SATURDAY NIGHT in Canton, OH -- WOOHOOOO (yawn)

I guess the highlight was sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store eating my pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip ice cream. Yah, I know. Pretty lame. But it wasn't because I didn't try. i even had on one of my "Saturday Night Shirts" but to no avail.

I couldn't find anyplace to go! Most towns have an entertainment district - as small as they maybe sometimes. But it is frequently in the downtown or older, historic part of town. Not so in Canton. So after cruising (sightseeing) for 2 1/2 hours I ended up at the grocery store. I was hungry and did not want fast food. After my monster breakfast yesterday morning, all I ate was the left-over pizza. So I had the munchies by 11 PM. Ice cream was my reward. (No Grey Goose)

So I'm down to 24 hours or so to kill before I can find a load to move me on. I'm wondering how many people in the trucking biz will be working tomorrow. Isn't this Labor Day weekend? Maybe there's some good football on TV this afternoon.

Canton, OH -- I've been HERE before!

I don't remember exactly when, but it was several years ago when my youngest - Jared, who's pictured below with his new guitar coincidentally - wasn't so old that it was still 'OK' to hang-out with dad. He spent several weeks with me one summer out 'over-the-road' trucking and we spent a few days here in Canton - home to the NFL's Hall of Fame, which we toured.

My delays getting INTO Canada Friday morning resulted in it being too late in the day to set-up another load after my Detroit to Canton trip Friday afternoon. So here I sit for the weekend -- WITHOUT MY BIKE! Oh well, I guess the world won't come to an end.

I spent the night last night 'vegging' out laying in bed watching TV. Don't get to do that very often. It was kinda nice and my body certainly needed it. Slept in until after 9:30 this morning. I did get up a few times but went back right back to sleep.

I had a monster breakfast sitting at a table - versus my steering wheel - and that was most excellent (IHOP). Then, on the way to Wal Mart (need peanut butter), I notice GI Joe playing at the theater next door. I had seen commercials on TV last night and it looked fun. The early show matinee was $4.75 -- I'm in! The movie was good.

But there's only so much piddling and TV I can take. I'm bored! Maybe I can find someplace with entertainment and Grey Goose tonight.

I guess the Hall of Fame is an option -- naaa, been there, done that.

chunk..chunk..........KERCHUNK!

I'm sitting underneath the Ambassador Bridge which links Detroit, USA to Windsor, Ontario. The trucks flowing over in a steady stream are hitting a steel plate a joint in the highway ....chunk...chunk .......KERCHUNK. You can tell the heavy trucks because that third axle - the trailer axle - really slams when it crosses.

I had a great plan. Cross over at 4 am - while most folks are still sleeping. Be at the delivery - which is only 10 miles (16 kilometers for you Canucks) from the border by 6 am when they open. And then back to Detroit where I have a hot-shot load waiting to go to Canton, OH for delivery today - only 200 miles. Easy.

Too easy. Canada customs was not satisfied with the paperwork I had. The people with the answers are still sleeping at 4:30. So I'm sitting. Waiting. Not one of my virtues.

The good news is, I now have the information necessary to proceed but it takes an hour for the paperwork to process. In this age of instant communication, I'm waiting for someone to "walk" the forms to the right place. Whatever.

chunk...chunk.............KERCHUNK!

Driving in Circles - and getting paid for it!

At this moment I am sitting in Arkansas - again! I spent last Thursday and Friday with my youngest son down in Pine Bluff. I left Saturday and went to Michigan. Delivered that one in the morning and made a 350 mile circle there reloading two more (Ann Arbor and Flint) and then headed down to Illinois. On my way out of Michigan, I passed with 50 miles of where I went in that morning.

Tuesday I delivered one in IL and the second went on to Missouri. Then looped back again into IL - with-in 10 miles this time of where I had just been - and reloaded for AR, where I just delivered.

My next load goes from West Memphis, AR to ..... Guess where! .... Detroit, Michigan!

Are you keeping up? Sounds like a lot of driving? It is. But I have been quite fortunate and getting decent trips (pay wise) going somewhere I want (the South and Midwest). But it has been expensive. When I run this hard, I will spend $150 A DAY in fuel and food. But in 30-days, or so, it will start coming in. Feast and Famine!

GTG, they are waiting for me in W. Memphis!

Pine Bluff, AR

Friday afternoon in PB -- woo-hoo! I lived here back in 1976. This was my first post-military job. I started my restaurant career here. I also met my wife here. I have been back thru here a few times since I left in 1981 but not often - for a reason. Not really a lot happening here.

BUT, I have spent the last 24hrs with my youngest, who is learning the guitar. THAT has been special. I'll stay tonight and then back in the truck and continue on toward NE Indiana in the morning.

And I have set up a load after my deliveries Monday. It's not very long - 500 miles - but pays okay and, most importantly, keeps me moving.

Heavy Load - for me anyway - this trip

Tonight I am calling Malvern, AR home. I was able to put two loads together going to within 70 miles of each other. Plus they loaded within 50 miles of each other -- life is good. I have been doing some serious driving for seven days straight now. But I am taking a brief break Thursday and let my log book 'cool off.'

I delivered my signs in SC early Monday morning and then reloaded for LA. I ran into the remnants of tropical storm Claudette just past Atlanta and stayed wet all the way to my delivery near the TX-LA border south of Shreveport.

That delivery was pretty neat. Boise Cascade takes pine trees and makes them into landscape timbers and posts. I drove past log trucks waiting to unload and watched them transferring these limbless pine trees onto a conveyor that fed them into a machine that removes the bark before sending them along to be cut into posts. I enjoy seeing how they make things you walk into the store and just buy.

Unfortunately I had to drive more than 150 miles after this to get my next load. It's one of the disadvantages of my 'small' trailer. Less Than a Truckload (LTL or partials as they are known in the biz) can be difficult to come by in some parts of the country. It's always a factor to me when I book a load, how do I get to the next one?

But, as I mentioned, I got lucky and was able to put two little ones together. So now I'm headed for north-eastern Indiana. Originally, I was going to press hard and deliver by Friday morning - it's only 1,000 miles. But, after looking at the map, I realized that my route takes me within 60 miles of where my youngest son lives in AR.

The sad news, his grandmother - on his mom's side - is not doing so well. Hopefully I will get to visit with her also. So I'm going to take my 'week-end' tomorrow and Friday and hang out with Jared. Then I will leave Saturday and continue on to make delivery first thing Monday.

I previewed partial loads moving out of NE Indiana and was happy to find 39 of them! That's encouraging. I'll work Friday to set something up to load Monday afternoon and keep on trucking.

Wish I had my motorcycle with me this trip. It would be nice to 2-wheel over to Pine Bluff and visit Jared. But, it needs tires and is sitting in IL. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to put these two partials together if I had my bike on also. I am 'maxed out' on this trip. In the long run it all works out.

In the Mountains again tonight

I will lay my head down to sleep tonight in the Smokey Mountains this time, between Asheville, NC and Knoxville, TN. I love it in the mountains. At least as a tourist. I don't think I'd care to live here permanently. I kinda like my 'Paradise' in Florida. I think I'm more of a beach bum.

So after loading my electronic signs just north of Salt Lake City last Thursday, I flew almost 1400 miles in 2 days getting into Belleville Saturday morning. Saturday night was Freeburg's Parade and truck pull. This time of year there are a multitude of festivals and homecomings in the small towns around the area. Just good old fashion fun. I was a (fairly) good boy Saturday night. I had to get up and drive 600 miles or so today. I deliver these signs first thing in the morning in Greenville, SC and then go less than 100 miles down the road to Columbia and reload for Louisiana.

Should be a wet ride tomorrow. Tropical Storm Claudette makes landfall tonight along the FL panhandle. The forecast is 6" of rain and 50 mph winds along the coast but I'll be on I-20 about 130 miles inland. The rain would be okay. My truck is nasty-nasty. I have a major bug collection on the front - mostly grasshoppers, dragon-flys and moths. Thank you Nebraska and Wyoming!

And I left my bike in Belleville. My tires were marginal before I went riding in ID. They are 'American Bald Eagles' now. So I dropped the bike at a friends and I'll have new tires UPS delivery to his house and he will hook me up. So let it rain.

The Smokies and the Rockies are quite different. The Rockies are much bigger - both in height and width. They are also much more varied in shape and structure. There is a lot more "WOW" when riding thru the Rockies, not that the Smokies aren't impressive.

I didn't pay a lot of attention in geology class, so I'm not going to try and impress you with my knowledge of rocks. But anyone can see the differences in the Rockies between mountain ranges. The color of the rock is different. The way they have eroded is different and thus their formations vary. It is probably among the most impressive sights I have seen in my travels.

I have been thru the Canadian Rockies and walked on their glaciers. I just rode thru the Bitteroot Mountains of Idaho with their granite spires and 1000' high buttes that drop straight down to a raging white-water stream. I also walked across lava fields in the Snake River Plain where molten rock has oozed - and occasionally exploded - from the ground. Geologists are predicting another major blow within the next 1000 years (hey, this has been going on for more than 20 million years) and Yellowstone Park is where it's going to happen. Guess you better get out there and visit it soon.

I had an interesting discussion with my Uncle last week about the differences of sight-seeing from a car versus a motorcycle. As far as I'm concerned there is no comparison. Perhaps if the car were a convertible and the top was down, it might be similar. But when you are looking around from the seat of a bike it's as if you are a part of it.

You can smell it -- not always good. You can feel it -- the temperature changes going over a river or thru a forest. You can taste it -- sometimes you catch a bug, literally. You can hear it - the echo of your exhaust from the canyon walls. You can see it - 360 degrees around and up and down. An enclosed chariot (car) just isn't the same. But even that beats looking at National Geographic so get out there!

We live in the most beautiful place on earth - where ever you are! Get off the sofa and go see something GOD created for you.