Blue Beacon

I can't believe I missed this thread.

Here's a hint about Blue Beacon if you are anywhere near oil country, if you see a trailer that looks like this in front of you...

...then choose the other line. If BOTH lines have trailers that look like that, then you are royally ####ed.

That's a frack pump. I have driven many of them, often with the customer requirement that I clean it at Blue Beacon before rolling it to the customer yard.

Frack fluid is a nasty thing. Once it sprays over the windshield you need to use an entire can of brake cleaner fluid and a whole roll of shop towels to clean it well enough to see the road. A typical frack pump will take at least three hours to clean, about an $800 cleaning bill. First they degrease the entire truck/trailer. That can take couple of hours. Only after degreasing can they start a proper wash.

I have been involved with multiple frack pump moves, all requiring Blue Beacon washes before delivering the units to the customer. It can take HOURS to get through the line. A typical frack pump wash will be in the neighborhood of $800.

Be aware of what's in front of you in the line.

 

God almighty! Look at that. Now activating involuntary gag reflex. Is that thing real? It looks like something out of a "B" horror movie.

I picked the wrong line at the Blue Beacon outside of Lebec, California. I should have gotten behind the lengthy and bulbous propane tank, but no, I chose to get behind a Prime truck. Two hours later, tractor and tank were Zestfully clean.

While watching the wash, I had a brief exchange with a TWT driver in the next stall. I told him my tractor became as dirty as it was because I bumped into it with my shirt. Yeah, I was overdue for a shower.

There's a driver working for us who used to drive for TWT, and when he was asked what TWT stood for, his reply was "Teenie Weenie Trucking". And that's what this driver's reply was. He said the true name was something Williams Trucking, but couldn't recall the first name accurately.

So, how do you NOT know the true name of the company you drive for?

 

I apologise. I apparently downloaded a picture of a mixer, instead of a pump. At any rate with the three trailer axles you are at about 98,000 lbs gross weight.

A pump or a mixer features a diesel engine that is at least 3500 horsepower. A "gorilla pump" will have a diesel engine up to 7500 horsepower and put you at about 110,000 lbs gross weight. When you put a dozen or more of these side by side at a frack site, all roaring along at 1500 rpm's, ear protection is mandatory.

 

Apology accepted. All that fracken noise would keep me away.

I once worked seasonal at a cannery many moons ago. Hearing protection was mandatory, of course. I used this opportunity to yell a one-sided conversation to a female co-worker across from my station. I knew she couldn't hear me, and I couldn't hear her, but I just pretended that she could even after she gave clear non verbal gestures that she could not. Not so unlike real life.

 

Just like everyplace else I go to, it doesn't matter who I get behind. They will be the slowest.

 

Crap, you and I must be the same line right now!

 

I have never understood how drivers can sit 1 or 2 hrs in line at a Blue Beacon. What are they giving out for free? I go to Blue Beacon when there is one truck or less in line, which happens to be mostly between 10pm-5am. I get them done during a 30 min break of night driving. Blue Beacon has to pay me if they want me waiting in line for over an hour.

 

I hope I'm the truck in front of you.

 

Free tractor, $5 for box trailer, that was at the Little Rock location today. Which I might add, one of the better locations. They were lined out to the road, still in and out in about an hour and 20 mins. And a good quality wash.