I'm trying to remember where I went the first of the week...oh that's right, took a load of beams to Syracuse, N.Y. -Beautiful country up in that area. Then I went down rt. 15 from Corning, N.Y. to Trout Run, Pa. (near Steam Valley) to pick up a load going back to Lynchburg. That's another of my favorite rides, from Corning down to Williamsport, Pa. All routine, except the load tore my tarp all to pieces.

But the next trip, a load of pipes to Paintsville, Ky. was a horse of a different hue. The directions said to meet the contractor in the K-Mart parking lot in Paintsville. I told Jeff before I left that that was never a good thing, "meeting the man in the K-Mart parking lot- he's probably gonna take us up a dirt road right up the side of a mountain". And sure enough, that's exactly what we did. It was too steep to get up the hill going in, and I had to be pulled the rest of the way up with a bulldozer. They could only get one truck up there at a time, and there were 5 loads. After I got unloaded-I was first-I eased back down the hill and turned right on rt. 40 because I couldn't make a left like I wanted to, or i'd have taken the guardrail with me. Had to go past the entrance going in, up to an intersection, and turned right and then backed up into the road to turn around so I could turn left into the jobsite entrance. The front axle on the trailer was dangling over thin air when I turned in as it was. I got all the way over by the guardrail on the right and dumped the air on the rear trailer ax axle so I could turn a little shorter, but as soon as I turned I started climbing, and the rear axle was the only one touching the ground.I had the power divider in and poured the coal to it, but still couldn't make it all the way up. You can see where the truck was spinning in the picture taken on the right side. That's Kentucky rt. 40 down at the bottom of the hill, and it was a really tight turn- should have walked down a little further and took a better picture. Oh well, bring on the bulldozer...

when I finally got unloaded I saw one of the other trucks that had tried to turn around, and got stuck in the process. He had to call a wrecker to get out. And i'm sure everybody else had to be pulled up the hill too. Once again, when it's bad, there's always somebody worse off. Nice looking wrecker though.

I also hit a bird on the way, and the passenger window was down about 2 inches-what a mess!..feathers all up in the cab...bird parts all over the window.

Loaded with beams now going to Birmingham, to deliver Tuesday. I have a doctor appointment Monday to get this huge cyst on my back looked at. It's been there for years, right up between my shoulder blades, and i've had it "removed" a couple times, and had to have it lanced several more times, but it's always come back. It'll be fine for several years usually, then all of a sudden it'll get sore and very painful, like it is now. Can't lean back in a chair or sleep on my back at all.