Running produce to Alaska

How are you guys doing being on your own?

 

I just wrote that in another thread and should probably cover most of it. Also read this thread http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...bed-trucking-forum/257364-pipe-to-alaska.html not4hire posted several links to the Canadian rules you might want to have a look at too.

 

Figured I check in real quick since I am in Dallas for the Great American Truck Show. Flew in this morning and my luck continues. The plane had to turn around while we were taxing to the runway for technical difficulties. The pilots announcement was priceless as well. He said he was called by maintenance to turn back to a gate and was not sure what was going on. This was pretty funny and the honesty made everybody laugh out loud on the plane.
The girl friend and I thought it would be a nice little mini vacation and get us away from home for a couple of days after all the stress, drama and things that usually make life difficult. I did have a pretty good trip with my last load North. Nothing broke for once and I almost made it home unscathed.

I have talked to a couple close friends about the last incident and I am considering giving up on trucking for good. I was about 20mls North of Seattle when I was cut off by a 4 wheeler. I was heading South on I-5 and assumed he was just trying to take the exit at the last possible moment. I flashed my high beams at him as a warning for cutting me off and he retaliated by brake checking me. That unfortunately did not work out so well for him. His fancy Audi is sporting some wrinkles on the back since he got a little love tab from behind. After he slammed on the brakes I lost sight of the car in front of me. Our truck's hoods are 4"longer than the EXHD models and the blind spot in front is impressive.
I have a dashcam in my truck, but made a crucial mistake when I pulled the memory card to retrieve the info. I guess it had created a file, but not saved it to the memory card and I did manage to loose the recording of the incident.
I did call 911 and reported the road rage incident and when pulling over to the shoulder we actually encountered a Washington State Trooper which was dealing with another incident along I-5. Just minutes after pulling over a second trooper arrived at the scene and took over the investigation. Nobody was hurt, the car had some damage to the rear no visible damage to the truck. Now here comes the kicker. After the trooper finished his investigation he ticketed the driver of the Audi for an illegal lane change. The trooper was great and he said he is very aware of peoples driving on I-5 and around big trucks. I had a great conversation with the trooper during his investigation and he told me some of the statements by the other driver brought up some red flags and he did fault him for the accident. He seemed to understand trucking and the physics involved.

I was totally bummed out by this incident since that is now the second time this has happened to me. I am really tired of dealing with the rat race that goes on on our roadways these days. I love to run the North, but the stress level of getting to the border is wearing me down. I see lots of crazy passing maneuvers up in Canada, but those drivers do weed themselves out sooner or later. My boss and company have been great in supporting me and were just glad I was not injured.

On a positive note we just back from a sneak preview of GATS since we managed to walk in through the back door and stroll around and watch people polish their show trucks. I did meet Chris Anderson from ATS which is here with his custom truck that was built for him by the Chrome Shop Mafia. I guess he will sign autographs tomorrow. I did not realize he was a famous guy until I saw an article in the GATS exhibitor magazine. Let me know if anybody is here in Dallas and we can try to visit at the show.

 

First day at the truck show is over. Met some interesting people and I am glad I have three days to see it all. I will participate in some free seminars tomorrow and Saturday. Had a great talk with Joe Rajkovacz with the Western Trucking Alliance. He kind of made me rethink several things when he pointed out his view of things. You guys might have heard him before on the Roaddog trucking news with Mark. My favorite truck so far is at the Rush truck center booth. Pete 579 with 144" ARI sleeper. I could rough it in one of those, but the 305" wheelbase is a no go in British Columbia. Empty truck weight is about 23,340lbs. Which I thought was not to bad since my 389 weighs in at about 22,000lbs with me and all my crap in it.
I guess I should take some pictures too.