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| Date |
Activities in January
2005 |
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Happy New Year. I woke up in Page,
AZ. By the end of the day I would be in Salt Lake City.
As I started, there was just a glimpse of the dawn behind me.
Shortly I crossed a bridge over the deep, Glen Canyon. To my
left I could see the dam on the Colorado river that creates Lake
Powell. Again, the scenery is beautiful. At first I was
concerned that the routes I would have to take to save fuel, would
be a pain, but roads like this are worth it. The roads are
fine, and the speed limits are high, with passing lanes on the
steep hills.
As I continued north on US89, I ran into snow
cover on the road. This was due to a combination of altitude
and the sun not shinning on the road due to the canyon walls.
It was slow going, as I was not used to driving a big truck in
mountains on snowy roads. By Panguitch UT, I was back on wet
roads. At this point I took UT20 west to I15. This is a
steep road with 8 degree grades. It took 7th gear to go up,
8th gear with engine braking to go down. I got on I15, and
continued to Salt Lake City. |
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Stuck in Ogden. I fueled up here,
and because I only have 8 hours of my 70 left, I have to stay here
34 hours to get a new 70. DOT rules state that you can not
work more than 70 hours over and 8 day period. Work is a
combination of driving, and on duty not driving. You can
only drive 11 hours in a 24 hours period, and only 14 hours
combined. You also have to have a continuous 10 break in a 24
hour period. |
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Pickup a trailer in North Salt
Lake. I was originally suppose to starting hauling this load
yesterday, with an arrival on Tuesday, the 4th. The delivery
date was move out to the 5th. The load is going to Edmonton
Alberta, about 1050 miles, and 23 hours of driving time.
I was afraid I would be driving in snow, so
I left as early as I could. It was snowing as I approached the
Idaho border. The sky was overcast, and there was a little
fog. My lane was good, but I soon found out that the left lane
was a little icy. A car that was passing me, fishtailed and
kissed a trailer tire. We stopped, exchanged information,
inspected the damage, a little behind their rear tire, and nothing noticeable
on the trailer or tractor. I took pictures, and called the
office. No problem.
For the most of the trip, the roads were dry with occasional
snow patches. Some areas were really snow packed, and forced
me to go slower. The really scary part was when I went down a
steep, curvy, snow packed stretch of road in the dark. The
road between Butte and Helena was the worse.
Stopped in Helena for the night. It's cold
here, and I had to run the truck, to keep the fuel from jelling. |
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Nice day. The roads and sky were
clear. Crossed into Canada. It took two hours to clear
customs. Alberta is a new province for me. I have been
to Ontario several times since the late 70s, and Manitoba in 80 and
81. Stopped in Nanton AB. |
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Got up early and drove through Calgary
while it was still dark. It was also rush hour. I made
my stop by 11:00 MT, despite incorrect directions. I was in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This is the farthest north I have ever
been in North America.
They unloaded me quickly. I was stuck in the
slippery uphill dock, but used some oil dry, that I now carry, and
got right out. I then drove to my next shipper location.
The directions to this location were wrong too. They loaded me
quickly, but I had to quickly figure out how long it would take me
to get to the U.S. border. I had to get fuel before I could
take off, and the directions to the stop were not the best route,
and I had to drive around to find the entrance to the stop.
Finally got going at 5:30 MT in the
afternoon. I had to drive as far as I could, and use all my
available time for the day. The road was good, clear of snow,
divided, rather flat, with some curves. Sometimes I could see
for miles, even thought it was dark. |
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I woke up in Battleford
Saskatchewan, another new province. A little more than
an hour, and I passed through Saskatoon. All I could think of
was the song by the Guess Who, Running Back To Saskatoon. The
temperature in Canada was about -15F to 0F.
The terrain in Saskatchewan is flat. I mean
real flat, at least along the route I took, which was Battleford to
Saskatoon, to Regina, to the U.S. border via 6 an 39. You can
see for miles in any direction. Highway 39 is so straight,
that if there were bumper to bumper traffic in both directions, you
could fire a cannon down the center line, and not hit a thing.
Near the U.S. border there is some strip mining,
I crossed back into the U.S. at , with no
problems. On the road from Minot to Bismarck, I saw a strip
mining shovel so big, it's width looked to be about the same as the
length of my tractor and trailer. That would be 65 feet.
Stopped in Bismarck.
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Not much to say. I needed to put
as many miles on as possible. I drove over 600 miles. My
lunch stop was at a wayside in Minnesota. A marker there
talked about how the watersheds in the state drain to three
different bodies of water. Rain falling on the state will
either drain to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, to
Lake Superior and the Atlantic Ocean, or the Red River, which flows
north into Canada and eventually to Hudson Bay. These
different directions of flow are defined as continental
divides.
I make good time all day, and made it to Mauston
WI, by 7:00pm, driving 630 miles.
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I woke up at 5:00 knowing that I had
about 4 hours to go. This gave me a one hour cushion, in case
in was snowing. The route took me off the Interstate, and on
to the slower US highway 20, and IL 59. I arrived a half hours
early.
Originally, I thought I would be going home after
this load, but because I was close, I was sent to the Gary OC to
pick up a trailer going to Beaver Dam, WI. This allowed me to
take care of paper work, gather supplies, and report that the
trailer I had been dragging around for a week should have a brake
shoe looked at, and some of the tires inspected.
Picking up this trailer really ate into the day,
and it was 4:30pm before I got to the drop lot. End of tour
As if it
wasn't bad enough that I had lost most of the day of my weekend
home, I had a mechanical breakdown with my van, and had to have it
towed home. The tow truck drive dropped me at my house after
6:00.
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Washing clothes, cooking, and gathering
supplies for the next tour. I also had to clean up some snow. |
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Got the van fixed, picked it up, ran some errands, and
got on the road by 2:00pm. This it the beginning of my third
tour. Made the delivery in Beaver Dam,
and pick up an empty. The empty had a bend leg on the landing
gear, so I took it to the Green Bay repair shop. They were
able to fix it, but it cost me two hours of time. I had an
appointment time for my next load, and now it was going to be
tight. I drove until 11:00pm to put me south of
Milwaukee. Now I had to take my ten hour break. |
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Did my pre-trip inspection, and got on my way at
9:15. I had six hours to go less than 300 miles. This
should not be a problem, but my route is to go through
Chicago. It was 10:30 in the morning. No problem,
wrong. The average speed from I94 & I90 to I90 out to
Indiana was under 20 miles per hour. That means I only made
about $4.50 for that part of the trip.
I cleared Chicago, and knew I was going to be on time. Then
I blew out a tire. I had to limp into Lafayette IN. I
was given old directions to the tire store, so by the time I found
it, and they changed the tire, I lost two hours. I was two
hours late for the appointment.
The Indianapolis OC was just around the corner, so
I spent the night there.
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Simple trip today. I took the
trailer that I have had since the 10th, and took it to a customer,
79 miles away. I then brought a trailer that needed repair, back
to Indianapolis. The rest of the day I sat around the OC.
My next load was going to Columbus, 4 hours away, and had to be
there at 8:00am. The problem was that the trailer wasn't there
yet. By the time it got there, it was to late to go that
night. Had I done that earlier trip later, I could have gone
that night. The problem was that I took off with that early,
hopping to get another load that day. My 14 hours were up at
8:00pm, and the trailer for the next load didn't get there until
6:00pm. I couldn't even go for two hours, and park half way
because the load was high value, and needed the security of the OC
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This was a rough day. Took off at
4:00am EST. I started to get tired after three hours, despite
a good nights sleep. I arrived on time, and was unload
quickly. This load had two stops, and I was able to get to the
next stop early. I took a little sleep break, and was unloaded
an hour later.
In between unloads, I got a request to pick up a
load in Charleston WV. I didn't think I could get there before
they closed, so called to see if they would wait for me, and was
told that they are open all the time for picking up loaded
trailers.
I wish I had known this before I got into
WV. Earlier, as I crossed the Ohio River on U.S. 35, I passed
a town called Pt. Pleasant. This is the location of a bridge collapse
that had killed a number of people, and was dramatized in the movie
The Mothman Prophecies. I do not know if the supernatural
part from the movie is true, but the bridge was.
I got the trailer and took off. The load was heavy,
so I stopped to have it weighed. The balance was off, so I
moved the tandems, the trailer wheels, forward. The trailer tandems
act like the center of a teeter-totter. Moving the tandems
forward causes more weight to be supported by the tandems, and puts
less weight on the tractor tandems. Both tandems must have no
more than 34,000 lbs each. My first weigh had 34,800 lbs on
the tractor tandems, and 31,000 on the trailer. Moving the
trailer tandems forward moved a 1,000 lbs from the tractor to the
trailer.
I continued driving for an hour, using my whole 14
hours for the day, but putting me within eight hours of my St Louis
destination.. |
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Got a good nights sleep, and started my
day at 6:00am. My drive was all on I64, across KY, IN, and
IL. Beyond Lexington KY, this was all new highway.
Eastern KY is hilly. When I got to IN, I witnessed a lot of
flooding from IN well into IL.
The end of the trip went right by the St Louis
Arch, on I70. The actual name of the Arch is The Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial. It represents the gateway to the Louisiana
Purchase that Jefferson bought from France. Recently, I found
out that the width of the Arch at the base is the same as it's height,
630 ft. Also, all of the Louisiana Purchase is west of the
Mississippi River, except one little bit. Can you name
it. Check back for the answer.
I delivered my load in St Louis, and went across
the river to Granite City IL. There, I picked up my next
load. The tandems were all the way back. This required a
wider turning radius, so I tried to move the tandems forward, which
I would have to do to balance the load anyway. I found that one
of the four pins that secure the tandems would not retract, so I had
to take out the spring that held it in place. I could then
move the tandems, however the trailer needed repair.
Fortunately, there is a repair center in St. Louis. I went
there and spent the night. |
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Not much to say. It was a long
day. I got a late start because the mechanics hadn't started
on the trailer until that morning. I drove the entire length
of I 24, from I57 in southern IL to Chattanooga TN. I have
traveled most of this before, but the section from about 15 miles
east of Paducah KY to Nashville TN, was new. Made an error at
Atlanta, and went around the city the long way. That cost me
some time. |
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Got a good start, and figured to make my destination
by 16:30, (4:30pm), EST. I was doing okay until my route went
off the Interstate and on to U.S. highways in FL. Little did I
know that together half of the 130 miles was though towns and city
with stop lights every couple of blocks, and of course I got stopped
at most of them. Then there are the idiots that pull right out
in front of you. By the time I cleaned this mess, some two,
three hours later, I was a bit upset. I arrived at my
destination at 17:15.
I dropped the load quickly, but then couldn't find the trailer I
was supposed to pick up. After a while, I sent a note that the
trailer was not there. I bit later I received a note to take a
different trailer. When I got to the guard shake, the guard
looked up the trailer I originally was suppose to take, and was told
that someone had taken it the day before.
Anyway, now it late. I got fuel, but despite three major
truck stops in the area, could with a spot to park. I saw some
other trucks parked in a vacant lot, so I joined them. All in
all more time lost.
So, what's the deal with the time. Even as I was on
my way to my destination, I was told to take the empty trailer I
picked to Albany GA, 400 miles away. The total for these two
trips would be 1477 miles, and these numbers are always under
estimated. Now, a driver can only work 70 hours in 8
days. I only had 26.75 left. Now that means I would have
to average 56mph, but not all of those hours are for driving.
Every other activity, live inspection, fueling, dropping and picking
up trailers, traffic, whether, hills, and driving that does get to
the destination, takes away from the 26.75 hours, and then increases
the average speed. At some point, the ability to cover a given
distance in a given time is no longer possible.
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Read the late paragraph above. This is where I
am now. I only have four hours to drive today. After
checking with my TL, it turns out that there is a part of the FL
Turnpike that I can take. It goes from I4 in Orlando to
I75. I took off for Ocala, and made it with 15 minutes to
spare. It was tough find I4 in Kissimmee. I don't know
if I missed the sign, or if it was mislabeled. I tried to get
on track, and wound up driving though Disney World, MGM, and Epcot. |
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Left at 7:00 in the morning local
time. I wanted to get to my destination, and get a load.
Along the way, I got a message to go to another destination. I
arrived and dropped the trailer. My load would not be
ready until 8:00, local time, that night . I found a
place to park, and worked on a variety of projects. |
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Realizing last night that I could wait
until morning to pick up the load, that is what I did. When I
arrived at the shipper, I found out that my load still was not
ready. It did not make much difference as I only had about
eight hours to run that day. I got going, and drove to Oak
Grove, KY, where I stopped for the night. |
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With, again, only about eight hours to
run, I drove to La Salle IL. This positioned me with easy
reach of my first of three stops the next day. I a Flying J
truck stop, I am able to check out my ability to connect to the
Internet using my wireless equipment. I initially have
problems, but manage to overcome them, and am able to setup an
account with the Flying J WiFi service. |
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Started out at 6:00. The first
stop opened at 7:00, and I got there at 8:00. The second stop
was the only one with an agenda. I had to be there by
11:00. Made it with 15 minutes to spare. I arrived at
the last stop earlier than I had anticipated. It was a good
thing. I got notice for the load that would take me to my home
base for the weekend. In picking up the load, there was a
small problem. By the time I was ready to leave, it occurred
to me that my driving time was getting short. On top of that,
there was a snowstorm moving in. I hustled my way down the
road. Stopped to scale the load, and dodged in and out of the
snow. By the time I reached home base, it was snowing big
time. I made a stop on the way home, and it took over an hour
to get home. End of tour. |
| 22-23
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Home, digging out of the biggest snow
storm I had seen in a while. The snow here, made that Ohio
storm look small. I just check and it has been a month since I
drove that first tour. |
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Starting my fourth tour today. Because I want to
attend an event three weekends out, I am going out for three
weeks. Had to bobtail to Green Bay to get my load. It
was a five day trip to CA. Initially, I ran diagonally across
the state, from BG to Dubuque, IA, and continued on to Cedar Rapids,
Iowa City, and Des Moines. For the most part, I was on
US151. This is mostly a divided highway. West of
Madison, WI, the road travels through the part of the state not
covered by the last glacier. There are many attractions along
this route. There is Cave of the Mounds, House on the Rock at Dodgeville, and the original state capitol near Belmont. At
Platteville, I had to detour south to Cuba City, and then
west. I wasn't happy about this, but changed my mind west of Cuba
City because the area was really pretty.
Madison WI is the capitol of WI. It is one of four states
named for presidents. What are the other three. Check
back for the answer. Also, I learned over the weekend that
there is a foreign country whose capitol is named after a president.
Answer
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Exited IA at Council Bluffs, spent the
day driving across most of Nebraska. The land is rolling prairie,
and was somewhat boring. But, you should note that there is a
lot of history along the route. Something new, in the east, is the Strategic
Air Command Museum. But, past Lincoln, the capitol, the route
follows the routes of the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, the
Mormon Trail, the Pony Express, and the first transcontinental
railroad. The reason for this is that all these routes follow
the course of the Platte River. There are many tourist
attractions along the route.
Saw a sign in Buffalo County that said that the
road had been made with 46,000 recycled tires.
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Started early, and drove out of
Nebraska before the sun rose. This was a great time.
Just as you leave NE, you are at the state's highest point at 5424,
a place called Panorama Point. I
was pretty much by myself, with a near full moon, in a clear sky,
with the sun rising behind me. Wyoming was more
interesting. Some mountains with a little up and down.
On a mountain range was a wind
farm. The view would be better
going east. Near Rawlins, I crossed the continental divide. Stopped early because I had driven long the last two
days. I was all the way across WY. Actually, I want to
stop at a truck stop with Internet access |
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Up, again, before sunrise. I am
on CST, and this is MST. I immediately drove into Utah.
I remember this road from driving east over ten years ago. I
knew that I would be doing a lot of downhill on the way to Salt Lake
City. I took it easy in the dark, which is good because the
road started to look wet. After awhile, I noticed that it was
snowing. The snow continued pretty much the whole of
Utah. The salt flats were flooded. The water is probably
only a couple of inches deep, but with water on both sides of the
road, I felt like I was driving on the lake.
As I enter Nevada, the weather improved, the roads
were drier, but it was mostly overcast, with occasional fog.
Because of the weather, I decided to get as far as I could, a little
over 8 hours and 550 miles. Now I would have extra time in
case there is problems in Donner Pass.
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I slept late because I only had to
drive about five hours, and wasn't suppose to get there until
6:00pm. I left earlier than I need, in case of problems.
As I crossed into California,, I noticed other truckers putting
chains on. I saw others that kept going without.
Eventually, I got to a spot where everyone was putting on
chains. This was the first time putting on chains, and I was
having some problems. Mostly, I have cable type chains, and
one pair of regular chains. Because one pair is used on the
one outside tire on each side of the trailer, I figured that was
where the regular chains were to be used. Wrong. Another
driver told me that the regular chains are used on the outside drive
tires. I was in the process of switching them around when
another driver said that the chain requirement had been
lifted. I took off the chains, and took off.
The road was wet, but clear. There was a lot
of snow on this side of the range. The top of the pass was
over 8,000ft. There was snow flurries, but nothing to get
excited about. The downhill side is real long, fifty miles or
more. At the 3,00ft level, there wasn't any snow on the
ground. By the time you get to Sacramento, you are down under
400ft.
Pulled into a truck stop near Lodi, to wait out
the extra time. While here, I saw a flatbed with two
crankshafts on it. They were about 15 feet long, with crank
journals and main about ten in diameters and ten in. wide. The
stroke looked like about 20 in.
Got to the destination on time, but they weren't
ready. There were a lot of trucks there, all waiting to get
in. It was raining hard. I was able to get in at 7:00pm,
an hour late. The guys unloading the trailer didn't finish
until almost midnight. I drove to a company lot for the
night. I was over on the 14 hour rule, but the break at
Lodi allowed for this. |
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I had to wait until almost 11:00am to
leave because of stopping so late the night before. I went
north about 150 miles to get a load going south. It was still
foggy, but cleared up by the time I got to Sacramento.
Got the load and headed south. The drive
went through the San Joaquin Valley. The valley is loaded
with farms that grow and raise just about everything you find in
your grocery store. Did three hundred miles, and stopped after
dark. |
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Easy drive today. Only four
hundred miles. Stopped late afternoon local time. My
route skirted the outskirts of LA. Stopped for fuel, food, and
shower at another company lot. It was warm and sunny.
Drove through another windmill farm west of Palm Springs. This
one was huge. There were hundreds of windmills in this high
wind area. As I drove through Palm Springs, I was on the Sonny
Bono Memorial Freeway. Stopped on the CA/AZ border where I was
able to get online. |
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I took off for Phoenix, allowing enough
time to make my 10:00 appointment. As I drove east, the mountains in
front of me were silhouetted by the rising sun. I arrived a
little early, and sat on the street before entering. I drove
onto the lot at 10:00, but waited an hour and a half before
unloading began. About two later I was ready to leave.
However, there was a car illegally parked, and my first attempt to
pull out would have resulted in my running into the car.
Another trucker helped me back up, and I did a littler buttonhook to
the left before turning right. The other trucker watched my back
end, and I cleared the car on the right, the cars across the street
on my left, and the fence behind me where the trailer was swinging
out. I wonder how the other driver did, he said his tractor
had a longer wheelbase.
I drove to my next load pickup where I had to wait
over three hours for them to finish loading the trailer. The
load went back the way I came, with a stop outside LA, and the last
stop in Sacramento. I drove into the setting sun, the
mountains again in silhouette. I stopped in almost the same
place I had left from in the morning.
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