Vol 20 No. 5 - 31 July, 2016

Wednesday, 29 June, we left John Day and drove to Redmond.  Spectacular scenery again – through Picture Gorge.

Picture Gorge, Oregon.

Loaded at Key Technologies - crates and full tarp. Spotted an animal watching us from the lawn area in front of us.  Possibly a mountain beaver’, or an otter.

Loaded 9 crates of equipment - it was a light load, and had to be fully tarped.  We rarely use the 8-foot drop tarps - they are hard work!

Loading in Redmond, Oregon - crates before tarping.

Redmond, Oregon to  St-louis-de-blandford, Quebec.

There was 6 feet of space left on the trailer, and we found an LTL that would help our bottom line going across country.

Heading north, the Three Sisters appeared on our left. 

Wikipedia:  The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to northern California.

Most of the High Cascades are white with snow and ice year-round.

The Three Sisters - peaks part of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon.

In front of us, driving north, the peak of Mt Hood came into view.

Next day we drove to Cathlamet, Washington.  Off the regular trucking routes – drove along the north side of the Columbia River (the border between Oregon and Washington).

An overcast day, driving on the north side of the Columbia River - Washington side.

After driving through the small town of Cathlamet, we crossed a bridge over the Columbia River to Puget Island.

Loaded at C & H Classic Smoked Fish.  “Salmon caught in Alaska and smoked on Puget Island, Washington”.

We loaded a large smoker, which had to be tarped, and a stainless steel rack. 

Cathlamet, Washington LTL to Luna Pier, Michigan.

Great people to work with, and they gave us a large piece of smoked salmon for snacking on during our trip.  It was delicious – definitely a treat!

Back the same way, over the Columbia River in Washington.

Back into Oregon, we planned a couple of days with Jim's cousin.  We kept Mt Hood in our view!

Heading towards Mt Hood from the north.

That afternoon we parked the rig beside an orchard near Parkdale, Oregon. Visiting Jim’s cousin, Marianne, Vic and their eldest son, Pete was there for the weekend.  The orchard belongs to their friends. Convenient and safe to leave the rig there.  Marianne picked us up from there, just around the corner and about one mile away.

The rig parked for a couple of days in an orchard of plums.

We had not visited there since the last Oregon Moto Guzzi rally in 2010.  It is a beautiful part of Oregon.  I always take a lot of photos.

Vic and Marianne’s house is located on the north side of Mt Hood.  The views from their kitchen, living room, dining room and back deck are of Mt Hood.

Internet:  Mt Hood … in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon.  The peak is home to 12 named glaciers and snowfields.  It is the highest point in Oregon and the fourth highest in the Cascade Range.

Looking out the kitchen window.

View of Mt Hood from the back deck.

I spent some time watching the hummingbirds competing over the feeders provided.

Two hummingbirds at the feeder on the back deck.

Trivia:  Hummingbirds can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so.

Internet:  Hummingbirds are found only in the Western Hemisphere, from eastern Alaska to southern Chili, although most live in the tropics. There are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, 12 of which summer in North America and winter in tropical areas.

Hummingbird’s fast breathing rate, fast heartbeat and high body temperature require that they eat often.  They require an enormous amount of food each day.  Hummingbirds have a long tongue which they use to lick their food at a rate of up to 13 licks per second.

We enjoyed a memorable dinner under a maple tree, in the back yard.

Friday morning, there was more entertainment from wildlife.

The Least Chipmunk is the smallest species of chipmunk and the most widespread in North America.

Chipmunk.

Vic and Marianne took us to Timberline Lodge, about a half hour drive, it is on the other side of Mt Hood.

A lot of snow up there.  The poles on the side of the road are 'guide posts' for winter!

The drive up to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood.

Internet:  Timberline Lodge is a National Historic Landmark located on the southern flank of Mount Hood, with an elevation of about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres).  The mountain has six ski areas, they total over 4,600 acreas (7.2 sq.mile/19 sq.km) of skiable terrain.  Timberline offers year-round, lift-served skiing.  (Also popular for climbing and hiking.)

Timberline Lodge, elevation 6,000 ft (at the timberline) is a magnificent ski lodge.  Built in 1937, it is a National Historic Landmark and is still in use as it was intended.  The Cascadian architecture is beautiful.  The decorative themes include wildlife, Native American, and pioneer – stone, wood, iron and textiles. The large fireplace is awesome, a couple of beautiful restaurants, spectacular views.

Trivia:  The 1980 horror movie “The Shining” (starring Jack Nicholson) – used aerial shots of Timberline Lodge as part of its opening scene.

The pioneer craftsmanship, decorative details are throughout.  The stair newell posts of wildlife - are beautiful.

Jim and Marianne at Timberline Lodge.

Panoramic view from top of Timberline Lodge.

From the top of Timberline Lodge, looking south towards Mt Jefferson.

The ski lift and southern slope of Mt Hood.

Driving down Mt Hood south side - Mt Jefferson.

Lunch was at Mt Hood Brewing Co.  Lovely meal and beers there.

The restaurant was called "Ice Axe" as well as the beer.

Back to the house to relax a bit.  I was let loose in the blueberry and raspberry bushes!  Picked some for the truck trip.

Blueberry patch.

Raspberry bushes.

Vic and Marianne's house from the back yard - photo taken from the raspberry bushes.

Photo from Vic and Marianne's driveway - Mt Adams to the north.

Internet:  Mt Adams is the second-highest mountain in the state of Washington, after Mt Rainier.

Another memorable dinner under the maple tree in the back yard.  Dinner cooked by Pete, Marianne did all the fixings, great bottle of wine!

Pete and Jim telling stories.

Wine, beers, conversation, laughs, the view, the sunset rounded out a fun day.

Alarm needed to get Jim and I up and into the truck early Saturday morning.  2330 miles (almost 4,000 kms) to go over the three day weekend.

Getting ready to leave Parkdale, Oregon.

Sunrise and Mt Adams (in Washington).

Mt Adams (Washington).

It was the 4^th July long weekend, but we did not encounter any traffic congestion.  Interstate follows a similar path as the Oregon Trail.

Flaming Gorge area of Wyoming.

Approaching the tunnels, east bound I 80 in Wyoming.

Fog in Indiana.

Got a leaking wheel seal fixed along the way, but otherwise a 2300 mile (almost 4000 km) trouble free trip to deliver in Luna Pier, Michigan Tuesday morning.
The smoker delivered to Beef Jerky Unlimited, it was too big to go through their door, so once it was off the trailer - we left!

Early that morning I emailed all the customs paperwork to a customs broker to get clearance to enter Canada.  The shipper provides all the shipment information for customs, we put it with our truck and personal details (passport, id’s); the load, the truck and we have to meet criteria and be cleared prior to entering Canada.

At 11.30am, we stopped at a truckstop 10 miles from the border and waited for clearance.  After lots and lots of phone calls and emails, at 9.30 PM, it was discovered the shipper had put the wrong information in for the customer.  They had three shipments going to Canada and they mixed up the customers.  Because the shipper is in Oregon (three hours behind east coast time) it was 9.30am the next morning (Wednesday) before we got clearance.

A day late delivering and lost our return load out of Canada.

Thursday morning delivered at Canneberges Bieler Inc. in St. Louis de Blandford, Quebec.

Canneberges Bieler/Atoka are a large farm specializing in cranberry, lavender and other produce, a huge company.

Website: Bieler cranberries is Canada’s leading producer with 1,400 acres in production.

We had a new processing plant – conveyor system and washer.  It was raining heavily when we unloaded.  Always tough to untarp and unload in the rain.  Didn’t have problems with the ‘French only’ speaking people there.  Fork lift sign language is universal!

We found a load back to the USA 85 miles south, in Granby at EZE Flow.

Website:  From a small business that once solely made stainless steel fittings, over the years Ezeflow has become a major producer of butt weld fittings in nickel alloys, duplex, super duplex, titanium and other high alloys as well as in value-added carbon steel.

Yes, and …. Butt weld is a welding technique used to connect parts which are nearly parallel and don’t overlap.

Loaded 16 skids of large pipe and needed three tarps to cover all – first time using the new 16feet x 24feet ‘steel’ tarps (black ones), second time using the 16feet x 16feet ‘coil’ tarp (pink one).

Granby, Quebec, Canada to Port Barre, Louisiana.

We were making good time – until we got to the border.  All the paperwork had been sent in and we received clearance about 1 ½ hours before we got there.  Nope, we were not cleared.  What????

Two hours later it was corrected – the Customs Broker had our shipment number AMMF6060 correct on one page, but AMMFG060 on the other one.

We are very thorough with our handling of the customs and immigration paperwork – fines are huge if we do anything wrong.  Twice we were inconvenienced because of other people’s errors! Frustratimg and stressful!

On our trip south to Louisiana we spent Friday night in Attica, a quick visit with Michele and to see Jim’s mother.  Jim and I had a fish fry dinner at Wallenweins in East Auroura.
Left 10.00 Saturday morning and headed south.

Delivered the pipe elbows on Monday morning, 11 July near Port Barre, Louisiana.

Delivered the pipe elbows in Port Barre, Louisiana.

Had considered unloading the motorbike, because there were some places we were interested in – but in the middle of the day, it was so hot and humid we decided against that.  Instead drove down to New Orleans and parked at the Mardi Gras Truckstop and took a taxi to the French Quarter.

We had not been there for 12 years, were there frequently when we hauled Tradeswhows.  The French Quarter is immensely entertaining!

Wikipedia:  The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carre (Old Square), is the oldest neighbourhood in New Orleans.  Many of the buildings date from before 1803; since the 1920’s, the historic buildings have been protected by law and cannot be demolished, and renovations or new construction must be carried out in accordance with city regulations, preserving the historic architectural style.

We stopped first at Pat O’Briens’ Bar, famous for inventing the ‘hurricane’ drink.

Then we strolled up and down Rue Bourbon (Bourbon Street), it is mostly bars, restaurants and entertainment.  We were there late afternoon on a Monday, so not many people there.  Been there many times where it was crowded, and difficult to get served or seated anywhere.

Frozen drinks.

There are several Louisiana craft breweries with new beers, so we tried a few, as well as long established Abita beer.

Loaded Tuesday morning at St Bernard Port east of New Orleans.

Internet:  The Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest shipping corridors in the country.  St Bernard Arabi Terminal is located on the Mississippi River, and dates from the early 1900’s when the slip was constructed. The draft in the main River Channel and Moorings is 45 plus feet and the average depth is 36 feet.

St Bernard Port - near New Orleans, Louisiana.

We loaded seven pieces of plate steel for Tampa, Florida.

No wind resistance with this load!

Easy trip to Tampa, Florida and delivered on Wednesday, 13 July at Tampa Tank Inc.  Then to the house, it had been six weeks since we had been there – so lots of mail, stuff to be done around the house and truck.

Caught up with Ron and Regina on Friday evening at Hidden Treasures Restaurant at Rose Bay.  Fun evening with them.

Saturday evening, Lis and Harvey came over from DeLeon Springs to our place for a visit.  Walked to The Tiki Hut on Main Street and had a great seafood meal, then walked to the Bandshell for the Summer Concert series – free concerts and fireworks are still being put on by Friends of the Bandshell for the enjoyment of locals and tourists each Saturday night from late May to early September.

A Bob Seger tribute band was that nights' entertainment. A Florida band called “Night Moves”, they cover all Bob Seger songs.  There was a big crowd to watch – and it was great music.  We stayed to watch the fireworks off the Main Street Pier.  It was a lovely night with Lis and Harvey.

Concert at the Bandshell, Daytona Beach.

Jim stayed busy while in Daytona Beach, helping Jimmy re-fresh his 1970 moto guzzi – it was a challenge.

Jim had dropped off the alternator for the truck generator at an auto electrician in New Smyrna Beach.  We took the car down Tuesday to pick it up.  Had intended having a quick beer at New Smyrna Brewery, but it was their brewing day, so was closed.  Next door is the New Smyrna Museum of History.  I had intended checking it out for sometime – it was open, but only for another 15 minutes.  Jim and I had a quick look around.  Very interesting!

Photo stolen from New Smyrna Museum of History website.

(I didn't think to take a photo of the museum, so had to steal one from their website.)

From website:  The focal point of the New Smyrna Museum of History is an exhibit devoted to the founders of New Smyrna, an intrepid group of indentured Mediterranean colonists, under the leadership of Scottish physician and diplomat, Dr. Andrew Turnbull.

In addition to the New Smyrna Settlement Exhibit, there is an interior gallery which gives chronological overview of area history, starting with pre-historic Florida and continuing through eleven distinct periods.

Pottery, tapestries, furniture, civil war artifacts, a printing press - a lot of videos, information boards and signs to read.

English crockery from early settlers.

The start of the orange groves in Florida.

The dug out canoe was unique!

Early Thursday morning, we left Daytona and loaded in Pooler, Georgia at Keen Transport - one Loadall machine that took up half the trailer, for Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Some of the equipment stores at Keen Transport - a lot of it is imported.

Loaded the next morning in Rural Retreat, Virginia – a conveyor and bandsaw for Detroit, Michigan. Crisp Manufacturing had closed and equipment sold.   That filled the trailer.

Loadall for Grand Rapids, machines to Roseville, Michigan.

Delivered to a machinery repair company north side of Detroit, Michigan on Saturday morning.  One of the workers/owners lived nearby and was happy to come in to unload us, which we appreciated.

Drove west to Grand Rapids and parked at a truckstop and unloaded the motorbike.

It was extremely hot temperatures, plus humidity.  We ventured into Grand Rapids.

Wikipedia:  Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan, it is located on the Grand River, about 30 miles (approx. 50 kms) from Lake Michigan.  (Apparently there was once a set of rapids, but ships could only navigate to there.)  During the second half of the 19^th century the city became a major lumbering centre, processing timber harvested in the region.  Logs were floated down the Grand River to be milled in the city and shipped via the Great Lakes.  The city became a centre of fine wood products.  By the end of the century, it was established as the premier furniture manufacturing city.  Grand Rapids is still home to five of the world’s leading office furniture companies.

Historic downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Many old brick streets.

Grand Rapids was voted “Beer City USA”.  The Ale Trail boasts 40+ breweries.

Wow, a ride around downtown there were brewpubs all over the place!  It was a hot day, so we stopped into Grand Rapids Brewery, downtown for a cool down – sampled a couple of their beers and had lunch.

Website:  On January 1, 1893 six local breweries joined forces and opened Grand Rapids Brewing Co.  Over the next two decades, they built a monumental brewery at the corner of Michigan Street and Ionia Avenue.

In 1920, Prohibition brought that success to a crashing halt.  Today’s Grand Rapids Brewing Company opened on December 5, 2012, 79 years to the day after the repeal of Prohibition, just six blocks from its original position.
Reclaimed materials were used in our floors, tables and walls.
I especially liked the block lettering above the bar.
Headed back to the truckstop and spotted another brewery on the outskirts of the city – Crankers.  Ready for some air conditioning, so stopped in there.

Interesting decor.

Sunday morning was thunderstorms and torrential rain.  It was noon before it cleared, so we got on the motorbike and headed to Holland, Michigan.

Wikipedia:  Holland, Michigan was founded by Dutch Americans.  Settled in 1847 – dire economic conditions in the Netherlands compelled them to emigrate, while their desire for religious freedom led them to unite and settle as a group.  There are 170 churches in the Holland area.  Holland’s downtown is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  Each May is the 'Tulip Time Festival'.

We wandered around the downtown area – it was very busy with tourists. Old and interesting architecture.

Downtown Holland, Michigan.

There are 16 sculptures and statues in the town – I took photos a couple:  “Pledge of Allegiance”, and “Joy Of Music”.

We had lunch, then stopped at Our Brewery.

Beautiful old buildings and decor.

We rode along the Ottawa Beach Road that runs along the north side of Lake Macatawa and it stops at Holland State Park.  The Holland Harbor Light, known as “Big Red” sits along the breakwater of Holland Harbor, where Lake Macatawa meets Lake Michigan.  This structure was built in 1907.

The channel between Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan allows pleasure craft and commercial boats, even bulk freighters, to access Holland’s docks to unload coal, salt and iron scrap.

There was a lot of lake traffic while we watched.  The sail boats sailed in Lake  Macatawa, then got to Lake Michigan and almost layed flat when the wind hit them!  Hard to imagine the big lake freighters moving down the same route.

We rode back to the Grand Rapids truckstop via Zeeland and Hudsonville.

Monday morning, we delivered the Loadall to Sunbelt Rentals.  After lunch we headed east towards Detroit.

Tuesday morning we loaded at Pioneer Steel, that was an interesting neighbourhood!  High crime rate – day and night.  We tarped in the street, and were a little uneasy when ‘walkers’ got near!

Loading in Detroit.

South to Rolled Alloy in Temperance, Michigan (south of Detroit) and loaded one skid of steel plate, that went on the end of the trailer, under the tarp.

Next day, we delivered the one skid in Louisville, Kentucky the next morning, and the rest of the trailer to Paducah, Kentucky about noon.

We had not been into Paducah before – it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers.  We delivered at Precision Machines - across from the Ohio River.

Looked like an interesting town – a levee wall along the river was covered with murals.  This was as the wall across from where we delivered to a scrap steel place.

Murals on the levee wall in Paducah, Kentucky.

We could not find a load for that afternoon, so stayed at the truckstop outside Paducah - there was a big storm system going through.

Storms in Padaucah, Kentucky.

 Crossing the Tennessee River bridge - working barges.

Tennessee River.

Thursday afternoon we loaded at Dairyman Supply Company near Mayfield, Kentucky.  A huge lumber supplier.  We had a full load of siding for Florida.

Website:  Four generations of Dairyman’s Supply Company, they are no longer a small farm supply store.  Today, they are a national wholesaler supplying name brand building materials to retail lumber and building centres throughout the southeast USA.

Mayfield, Kentucky to Arcadia, Florida.

It was a leisurely drive 900 miles (approx. 1500km) from Mayfield, Kentucky to Arcadia, Florida to deliver on Monday, 1 August.

Thursday night we stopped at the truckstop near downtown Nashville, Tennessee and headed to Broadway Street.  We had a lovely dinner and a beer at Broadway Brewpub.

Broadway Street, Nashville.

Broadway Street, Nashville

We wandered the streets a bit – did a lap past the Country Music Hall of Fame.  There has been some buildings added to the area around it since se were last there.  An awesome building depicting the keys of a piano.  A great building - I like looking at it!

Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville.

Worked our way back to Robert’s Western Wear, our favourite Nashville honky tonk.

Nashville Broadway Street honky tonks.

 The Don Kelley Band was playing – always entertaining, excellent musicians, and old time country music with lots of crowd participation!

The Don Kelley Band at Roberts, Nashville.

 The street, bars and honky tonks start to get very crowded after 10pm any night of the week, so we started heading back to the truck.  Went via Second Street to have a quick look at the George Jones Museum.  That was a nice display and tribute.

Downtown Nashville, from the truckstop.

Encountered several storms heading south towards Florida.

On Saturday afternoon, we got to a truck stop just south of our delivery.  It was hot and humid and we had a day and a half off, so we got a motel next to the truck stop.  A high school friend of Jim’s lives nearby and they had not seen each other since just after high school (that is 1965).

Sunday morning, Jim and Sherri picked us up from the motel.  We stopped at Muscle Car City – there was a swap meet in the parking lot, a diner and museum and store inside.  Very interesting!  A lot of beautiful cars, antique bicycles, wheel-related toys, etc. and all sorts of parts and gift items.

Website:  Muscle Car City is a 99,000 square foot museum with well over 200 vintage ’50s to early ’70s muscle cars.  Featuring classic cars and hot rods spanning 35 years of makes and models.  The collection boasts GM Performance Cars from ’67 – ’70 Z-28 Camaros, ’68 – ’71 396 Camaros, ’64 – ’71 SS Chevelles, ’65 – ’71 SS El Caminos, ’58 – ’67 Big Block Impalas, ’64 – ’71 Pontiac GTOs, ’64 – ’72 Oldsmobile 442s and a huge assortment of Hot Rods and Antique Chevys. Rick has managed to maintain and collect one or more Corvette of each year from 1954 – 1975 and several of each series from 1975 – 2016.

Smokey and The Bandit trans am.

Bicycles and pedal cars.

We spent some time looking at displays and had a great lunch in the diner.  Went for a drive all around Punta Gorda.

Wikipedia:  Punta Gorda, a small historic town nestled on the shores of pristine Charlotte Harbor, a large estuary off the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the oldest incorporated cities in Florida. In addition to being recognized for its small town ambiance, biking and walking friendly pathways, and many fine restaurants, is renowned as a boating and fishing paradise.  Its prime harbor front location and over 60 miles of canals provide access to both casual day boating and fishing, to serious deep sea fishing, sailing and cruising to the Gulf of Mexico.
We spent the afternoon at Jim and Sherri’s talking and catching up, stayed for dinner there, then they took us back to the motel.  That was a great day.