Website: Tri-Mer Corporation, established in 1960 and headquartered in Owosso, Michigan is a technology company specializing in advanced air pollution control systems.
An easy load and the freight was shrink wrapped, so didn't require tarping. Back down to Houston, Texas and delivered on Thursday, 3rd. The system we had was for a new building, but construction had not started, the company was stockpiling all the materials, it would likely be several months before it would be needed as the ground had not even been prepared.
The next day we loaded at Baytown, Texas (east of Houston) at CTR (Cooling Tower Resources).
Website: CTR operates the largest wood processing plants in the cooling tower and lumber remanufacturing industries. It maintains an inventory of stainless steel hardware for structural shapes and decking, grid decks, fill hanger supports, and lath for most cooling towers in operation today.
A small, light load was nice, got good fuel mileage to Thunder Bay, Ontario, a little over 7 miles to a US gallon for 1600 miles (2570 kms). It had been hot weather all the way to Minnesota, then we had the heater on - just a little bit.We had driven past the Bowater lumber processing plant each time we have been to Thunder Bay, it is a huge complex. This time we delivered there. The cooling tower pieces we had were for a new construction at the facility.
Website: Bowater Forest Products Paper Mill near Thunder Bay, Ontario began as Great Lakes Forest Products in 1898. By the early 1970s Bowater Forest Products had become the world's largest paper mill and employed over 4,000 people. But within 10 years mechanisation processes began to drastically reduce the workforce necessary to operate the mill. Today, the mill produces 234,000 metric tonnes of newsprint, 330,000 metric tonnes of market pulp and 85,000 metric tonnes of specialty paper. In 2006, it employed approximately 1460 people.
Driving through Minnesota we stopped at a small truck stop and there was the Big Walleye attraction. Minnesota is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", fishing and water sports are popular. After getting some photos of Wally, inside I found the live bait tank, so more photos! Local bait: crappie, shiners, northern and fatheads - interesting!
Internet: Walleye is a freshwater fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. "Walleye" comes from the fact that their eyes reflect white light. This "eyeshine" is the result of a light-gathering layer in the eyes, which allows the fish to see well in low-light conditions. This excellent vision allows the fish to populate the deeper regions in a lake. Walleyes are largely olive and gold in colour, and grow to about 80 cm (31 in) in length, and weigh up to about 9 kg (20 lb). The maximum recorded size for the fish is 107 cm (42 in) in length and 11.3 kilograms (25 lb) in weight.
Loaded at GAF Materials in Gainesville, Texas on Friday morning - rolled roofing and a couple of skids of glue so was tarped and hazmat placarded.
Got to the house in Daytona Beach on Saturday evening. On Sunday we had a leisurely car ride to Cocoa Beach, about one and a half hours down to a guzzi friend, Dale's house. Jim had some parts to swap and purchase and Jim borrowed a seat for one of the bikes he is working on in Joe's garage. Next time in Buffalo area, he will switch seats and take the old one to Dale. He does an excellent job of fixing and restoring them.
Delivered most of the load in Orlando on Tuesday morning and two skids delivered in Tampa. We had two days at the house and mostly worked in the apartment. We do the little jobs, instead of paying someone to do it. Jim worked on the truck, too.
Jim left the house Wednesday afternoon in the truck to deliver Thursday morning. It was an 8am delivery with two other trucks, a crane had been hired for that time to unload all trucks so he had to be there. Four hour drive from Daytona, it would have been a very early start and left no room for delays along the way. The air conditioners replaced old ones at West Palm Hospital in Loxahatchee, Florida. I painted window sills and frames inside the apartment and wash /scrubbed the kitchen walls of the apartment - they are glossy paneling.
We were happy that the contractor started on the apartment within a week of us accepting his quote BUT finishing was a more futuristic time frame! We calculated about one week's work, it has been two months since he started to when the 'For Rent' sign went up. A bit frustrating and we have been working there each time we have been to the house.
We left Daytona Beach early Friday morning 25 May, and loaded at the Port Authority in Brunswick, Georgia. We have been there before, but his was the first time the ships were unloading. Two large ones in dock and interesting to watch the cars being unloaded one after the other, then a van takes about a dozen people back to the ship for more cars and off they go again, a continuous line of cars.Internet: NYK Lines Lord Vishnu Built in Japan for United Ocean Singapore, 5,100 car carrier put into service in June 2008. It is called a RoRo, Roll on, Roll off ship. Has a crew of 23. It is managed by NYK - Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line, and flies a Singapore flag.
Website: (also a RoRo) Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics is a privately owned Norwegian/Swedish shipping company, established in 1999 and co-owned by the two shipping companies Wallenius Lines and Wilhelmsen.It is one of the world's largest companies in the transporting of rolling equipment; automobiles, heavy machinery (mining, construction, farming equipment), yachts, trains, power stations and others. Headquartered in Oslo and Stockholm, with main regional offices in New York, Tokyo and Sydney, the company has 3,300 employees worldwide.
Massive ships! We loaded two new Caterpillar compactors that came from France. Jim got to drive them onto the trailer and was impressed by them.
Research: Caterpillar CD-54 double drum vibratory asphalt compactor with front and rear split drums. The CD54 features four steering modes: front, rear, coordinated front and rear, and crab operation. Coordinated steering produces a 2.8 metre inside turning radius for maximum jobsite maneouverability. It also has its' own watering system: a single 750 litre water tank and spray bar operation with continuous or intermittent mode gives the operator flexibility to conserve water, yet perform well in the most unfavourable operating conditions.
It was the Memorial long weekend with Monday being a holiday. We had plenty of time heading north with the load, so stopped at a truckstop in Florence, South Caroling and Jim’s 'new' Casey relatives, Uncle Pat and Aunt Belinda picked us up. We had a lovely meal and spent the night at their home. Next morning their son, Brian joined us for breakfast and their daughter, Corinna arrived before we headed back to the truck. We had not seen them for two years and only learned of their existence three years ago. A lovely visit and catch up, and fun people.
Around noon Saturday we were back in the truck and headed north. We had not seen Jim's niece and nephew in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area for two years, and had time for a visit this trip. We parked the truck at a truckstop in Hazelton, PA and unloaded the motorbike, it was 100 kms (60 miles) to Allentown with great motorcycling roads, mountains, rivers, twisy roads. There was a lot of traffic being a warm, sunny long weekend. We enjoyed the ride over via the town of Jim Thorpe. Jim spotted the Jim Thorpe Memorial signs, so we stopped and found out who he was.
James Francis "Jim" Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated to "Bright Path" (born May 28, 1888 – died March 28, 1953) was an American athlete of mixed ancestry (Caucasian and Native American). Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football (collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
In 1950, the nations's press selected Jim Thorpe as the most outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. In 2001, he was named ABC's Wide World of Sports, the Athlete of the Century. He was named All-American for two consecutive seasons at Carlisle. In 1920, he was appointed president of fledgling American Professional Football Association, forerunner of the National Football League. He is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. In 195l, the motion picture starring Burt Lancaster, 'Jim Thorpe - All American' was filmed. The US Postal Service honoured him with a commemorative stamp in 1998.
In 1954, the town of Mauch Chunk traded its name for his body and name in the hope of revitalizing the town for tourism. A 5c per person, per week fee was collected from the townspeople to pay for the memorial - Jim Thorpe had never lived in or even visited the area.
We had a lovely afternoon catch up with Jim's family in Allentown at Jeff and Lori's home and all the kids were there as well. We missed seeing these families last year.
A little nature here - a robin had built a nest in the wreath on the front door - there were three blue eggs in it. I accidentally frightened the bird off the nest (didn't see it when I walked up to the front door).
'Robin's egg blue' is a colour named after the bird's eggs. It is the colour of the 1973 moto guzzi eldorado Jim has in Daytona.
Internet: A robins' nest is most commonly located 1.5–4.5 meters (5–15 ft) above the ground in a dense bush or in a fork between two tree branches, and is built by the female alone. The American Robin does not shy away from nesting close to human habitation.
I'm thinking that the front door is "close to human habitation"!!
We stayed the night with Jim's brother-in-law, George and headed back to the truck before noon on Monday morning.
Monday was not as many tourists in Jim Thorpe, so we stopped for an hour and walked around the business area - very interesting and a lot of history.
Jim Thorpe, PA, formerly Mauch Chunk (pronounced Mock Chunk), is a small picturesque Pennsylvania town with a fascinating history. Established in a wilderness on the banks of the Lehigh River in 1818, Mauch Chunk became a bustling coal transportation center, tourist Mecca, and the esteemed seat of Carbon County by the middle of the 19th century.
Mauch Chunk was second only to Niagara Falls as America's most popular tourist destination at the turn of the century.
Famous as the "Switzerland of America" to 19th century rail excursionists, the town declined economically in the 20th century when petroleum replaced coal in home and industry and rail excursion tourism was replaced by the automobile.
Revitalization came to Jim Thorpe over several decades through promotion of the town's historical and architectural legacy, and the natural beauty of its surroundings.
(1869 Gothic Revival stone church built into mountainside.)
A couple of centuries ago, when the US only had 26 millionaires, 19 of them had residences in Mauch Chunk. In 1970 - the movie, "The Molly Maguires" starring Sean Connery was filmed in the area and was partly inspired by a true story.
Moto Guzzi friends live about 100kms from our route, so we stopped at a truckstop Wednesday afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin and Chris and Judi drove to us and took us to the Great Dane Brew Pub for dinner.
Madison is in Dane County (and the capital of Wisconsin) but the Brew Pub's logo is the great dane dog breed. All the beer taps have a great dane on them. A fun place and we had lovely meals and their brews were good too.
We had seen another Brew Pub that was on the way back to the truckstop, so we checked out Ale Asylum as well. Another great place!
We delivered the two containers to Fort McCoy the next morning. The wash rooms are needed near the portable toilets for an upcoming event - many tents going up as well.
Fort McCoy was interesting - we did not go into the base, just the surrounding training fields.
Website: As a Total Force Training Center, Fort McCoy's primary responsibility is providing quality training facilities for reserve - and active-component military forces. Fort McCoy is a ready and capable mobilization site, equipped to prepare and deploy military units for any contingency.
There were numerous 'towns' built - mostly out of shipping containers and demountable buildings - used for training.
Loaded water filters in Rockford, Illinois on Thursday afternoon.
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