Danville, IL to Gary, IN: The Last Ride
Big Rig Travels day began at 11:48 am. It was 58 degrees and mostly clear at the Maverick truck stop near Danville, IL. He started with verifying all his driving logs. He informs the road crew that it is a 2:23 hour ride on backroads to the Gary terminal where we will drop off the Blue Comet for the last time. BRS reports that he’ll be glad to get rid of the truck computer.
“Alright, ready to go?” at 12:07 pm. We have 123 miles to truck drop off. We have no Starlink and no snowman as they have been removed from the Blue Comet. He also states that we have another camera that he will video inside the cab for another compilation of his “Last Ride”.
Welcome to Indiana at 1:17 pm. Soon after, he stop at a rest area to fix the cab camera that fell off its placement.
At 1:37 pm the stream drops prior to picking up a new stream at 1:44 pm.
Stop at the Love’s for a final stop with the Blue Comet at 2:42 pm.
As we near the terminal, Steve reports that he will retire with Love’s Diamond status, will disconnect the trailer one more time and walk out the other door. He reports retiring with no major citations-moving violations, not a single scratch on the truck and only two minor overweights.
At 3:11:20 there is a road crew waiting on the left side of the road to wave at Steve, Blue Comet honks a “hello, I see you!” The last road crew sighting from the Blue Comet.
“Welcome home Blue Comet, you served us well” as we reach the terminal gate. We’ll “use the badge one more time” and we enter through the gate at 3:13 pm. “Jam packed house today” as BRS drives through the terminal yard, viewing all the Swift trailers and blue trucks.
“Stop the clock!!” one last time at 3:18 pm as Steve is parked.
Numbers: 0 miles to receiver/shipper. We covered 123 miles. 331,363 miles on the Blue Comet (starting miles was 81)
Clocks: 5:05 hours on the 8 hr, 8:05 hours on 11 hr, 10:33 hours on 14 hr, 66:45 hours on 70 hr. 0 minutes left on the trucking career clock.
BRS played the BRT Road Crew song and then “On my way home” theme song. Steve alerts at 1.1K viewers to watch the camera. He gets out of the truck, stands in front of the truck, gives a wave to all, a bow and a ❤️ with his hands.
Choose the BRT YouTube channel alarm bell to receive notifications for the start of new broadcasts from Big Rig Travels 2.0 and the new RV. Check out Bigrigtravels Road Crew facebook page or Mastadon for updates.
Another great day for Big Rig Travels. Congratulations on your retirement!
Yes, if you have missed today you can replay some or all of today’s trip. Choose the YouTube channel icon at the bottom of the page on Bigrigtravels website.
1 Comment
Thank you Steve for all the wonderful memories. Being a trucker “wannabe” ever since I was a kid, I was hooked after seeing the article in the trucking magazine/newspaper and of course had to look you up on the web. TK was always another “bonus” watching her antics, as was getting to see all the different trucks you drove since the Volvo. I’m sure I’ll still watch with the RV but will certainly miss all the trucking life (I know you won’t lol ). Thanks to RicRak for keeping us all informed and Erick for the trip logs. Happy retirement : )