Good night from...

Chilling (literally!) at the TA in Greencastle, PA, abusing the Christmas buffet. No loads today, but have a 7 AM run out of the Target DC tomorrow.

 

for those who decided or just plain had to stay out today I hope you have found a way to enjoy the day. Merry xmas to all though!


Wife sure was quick about using all her new cooking stuff, I woke up where she made pancakes from scratch and bragging about how the pan didnt even need oil or butter to cook. I normally hate stuff like waffles and pancakes for breakfast but these werent too bad. Trying to decide what to do for the rest of my day, oldest daughter goes back to the ex in a hour or so, other daughter is a bit young for the movies, been wanting to do the light show but of course thats closed for xmas.

 

going to laredo tx. they have me routed from fort stockton tx...hwy 285- hwy 90-hwy 277-hwy 83. not sure of any truckstops(not found in my book) so i think i'll stop at a stripes in fort stockton. hopefully theres food nearby. have a wonderful day. wolfy...i planned to be out since my family had other plans this year.

 

I have 2 little girls so I like to be there for them and I like to get the major holidays home.

 

The good news is that I'll easily make my delivery in Mira Loma. The bad news is I thought it was a drop, but didn't read the final load assignment and it's a live unload with an early afternoon appointment tomorrow. I could have made the drop this afternoon and possibly had enough time to bobtail home. That changed my plans. Instead I decided to park for the day at the Wild Wild West in Vegas (TIGHT parking) and maybe catch a little poker at the Venetian. "Honey, I'll see you tomorrow evening. Yes. For sure this time."

 

found a flying j at ex 259 in fort stockton.(made note in book) east i can take a shower. just under 360 miles to laredo. run it in tomorrow. yeah....after being around my freinds kids(they have 4 5 to 12 yrs old) i wish i had kids. oh well

 

"Mountains make their own weather" - old climber

That's a mantra that was drilled into my head from a young age, growing up in the shadows of the Cascades and going through a few decades of hiking and climbing. Boy was that ever true yesterday.

I started mid morning from Denver in shorts and t-shirt weather, but with a bank of clouds hanging over the Rockies. From just east of the Eisenhower tunnel all the way to the Utah border there were sometimes very intense winds and snowstorms.

At one point I was 8+ seconds behind a car, sipping the accelerator in top gear at 55 mph in bare and dry conditions, and I saw a wall of snow coming up the valley. The car disappeared into it with brake lights coming on. I downshifted and deployed the jake to slow and when that wall hit me it hit with a wallop of headwind that made me downshift again, easily knocking 10 mph off my speed when it hit. My truck was rocking with the wind coming into me and I crawled at about 30 mph for about two miles...

.... then sunshine.

It was like that off and on all the way to Utah.

This morning I woke up to calm and cloudless skies just before dawn in Beaver, UT in 25ªF temperatures. By the time I made it to Paraganah I saw the temperature display drop to 2ºF. In calm conditions cold air settles.

Merry Christmas and stay safe!

 

its very true, been going up to the mountains since I was very little and one minute it would be nice and sunny, 5 minutes later its pouring rain and then sunny again.

 

Shelby, MT at the Pilot.

They pulled a fast one on me and changed my delivery to the drop yard here, adding another 85 miles to my trip.
It's a good thing I made good miles yesterday or I would not have been able to deliver it until morning. As it turned out, 585 miles for the day, and I got in finished in time for this pay period.

Lovely drive all day today. A few snow and ice patches and some heavy wind at times, but overall a most enjoyable drive.

 

Enjoying my time at home with the family.

Spent some time yesterday cleaning the cab of my truck, 3 weeks of running is the snow & ice left it beyond filthy.

Getting a windshield replaced on my truck this morning then off to Freightliner to correct some issues and perform some PM.