Loaded ten large electrical cabinets in Lake Mary, Florida on Monday afternoon, 27 July. Delivered them near Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday morning then hurried up to Waverly, New York to load. There was a company sending used plant equipment to Canada. Took a while to load all the bits and pieces in the rain.
Crossed the border at Niagara Falls at 10pm that night. Easy to cross and clear customs with a load now. A barcode is placed on the paperwork and is faxed to the customs broker before we leave the shippers. Before we cross, we call the customs broker and make sure the paperwork has cleared. All we have to do is give the officer the bar coded bill of lading and our passports. Usually takes 3-4 minutes.
Delivered Thursday morning in Heidelberg, Ontario. Amish country, beautiful markets and roadside fruit and vegetables. It was named for Heidelberg in Germany,
Loaded huge air condition exhausts the next day in Toronto, two took up the whole trailer. Stopped Friday afternoon in Buffalo. Jim went out with Jimmy and I stayed with Michele on Friday night. Joe was on the road. Saturday we visited Jim's niece, Kristin and her husband, Pat and their new baby boy - 5 week old Liam Michael McCarthy. We had not seen him. Also a few other visits around the area.
Left mid morning on Sunday for Boston area to deliver early Monday , then reloaded in Worcester - all before lunch. Going back to Ontario!
Delivered that one mid-morning the next day and then loaded a wide load for Longview, Texas. A tank for a refinery. Easy trip south and delivered that Thursday afternoon.On Friday we found a load in Shreveport, Louisiana, about 100 kms away, so loaded five skids of catalyst that were desperately needed in Texas City, Texas. We had to do a non stop 500 km through Houston and delivered that evening at the Valero Refinery. Jim called them half an hour before our arrival and they had two forklifts waiting inside the compound, just past the guard gate! We had to rush to get the tarp and straps off. Fastest we have ever been through security and unloaded.
Spent that night at a small truckstop on Galveston and nothing happening over the weekend, so went up to Baytown and got a motel room. It was extremely hot and humid so we relaxed instead of taking the motorbike off the truck. There was no where we wanted to go to anyway.
Monday there were loads, but nothing that paid much more than the fuel. There was a shipment for Ontario near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but it was 480 kms away. Four days in a motel - we had to find something - we got creative.Loaded on Wednesday near where we were staying - Sour Lake, Texas going to just south of New Orleans. We loaded timber mats. They are approx four and a half metre lengths of large beams wired together to make a ‘mat’. These are used at construction sites on soggy ground to hold the weight of machinery. Interesting.
Delivered those that afternoon and that got us within 150 kms - much closer to load north of Baton Rouge. We loaded in Zachary on Thursday morning - four fiberglass pipes. There were many loads of pipe to go to Ontario and we were the first, so we had photos taken of the load for the “pipe digest“ (or whatever the publication is for pipes??). It took a long time especially when someone realized that the USA flag on each pipe going to Canada was not really appropriate, so we waited until they were scrubbed off and other branding put on.Because of the importance of the shipment, the company was entertaining guests and as we were waiting patiently, they invited us to the lunch buffet of barbeque chicken, brisket and fixings. That was nice!
We headed north and got to Buffalo Saturday morning and stayed with Michele. Joe left before we got there - he was on his way to Florida. Jim spent the day in the garage with Jimmy, and Michele cooked up a barbie for us all that evening. I spent the day with Michele and Baillie. Jim stayed busy working on the two moto guzzi converts.
We left mid morning on Sunday to go through customs and immigration at the border and got to South River, Ontario about 5pm Sunday evening. We walked around the town and to where we had to deliver on the edge of town. The pipe is for a hydro electric system on the river.
It was an easy delivery on Monday morning and very picturesque beside the fast flowing river. Then we hurried down to Pickering, east of Toronto to load a water injection pump. It was an LTL, taking up less than one quarter of the trailer. The next morning we loaded a SAM container in Rochester, New York. SAM is “Store And Move” where a person rents a container 16 feet long and 8 ft high, which is on wheels and are delivered by flat bed tilt trucks to the driveway. The person moving loads it and locks it. Taken back to the company and at the required time is loaded onto a flatbed semi for movement around the country. In between - having a moving company do it all, and not having to do the driving yourself. They are becoming a popular alternative because they are less expensive. Even though we had room for more freight, the two LTL’s paid the same as a decent full load, so we headed south.
Delivered the injection pump to a power plant in North Carolina on Wednesday around lunch time. Jim noticed that his exhaust stack was bent back. We had driven the prime mover into Joe’s driveway and many small branches hit it. It seems like they have taken a toll. Jim broke off the last little bit holding it on, that way we salvage the chrome stack. The driver side of the truck got plenty of black soot on it with the stack gone.We got into Florida that night and stayed in the truck between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. Jim dropped me off in Daytona Thursday morning and he delivered the SAM container in Clearwater on the west coast of Florida.
Two weeks ago, one hinge on the laptop broke. It was very difficult to open and would not stay open - very frustrating and hard to use, especially while the truck was moving. I had to type with one hand, the other was holding up the screen. While in Houston we took it to a Computer Shop and he said it was not difficult to replace the hinge, but it took 5-6 days to get the part. So I ordered hinges for both sides online. It was recommended to replace both because if one was broken it was likely the other side would not be far behind. Also, there was more pressure on the good side because I was still using the laptop. The hinges were at our mailbox in Daytona on Thursday afternoon. That evening I took the lot to a local computer shop.The metal hinge goes from the pivot point then up the sides of the monitor screen. The case along the top of the keyboard and around the monitor had to be removed.
Jim bought a large, wide clamp and reattached the chrome exhaust stack on the truck on Friday.
Friday evening we rode the 1970 Guzzi Ambassador to New Smyrna Beach to have dinner with Ron and Gina at Peanuts Bar. On Saturday morning Jim rode to Ocala to get a part for the generator on the truck. I picked the computer up.
It was hot and humid - summer in Florida. I kept busy in the house with business and mail, Jim was still getting the Guzzi Eldorado back together, so he was in the garage most of the time.Saturday evening we attended the “Friends of the Bandshell” concert at the end of the street. Free concert and fireworks.Website: In 1996, Friends of the Bandshell, Inc. a not-for-profit corporation, was formed with the specific goal of restoring this jewel of Daytona Beach and bringing back a repertoire of outstanding artists with free concerts for area residents and visiting tourists.
The local band playing that evening was “The Moonlighters”. Seventeen musicians performed swing and big band music and jazz. They played a cross section of genre’s and a lot of older numbers. Trumpets, saxophone, trombones, rhythm section and vocalists - all the big sounds. Very entertaining, we enjoyed it We like to attend the concerts whenever we are in Daytona Beach for a Saturday night, but last time I had forgotten about it until the fireworks started around 10pm.
Because of the concrete and beach, no glass containers are allowed in the Bandshell area. There was a new type of beer ‘bottle’ sold there this time - aluminium. It looks and feels like an aluminium softball bat! Interesting! Could not squash it like a can, much thicker and the ‘bottle’ was smaller diametre and longer than a can.I kept one, it will make an unique vase!
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On Monday we lined up a load for Thursday, no decent paying loads before that. That gave us three days we knew we would be at the house. Jim made plans to get all he needed to put the Eldorado back together. I started packing for Australia.Wednesday afternoon Jim fired up the Eldorado and it ran beautifully. He wheeled it out of the garage for the first time in four years! Looks very nice with it’s new ‘robin’s egg blue’ paint job.
We left Daytona Beach early Thursday morning after a week there. 200 kms to the Naval Submarine Base in Kings Bay, Georgia. It is the Atlantic homeport for US ballistic missile submarines armed with nuclear weapons.Very high security, Jim went through it all, it only took ten minutes but he didn't need me to help load so I stayed in the Security Office waiting area and did some computer stuff (in the air conditioning). Jim took two hours to load a container trailer and frames. Another driver’s wife waited as well, then two men sat with me. The background clearance was taking a long time for them so we had conversation.
Two police and a US Navy Official came in and spoke briefly to the Security Staff, then came to the waiting area and asked one of the men sitting with me to step outside. Once outside they whacked handcuffs on and Miranda-ized him.The other man and I were startled! For twenty minutes they were just outside the doorway, about two metres away through the glass wall, but I never did find out anything! Obviously he did NOT pass his background check! He was tossed in the Police car and carted off.
It was raining when we left Daytona Beach and it rained all the way to Maine, we traveled parallel to Tropical Storm Danny going north.
Saturday morning it was extremely windy and heavy rain. We had contacted Galen Burke, he stayed with us Bike Week this year and he is the Maine Moto Guzzi Rep. He and his girlfriend, Sharon drove the ute (pick up truck) to Kittery about 140 kms and we loaded the le mans into the back and went to their place for the weekend. Sunday was forecast to be a fine day. So we would go for a ride.
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