The shipment we loaded on Thursday 26 March was concrete forms and we picked them up in Waterford, north of Albany, NY and they had been used to reconstruct part of the Erie Canal lock system - Erie Lock 2 at Flight of Locks. Interesting to drive along the edge of the canal over narrow bridges to the canal in a rig. I would have taken photos but it was a bit scary!
From Internet: Just north of Albany, the Mohawk River joins the Hudson River - a joining of New York’s natural transportation arteries - one finds also a crossroads of a man-made sort. The Champlain and Erie Canals meet at Waterford, the gateway to New York State’s Barge Canal System. Waterford is the easternmost point of the Erie, and the southernmost point of the Champlain.
Since the inception of the original canal system in the early 1800’s, Waterfordians have been accustomed to the sight of bargemen plying through their backyards.
Waterford Flight of Locks constitutes the largest lift in the shortest distance on any lock system in the world!
That’s where we were!
We arrived at Joe and Michele’s mid-afternoon on Friday. We went to Mrs Hawley’s wake for an hour that evening and caught up with Jim’s mother and sister’s family there. Then Joe, Michele, Jim and I went for a fish fry dinner.
Friday and Saturday were still chilly but pleasant, sunny days - cold at night. The swimming pool was still frozen!
Our RV got through the winter with a little damage - Joe said that the snow was almost half way up the RV several times during winter. The weight of snow and ice tore off one windscreen wiper, it was lying on the ground, the other one is bent. Also a small leak around the window near the bed. I squirted more caulk around the windows on Saturday morning.
Mrs Hawley’s funeral was Saturday at 11am, and there was a lunch afterwards. Mr and Mrs Hawley had been married 67 years - very sad to see Mr Hawley alone. He is frail and 92 years old, but wants to continue living in his own home.
Jim and I left Sunday morning and drove to Indianapolis, Indiana. It was cold and raining all day.
Delivered the concrete forms to a rental company in Indianapolis Monday morning. There was a forklift malfunction, and the freight on the trailer deck ended up crashing onto the headache rack. The headache rack broke across the uprights and the right (quarter fender) mudguard squashed. Several sections of the headache rack were dented, crushed or torn, but Jim didn’t feel like messing with insurance claims and lose time. The company took us to a welding shop and paid for the welding repair and Jim pulled the mudguard off the wheel, it still does the job..
Tuesday we loaded a machine south of Dayton, Ohio - a tarp load. Drove up to Toledo and loaded steel rods (tank agitator impeller shafts) and tarped those. Two Less Than Truckloads (LTL) paid good.
Cold and raining on Wednesday, 1 April when we delivered the machine to a rigging company in Elma and the steel rods in Attica. Both towns outside Buffalo, New York. It is not fun folding tarps in the cold and rain!
We loaded in Olean, New York that afternoon - three crates of pump parts from Dresser Rand. There was a mess up with loading - the shippers planned to put two crates side by side on the trailer - they would not fit, so they stacked them. The crates were stapled together, so the staples on the bottom crate gave out early into our trip. The left side dropped about 8 cms and was sitting on the trailer instead of the ‘skid’, that made the load lopsided and the straps slacken and the top crate slid to the left. Jim got under the tarp with hammer and nails to reinforce all sides of the lower crate.
We had three repair stops on the way south, an effort having to roll the tarp up to check on it. With the crate flexing so much, the nails and staples all broke off. The last check with 500km to go, in a torrential downpour and high winds, Jim strapped the top of each end of the bottom crate to the right side of the trailer to stop it from leaning to the left, and a strap around the right side bottom of the crate to stop it from sliding to the right. Then more nails and more hammering... A very nervous trip south.
The shipment was for Chevron, one of the USA’s largest Chevron refineries is in Pascagoula located along Mississippi Sound at the mouth of the Pascagoula River, we delivered it to a warehouse.
We delivered with no damage to the freight - that was a miracle!
There were loads available, but nothing that paid anything, we spent all Friday afternoon at a nearby truckstop looking for a load. Then spent the weekend there, at least it was warm, sunny weather.
Internet: Pascagoula, the "Singing River" city by the sea has a deep and rich history as a European settlement that goes back over 300 years.
She is Mississippi’s premier and busiest port. Pascagoula is the home of the state’s largest employer, Northrop Grumman -"America’s Shipbuilder".
The name Pascagoula, which means "bread eaters," is taken from a group of Native Americans found in villages along the Pascagoula River some distance above its mouth. Tragically, these noble people are now extinct having drowned themselves chanting as they waded into the deepening river waters rather than enslave themselves to their enemy, the fierce Biloxi. Thus, the legend of the "Singing River" was born.
And a most important note about Pascagoula.... It is the birthplace of well-known American singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett, the original "Parrot Head."
On Saturday we dropped the trailer at the truckstop and bobtailed to West Mobile, Alabama and spent the morning at a big Flea Market. Sunday we drove into Pascagoula for a look around.
Monday we drove to Dothan, Alabama. It was a 400km deadhead, but the load paid better than anything closer even with the deadhead. Loaded Tuesday morning - rails for the New York Subway train maintenance facility.
Headed up the east coast and delivered Thursday morning at Croton-on-Hudson which is an historic Hudson River community, very old and narrow streets. The Maintenance Facility is huge though.
The next morning, Good Friday, we loaded in Framingham, Massachusetts (near Boston). A 400km dead head again, but it paid better than anything else closer. It was one large crate we had to tarp. We crossed into Ontario, Canada early Saturday morning and delivered to Siemens Turbine Facility in Hamilton.
There were no loads over the weekend, so we headed back over the border and spent Easter in the RV at Joe and Michele‘s. Saturday afternoon the kids, Michele and I dyed boiled eggs for Easter. That is a lot of fun and everyone got creative. Weather was cold but mostly sunny.Something new at the local supermarket, Tops - there is a coffee shop inside, therefore coffee cup holders on the shopping trolley’s...
Sunday morning Jim and I went to his sister’s for Easter brunch and caught up with some of the nieces and nephews, then back again for dinner at 4pm.
Easter Monday was Dyngus Day. An important Polish tradition and Buffalo has a large population of Polish descendants and is the ‘unofficial’ World Capital for Dyngus Day, and holds the only Dyngus Day Parade.
I have never celebrated this Polish day.
From Website: Originally Dyngus Day, also known in some Catholic traditions as Wet Monday, was an entire week starting on Easter Monday to celebrate the end of Lent. At some point in the 19th century Dyngus was shortened to just a single day.
The tradition of Wet Monday evolved in to a great way to find a romantic partner as the tradition had young boys throwing water on young girls that they were attracted to get their attention. In serious cases of young fancy, the girls were drenched in their sleep early Monday morning, usually after getting permission and access from the girl's mother. On Easter Tuesday young girls returned the favor and got their revenge.As if that weren't enough, the tradition of Dyngus Day also involved hitting the young ladies in the legs with a switch of pussy-willow or decorated twigs. Your guess is as good as mine why, but who am I to question tradition?
By the way, do you know how the pussy-willow got it's name? According to Polish legend several baby kittens fell into a raging river while chasing butterflies. The mother cat sadly wept at the river’s edge, pleading for help for her drowning kittens. The willows heard her mournful cries and swept their long graceful branches into the water. The kittens grabbed the branches, held on tightly and were safely brought to shore. Every spring, from that day on, the willows sprouted fur-like buds where the tiny kittens once clung.
More recently Dyngus Day has evolved yet again in to a celebration of Polish heritage with great feasts of Polish food, plenty to drink, and parties running well in to the night.
Michele’s parents own a country bar in North Java (Jay-va), Michele’s dad, Kenny is Polish and they host a large Dyngus Day Party at “The Inn“. Live music starts at 2pm and the party continues into the early hours. Kenny and Paula personally prepare the Polish food for the restaurant.
Joe, Michele, Jim and I got there about 4pm. I found out I only knew one Polish song .... Roll Out the Barrel, but I know several more now! Everyone sang, danced and ate - we had a fabulous fun time. My first Dyngus Day party!
The food was very good, we all had the Polish Platter: Kapusta (Kah-POOS-tah - sweet, spiced, pickled cabbage - like sauerkraut), potato and cheese pierogi’s, golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls), kiszka (fresh and smoked sausage), kielbasa sausage and mashed potato and a bread roll. Very filling!
We arrived back at Joe and Michele’s around 11pm with sore throats from singing!
Tuesday morning, Jim and I and Joe were up at 5am to go to work. We went 120kms south to Wellsville, New York and loaded air pre-heater elements and delivered them the next morning at a Power Station on Lake Michigan near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Jim noticed that the new welds on the headache rack had broken and it was extremely unsafe. He strapped it to stop it flexing and getting worse. Reloaded that afternoon in Berlin, Wisconsin - ten work light/generator trailers delivered them in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday morning, 17 April. Still cold and a frost that morning. NO leaves on the trees yet and it is Springtime!
Reloaded in Bethel, Vermont Friday afternoon at Vermont Castings Factory Outlet.
Website: Nothing says Best-In-Class like Vermont Castings. Our fireplaces, inserts and stoves embody true foundry cast iron combined with cutting edge technologies for the most efficient performance and style. Our industry leading Vermont Castings Signature Series BBQ gas grills make your meals the talk of the neighborhood!
Several other trucks were loading too. Appeared the plant had sold old equipment. Headed to Indiana - we traveled through Buffalo again. It was a warm, sunny day. Joe and Michele had visitors from the city, so had a lazy day with a campfire. Also plenty of people to do some yard work.
We left Sunday morning and drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Cold and raining all the way, a cold front coming through. There were ten trucks waiting to deliver in Huntington, Indiana on Monday morning. All loaded the at the same place in Vermont - parts to an industrial painting bay. We didn’t get unloaded until 3pm. It was windy, raining and turned to freezing rain.
Lots of loads in the area, but nothing that paid anything so we sat at the truckstop and searched the Internet all day Tuesday. Cold, windy, freezing rain.. We accepted a load for Wednesday in Bruckner near Louisville, Kentucky.
Loaded over dimensional wood wall panels - it didn‘t pay much for being a permitted load, but it got us south. and into warmer temperatures. With permitted loads most states don’t allow movement before sunrise or after sunset, so we stopped for fuel only, to make the most of the daylight.
We delivered to a large apartment construction site in Mobile, Alabama. We waited until after lunch hoping a load would come up for Florida. Nothing, so we deadheaded 800 kms to Daytona Beach. Arrived there Friday after lunch.
In March I started on Jim’s Family Tree. We want to travel to Ireland someday and see where our families originated from. I set out to find where in Ireland the Casey’s originated.
I didn’t think I would have much luck because Jim’s grandfather (Joseph Sr.) disappeared when his father (Joseph Jr.) was young (late 1920’s) and was never heard of again. Jim’s Aunt Marguerite is 84 and she was only 2 or 3 when Joseph Sr. left, so she had no memories of him. She is the only one still living in that generation (other than Jim‘s mother).
When Jim’s other Aunt passed away in 1996, she left Jim a box of old photo albums, and a few odds and ends regarding Jim’s father, who died when Jim was 12. I found Joseph Jr’s Baby Book, started after his birth in 1918 which had his father and mother’s full names, and all four grandparents names (no one even knew the grandfathers name or any of the great grandparents names).
When Jim’s father died in 1960, in the Death Notice his father was referred to as ‘the late‘ Joseph Casey indicating that he was deceased.
I bounced around internet genealogy websites on and off. I found nothing until two weeks ago.
On a message board someone had the same great grandfather as Jim. Eventually I made contact with Bill and he had lots of information.
Both Jim’s great grandparents were widowed - Hanna had four children, and Roger had five children. They married and had two sons, the younger was Joseph Sr, - Jim‘s grandfather. Bill was related to Roger’s first family.
A few days later online, I found a descendant of Hanna’s first family. Both these families are relative to Jim‘s ‘Casey’ family.
THEN a few days later, on another message board I found a post from someone who listed both Jim’s great grandparents as HIS grandparents. Holy Cow!!! I replied suggesting there was a family connection here. For a week I waited anxiously for a reply. I had a pretty good idea what the connection was - Joseph Sr had another child! He would be Jim’s Uncle, and his 84 year old Aunt’s half brother!
It turned out that Joseph Sr had another wife and family! Five children! He named his first son Joseph Francis Casey Jr, (the same as Jim’s father!). Two sons are still living, the eldest Joseph Jr (the 2nd) 71 years and the youngest, Patrick is 57.
I spent most of the next four days working on Jim’s Family Tree and family connections - on the computer, talking to Pat, exchanging what we knew, trying to fill in gaps. There are still some inconsistencies, Joseph Sr’s year of birth changed often.
Still a long way to go, and very time consuming. I haven’t even started on the other branches of the Family Tree!
Monday, Jim and I went to Port Canaveral to apply for our TWIC - Transportation Worker Identification Credential. We had to be finger printed and ID photos taken. We have to return to personally pick up the cards in 2-4 weeks. These cards are required to enter Shipping Ports and Airports, a security requirement for truckers.
Monday afternoon we met with Harvey and Lis Willis for dinner at Brian’s Barbeque, had a lovely night and spent a few hours at their house. We hadn’t seen them for a year.
Jim is working in the garage, doing some painting of motorcycle parts and doing a few things on the truck.
I am busy with the Family Tree, but have to get some other work done soon.
A golf dome for playing golf in winter, out of the snow. section both sides. This one is near Buffalo, NY, about the size of two football fields. Notes: We saw tasers for sale in a truckstop......?? Book I read this month - “Keep Australia On Your Left” by Eric Stiller. A true story of an attempt to circumnavigate Australia by kayak. Entertaining reading, especially as we have been to a lot of the coastal towns.
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