Vol 17 No 2 - 30 April, 2013

Monday morning 1 April, we delivered part of the shipment we picked up in Michigan - the two bins went to Orlando.  Then the flat sheets of steel in Davie, Florida (Miami area).  Met with ex-driver friend, Jack for dinner.  He lives a half an hour from the truckstop in Fort Pierce, he picked us up and we went to Cracker Barrel.  That was a long day.

Had some business to get done in Daytona Beach, and put new tyres on the trailer.

On Thursday, Jim loaded in Winter Park, Florida, a new ambulance.  

Ambulance - Florida to Minnesota load.

Loading the 2003 Moto Guzzi Stone nicknamed"Stella".

Friday morning we loaded the new moto guzzi, “Stella” on the truck.  She is wider than the le mans and Jim had to take the end weights off the handlebars, and the saddle bags off.  He had ¼ inch to spare between the headache rack one side and the truck cab on the other side of the handlebars.  We left Daytona around midday on Friday, 5 April.

Delivered in St Paul, Minnesota on Monday morning 8 April.  The Ambulance had to be fitted out for a local service.  Another load was scheduled for Wednesday so we had almost two days off.  I had done some research and found some things we could do taking buses, but it was raining and cold on Monday.  Tuesday there was freezing snow and sleet – so we got a motel and stayed indoors!

Wednesday morning there was about 2 inches (5cm) of snow on everything.  We had to shovel the snow off the trailer before we could load.  Good thing it was a large warehouse, the whole rig fit inside so we loaded and tarped inside. It was a whole load of used machinery.  Seven hours we worked there.  We cover all the sharp edges of the machinery with carpet and furniture blankets to protect the tarps, but there were high winds for the whole trip and we had many large tears in all the tarps.

Minneapolis snow fall.

Minnesota to Ontario load.

Ugly load - shredded the tarps.

Crossed the Canadian/USA border late Thursday afternoon.  Delivered to a machinery moving company the next morning in Mississauga, Ontario.  The vertical machines will be refurbished.

We headed over to Buffalo and ended up staying for four days.  Caught up with Jim’s family and some friends there.  We left “Stella” the moto guzzi in Joe’s garage.  This bike will stay there for our use for  visiting and rallies when we are in the area.  Weather was varied from snow, to rain, to warm and sunny (we rode the motorbike that day), then cold and frosty.

Baillie has been working after school and weekends on a local farm.  She has learned about Maple Syrup collection and making.  She came home one afternoon and drilled holes in a few maple trees in their yard, made pieces of pipe to fit the holes and started collecting sap in buckets. (She is a smart and productive young lady!)  There were about 20 gallons of sap and Baillie and Joe and Baillie spent the weekend boiling it down to syrup.  (The sap comes from the tree clear and the consistency of water.) Friends were over all weekend and it was spent in the garage (it was cold) with the fire cranking and sitting around a gas burner with a boiler of sap.  Took over an hour to reduce a gallon of sap to about a cup full of syrup!  It was fun, and interesting!

Maple tree 'tapped' to collect sap.

Maple tree sap on the boil to make syrup.

Sunday morning Joe and Michele cooked a huge amount of pancakes and we had home grown and home made maple syrup.

Wikipedia: Maple Syrup is make from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple or black maple, although it can also be made from other maple species.  In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter.  The starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring.  The sap is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup.

Production methods have been streamlined since colonial days, yet remain basically unchanged.

Trivia - the Sugar Maple is the state tree of New York state.

It was fun and educational! (and tasty!)  Baillie also boiled the syrup further to make Maple candy.

Both trucks parked at Joe and Michele's - Joe's on the left, ours on the right.

Lancaster, NY to Macomb, IL.

We loaded near Buffalo on Wednesday morning 17 April – three skids and two large dryers.  Only had to tarp the three skids on a frosty and icy morning. 

There had been a few days of rain and a severe storm front across the mid-west.  Flooding, tornado watches and high winds.  Taking secondary highways and roads, we had two detours when we got to flooded roads. 

Delivered in Macomb in Western Illinois.  NTN Bower extending their factory there. 

Website:  The NTN-Bower story began in 1904 when R. F. Bower of Dayton, Ohio patented his newly designed thrust controlling roller bearing. The new Bower bearing proved extremely successful in controlling the problem of horse-drawn carriages losing wheels while making turns at high speeds. Shortly after the start of production, the popularity of the automobile increased dramatically and many new companies were formed to manufacture the automobile on a production scale. The Bower Roller Bearing Company grew rapidly as the automotive business expanded.   Tapered roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings were added to their line in 1934 to better serve industry.

For over 100 years, NTN-Bower roller bearings have been recognized as a superior product in regard to precision and performance. They allow today's vehicles, industrial and farm machinery to run longer, smoother, and more reliably.

We were on the western side of the storms that afternoon going to Mendota, Illinois to load.  It was still extremely windy and cold.  I was watching the weather radar on the computer most of the day because we would be on country roads to our next load as well.  The first time I have seen the term ‘ponding’, and the area covered several states.

Definition:  In hydrologic terms, in flat areas, runoff collects, or ponds in depressions and cannot drain out.  Flood waters must infiltrate slowly into the soil, evaporate, or be pumped out.

Our load was scheduled for Friday morning, but when Jim called, they said it was ready, so we loaded five large canisters of pipe molds at ADS (Advanced Drain Systems) in Mendota, Illinois.  More rain and cold as we headed south, but we could deliver Sunday morning.  Ex-Bekins driver friends, Loyd and Mary Daily were in Orlando, we missed seeing them altogether last year, so we got motel rooms Saturday afternoon and took a taxi to Church Street Station in downtown Orlando.  The night club, restaurant and historic area of Orlando.

Internet:  Church Street Station was originally built by the South Florida Railroad in 1889 to serve Orlando.  The old Railroad Depot still survives to this day on the National Register of Historic Places.

The station was undergoing renovations while we were there, several blocks are historic but it is in amongst the downtown city business area.  An interesting area, we had fun.

Loyd, Mary and Jim at Church Street area, Orlando.

In the last ten or so years Church Street Station area has become Orlando’s dining and nightlife epicenter.  There are restaurants, clubs, bars and offers a thriving nightlife.  We had a few drinks, and dinner at a Mexican Restaurant, then coffee and dessert before heading back to the motel. 

We left just as the area started getting lively!  Live bands, and characters coming out to party.

Jim and I delivered at ADS (Advanced Drainage Systems) near Orlando on Sunday morning then went to the house in Daytona Beach.  Weather was starting to warm up and we wanted to load the le mans  motorcycle on the truck for the summer.

While there one morning was spent fixing the 4 ft drop tarps.  The two 8 ft drop tarps have large tears and one flap is almost torn off.  This damage was done when we last used the tarps from Minnesota to Ontario during high winds.  The tarps will be taken to a repair place and we will get an estimate to have them repaired.  They will require sewing and reinforcing.  When we repair them we only have tarp patches that we glue on over the small tears and holes.  Depending on the repair quote, replacing them might be a better decision – (or we might get rid of them as neither of us like tarping using the big ones).

Watched the load boards and we had hoped to be out again on Wednesday, but no loads that paid anything came up.  Jim went fishing two mornings – in the river and in the ocean, but no fish caught.  Checked out a couple of bars/restaurants that had opened recently – Windy City and Scuttlebutts both on Beach Street, Daytona Beach - enjoyed both places.  Thursday afternoon Loyd and Mary were at the truckstop north of Daytona Beach.  We picked them up in the car and went to Ormond Beach to Lagerheads Bar & Grill.  We sat outside to watch the ocean, had a lovely meal and always a fun time with Loyd and Mary.  We had not seen them for two years, then see them twice in a week!  They changed companies and plan to spend more time on the east coast, we may get to see them more regularly now.

Jim found a load for Sunday out of Cecil Field NAS (Naval Air Station).  It is a training facility for Navy jet pilots.  Three other trucks and we picked up crates and equipment used for training classes.  The company we loaded for was L 3 Vertex: provides aviation and aerospace technical services, primarily for US Government customers.  The company has over 15,000 employees at 300 locations throughout the world (36 US states and 33 countries) supporting 3,500 military and government aircraft and systems.

Loading at Cecil Field Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, FL (view out the windscreen).

Florida to Texas load.

While driving west before we approached the Mobile Tunnel under the harbour, I noticed a cruise ship in the terminal and took a photo.  I googled and found out it was the Carnival Triumph:

Mobile Harbour with Carnival Triumph and entrance to Mobile Tunnel that goes under the harbour.

MOBILE, Ala. — The crippled cruise ship whose sewage-filled breakdown in the Gulf of Mexico subjected thousands to horrendous conditions tore loose Wednesday from the dock where it's being repaired, lumbered downriver and crunched into a cargo ship.

Wind gusts near hurricane strength shoved the 900-foot Carnival Triumph free from its mooring in downtown Mobile, Ala., where the ship was brought in a five-day ordeal that began when an engine fire stranded it off of Mexico in February.

On 30 April we delivered the load of crates on Tuesday to another NAS training facility in Kingsville, Texas.

Website: The Kingsville Naval Air Station’s primary mission is to train Student Naval Aviators for the US Navy and US Marine Corps and tactical jet pilots for other select NATO and Allied countries.

Headed over to Laredo, Texas on the Mexican/USA border and loaded some parts for General Electric.