Good Night From II

I talked to one of my co-workers yesterday, he is thinking of buying a used truck and doing the intermodel for a local company which owns our drop yard. I'm not sure I want that level of responsibility (payments,insurance,etc) but there would be a lot of freedom to do what you want so......it's an option also that I'm not discarding.

 

Hmmm maybe I should stay when they put the camera in. They get enough shots of guys like us they may pull them out!

 

Taking a 30 at the rest stop south of Lamar, CO on US-287. Had a smooth run from Childress, TX starting at 03:00. Started out with temperatures around 60ºF and no wind, now it's 40ºF and raining sideways with near gale force winds. I KNEW the shorts and t-shirt was going to get chilly!

Should be able to get into position in Denver near my customer for an early a.m. live unload. Trying to decide whether to push on in to TA East so I'm only a couple miles away or take a nicer truck stop further out of town.

 

Regarding the issue of "clutch leg" in heavy traffic, especially with some trucks with a very heavy clutch, I'd encourage folks to start practicing floating and try to keep plenty of room in front during stop and go traffic. Usually getting out of LA to the JV terminal in rush hour may only require about a dozen full stops the way I drive, and floating means there's no "wear and tear" at all on the clutch leg. Sometime Lo is your friend (we used to call it Granny Lo) when traffic is crawling.

 

Next time try this route:
Take I-20 west to the 820 loop, north on the 820 for less than 2 miles then take US-287 north to I-35W.
Yes I-35W is all torn up but I'd rather deal with that than the maze of poorly marked freeways that take you through the middle of the DFW metroplex. Once you take the US-287 exit it smooth sailing. AND, going my way ELIMINATES the country road/stop light BS that going the central route forces you into.

 

The Love's in Bennett, CO (I-70, exit 304) is a better option IMHO. I parked at the TA east the other day, was full when I got there at 4:30 PM, ended up paying to park.

 

Lesson learned. This IS a Sunday afternoon and everybody is in place for their Monday morning deliveries. TA East was packed with about a dozen trucks circling the lot like vultures in CASE anyone decided to leave, then it was an all out piranha feeding frenzy to see who could block out who be "the one" to get that spot. Even all the paid parking spots and street parking behind were full...

... so I mosey over to (Gulp!) the Swift terminal...

... pretty much same story.

Decided to make parking out on the street. I have 16+ hours to go until I need to get up and prepare to get to the customer. Unfortunately they have NO street parking over there, otherwise I'd have parked there for my 10.

Got a preplan with two stops, one at an address in Arvada that Google can't find and the other in Tracy. That'll do nice for my home time.

 

Where's your sense of adventure ... stay at the Tomahawk.

 

took this pic at the Houston "terminal." It's party time here. I love t-storms.

 

Does anyone know if you have to do the simulator once a year or is it a one time thing? I just noticed on my alerts it says im due, but I just did it sometime last year.