Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

I continued north slowing through the town of Moab. I made some more mental notes to myself thinking that this would be a great place to take a 34 or even some hometime at a later date. I'm a motorhead and love anything with an engine. Bonus points for getting dirty. I passed place after place renting out those new golfcarts on steroids that are now so popular. Something I haven't tried yet. I sped up again as I headed north towards I-70.

When I caught 70 I went west for a bit then northwest on US 6 up to Provo then north to Salt Lake City where I sat in traffic. I wasn't stressing it though as I like the scenery here. The traffic broke up as I started heading west and spied the Great Salt Lake to my right and west. I was heading southwest on I-80 and the sun was now setting over the lake. Another great day but I got a late start so I should be farther down the road. I was going to push for Winnemucca this day and as my clock later ticked down, I just barely made it.

I passed the Morton salt works and noticed that the mountain of salt I once saw months ago shouldering the Great Salt Lake was now greatly reduced. No more mountain, now just a pile.

I continued west and as my GPS announced the state border with Nevada I saw the bright casino lights of West Wendover, Nevada. It was literally no sooner that my GPS announced that I crossed the state border that I was passing the first great casino, relatively speaking, of West Wendover. I hungered to stop for the night and do some casinoing but I had to continue. I tried to take it in visually, checking out every detail of the casino as I passed wondering which one I would go to sometime in the future. I had this same mental dialogue a few times in the past as I traveled by the casinos, never with the correct timing to stop.

I pushed ahead and made sure I could park at the Walmart in Winnemucca. It was permitted. I hadn't realized at the time but I stayed here once before and parked in nearly the identical place as I did last time.

I woke late again as at this time in my last "tour" on the road, I was hitting 8 weeks straight and I was getting tired. I could tell. I wasn't pushing as hard and was ready for some time out of the truck.

I went north from Winnemucca, as it had me routed, on Hwy 95. In Nevada, Hwy 95 has a speed limit of 70 or 75. Once you pass that last town in Nevada on the state border the speed limit in Oregon, on the same desolate and very straight road, drops to 55 mph. It became painful, even for someone that drives a truck governed at 62 mph. It makes a world of difference to be able to set my cruise control at the highest speed of 62 mph rather than have to worry about going over 55 mph and getting a speeding ticket by an overzealous Oregon trooper. Long, lonely, straight and boring I continued up to Burns, OR then west out to Bend. From Bend to Sisters, a small town that I have always liked passing through, particularly on a motorcycle. Things definitely began feeling very Northwest, that same distinct feeling I get every time I leave an arid area like Nevada and southeastern Oregon and enter the rain zone.

Trips like this are always interesting because we are not just traveling from one state to another state within the same basic geographic, topographic and climatic area but trips like this where the scenery, geography, topography, climate, etc. are so very different it feels like traveling to another country. We are lucky as Americans in this way. Within a couple of days I can drive from arid desert with scrub brush and cacti and then cross a mountain range of tall, green firs into a very wet Pacific Northwest climate. Discounting every other reason we can be proud to be Americans, the diversity that we can experience within one country is irreplaceable. We are fortunate and I was reminded of it once again on this trip.

I crossed the Siskyous on Hwy 20 as the road became a little more twisty and there was a canopy of tall firs and evergreens that bent over the roadway welcoming me back home. Even in what was now dark, I could make out the height and green of the Pacific Northwest that towered over the highway, my headlights bouncing off the trees as I made my way west. I remember getting into a flow, like a dance, as I twisted down 20, the speed varying from 55 mph then down to 45 mph, to 35 mph then back up to 55 mph. There was a rhythm that I was following and felt and despite the wetness and relative darkness I felt like I was in the zone, almost as if I was out there on my bike on the twisties. It continued until I got into the more populated areas closer to I-5. At that time it just went back to driving, working and I dropped the load in Lebanon.

One t-call drop up at the Troutdale terminal, then another t-call picked up to be t-called at the Sumner terminal and I was on my hometime.

 

Still at Sumner today.

Got up to a preplan for a short load down to Oregon. Then there was a message stating that I was due for a B service oil change within about 800 miles. I told them I might as well get it done while I'm already sitting here at the terminal. They were pushing to get me to take this load and then go back to TRoutdale to get the oil change but it didn't make sense to me. I don't want to run a couple of hours just to park and sit again at a different terminal to get the service.

It aggravates the hell out of me how my truck just sat in the shop since Saturday when I went on hometime and somehow when I return from hometime and I'm ready to roll that I get a message stating that I need to get a B service oil change. Doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. So here I sit for day 2 post hometime....

I'm getting restless.

 

No, I don't remember that being open in Monticello.

I will definitely wave or honk my country horn (always looking for an excuse) next time I'm through Cortez! I"ve passed through there a couple of times now in the past year.

 

Gaaaaaaa....I'm still in Sumner!!

Last night they said the truck needed new "cab shocks" and some new drive tires. They said to keep it parked in the line outside the shop, sleep and they will wake me up in the morning.

I woke up to the shop knocking, pulled the truck in and went into the lounge.

Good news: They replaced ALL the drive tires. Nice! I like me some brandy new drives. I don't remember ever getting all of them replaced at once before.

Bad news: They wouldn't replace my cab shocks because they are too busy and only doing DOT issues at this time. ####. For a few minutes I was thinking that they were joking with me the night before with the cab shocks issue. I was kind of thinking they were playing a joke on a clueless driver saying something like they had to update the Flux Capacitor kind of thing. But I checked around in the morning and they are real.

Mechanic the night before was asking me: "Does your truck bounce around a lot? Inside the cab?"

Me: "Well, yeah. I thought that was what it was supposed to do".

"No, you need new cab shocks".

So I guess maybe sometime in the future I'll get those replaced. I'm not sure how much the cab is supposed to bounce around. I never really felt like it was excessive but now that they mentioned it I'm really curious how the cab should feel with new shocks.

So, then the...

Really bad news: I'm still in Sumner sitting here because they didn't repair the issue with my severely shaky front end - from when I put it in the shop before my hometime. The issue is when my truck hits about 55 mph the steering wheel shakes so violently it is almost hard to hold on. The front end shakes so bad that it feels like the steers are jumping and the hood looks like it is just about to bust off and go AWOL. Additionally there is a loud knocking in the front end during these shakes and I would swear my steers are going to fall off. It's bad. Not minor in any way.

To rewind a little...
So, I got a load today after my truck was out of the shop (with the new drive tires). It was 3 stops and picking up from the Sears DC 15 miles north in Kent. I didn't have to pick it up for hours so I cleaned the outside of my truck and detailed the interior. I read part of a book. Hung out around the lounge. Showered. Etc. An hour before the pickup I left to go pick the load up. As soon as I got on 167 north the truck was jumping like nobody's business. As violent as ever. I turned around before I hit the Hwy 18 junction and went back to the terminal. I didn't express it to anyone but I was not happy. This is now day 2 since coming off hometime and now I've sat for more than 2 days - not due to no freight but due to a load that wouldn't scale out and now to a mechanical issue that was supposed to be addressed already.

On a positive note, I got wifi and just ordered a pie from this place called Al Pac pizza. I'll have to let you know how it is.

Truck is still in the shop, last I checked about 20 minutes ago. Since I've been up since 0700 it looks like I'll have to take another 10 after the truck is out tonight. When I put the truck in the shop again today and told them about the shake, I told them that the last time the truck got like this, about 6 months or more ago, it was due to some flat spots on my steers. Not sure if that was the issue this time as I have not been able to see any flat spots.

I think when I get it out tonight I might see if I can bobtail it for a little drive to see if the condition still exists. I think the fact of a trailer being hooked up plays a part so not sure if this test drive is going to really accomplish anything. I guess I'll find out.

 

Having trouble lately finding any DRs or XR/XL's that fit my needs.

However I have been finding a lot more KLR's that are farkled out like I want. And a lot of them are in the $2000-4000 range. I may have to look past the fact that it is water-cooled. I've always liked these but haven't considered one in a long time. Now the KLR is bumping it's way to the top pretty fast.

I've been on my other riding forum (advrider.com) and trying to gather more info. I've been on that site for years but took a little hiatus when I sold my Yamaha and had nothing to get dirty on.

I did find a beautiful BMW out in Richmond that had every single option you could want with things like a waterproof GPS holder, all the engine protection, heated grips/seat, every option, etc etc. but it was still much more than I want to spend ($8000), it's going to be too heavy for this kind of trip and if something were to happen to it it most likely won't be covered by insurance so it would be a more expensive, complete loss. It's also kind of considered an ego bike. I'm not looking for an ego bike. I just want to ride and be somewhat prepared. Always considering worst case scenarios (I total the bike/gets stolen/total engine failure/sinks in a river crossing to never be seen again/aliens) it is better to take less of a total loss.

Going to fill out my passport application in the next day or so and get the International Driver's License completed and ready to go. I'm going to start making a detailed list of the requirements/approximate time needed/issues for every border crossing/insurance needed/logisitics/cost of every border crossing so at least I have a general idea what to expect. Nothing ever goes as planned but at least having a general idea will help. I'm currently following the posts of someone else on my riding forum that is now in Belize and working his way all the way down.

 

Currently at a Walmart in Spokane.

I'm trying to get another load. After dropping the last load in Eugene, OR I got a Lowes DC load out of Lebanon coming up here. It picked up yesterday and didn't deliver until tomorrow at 1400. I called the store and they agreed to take it early. Dropped it this morning and then moved back next door to the Walmart where I'm getting free Lowes WiFi. They put a couple of plans on me and I Mac 9d with an earlier delivery time and I lost the loads. I tried to call the consignees to see if I could deliver earlier but I couldn't. Both plans had me sitting for at least a day (early) with no tcall option. So I'll sit here and get a load in the am most likely.

They replaced my steers. My GPS speed is now faster than the speedometer indicates, opposite of the way it was before. Its kind of handling weird too but it may be that I'm just now used to the new steers. At least there is no violent shake anymore. Truck is mostly repaired so I'm happy. I'm a little aggravated that I had to sit for over 3 days after my home time due to the load that wouldn't scale out and the mechanical repairs that weren't fixed during my home time. I got very familiar, too familiar, with the Sumner terminal over those days.

Al PAC pizza was nasty. The Chinese food place was kind of bland. The roach coach was decent for some breakfast. Internet at the terminal was frustratingly slow due to a few nerds playing high graffics online videogames, eating up all the bandwidth. Nothing I could do I guess since there aren't restrictions on how you use the WiFi. Just one of those things. It gave me the chance to chat it up with a few drivers who were docked at the terminal.

I met my driver manager in person finally so that was cool. Nice guy. I was happy to get rolling again tho and get out of the terminal.

 

Trucking and trying to buy a bike while OTR...

I was emailing with this guy selling a bike out in Virginia. At first he responded almost immediately to my questions, telling me long stories about his past riding adventures.

When I emailed him back stating I was very interested in the bike and explained that I am currently out of state but that I would be able to send someone up to check the bike, make the full purchase price in cash and to have him deliver the bike about 50 miles away (in his craigslist ad he states he will deliver within 125 miles of his address with full purchase price) he stopped responding. I think, being Craigslist and notorious for flakes and weirdos, he get skittish. Sucks because I'm ready to pull the trigger on this and now the dude won't respond. I've checked everywhere for a similar bike with similar accessories and there is nothing unless its thousands of $ more.

So now I go to plan B but I'm not sure what it is yet. I'm gonna give it a couple more days and see if he responds. Bike is still posted so its most likely still for sale. Maybe I have to have someone pretend to be a buyer for me but then I have the logistics of trying to get to a branch of my bank in person while working this job and finding parking for this beast.

This is all ties into trucking because a situation like this that would be easy for anyone else with a non trucking job. They could easily make this purchase. But us truckers, with our lifestyle and trying to handle things from the road, have it much harder. I don't think a lot of the non trucking populace would ever understand exactly what we do.

 

the dream bike part 2...

Guy with the bike called me and we spoke for a bit. We both agreed he should see if this other guy trying to buy the bike follows thru this weekend instead of him selling it to me right now. Other guy already has the check for it supposedly and is ready to buy it this weekend. Its been a hard pill to swallow, as my dad likes to say. So keeping my fingers crossed that this other potential buyer screws the pooch and I can jump in there and buy it.


this last load - Toledo, OR to Otay Mesa...
I picked up a load of paper from Dayton, OR the other day. I dropped there that night and spent the night there for a pickup in the morning going down here, a delivery across the border from Tijuana.

The drive along 101 on the coast of Oregon was beautiful. I forgot how scenic the coast of Oregon is since its been years since I was down that way. I don't remember if I ever dropped or picked up from that location but it did bring me back to a motorcycle trip I took down to Northern Cali years ago that had us riding back up the coast. On that trip, the the coast was almost the last leg of the 2-wheeled journey with a buddy I used to ride the track with and another guy whom I just met and would later become friends with. It was a great ride overall although somewhere along the OR coast a bee found its way into my helmet as I rode and proceeded to sting me in the head as I tried unsuccessfully to extract it from my helmet. I remember cutting over from the coast through a small town called Drain and then a picture session up in Astoria in view of that fantastic bridge that spans the Columbia, the pic taken by a beautiful woman whom I've never been able to forget.

After picking up the load and finding relief that it was going to scale properly I began the drive west to the coast and then north. The load was heavy - almost 44,000 lbs. The comments warned to take corners slowly due to the load being top heavy so I chugged along around the corners until I found myself along highway 101 in Newport. I noticed that there were a few surf shops dotting the shoulders in these small towns between Newport and Lincoln City. I started to think about how cold the water was here, how the break and what kind of break. I saw signs stating that this was the whale watching capitol, not sure if that was Depoe Bay or another nearby town. I saw a sign stating that the river I was crossing, the D River, was the worlds shortest. I craned my neck, looking as far as I could to see where the river began but I couldn't determine its origin. I saw that it terminated to my left into the Pacific. I wanted to stop and walk out onto the beach but time really wouldn't allow it and the only accessible pullout on the west side of the road was taken by another Swifty. Next time.

The tour along the ocean ended way too soon as I started heading east again away from the coast. I couldn't go due east along highway 20 from Toledo die to a truck restriction. That got me real curious as I looked at 20 on my map and made some tentative plans to come back with my bike. In a loose way, if a road has truck restrictions then there is a good chance it would be a good road to hit on my motorcycle. So instead I was routed back the way I came the night before, back towards McMinnville and Salem to scale my load more officially. I hit the nearest scale in Salem off I-5, everything was good and I was on my way south towards the Mexican border.



Speeding tickets and finding nonexistent parking...
Drive was pretty uneventful other than a couple of incidences. The speed limit down I-5 in Oregon is a painful and unnecessary 55 mph. I kept it around that speed most of the way except when i was trying to mimic the speed of other trucks that seemed to be OK going a little faster. I was behind one of those big orange trucks that was varying his speed between 54 and 58 mph. Since I like to maintain my speed at the same speed when possible using my cruise control and I found myself having to constantly adjust my speed due to the orange truck I decided to pass. I saw another truck had passed him just a couple of minutes before so I decided it was my turn. I signaled, got into the left lane and got my truck up to 62 or 63 mph to get the pass done quickly. No sooner that I began to pass him did I see an unmarked Crown Vic parked off to the right with 2 troopers sitting inside. The driver had his radar gun pointed right at me and his actions looked intentional as he raised the radar gun up aiming it at me as I was stuck hanging out in the left lane. Immediately and prematurely, I put my right signal on to indicate that I was merely passing. I was hoping he would my blinker on and not think I was just cruising fast in the left lane giving the middle finger to the excessively low Oregon truck speed limit. I got over in front of big orange and watched my passenger mirror for the troopers vehicle. ####, I thought, as I saw him pull out onto the freeway somewhere back behind me. I almost shat myself as I saw him closing in on me as he came up in the left lane. I cursed myself for not being more patient and staying behind the big orange truck. I cursed the trucks ahead for not giving a heads up about the cops on the shoulder via the cb. I cursed the 55 mph speed limit and then cursed my own stupidity once again.

The cop was tailing a pickup truck that I remembered seeing behind me before I spotted the police. He didn't appear to be speeding to me and the speed limit for passenger cars was 65 mph. So I assumed the troopers were still coming for me. To my relief, as the troopers got near the back of my truck they kept going. I watched them as they passed me to my left still following the pickup truck. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief as they passed me. They tailed the pickup a little more, dropped behind him as he got into the right lane and proceeded to pull him over up ahead. I got over to the left lane and thanked them quietly for giving me this pass today. Lesson learned. No more rushing in a 55 mph zone.

The second incident was last night. I had 1.5 hours left on my 14 and started to look for parking. There were a few spots at a truck stop before The Grapevine but they weren't very convenient so I continued on my way planning to stop at an upcoming rest area or at my fuel stop up ahead on the Grapevine. Well it didn't work out. The Pilot or Flying J up on the Grapevine was a mess with trucks parked everywhere including on the streets and in front of each other. No parking. The next rest areas were full. The weight station south of the Grapevine had no parking. All the Walmarts had no truck parking allowed. I called a Lowes and asked if I could park and they said the property owner would have me towed. I continued south into L.A. and there was still no parking anywhere. My clock ran up and I was in violation. Then I was in violation more and more. The only options I could see were a few gravel spots along I-5 on the side of the road and I'm pretty sure that was against Swift policy. Not sure if they were even legal spots to park. I didn't want to chance it so I continued driving through L.A. heading south. At least I was making good time as it was late. I bounced along on the uneven surfaces of the greater Los Angeles portion of I-5 hoping something would come up. It didn't. I drove all the way to the Otay Mesa terminal pretty much exhausted and way over my 14. My mistake but I was reluctant to park earlier when I should have as I wanted to make more miles. I had rolled the dice and gambled on finding parking and I had crapped out completely. I won't let that happen again.

As a side note, for a city as large as L.A. they really should have more parking options for semis.