Vol. 23 No. 2 - 30 April, 2019

The ornamental stone we loaded in Missouri, delivered to a home under construction in the Royal Oak gated community in the Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida.

Website:  Welcome to a world embraced by luxury, privacy, and the Magic of Disney.  This magnificent resort community offers first-ever whole ownership of custom single-family homes at Walt Disney World Resort.

A bit fancy!!  Looking at the completed homes, the ornamental stones are a feature of the front for the home.

Lunch at Jim's Pit Bar-B-Q in north Florida.

Oak tree covered with other growth - Florida

After delivering in Orlando on Monday 1 April, we went to Daytona Beach for the rest of the week.  Always things to be done to the truck, a couple of air hoses and fittings required replacing.

A breakfast stop at Pats Riverfront Cafe on the eastern side of the Halifax River in Daytona Shores.  An overcast morning, and a quiet snowy egret hanging around.

Friday evening we took the 1974 Moto Guzzi Eldorado out for some socialising.  Stopped at Red Pig Brewery in Holly Hill. I found M.O.P. ale (Mango, Orange & Pineapple)  Wow!

Stopped at Ormond Beach Brewery next - we have not been there for a while.  Still interesting, and we met some lovely people there.  Then across the river to the Beachside Brewery. We were almost to the brewery when the Eldorado appeared to run out of gasoline, so we coasted off to the side of the road. That turned into a long evening!  One of the couples we were just talking to in Ormond Beach Brewery, Kevin & Rie, saw us and stopped, drove back to their place and picked up a can of gasoline and brought it to us.  The bike started, but began smoking and missing.  It got us to the Beachside Brewery, but would not start after that.  It spent the night outside the Brewpub and Kevin & Rie took us to the house.  We met them at the Brewpub the next morning - they had a small trailer and brought the Eldorado back to the house.  Nice people!!!!  Meeting for the first time, then being able to save us a lot of hassles.
Turned out that the gasoline in the can was either old or off, because Kevin used the rest of it in his lawnmower and it started smoking and missing!

Jimmy arrived in Daytona Beach late Friday night, so we caught up with him at Oasis Tiki Bar Saturday afternoon.  An overcast and stormy afternoon.

So much weekend traffic on  beachside, slow moving.  I had time to snap a few photos of the amusements near Main Street.  Screamers Park where the bungee/slingshot and spinning ride are.

Florida BMX Spring Fling XI was held at Daytona Beach over the weekend April 5-7.  Seabreeze Blvd a few streets from us was their headquarters, so lots of BMX bicycles all over the area. A group were lane splitting along A1A and on the sidewalk - several were wheel standing all the way! 

Caught up with our BMX rider friends (also Moto Guzzi friends!) - Tim, Helena, Mary Lynn and Lamont for dinner on the Saturday evening at the Oyster Pub, on Seabreeze Blvd.  A lovely meal, and company - a big storm nearby with thunder and lightning and it started to rain just before we headed back to the house.

BMX and a moto guzzi at the Oyster Pub, Seabreeze Blvd, Daytona Beach.

Two new high rise buildings going up in our neighbourhood.  Photo taken going over Oakridge Bridge.

Breakfast with Jimmy Sunday morning at Heffer's Cafe, then Jim and I were in the truck and headed north by lunch time.
We stopped at the Truck Weigh Station north of Jacksonville, Florida.  Saw this airboat clearing weed in the pond.

Internet:  Vegetation can benefit a pond by providing habitat for fish oxygenation, erosion control and visual appeal.  Plants, however, can also prove to be a nuisance.  Invasive weeds such as filamentous algae, white water lily, and water hyacinth can interfere with the use and health of a pond. Thick weed growth can affect the overall health of the pond and fish are affected.

The airboat had a forklift type boom/rake.  It ran up and down the pond and when the rake filled with weeds, they were dumped on the bank and picked up later.  Interesting!

An all chrome horse trailer going through the weigh station.

Loaded Monday morning, 8 April at the JCB, Inc. in Pooler, Georgia. Foggy morning, and three trucks ahead of us.

Pooler, Georgia to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Still too early and cold for leaves on the trees - sunrise in Virginia.

The JCB forklift delivered to a United Rentals company in Wilkes-Barre, PA. 
We stayed at a nearby truckstop that night, to load north of there the next morning in Exeter, PA on Wednesday 10th April at Bridon America, the wire rope place. Loaded and tarped one coil.

Exeter, Pennsylvania to Oakland City, Indiana.

One of the ladies in the office at Bridon America was selling chocolate as a fundraiser.  Jim bought three bars of Gertrude Hawk Chocolate. It is VERY good!

Website:  The company was started by Gertrude Jones Hawk in 1936.

Gertrude began her career at the age of 12 after the death of her father.  She took a job in a candy shop and later began making chocolates in the kitchen of her home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Following World War II, her son Elmer Hawk invested his service pay in the fledgling business.

The company is now a $90 million annual business with four divisions.  It employs over 1,000 people and operates 75 Gertrude Hawk Chocolate Shops throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Products are used in fundraising sales through area churches and schools.

The Raspberry one was first to be consumed!

Another discovery - Fire Roasted Sweet Corn - popcorn.  Also VERY good!

The next day, Thursday we delivered the coil to another Bridon Company in Oakland City, Indiana, then over the Ohio River to Hawesville, Kentucky to load 12 reels of aluminum wire at Southwire/Century Kentucky.

Website:  Southwire/Century Kentucky is the largest producer of high purity aluminum in North America.  Aluminum from Hawesville smelter supplies the electrical conductor, remelt ingot and high-purity ingot markets, as well as the defense and aerospace industries.

Hawesville, Kintucky to Palm Coast, Florida.

We got to Daytona Beach Friday night, for the weekend.

Saturday morning's walk with Diane we discovered that it was the 9th annual Humane Societies' Mutt Strutt - a 5km Fun Run / Walk-a-thon  on the Beach.  

Put your paws in the sand on Daytona Beach!  Halifax Humane Society’s Annual Mutt Strutt brings together over 1,000 people and hundreds of their furry friends.  It’s the only day of the year that dogs are allowed on the World’s Most Famous Beach!

It is a fundraiser for Halifax Humane Society so they can continue caring for lost, abandoned and neglected animals.

The Bandshell was 'headquarters', where vendors and a band were set up.

Jim had been checking over the Le Mans, before it is loaded on the truck.  For a test run, we headed to Palm Coast to check out where our delivery was for Monday.
Then we headed to European Village in Palm Coast.  It had been a long time since we were there and a brew pub had opened, Moonrise Brewery.

European Village at Palm Coast is a one stop destination for dining, lounging, and entertainment – featuring 6 restaurants, 6 shops, 5 bars, 3 offices and 2 cafes.

Accommodation/condos are above the shops. The colour, gardens and architecture are of the European style.  A lovely place.

We enjoyed a beer, and a great sandwich at Moonrise Brewery, then a short distance to the Brass Tap, which has a large selection of beers on tap.  We had one there, then headed back south along the ocean, A1A.

Had a quick beer at the Beachside Brewery, and a snack from the food truck, then to the house.
On Sunday we loaded the Le Mans on the truck in the morning.  Rain was forecast on and off for the day.  Late afternoon, we took the 1970 Ambassador Moto Guzzi to the Boot Hill Saloon on Main Street.  It is an attention getter!

We left Daytona Beach early Monday morning, 15th April to deliver the reels of aluminum wire to FPL (Florida Power & Light) in Palm Coast, Florida.  FPL is our electricity company.  Then north to Pooler, Georgia to load at JCB, Inc.  a Loadall for United Rentals going to Houston, Texas.

There was some room on the trailer and not time sensitive - found and LTL, one skid of wall panels in Macon, Georgia and we loaded and tarped the next morning at Gilmer Logistics.

A quick trip then to deliver in Houston.

A sunset along the way.

The JCB forklift delivered to a United Rentals company in north-east Houston, Texas on Wednesday about mid day on 17 April.
Then to the north-west side to a Sonic Drive-In Diner.  That was interesting!  Not much room for a rig.  The wall panels we had were to repair the exterior wall of the diner.
Internet:  Sonic is an American drive-in fast food restaurant chain.  As of Sept 2018, there were 3,606 Sonic restaurants in 45 US states.  Known for its use of carhops on roller skates, has been in operation since the early 1950s.  At a standard Sonic Drive-In, a customer drives into a covered drive-in stall, orders through an intercom speaker system, and has the food delivered by a carhop.  Most drive-ins also have patio seating, and many have drive-through lanes.

This Sonic diner had a drive through area, and Jim could back the whole rig in.  The skid of wall panels were unloaded by hand.

Thursday was much cooler and raining - first pick up was on the north-east side of Houston at Sun Packing Inc.
Website:  Sun Packing Inc. specializes in custom packing and crating solutions to fit unique cargo needs and prepare it for shipping.

At Sun Packing Inc., we loaded a shipment for Roquemore Marble & Granite.
Internet:  Roquemore Marble & Granite is a Houston wholesale supplier of granite and marble vases, statues, cremation urns, benches, columbariums and other monumental products catering to cemeteries, memorial, and the monument industry throughout the US.

This shipment was a granite columbarium in the steel frame, and a small crate of accessories.  (And ...  a columbarium is a room or building with niches for funeral urns to be stored.)

A columbarium - LTL shipment from Houston, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona.

Then to south-west Houston to load three large air conditioners for a rental company in Phoenix, Arizona.
There was about 7 feet of room on the trailer, and a shipment just listed in north-west Houston!!
In the afternoon we loaded and tarped some grates at Superior Grating, - they are stair tread grates.

That was a busy couple of days in / around Houston! The city is growing rapidly, (fourth largest in the US), an address in "Houston", could be 50 miles from the next one.  A lot of traffic, with rolling thunderstorms, low visibility and wet roads, there were lots of accidents. A stressful day!

Three LTL shipments Houston, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona.

An easy 1200 mile drive west, with nice weather.  Sunsets and sunrises. 

Sunset west of San Antonio, Texas.

Progressive sunrise from the truckstop in Segovia, west Texas on Friday morning.

Spring time and the Texas wildflowers were a great display.  We detoured off Interstate 10 because of a truck rollover, but I did not get all the colour of the flowers.

Sunrise in Lordsburg, New Mexico - at Love's Truckstop, and a flowering yucca plant.

Westbound on Interstate 10, with the full moon.

New Mexico,

The New Mexico / Arizona state line, I 10.

Heading into Tucson to visit Uncle Joe, Aunt Ro and cousin Ann Marie.

 On the south east side of Tucson, is Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.  Hundreds and hundreds of aircraft on both sides of the highway.

We arrived in Phoenix mid-afternoon on Saturday, 21 April.  Stayed with Tom and JoAnn for several days.  They always do BIG holidays - the decorations, food and people.  Sunday three other couples joined in for the Easter Sunday celebration, a fun day.

Jim and I delivered two LTL shipments on Monday, 22nd.  The three air conditioners to HERC Rentals in Peoria, then the metal grates to Al Steel in Phoenix.
Hanging out with Tom and JoAnn and their two dogs.

The boxer likes to sit between Jim and I on the couch.

Tuesday with Tom and JoAnn, we visited Goldfields Ghost Town in Apache Junction.

Website: Back in the 1890’s Goldfield boasted 3 saloons, a boarding house, general store, brewery, meat market and a school house.  Just when it looked like the town would outgrow Mesa, the vein faultered, the grade of ore dropped and the town died a slow painful death.

After several unsuccessful attempts to reopen the mines, the town did come to life again from 1910 on and off until 1926.  After more than 115 years, travelers from all over the world still visit this gold mining town located on the historic Apache Trail and enjoy the excitement and grandeur of Arizona’s wild west.

Goldfield is perched on a small hill between the Superstition Mountains and Goldfield Mountains.

The Bordello.

Lunch was at the Mammoth Saloon - so much fun.

Boots, hats, hunting trophies on the ceiling and walls.   

  JoAnn and I had a Prickly Pear Cactus Margarita!  A specialty!  

 This was the view out of the Saloon - Superstition Mountain.  Some rain storms were forecast, and there was a 15 minute downpour.  

The stores and displays kept us busy for several hours. A fun afternoon, and some Arizona history, and beautiful views.

A saguaro cactus with flower buds - the saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona.

Wednesday we borrowed Tom's car and drove to Avondale and met Mary and Dennis at Claim Jumper restaurant - great to catch up with them.  Great atmosphere and meals!

Great Mexican dinner that evening at El Zorapo with Tom and JoAnn also - we eat very well in Arizona!

Thursday, Jim and I were up early. We had a crane appointment to deliver the columbarium, so Tom took us to the truck at 6am.  Phoenix traffic is very congested, so we wanted to have plenty of time.
First time we have delivered in a cemetery - Greenwood Memory/Lawn Mortuary and Cemetery.

Website:  The cemetery, which resulted as a merger of two historical cemeteries, is the final resting place of various notable citizens of Arizona.  Pioneers, governors, congressmen, government officials, journalists, race car drivers, soldiers, actors and actresses are among the many notable citizens who are interred in the cemetery.

The first cemetery was established in 1906.

Greenwood/Memorial Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery with its 192 acres is the largest cemetery in Arizona.  The cemetery has 59 sections, including a lawn section, a veterans garden and various other cultural and religious gardens.

The columbarium we delivered went to the Vietnamese section, the concrete pad was ready, and once the crane got there and set up, the two pieces came off quick.

The Vietnamese Memorial of Arizona: "A resting place for the Vietnamese refugees who left their beloved country behind since the occupation of South Vietnam by North Vietnamese communists on April 30th, 1975."

Next load was in Surprise, Arizona, on the north west side of Phoenix, Janus International - roller doors.

Surprise, Arizona to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Then north on Interstate 17, have not been on this highway for many years - always interesting with the large saguaro cactus on either side.  Saguaro cactus can grow as tall as 40 feet (12 metres), the largest cactus species in the USA..

Driving north into cooler temperatures.  First day of 100 degrees F (37.7 C) in Phoenix when we left.  Still some snow on the mountains near Flagstaff, and a few raindrops.

Sunset at the truckstop.

The terrain varies driving from Arizona east to New Mexico.

Parked at a Truckstop in Walsenburg, south east Colorado on Friday night. A nice view of Spanish Peaks.
Spanish Peaks are two masses of granite that rise 7,000 feet above the plains between Walsenburg and Trinidad in South East Colorado.

Spanish Peaks at sunset from the truckstop at Walsenburg.

Saturday morning, 27 April we unloaded the motorbike and headed west into the mountains.

Spanish Peaks.

Temperatures dropped considerably with the elevation.

Travelled over La Veta Pass.  This is the highway that was closed last year due to wildfires and we had a long detour around.  Evidence of the wildfire destruction.
La Veta Pass is the name associated with two nearby mountain passes in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of south central Colorado.

Stopped for a coffee and a warm up in Blanco at Del's Diner.

 Our next stop was the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Internet:  Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Range. The Park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America.  The dunes cover about 20 sq mile (78 km2) and are estimated to contain over 1.2 cubic miles (5 billion cubic metres) of sand.
Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley o ver geologic time periods.  After lakes within the valley receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos, eventually forming the dune field over tens of thousands of years.

There are a lot of people out hiking on the dunes. 

The Visitors Centre was great!  We spent some time there looking at the exhibits.  Thought we would go a bit closer and hike in the dunes, but as we left the Visitors Centre, storms blew in and we felt the first large drops of rain and turned around and stayed ahead of the storms (for most of the trip!).

It is an interesting and varied area - very enjoyable.
From there, we headed back over La Veta Pass, then took The Highway of Legends, south through the towns of La Veta and Stonewall into Trinidad, Colorado.

Colorado Scenic Byway - Colorado Route 12. (82 miles / 132 kms)

Colorado.com:  The lore of this area is vivid, swirling in the spiritual myths of the American Natives and history of their clashes with Spanish explorers.  Like much of Colorado, where the promises of fortune led, trouble followed and tales of outlaws “settling their differences” are common.

After the town of La Veta, the stretch of two-lane highway, the unusual volcanic formations radiating outward from the Spanish Peaks.  The highway rises to Cuchara Pass on the shoulder of the Spanish Peaks.  The Tarahumare Indians held these summits as sacred and believed that all life on earth originated from the area.  Below the Pass is the glorious Cuchara Valley, a hidden wonderland even most Coloradoans have failed to notice.

Meandering through ranchland and forest.

Wow, what a motorcycle ride, spectacular and varied scenery!

Town of La Veta.

Snow still close in most of the passes.

Hwy 12 eventually leads to Cokedale, a National Historic District.  Here you will find the surreal sight of what look like from the Roman Empire.  These arching alcoves are actually the remnants of coke ovens used for smelting coal from the nearby mine.

Working in the coal mines was hard work. Very hard.  But some were lucky enough to work above ground.  Coke ovens were used at extremely high temperatures to turn coal into ‘coke’, (a very hard form of coal with the impurities removed) which is used to make steel. Coke heats at extremely high temperatures, to about 2800 degrees F, and this is what gives strength and flexibility to steel.

The coke ovens in Cokedale, Colorado.

A short distance drive to Trinidad, where the town’s Victorian architecture preserves a civilized slice of southern Colorado’s rough and tumble past.
We went into the old city centre of Trinidad.

The sidewalk pavers.

The downtown area is quite old and neglected, but it appears attempts are being made so more people and attractions will be added.  Several murals on the sides of buildings.

The late 1800 coal mining boom in southern Colorado helped transform Trinidad into a mini-metropolis – with the help of a small bird.  Canaries are ultra sensitive to toxic underground gasses, and their squawks warned miners to evacuate their tunnels ASAP.  In 2010, Trinidad celebrated the noisy little lifesavers by erecting a massive bronze statue of a caged canary, mid-chirp, on the town’s Main Street.

"The Coal Miner's Canary" honors the otherwise thankless profession of mine safety canaries; this chirpster is shown alive, not yet dropping off the perch from carbon monoxide poisoning. The Southern Coal Miners Memorial is a bronze sculpture by local art teacher Ben A. Johnson; the base lists the names of hundreds of miners.

A retro motel sign.

In the 1970’s Trinidad was dubbed the “Sex Change Capital of the World”, because a local doctor had an international reputation for performing sex reassignment surgery.  At his peak, Dr. Biber was performing roughly four sex-change operations a day, and the term “taking a trip to Trinidad” became a eupherism for seeking the procedures he offered.

In 2015 the town started to experience a new boom, the city is thriving today due to the marijuana industry.  There are approximately 30 licensed retail cannabis stores in Trinidad, it is now known as “Weed Town USA” (generating approx. $44 million in annual sales!!! which is $4.4 million tax money for the State).

On the north side of Trinidad we found Dodgeton Brewery.  An interesting place, we enjoyed one of their beers and good conversation with the owner.

The Purple Toad restaurant in Trinidad, Colorado.

Headed back towards Walsenburg, and stopped at the Crafty Canary Brewery there.  The connection to a mining town and the importance of canaries!

Entrance to the grocery store in Walsenburg - the 'welcome' is the shape of Spanish Peaks.

Spanish Peaks sunset Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, we waited until temperatures warmed a bit, then headed north out of the truckstop.

A lot of buffalo herds.

Westcliffe is to the east of Sangre de Cristos, elevation is 7,888 ft. We stopped for a break and a look around this lovely town with the fabulous views.

Coffee break at White Bird Emporium in Westcliffe.

Then east to Pueblo, past Hardscrabble mountain, more passes and beautiful scenery.

Internet:  Pueblo is situated at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek.  The area is considered semi-arid desert, with approximately 12 inches (305 mm) of precipitation annually, and tends to get less snow than other cities in Colorado.

Pueblo is one of the largest steel producing cities in the USA.

Pueblo is an old city, we found the Shamrock Pub and Brewery in the city centre. Tried a couple of their brews and had a great lunch there.

Ready for the next loop around the mountains.

We backtracked for about 20 miles and took Colorado Highway 165 south.

The Moto Guzzi Club National Rally was held in Colorado in 2009, and we had explored a lot of this area then, we rode past Bishop's Castle and recognised it from that trip!

Bishop's Castle.

Then back to Interstate Highway 25 and found a unique bar, Three Sisters, in Colorado City.

Saw the sign, and had a bit of a laugh!

I 25 south, headed towards Spanish Peaks.

Back to Walsenburg truckstop and loaded the motorbike, and get prepared for the coming week.  Final appreciation of Spanish Peaks at sunset.

Monday morning we had an early start to deliver the garage doors to a new storage facility in Colorado Springs.  Found several loads, but they kept falling apart.
Monday afternoon we dead headed to Ulysses, Kansas to load.

Before we got there Tuesday morning, we were notified that the shipment had already been dispatched with another company.. Sat at a truckstop for a few hours looking for another load.  Found an LTL in Elkhart, Kansas, on the Kansas/Oklahoma state line at Scott Power & Machinery, loaded a Great Plains planter.

Website:  Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc. was established in 1976.  Great Plains has become a leader in manufacturing agricultural implements for tillage, seeding, and ploughing, as well as a leading producer of dirt working, turf maintenance, and landscape equipment.

For the first two and a half years, Great Plains was located in a small shop in Salina, Kansas, before moving operations to Assaria, Kansas.  Today, the corporate headquarters are in Salina, and we operate / manufacture across eight facilities in central Kansas.

Piecing together a couple of LTL's, for the end of the month.