Running with JCT

The last few days have been full of miles and miles. Now I'm in Casa Grande with a load of sour cream going to Winchester, VA for about 2,200 miles. Anyone wondering whether we can get miles in the winter can be assured that we do!

 

Even with a 77,000 pound load, some days are pretty good. Today started out a couple of hours before I planned, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I left Casa Grande at 04:30 local time and set out for Pecos, TX.

Last night in Casa Grande ($3.829/gal), I added 135 gallons of fuel to my near quarter-tank in order to try to finesse my way to either Ft. Worth ($3.649/gal) or, hopefully, Hutchins ($3.599/gal). At 7 mpg, I'll need about 150 gallons to make it and I added a little extra just in case. This morning started out with a light head wind and gentle climb to Tucson that had the ScanGauge frowning at me. I was struggling to maintain 5 mpg! I did everything I could, but the hills were extra hilly this morning, I guess, and I pulled into the Loves in Lordsburg at 6.2 mpg. No Bueno!

I left the key off, while I showered and had breakfast, to erase the offending number from the mpg window. I have a decent trailer with super-singles and side skirts for this trip. The left-side skirt had a wave in it towards the rear, so I climbed underneath it and pushed on the bracket with my foot to straighten it out a bit. I managed to remove about half of the waviness, and the skirt looked a little more aerodynamic. Then I slid the tandems forward a notch for more streamlining and to balance the weight a little bit better. Finally, I added a bottle of U.S. Lube Fuel Treatment (that was on sale inside for half-price, yay!) to the tank just for good measure (and to confuse the results, lol). Over the next 370 miles to Pecos, the terrain changed, the wind changed, and by gawd, I think I drove a little bit better too. All that, plus the Lordsburg modifications added up to 8.2 MPG by the time I rolled into the J! What was the key factor? Who knows. I think it was mostly the wind, although I did drop about 2,000 feet in altitude too.

Tomorrow is a planned 596-mile jaunt to Leary, TX up by Texarkana, with a necessary stop at Baker's Ribs by the Pilot on I-30 off exit 87. I finally stopped at this place last week after passing by it many times. The ribs and brisket are as good as any I've ever had and their fried pies are the best anywhere! I'm anxious to try the sausage with a blackberry pie chaser. Yes, Soule_man, I truck to eat!

Just a brief note here for you company drivers who get your trip routing and fuel stops from your dispatcher. This trip had three fairly equivalent routes. The only two that I took seriously was this one: Casa Grande, El Paso, Dallas, Memphis, Knoxville (Krystal Burgers by the pilot, yum!), and up I-81 to Winchester. And: work up to I-40, Amarillo, OKC, I-44 to Joplin, St. Louis, I-70 to Indy, Columbus, Pittsburg, etc.

The second route is about 50 miles or so shorter, depending on how aggressively you want to drive some Pennsylvania cowpaths. The reason that I took the longer route is for fuel economy and weather. Going up to I-40 involves climbing to over 7,200 feet and going through some small towns before hitting the big slab. Staying down south is flatter, (which saves a ton of fuel), with mostly better weather, and, arguably, tastier food. No brainer! I've said on here that I'm a, "glorified company driver", and it's true. But part of the, "glorified" bit is being able to choose my own routes for fuel economy or comfort food. Fuel is your biggest expense, and choosing your routing well, will keep more money in your pocket. . . IF you don't spend it all on barbecue!