Saturday July 4th 2009
Happy 4th of July!
We head over to the shipper and pick up our load of empty Coca Cola bottles. Like I mentioned in the previous blog, it's on the airport. Lots of concrete.
It’s a very light load. Even though the truck is full, our load is maybe 2 tons. It’s almost like running empty. Pros & Cons: The ride is a lot smoother with a full load and the wind doesn’t blow you around as much. With a full load, the truck doesn’t pull itself up hills nearly as easy or fast.
On the way to Oklahoma, we go just North of Dallas/Fort Worth. I would have like to have seen that. A bunch of Boy Scouts had just unloaded from their vehicle at a rest area. When they saw me driving by they gave me the “honk” signal! I laid into the horn a couple of times for them I don’t know who was more excited, the Boy Scouts or me!!!
Hey Doc, we drove past the town of Baird TX.
I saw a muffler man, along side the Interstate near Muskogee.
We washed our truck in Oklahoma City. Al met up with one of his friends that he’s always talking to on the phone. They went in and ate dinner. I was really tired, so I stayed out in the truck and napped instead.
By the way, over the last several days, I never saw any of them huge Fireworks tents like they have in the Omaha area, usually with a huge inflatable gorilla looming overhead. But, I did see ton’s of them small fireworks booths that resemble a game booth at a carnival. It was cool because it seemed really “small town” and “old timey.” Al said, “wait ‘til you see truckers driving down the road trying to shoot fireworks out their windows.” I never did see that though. In fact, the only fireworks I got to see were some people lighting some low-budget ones in their back yards as we drove by.
We parked for the night at a Love’s Truck Stop near Pharaoh OK.
We head over to the shipper and pick up our load of empty Coca Cola bottles. Like I mentioned in the previous blog, it's on the airport. Lots of concrete.
It’s a very light load. Even though the truck is full, our load is maybe 2 tons. It’s almost like running empty. Pros & Cons: The ride is a lot smoother with a full load and the wind doesn’t blow you around as much. With a full load, the truck doesn’t pull itself up hills nearly as easy or fast.
On the way to Oklahoma, we go just North of Dallas/Fort Worth. I would have like to have seen that. A bunch of Boy Scouts had just unloaded from their vehicle at a rest area. When they saw me driving by they gave me the “honk” signal! I laid into the horn a couple of times for them I don’t know who was more excited, the Boy Scouts or me!!!
Hey Doc, we drove past the town of Baird TX.
I saw a muffler man, along side the Interstate near Muskogee.
We washed our truck in Oklahoma City. Al met up with one of his friends that he’s always talking to on the phone. They went in and ate dinner. I was really tired, so I stayed out in the truck and napped instead.
By the way, over the last several days, I never saw any of them huge Fireworks tents like they have in the Omaha area, usually with a huge inflatable gorilla looming overhead. But, I did see ton’s of them small fireworks booths that resemble a game booth at a carnival. It was cool because it seemed really “small town” and “old timey.” Al said, “wait ‘til you see truckers driving down the road trying to shoot fireworks out their windows.” I never did see that though. In fact, the only fireworks I got to see were some people lighting some low-budget ones in their back yards as we drove by.
We parked for the night at a Love’s Truck Stop near Pharaoh OK.
Sunday July 5th 2009
We woke at 6am and drove the short distance to Coca Cola in Okmulgee OK to drop our load.
When we were done, we got a load offer. Muskogee OK to Paducah KY. It picks up today, but doesn’t deliver until the morning of the 7th, meaning we’ll be sitting yet again at a truck stop for a whole day and night. Al put in a call to see if we can Tcall our load in West Memphis. A Tcall means we take the load part of the way and somebody else picks up the load and takes it the rest of the way. We get a message back saying it’s OK to Tcall it. We drive to a yard in west Memphis, but, there are no empty trailers for us to take.
So, we go to the Pilot truck stop a couple blocks away for the night. It’s a pretty scary, dirty place. We kept our doors locked the whole time. A bum knocked on our door and asked me for some change.
Go Eagles!
When we were done, we got a load offer. Muskogee OK to Paducah KY. It picks up today, but doesn’t deliver until the morning of the 7th, meaning we’ll be sitting yet again at a truck stop for a whole day and night. Al put in a call to see if we can Tcall our load in West Memphis. A Tcall means we take the load part of the way and somebody else picks up the load and takes it the rest of the way. We get a message back saying it’s OK to Tcall it. We drive to a yard in west Memphis, but, there are no empty trailers for us to take.
So, we go to the Pilot truck stop a couple blocks away for the night. It’s a pretty scary, dirty place. We kept our doors locked the whole time. A bum knocked on our door and asked me for some change.
Go Eagles!
Monday July 6th 2009
We get up and drive back over to the yard in hopes that an empty trailer mysteriously appeared. No luck. We put in a call to see if there’s an empty trailer for us somewhere. They say no, we’ll have to take this load the rest of the way to Kentucky. Memphis is really dirty. I see a sign for Stax Museum. Unfortunately, there’s no time for tourism, we’ve got to hurry to another truck stop to wait! When we got into Kentucky, the scenery turned beautiful! We had to drive down narrow, curving, two lane highways through small towns, along a river, next to train tracks. Al hated it. Too slow. I loved it! It was my favorite place we’ve been yet.
We stopped at a Pilot truck stop in Paducah KY. We’ll be here all day and night.
We stopped at a Pilot truck stop in Paducah KY. We’ll be here all day and night.
Puddin And Tain by Alley Cats on XM radio 50's Station!
And, here's a look at Truck Stop showers!
Glad to read your doin' OK...
ReplyDeleteWe have matching guts!