Tennessee-Georgia-Florida.

____Day 1: A regular re-load for a flatdeck was high quality red cedar from North Plains, Oregon, to Steinbach. Now I'm at the other end of the factory; picking up a pre-loaded trailer of high quality windows going down to the US. A day of over a thousand kilometres; down to Mauston and a rendezvous with Searcy #202. 


Searcy #202 seeking out a quiet corner of the truck-park.

 ____Day 2: Breakfast with Mr. Ramsden; then another thousand-plus kilometres. Interstate cruise control driving only broken by a phone call from the office. The usual Monday afternoon question: "Did I draw fuel at the yard?" The fact that I recorded the fact in triplicate seems to be lost on this member of the office staff. They seem to think I might have forgotten; insinuating that I am not doing my job properly. Time for a rant; which should end the nuisance calls. I hope.
____Day 3: After a night in the hills of Kentucky, I reach the first drop at Knoxville just before midday. Sixty windows to be carried off, one at a time; carefully. Then it's on to Atlanta for number two. But they close at 15.30 so it's not possible and I have quiet night on a deserted industrial estate in north-west Atlanta.


Big bales of cotton in Alabama.

 ____Day 4: Surprisingly; the east-coast state of Florida has a section that is in the Central Time Zone. This is fortunate; giving me an extra hour to get down to Youngstown after delivering in Georgia. Into Alabama; at Columbus and south on US Highway 431, the self-proclaimed "Highway to the Gulf." A well surfaced four-lane passing through wooded country dotted with fields of cotton and peanuts. Empty in Florida and back north to Columbus for a reload of supermarket chiller cabinets.


Truck-driving dog owner looks like his pets.

 ____Day 5: A big delay in loading; which I eventually get to the truth. One of the cabinets has been damaged coming through the warehouse to the loading dock. Quality Control arrange for repairs and it 7 o'clock in the evening before I'm rolling. But getting stuck does have it's compensations; the view from the truck is over lawns running into pine woodland, very quiet and peaceful. Eventually; a late finish after cutting through Alabama and back into Tennessee on Interstate 65.


Not another alien abduction return: A Rest Area tribute for the Saturn rocket-builders of Huntsville, Alabama.

 ____Day 6: Late finishes mean late starts, but after three relative short days, I have enough driving hours to get home without a re-set. Nashville, then St Louis, varying the return route; onto Cedar Rapids with another thousand kilometres going on the clock and taking it over the 100,000 mark.
____Day 7: Two big hits to get down to the drops. Now two big hits to get back home. At less than 10,000 lbs, I do have one thing in my favour; no incline takes the big Cummins out of top gear, all the way home. Returning 7.9 mpg for the whole trip and that's US gallons at 3.5 litres each. Not bad for a double-drive pulling a high trailer.
____Overall Distance: 6229 km.


Trailers of peanuts waiting to be roasted, salted and eaten.