September 20, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Wednesday-Stringtown, Oklahoma)
Woke up while being parked at the speed trap of Hwy 69 , Stringtown, Oklahoma. Continued up highway 69 passed Adair(Oklahoma) where the highway bill boards start advertising a domestic buffalo herd. Onto Joplin via I-44. Got to the terminal and thought I needed a good laugh so I walked up to our Safety Department. Looking at them just made me depressed so I went back to dispatch and told his to get me out of there. He said that he had a load to Milwaukee, Wisconsin but the trailer wouldn't be in for about another half hour. I told his I will take it. I went out to the fuel islands but decided to fill up after I get my trailer. I stayed by the fuel islands and cleaned out all the trash I had been saving. I emptied out the trash even though it wasn't a rainy day. Funny thing, there was a tractor parked over by the fence that seemed to be rocking back and forth...probably was maintenance on the other side of the yard idling the tractor on this side in case it blew up. Sometimes these tractor have a bad cylinder.. ??? Why would they take a chance on it blowing up over here by the fuel islands???Never have figured this one out. Got trailer and weighed my whole unit. With the roofing material I was carrying, my unit weighed 79,920 lbs (Max was 80,000). Happy I hadn't put any fuel in as it would have just added more weight. I had plenty of fuel to get me to my goal for the day: McLean, Illinois. I traveled east on I-44 toward St.Louis. This stretch of highway has it good points and it's bad(see "Second 5 Years" below). As we are going east we go down a little hill that goes over BIG Piney Creek and then we go over a big, big hill(requires at least two down shifts in gears) that goes over Little Piney Creek. Then when I would pass I-270 it would seem like a fun roller coaster until I get to I-55. I had stopped at the rest area just past Stanton(Missouri) to take a short break. Then I headed for my I-44 roller coaster. Past over the Mississippi River and onto Mclean for a sleep break and fuel. Got there and fueled, parked the rig and went in and had a Chef's salad(they were pre-made but I really enjoyed them. Bedded down afterward.

SECOND 5 YEARS: (I once had a BIG Truck)
The meat hauling company I was driving for had given me a really nice looking purple Kenworth to drive. About two weeks after I got it, I had it in the shop and told maintenance that it would occasionally blow black smoke. They checked the records and it had had it fuel/air ratio turned up to take care of a problem it had. It was running fine so they said to just run with it. Well, three times I had picked up "homemade" biscuits, for a fast food chain, from Joplin. Twice I took them to New Jersey and once to Atlanta. Well, all three times I was loaded at almost maximum weight(80,000 lbs) and I pulled that BIG, BIG hill over Little Piney Creek without one single down shift. I sure hated it when they took it away from me and gave me the choice of the new Freightliners that had just come in.