned something about his intention to buy a world globe for one of his relatives. Molly said, "Do you want one with Japan on it?" Mayor Letrivia said, "Of course." Molly said, "Well you better hurry." (Gale Gordon was Mr. Mooney on The Lucy Show.)

Different Radio Classics subject. An early film and radio star named Mary Martin is/was a guest star the Jack Benny show playing on Radio Classics this week. She and Jack had co-starred in a 1940's movie Love Thy Neighbor.



Years later, Mary Martin was offered the part of Miss Ellie on one of my all time favorite TV shows, Dallas. Had she accepted the role, she would have been playing mother to her real life son, Larry Hagman - aka JR Ewing.

In other news: This is the trip I'm under now:



The load info on the Qualcomm says to deliver Monday, 8/10, but I want to keep rolling this weekend if possible. So I called 007 on the phone this morning, and asked about reloading over the weekend if I delivered early. She said she'd set me up on something - just let her know when I'd be at Jackson. After a little rough figuring I gave her an eta of 5:00PM Saturday afternoon.

From here, the TA in Wildwood FL, I have about 515 miles to go. My 14 hour time limit for today is up at 10:30PM. If I leave here at 8:00PM, I can get about 145 to 155 miles further up the road. Then I'll only have 360 miles to go ... divided by 50mph because I've got to kind of backtrack a little to go by the AMX terminal for fuel, and from them on I'll be on US84 instead of interstate highways ... say 7 hours to get to Jackson tomorrow (Saturday) ... and that'll be around 3:30PM. So if I hold out, I should be able to make Jackson by 5:00PM.

One more thing before I leave Wildwood: On the left side of the blog, in the section titled "Tags I list under my posts in alfa order" ... those are clickable, if you're interested in any of them.

Jefferson County, Declares Bankruptcy? 158

Subtitle: The Largest Municipal Bankruptcy In The Nation's History

One last thing before I hit the road. Mother just told me that Molly McGee said Jefferson County has finally declared bankruptcy. I live in Jefferson County. I knew there'd been a lot of speculation, but because I'm out of state most of the time, I didn't hear any of the stories. In fact, the only kind of stories I can find on the internet today are very much like this one, a Bloomburg.com story dated July 15th.

And this, from democraticunderground.com (I am not a Democrat!) is pretty interesting too. The comments there seem juicy, but I don't have the time.... The main thing from this article is:

".... ``Jefferson County officials have laid the groundwork for the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's history while publicly saying they have no imminent plans for a filing.''

Sorry to hear this - especially for Brad Pittrose's sake. He's been with the county forever, so he's probably ok. I hope so. But what are the implications for the rest of us - like county services, etc.? Wow.

The Otis Elevator Ship Delivers Friday 157

(Still at the Flying J in Ruther Glen VA)

From the QualComm:

8/5/09; 8:27 - me:
007, I've still got 990 real miles to go. was a wreck that slowed things down a bit - plus loading at 2PM instead of 12. Just letting you know.

8:30 - 007
You need to contact broker

8:30 - me
Ok

8:47 - me
Broker said Friday AM. Don't know if she changed it or not - I just told her how far out I am (farrr out man!) she put me on hold for a second, then came back and said "Friday morning"

8:58 - me
...ok?

9:01 - 007
Alright

9:05 - me
I wish everything could be drop/hook - we'd be rich.

9:25 - 007
Yep

Actually, when the broker said, "Friday morning," she went on to say "...will that work for you?" I said, "Yeah, that'd be great. I know I can get it there by then."

The load info on the Qualcomm (for the receiver) just says TBA (to be announced), so I've got to call the number listed on the bills to find out exactly where this elevator is going.

Because I'm on a campaign to make more money this month, delivering Friday means I'll only get 2 trips off, or delivered for this pay period. (It might have worked out that way regardless.) I'll still get paid for a total of 2600+ miles - better than I have been doing lately.

And I'm really kinda glad it's Friday instead of tomorrow, because I guess I was too tired to sleep last night. It was about 4:30AM when I finally dozed off. I feel pretty good now, but I know it'll hit me later in the day.

It's 11AM now, and I'm about to leave Ruther Glen VA. My 10 hour break was up at 9AM. Next stop is Kenley NC, 186 miles, where I've got to take on some fuel and get a shower.

Looks Kinda Like Collard Greens, Doesn't It? 156

I saw this on the way to pick up my Bloomfield CT load. You can't tell it from the pics, but the leaves on these plants look just like big collard leaves. In fact, I first thought this must be how collard greens are grown on an industrial basis, but these aren't collards at all. It's cigar tobacco. A Roadway driver, loading at the same place as I was, told me CT is known for it's cigar tobacco. Interesting. It sure looks different that tobacco I see growing in the Carolinas.

Incidentally, I went back down through Hartford once I was loaded - where Johnny Dollar lives. He never mentions anything about cigars....

I'm posting from the Flying J in Ruther Glen VA, where my 14 hours ran out. I have 990 miles to go before I can deliver this unassembled elevator in Miami. I had wanted to get a little further down the road, but the shipper wouldn't load me until 2PM. Then, about 50 miles north of here, all southbound (I95) lanes were blocked because of an accident. It took 45 minutes to an hour to get through that mess - moving 5 feet every 30 seconds almost caused my clutch leg to cramp. I don't think I'll make it by Thursday AM, but maybe I can get this elevator off later in the day.

And finally, I changed the dates on the pit bull posts so they fall into the blog like they're supposed to. Now that it's all over, there's no need to keep the death of that poor dog in the forefront. What a sad thing.

I'm going to bed now. "Tired" doesn't even come close....

Otis Elevator Ships.... - 155

My next load picks up at Otis Elevator in Bloomfield CT. I've loaded Otis Elevator before, but I can't remember what they ship. Elevator parts maybe? I'll find out at noon today.

It's a long (very good!) trip. 1415 actual miles, give or take. 1415 dvided by 59mph = 24 hours. Add in the mandatory 10 hour breaks and it looks like this:



On paper, I can be there at 8AM eastern on Thursday morning.

Bailey's Anyone? - 154

I know Molly McGee is thinking Bailey's Irish Creme


But I'm talking about Bailey's Express, a sort of drop yard for us in Middletown CT. That's where I finally got rid of the undeliverable Waterbury CT load, and picked up one of our empty trailers. Once that was done, I came back to the TA to spend the night and wait for the next dispatch.

Problems Delivering Trip 185 ----153

I found the place I was supposed to deliver to in Waterbury CT this morning, but they didn't have a dock, or forklift, or any way to unload this stuff. I called a number that was on my bills (paperwork), and the man said this stuff wasn't due until next Friday. Friday morning they'd have a forklift at the place, and people to unload.

So I'm sitting at the TA in Meriden CT waiting for instructions. The broker is trying to work something out with the buyer, I guess. Then AMX will let me know what to do. Whatever happens, I can't sit on it 'till Friday.

And my heart is broken because that old dog died. I'm very nervous and anxious too - because I called the Sheriff's office to tell them. Mother will be more than mad, but I feel like God is urging me to do what I think is right.

From Elkton MD 152

I left the house yesterday around 9:00AM and made it as far as Raphine VA before my legal work time ran out - 584 miles. Today was going pretty good until I got close to the Washington D.C. area, and traffic started getting thick. It got worse the further north I went. Bumper to bumper, from a dead stop to 45 mph. Shift up two gears, then shift down two gears, over and over. I don't know why it's so thick today, but I finally decided to stop at the TA in MD for my 10 hour break. I'll try it again around midnight.


The arrow marks where I am now.

This is what the rest of my trip looks like:



No way do I want to fight this mob up through New Jersery and New York! It should be cleared out after midnight, and since I only have 233 more miles (4.5 hours at the most) I don't feel too bad about stopping now.