Good night from...

Kansas Pike Plaza. Just a poking along. I could arrive Sunday afternoont to del, but why push it. Not going to get another load until Monday when they find what fr8 is coming back over the border, and then late afternoon, finding a place to park down there in Nogales.

 

Maybe it's my charming personality ... but I can always get the answer I need from ECT.

 

Yup.

Rapid City, SD.

I had a Target load, and delivered well within on-time even with the CO roads today.

I sent a Mac22 because I was going to be about 15 minutes later than the load assignment time, even though I had a couple more hours on the actual delivery window.
I had set my PTA to 01/31 at 1900, and the return message reset my PTA to 02/01 1900.

I don't know if it was a typo, or if they expect me to be ready to drive all night tomorrow, but I set it back when I did my empty call.

If they do expect me to pick up a load at 1900 tomorrow, well, they better figure in the time for me to sleep tomorrow night after I pick it up after being up all day.
Because I sure will when I do the Mac9.

 

yup not fun trying to drive all night after being up all day, I did that last night and ended up shutting down a hour early, started driving before the sun went down and just shut down with the sun coming up. Went to a new store in Fresno, was a fun dock that has a double step down, a driver told me to drop my bags when hooking/unhooking so I did, the other driver who delivered last time really cranked the trailer up so like an idiot I ended up over shooting my 5th wheel and had to move it around and crank the trailer even higher, with the dock being so steep I just misjudged it big time but got myself all fixed in a couple minutes. Its a tighter dock and you have to do sorta a blind offset into it but they use 48' trailers for that store which made it easier and then turned around and took a load to Modesto after that. Did the same Modesto store a couple days ago and it took me 45min, this morning I got in and out in 24min. Funny some of these stores take me a long time the first time but then after that its almost half the time.


Right now sitting at the rest area outside of Tulare, I forgot my sleeping bag at home so stopped at Walmart on the way to work and got me a coleman sleeping bag, this thing is nice and warm and a heck of a lot better than the other cheap sleeping bag I bought. You get what you pay for sometimes, sleeping bags are definitely something you should get good quality of, 32 degrees outside and im nice and warm with no bunk heater even running.

 

Santo Texas.....deliver Monday in El Paso

 

Here at the Russell Travel Plaza. Awoke this morning and the truck was all ice. Got out of the truck, parking lot was solid. Looked at I-35 and one lane was clear. Not knowing which way that freezing rain came from, opted to go 80 miles out of route, and stay on 35 all the way to OKC. Was not going to try US-54. All that it might have cost me, 3-4 gallons in fuel, since I was able to maintain 63mph and not all of that stop and go, plus it actually saved me in HOS. for those that have never been to this truck stop, it is a great place to stop. If you are a car not, then you have to stop. They also have a great food selection for shopping. Here is the web site so that you can check it out. www.russellsttc.com.

 

Billings, MT.

I lucked out this morning.
I was asked to repower a load going to Auburn, WA. ~1200 miles delivering 02/03 0800. Nice way to fill up the weekend.
I had to wait a couple hours at the tow truck company until the trailer was brought in, so it makes the time a little tight (but not too bad).
The planner told me the tow truck would be there at around 0900, so I went over at 0815 so I could drop my mt and be ready as soon as it got there.
Didn't show up until 1030.
And the worst thing was, the gate was locked and I had to sit there on a narrow road with 4-ways on for over 2 hours.
Luckily traffic was very light and people just went around me, and no cops went by.

 

went to North Hollywood today which was the quickest and easiest it ever has been at that store, where I normally have to dodge cars and make my uturn was pretty much empty besides one little car so I didnt even have to stop midway through the turn and get out to look and make sure my trailer wasnt going to clip a car then I went inside and did some shopping, been battling heartburn since I have been trying to get myself off my prescription after learning about long term side effects from taking pump inhibitors so went and got some more natural aids to use then went down to Long Beach for a Yussen load. The 405 was bad tonight, got into a traffic jam even at 23:00 since they closed off half the 405 for #### construction and traffic was still pretty heavy.

Tomorrow going to Pacoima with a possible Yussen then Turlok, going south on Sundays can normally be pretty bad with everyone travelling back home, hopefully I get lucky. All else fails as long as I can make it into Turlok then I can sleep there.

 

! stay off the 405 even if routed that way. seems faster to go 5 to 710

 

Just finished driving the night shift on the I-20 from Marshall, TX to Pecos, TX, a very exciting night of driving to say the least. We have a trailer full of pillows, all of 5000 lbs, very light. The night started with winds gusting up to 35 mph from the north, making it difficult to stay in my lane. Temperature was hovering around 40ºF all the way through Dallas.

Just before getting into Abilene the temperature dropped to 32ºF and it started to drizzle. I disengaged cruise control and started free footing and came up to a bridge and the truck yawed left. I quickly steered into the skid and backed off on the accelerator and corrected within a fraction of a second. ####!!! Forgot to engage the trans axle differential. Engaged that and slowed way down to 40-45 mph and got into the Flying J for my 30.

I noticed trucks pulling into the fuel island with ice and snow hanging from the rails and coating the front of the truck. Uh oh...

... I looked at the doppler radar map and saw I'd be driving right into the thick of things. Wasn't so bad in Abilene so I figured I'd just take it smooth and slow.

Within 20 miles of leaving the Flying J I almost wished I'd just parked it. Snow at times got up to 3" deep without a snowplow in sight. I had to stop four times during the night to break ice off the windshield wipers so I could keep the windshield clear. Average speed was 30-40 mph, rarely getting up to 50 mph.

Side note is a couple of trucks didn't fare so well, one was a truck that had blown past me going at least 60 mph that I later passed after he'd done a little offloading. Not a good night for trying to win any races.

Well, time for some sleeper berth action. Gotta get some sleep and try to catch the second half of the Super Bowl, somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico.

Go Seahawks!!!