BigRigSteve officially done for the day 17:44 CST safely parked with only :46 minutes left on 70 hour clock.🕰️ .

Yes, we arrived in Lincoln Illinois! which was posted by John 259 on BRT discord channel earlier in the day. **The Grand Where Will Steve Stop Tonight competition for Tuesday 31-Jan-23** Casey: Lincoln, Illinois. Yes, indeed today’s BRT RC member chose correctly.

BRS started the broadcast day at 7:55am CST after he had picked up the preloaded “old” trailer at the shipper in Murfreesboro, TN with the repairs completed.

We started up I-24 heading north smooth sailing until 9:30 CST as predicted by @Essemm on BRT discord posted, ” this is looking very bad”☹️😱 we ran into traffic backed up near Clarksville, Tennessee. Steve witnessed a questionable move by one SUV to try to switch to south bound side to get out of the stoppage by an attempt to drive through the ice covered median grassy area and ended up stuck spinning tires in the middle of that mess. Yes Steve advised that law enforcement was stopping to offer congratulatory greeting to them. BRS also educated us on how to safety drive in the icy wintery conditions. 

9:55 am CST we were welcomed by the Kentucky State sign and soon after, another slow down. BRS stretched his coffee as he noted that he cannot make coffee in the Blue Comet while driving and even with all the training Aunt J still has not grasped the task of how to brew coffee.

BRS at 10:11 CST noted the guy that writes the daily summaries on the blog. Steve really enjoys reading them every evening even though Steve has already lived it! Woohoo! Steve does love saying “Mankato !“

BRS continue with story about school and all the words. 25 words each day Monday, Tuesday ,Wednesday and Thursday, then Friday was a test ! Out of those 100 💯 words the teacher would pick twenty words we had to use in a sentence and spell em correctly. The most educational class to Steve ever. This brought us to the Calvert City, KY for a much needed stop at Love’s at 11:54 CST. Steve advised at the current rate we would end up with 100 miles to go at the end of the day, so the bosses advised that we don’t need to push if conditions are not allowing us, they will gladly reschedule delivery.

At 12:24 CST a big rig passed us on the left. BRS noted the front bumper was dragging (no it was not the same truck we had passed yesterday). At 12:39 CST we rolled through Paducah, KY, home of the High Point Band. Yes, they wrote the BRS song. Shortly after, a sign then welcomed us back to Illinois as we crossed the Ohio River, while a Menards truck passed us and the singing commenced by our tour guide “Save BIG money at Menards!” commercial jingle rang out.

We continued on north to the home of Superman, yes, Metropolis. The question arose “Should we request help to make delivery on time?”

At 15:00 CST, at New Baden, IL, our 30 minute break was taken at the Loves. The low coolant warning light issue for the refer was discussed. Steve noted, he does not have a 15 foot ladder on the truck to resolve the issue. We did a drive through at 16:34 CST, Litchfield, IL a mass (weigh) station, due to no beep, no green, no red we went through. No mass was taken. Delivery is delayed until 1300 CST tomorrow

Numbers for the day: only thing addressed is :46 minutes on the 70 hour clock. We gain 9 hours tomorrow.

Watch the snowman and the website status bar on www.bigrigtravels.com website for updates. No alarm clock tomorrow morning

Welcome back to Illinois!

BigRigSteve is officially done driving for the day at 17:03 CST, safely parked at receiver location.

Picked up load and at arrived at delivery location all in one day. 

Day started in Fairburn, Georgia 9:35 am EST in a pay💰for parking “dirt “ lot that we parked in for the night. 

We “bobtailed bob” back to previous receiver from yesterday’s delivery location to get an empty trailer. Camera flip so all could ride with to help find the trailer. 

Dead headed to the truck wash to get the trailer washed out and then next door to top off trailer refer fuel tank. We continued on to shipper in Kennesaw, GA where we dropped the empty and waited short time for preload trailer to be completed. 

A mini watch party 🎉 during the wait which included BRS request to viewers to help support BigRigTravels free broadcasts by watching 60 second commercials as they only happen once a hour. By watching a full 60 seconds BRT will then get rewarded which helps pay for investments in the BRT broadcasts. 

BRS also dusted off his soapbox and had an educational message on SAFTEY which was addressed until the loaded trailer physically “appeared“ ready for pickup.

Steve noted with yesterday’s delivery we met the company’s mileage requirements 1st bonus level for the month of January and with another 500 miles, we can achieve 2nd bonus level. Woo hoo!

Villa Rica, Georgia we stopped at Pilot truck stop to visit the Certified Cat Scale 😺

Yes our own BRTRC member Wampus Kat (aka Kat Scale) favorite. A mass check (weight) and yes we were legal. We ran into rain shortly down the road.

Next stop was shortly after we received a by-pass of the Weight Station near Waco, GA. We visited the Loves ❤️ travel stop at Waco, GA to pickup BRS favorites for lunch. Steve noted about grabbing the last free parking spot as we left hoping that rolling on into Alabama was not a mistake for finding parking later. 

As we approached Heflin, Alabama the Blue Comet truck computer alerted Steve that it’s raining and to be careful. Steve’s response “Oh you think? “. We had been driving in rain since before Waco GA.

Wampus Kat was busy pointing out Alabama land marks, sites and Waffle Houses to BRTRC in the chat as we traveled through his home state.

Numbers: 250’ feet 76 m to delivery. Woo hoo! Covered 234 miles 376 km including load pickup. Clocks 🕰️ 5:06 hours on the 11 hr, 5:10 hours on the 14 hr, 2:43 hours on the 70 hr. Gain back 10 hours and :38 minutes tomorrow. No broadcast until after delivery tomorrow. Snowman 24/7 camera will be on overnight for viewing.

Next load is a preloaded longer trip, pickup tomorrow is after delivery of this trip is completed. Watch status bar on website Bigrigtravels.com for updates.

Welcome to Alabama 

BigRigTravels will be Celebrating 16 years of broadcasting live from the highway in February and has goal of reaching 65,000 + subscribed viewers before the end of the 15th year.

 BigRigSteve broadcast concluded for the day at 16:08 CST as we safely parked at the Loves in Christiana, Tennessee. This was not the plan for a stopping point today but as always BRS rolls with what he is dealt.  Clock was stopped per request of BRT road crew member Lorna Doone on the YouTube chat after BRS had found safe parking at 16:00 CST with a view of the service center for the snowman 24/7 live camera to keep a watch of for the night.

 We started the day at 10:40am CST rolling out from where we ended the day yesterday at the receiver in Alabaster Alabama after a completed live off load that started at 9:00am CST.  Next priority was finding fuel as we worked our way to next shipper. 

Flying hook at Birmingham, AL was the next stop for a quick splash of Fuel and coffee.  

History was writing itself as we traveled north in Alabama on I-65 as we approached the former rest area for the south bound side near Elkmont AL at 13:25 CST we saw on the left side the Saturn 1B rocket that has been a display monument at the rest area. Steve advised he was aware that it is going to be removed and this most likely was the last time that we would see it on BRT. Steve recalled stopping there many times in the past. (BRT Chat Moderator All things Harbor advised that she did not have room for it in her back yard).

 Shortly after, we entered back into Tennessee (after spending time there two days ago) and Steve obliged an quick drive thru tour of the Mass (weigh) Station due to the fact that Tennessee had conflicting signs as to whether or not they were open. Safe bet is the better choice as Steve advised that if ever unsure you always stop. (ATH accused the signage confusion issue due to signs possibly being purchased from Georgia) So in the end no mass (weight) was taken. Down the road short time later 13:50 CST near Cornersville, TN we passed a big rig that was dragging part of his front bumper.

We arrived at shipper 14:56 CST at Murfreesboro, TN. BRS flipped the camera (woo hoo) so all the crew could experience the trials and tribulations that normally is unknown of drop and scheduled hook of the next load.  Steve checked in completed the drop and the it was time to find the trailer with our next load. As Steve pulled up to the trailer he said “What a piece of junk”.  BRTRC  all knew that was not a good statement. Yes, it was an issue on the rear trailer axel, two inside tires had deflated and were no longer seated on the rims. The outside two tires were flat from holding all the mass (weight) of the load on that axel. Steve took it in stride and contacted the bosses to address the issues. Steve advised had we tried to limp the trailer to Loves for repairs and if something went wrong it could create an expensive mess. Not something an experienced driver does. Safety is always first choice.

BRS rolled to the nearby Loves to wait for the repairs to be completed. Plan is to pickup trailer in the morning after repairs are completed. Watch the snowman and the web site status bar on bigrigtravels.com website for updates.

Numbers for today: we covered the advertised 236 miles 356 km , Delivery is 587 miles 939 km scheduled for 6:00am CST Wednesday morning. Clocks were not addressed due to the unscheduled stop for the day. We started day with 13:08 hours on 70 hr  and Gain back tomorrow 5 hours and :08 minutes.

Welcome back to Tennessee   

BigRigTravels will be Celebrating 16 years of broadcasting live from the highway in February and has goal of reaching 65,000 + subscribed viewers before the end of the 15th year.

BigRigSteve broadcast concluded for the day at 16:45 EST as we arrived at the receiver for delivery drop in Union City Georgia.

We rolled out of Kuttawa, Kentucky at 8:30am CST. Casey Mallory BRT road crew member predicted early on this morning that Atlanta would be the stopping point today which proved to be correct.

Stop for fuel⛽️ and coffee ☕️ at Loves ❤️ in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

January has been good month so far Steve noted we now are 142 gallons over Diamond level status for the month with four days to go. That is first time he has achieved going over by a substantial amount with more gallons yet to purchase this month. 

As we entered Nashville, traffic issues were addressed and ended up being non-issue today. Steve advised that a big rig passing was a million dollar cargo. Yes he noted it was load of eggs 🥚.

Somewhat prior to the climb up Monteagle Mountain Steve had a history quiz question on what event happened 20 years ago. You need to watch the stream back to find out the answer. We cruised past the runaway truck ramps as Steve gently guided the Blue Comet down Monteagle. We did pass two different big rigs that had overheated 🥵 brake issues after apparently going down the mountain too fast.

We rolled today across Kentucky into Tennessee with a short duck in and out of Georgia on I-24 (confusing due to the road being built going around the south side of the Mountain, prior to going into Chattanooga, TN causing the crossing of state lines) then back into Tennessee rolling on to I-75 in Chattanooga, eventually going south back into Georgia. 

Carterville, GA the sun was taken over by clouds where BRS said “where did the sun go! “ This also where our stop occurred to top of the trailer (refer) fuel tank prior to dropping at receiver for delivery. As predicted earlier in the day by a BRT RC members. (congratulations member you know who you are). Of course, also a cup of Loves coffee and by sounds more free promo Oreo cookies, along with the purchase of BRS fan favorite onions with side of hotdog acquired during the stop. There was a teaching moment which occurred on the issues of a big rig parking in grassy area outside of the truck stop as we exited out.

In Marietta, Georgia, the stop and go traffic of “Hotlanta “ began eating our ⏱️ time. Luckily traffic conditions improved as we went on.

Delivery was a drop on time (actually a day early). Woo Hoo! Steve was then going try and find safe secret parking spot for the night.

Numbers : we traveled the advertised 363 miles 584km to complete the balance of the trip today. Clocks 🕰️: the only one that counts is the :48 minutes remaining on the 70 hr as we arrived. Most of that will be needed to complete the drop and find parking. 

Gain back tomorrow morning approximately 10 hours:30 minutes.

Next trip starts tomorrow afternoon. Watch website for posting of next trip (BRS noted he will need some travel to get to the shipper) and status bar for updates and tomorrow morning the posting of Sunday song. 

Update Steve Bobtailed out to parking as it is easier to find parking without a trailer. Unfortunately it’s dirt lot that charges for parking. Steve will go back and get a empty trailer tomorrow morning before going to next shipper.

Welcome to Georgia!