2015 Cascadia OTR Performance

OK folks. We got Darla's shoes a little snow wet today. I-84 EB from Biggs, OR (the 104) to Tremonton, UT (the 40). It was just spittin' this AM when we got rolling but you could tell today was the day. You guys done this enough you know how to read the weather ahead in each part of the country, each time of the year w/o an app., so I feel comfortable sayin' you know what was in my mind when I patted her nose and said: "Looks like we're gonna get our first snow trial together Darla. Fine time to be MT. No worries. Cabbage ain't nearly as bad as folks make it out. Just watch your step and speed. It'll be fine." It started around Arlington, got steadier and heavier as we went. There was some guy on the CB running ahead of me begging for a Cabbage Report and someone finally came back and said it was real bad slick and windy. Whatever. It'll be what it'll be. Got there and it was coming down pretty stead and moderately heavy, and the hammer lane was unreadable, but not bad. Know what I mean? Chain lights weren't on so that should tell you something. Long stretches untreated and not plowed but not bad. Visibility got down to about 150 feet for some stretches but the wind wasn't bad and 150' was plenty for the speed. Either Mr. "real bad slick and windy" was a rookie or he was messin with the guy asking. Still, there was enough blowin', shakin', accumulation where you were making the cuts and such that she got a nice test but it was hardly "bad".

Like I said, the hammer lane was pack for long stretches and being MT and my first time on the slopes with the new skis and poles I stayed off that. Well mostly. I'm not advocating this from a Safety standpoint by any means, but I did venture out a few times after I had some comfort with her in the various levels and types; wet slop, a couple little ice mix patches, blowin' powder, dry accumulation not packed yet, etc. I got nothing to prove and absolutely no desire to put a single scratch on my Mule (or anything else) and I took it easy but I had to know how she felt on pack. Was the autoshift and super single config gonna slip and slide? If it was gonna get squirrely w/ me it would do it MT easily in a moderate snow on the Cabbage run. Temp was 29 and the radio said it had been for a while and was gonna be doing this all day. At the rate it was coming down I'd say the chain light did go up a little while after I passed it. I was cautious, but I don't know. Like I said; this isn't a Safety thread and I guess I prolly shoulda just stayed in the Safe area but I had to know and in my judgment the conditions were right to see how she'd do. I'd have had no problem doing what I did in those conditions with my other rigs so I had to know if this one would do OK too. I'll stop justifying and trying to excuse it now. I did what I did.

She did great. I kept a close eye on speed and her cut and throw and she was holding tight, cutting what needed to be cut and the back throw riding on top of the pack was what it was supposed to be. Even MT she didn't slip or slide in the least. I think chains for the deeper and harder stuff and she'll do just fine in any conditions I'd be willing to take a standard with dualies, loaded or MT. At this point, I'm calling Darla a "Go/ No Go" same as any other Mule and winter run. It appears that rolling snow is something I don't have to change my driving style for her. It was a good day for us. OH and even better!

I lost the short black bottom plastic skirt on the right side of the long faring covering the fuel tank (the one between the bottom of the faring and the road) the first week I had her. I was on 75 down in FL on my way to hometime and my son's wedding with my brand new rig all spiffed up. Some guy in a p/u passed me and cut back over close and lost a cardboard box and I couldn't avoid it. Didn't sound like anything but an MT box when I flattened it, but that evening in my PTI I see the skirt gone. That's the only thing I can figure happened. Unless it just fell off. Looking at the other one it's only clips holding it on (you'd think they'da screwed it on in at least two places). So I'm heartbroken. Like a kid with his new Christmas thing and it just got broken or something the first week. Dumb but I'm that way about my stuff and this was MY new truck. Yeah, I know the technical legalities of L/P but it is MINE in my heart and brand new, and shiny, and pretty and everything working great and I'm looking up going: "Really? I'm not allowed to have ANYTHING nice and be able to keep it that way? WHY? SHEEZE!" I called Freightliner. $200 and an hour labor ($105). I called our shop; "I don't know til you bring it in but we can save you some money". OK, break down said I should take it to our shop but they would RO an OTR repair for it and let it come outta escrow if I wanted to. Yeah, I know. Business decision. Take it to our shop next time I'm in the neighborhood.

So I get to Ontario, OR today for fuel. I'm fueling and what is laying next to the curb on the satellite pump side? "Is that . . .? No. Can't be. Looks like (pick it up). Hmm. It is. Great shape too. Hardly a scratch. No more than the other side by now. I wonder . . .. How bout that. It fits!! (looking up) Thanks!!" I toss it in the truck, go inside, come out and my conscience starts tugging at me. I look up. "OK. I'll drive around the lot and if I see anyone is missing one. If so I'll ask them about it." Nope. Everyone either had all of theirs or didn't have them at all. MINE! I took some Mean Green and a Scotchbrite to it and it looks just like my other one. Darla gonna get her skirt back for free if the weather is descent tomorrow on my 30 min break. NICE.

Have a good one y'all and be safe. OH; and if that skirt is yours, I'll just hang on to it for you till we meet up some day.

 

OK, update: So much to say, so little actual useful info. That could be said of most of my posts I suppose; truth be known. So she's averaging 7.7 for the entire 14K and pretty much every load and road condition we do here at JCT, except I haven't had a run up to PA, NY or NJ in her yet. Our main freight lanes, though. Been mostly running left cost to Midwest and on the expected roads with the expected heavy pulls except for a real nice long deadhead from Vancouver to Council Bluffs. That's where I found her slippery feet. Elk Mountain was slick and I was MT and she got a little squirrely at 45 on the climb but I backed her down to 35 and she did fine. I've had enough mixed runs to feel comfortable saying she's gonna hang at 7.7 MPG until I do something different or she gets good and broken in and has her first overhead done.

Started messing w/ Aperf and that's what I run her in on speed runs. The main difference is she winds out the gear longer and down shifts sooner on climbs and no E-coast on downslides. It's clearly about keeping the speed up vs the RPMs down, but it still does good. Manual is manual. That intuitive and adaptive Jake takes some real getting used to though. The key to it (unless you are running it manual - then it's just simple and sweet; what gear and what level - driver's choice) is figuring out what mode and what speed. EX: Straight down, no traffic to worry about and no curves and an uphill on the other side I just let cruise handle it with the Jake "paddled" to off. It's not really off. Anytime the tranny is in Auto, it's on "Darla decides when and how much Jake to throw to slow to w/in 5 MPH of cruise speed." It kicks the gear and Jake level it wants to try and maintain cruise speed and if it gets a little fast or slow I use the right foot accordingly. Mash on the left pedal and kick off cruise and it also kicks off whatever Jake she had set to go with that cruise so you got to move the "paddle" to whatever Jake setting you want.

Now, if she is in either auto (econ or perf) w/ cruise off and you move from no Jake to level 1 she will select 11th gear. If you don't like it; you have to do something to move it. Brake to downshift, throttle to upshift or manual and paddle to whatever gear you want. Auto level 2 is 10th gear and auto level 3 is 8th. I think that's where the "she'll put you in the windshield on full Jake" comes from. Move to full Jakes at 45 and she'll drop into 8th gear to go with it and max tach. Jakes work harder and better at the higher RPM band. Move the Jake paddle and she'll shift to those gears automatically as soon as you select that level of Jake. A perf and she does the same thing but just hangs in that gear longer. Manual is manual and if in manual the Jakes work the same; everything is whatever you set. The trick is to remember you are in Manual. "Why aren't you shifting? C'mon, go up girl! OH, You're in manual. I gotta move you up. There. Sorry about the over-rev Darla. How bout we slide back to Auto now?" Manual is very useful for curvy downslides and down runs w/ traffic. She may have all the GPS and USGS Terrain Mapping going on but she's still oblivious to curves and cars and that tends to be where we disagree on downhill runs. Betcha a month's settlements, though, we'll see a day of first generation technology that DOES know at least something about cars and curves to go with the rest of this. [cough, cough] Vorad and Lane Departure, [cough, cough]. Aminal ain't as think as they crazy dumb I am. That's only on Wednesdays and Fridays. Today is Monday. Just sayin . . .

The growling at 15 MPG is diminishing, but still there. She does do this annoying thing when coasting a slow and go at a stop on an incline. Let Ye who hath never California Stopped at the top of an exit ramp, when it was all clear, cast the first Safety Stone. If you are coasting up the ramp and loaded and want to just smoothly slow and go on the turn at the top; she hesitates if you just ease down on the throttle. It's a "Drive By Wire" thing. It's like she's confused for a second and a half so she hesitates and has "dead throttle" where you're at on the foot position. Don't like that one little bit, so I have learned to mash it when in that situation, so she goes ahead and grabs a gear - then I adjust the foot to the gear she grabbed to adjust my speed. It kinda goes against the instinct, though, to mash the throttle hard in a ramp turn. Kinda Hell. It's flat against your instinct to power through a low speed turn. However, you're not really going to power through the turn. You're just getting her to make a danged decision as to which gear to be in; then very quickly adjusting power to whatever gear she grabbed. Just got to force her to a quick decision with a heavy foot.

Plus, speaking of that, she WILL slide a tad backwards on an upgrade on takeoff. That's a huge no-no that we all know. Mortal Sin on any CDL Performance Test is to slide back a hair on takeoff. You CAN'T use a tad of throttle to get her to feather her clutch to hold the hill either. She'll over-temp the clutch temp in a skinny minute doing that. You gotta hold her with the brakes and then either do the two foot thing (left on brake, right on throttle) or be real fast going from brake to throttle. She will give you about 1/4 - 1/2 second before sliding back a bit (which seems to be about 4" before she realizes it and self corrects - but 4" backslide is WAY too rich for my blood) to move your foot if you choose fast right foot action. I tried both. I learned fast right foot action faster than I was gonna learn to two step. Got a couple ex-wives and girlfriends that will testify: Aminal just can't dance. He dances to an entirely different beat. Two step? Texas or any other? Forget about it. Yeah. I just learned to mash fast and adjust on slow and goes and hold brakes and then fast foot switch and adjust so I don't jump front too fast either. I guess I'm just a One Foot Wonder if it doesn't have a clutch. Man Oh MAN I could go places with that and ex-wives and girlfriends. Better not, though.

Just think along the lines of: we learned how to slip the clutch and had super duty clutches that let us do it. She has a delicate clutch and don't want it slipped much at all. Same in "Creep Mode". She's self-slipping her clutch to get you finer throttle control. She won't do it long, though. It's not a distance thing. It's a clutch temp thing and as soon as she has a little strain or you piddle around with a very short but tricky backing maneuver - she'll kill creep mode and stop slipping herself. Which is also fine. ONCE YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT SHE'S DOING!! The books and DVDs aren't real clear on that stuff. They were clearly written by Engineers (and Lawyers) that may be brilliant Engineers (and Lawyers), but don't know a danged thing about effective communication with a driver about what they Engineered. The Lawyers and the Drivers don't CARE what each other has to say so we really make no shred of an attempt to communicate effectively since we were both born and bred with a full on internal and totally pervasive, natural dislike and distrust for each other. God made us hate each other and we each do a pretty good job of fulfilling that internal mandate. Engineers and Drivers like each other and want to communicate effectively. We just have a bit of a language issue to solve which gets a bit frustrating for both of us at times. But we keep trying and listening and trucks are getting more and more driver friendly and oriented. For now. It's us in the Transitional Generation that are having the most difficulty.

It was that way in the beginning of Driver Days and it will be until the end. You know why they call us "Drivers"? We were originally Mule Drivers. Freight didn't move with horsepower. That is a perpetuated fable. Yes, the settlers had some horses pulling their covered wagons with their belongings. But the Goods, the FREIGHT was moved by Mules and Mule Teams and it took a unique individual to get the most stubborn and orneriest creatures on earth to do what was abjectly against their nature to do and go here, while their big ole Mule instincts were screaming; DON'T GO THERE. Everything moved by Mule. Mules pulled the freight barges up and down all the rivers and canals north and south and the wagon trains of freight east and west. The crazy and unique individuals that got them to do it were called Mule Drivers - or Drivers, for short. I could go into SO much history there and it was a certain job if you could do it. Not just anybody could and MANY cowboys found that out. It ain't cowboying. It's MULE driving. Beast kinda looks similar but is a VERY different animal.

Went great for a long time. Then one day Mr. Fulton's Steam Engine prototypes started working like they should. Steam tugs got built. Steam Engines got built and special roads to run them on. Rail Roads. Mule Drivers were losing work faster than a wink cause everything was just starting to be powered by steam engines instead of Mules. It was even said that one day steam powered wagons would replace Mule Teams on the prairies and other routes and one day steam would eliminate the need for Mules. Steam was much, much, faster and stronger than a Mule and one day there would be roads and steam engines would move all the freight on the inland waterways, then on long rail lines then short roads with steam wagons.

Drivers of the day had a choice. Learn to drive steam engines . . . or retire and hopefully catch some work plowing with their Mules. See that's how it mostly worked. A Driver owned HIS Mule. He had a special relationship with it and they worked well together. He could get THAT Mule to do anything. He and his Mule had a reputation. Their reputation was their credentials. He'd sign on with a freight outfit, with his Mule. His Mule would be the lead Mule in the Mule team 'cause as stubborn as Mules are - they WILL go and do what the lead Mule in the team does. A Driver didn't have to drive the whole team. Just manage them into doing what HIS Mule was doing. So the Driver and HIS Mule had a special bond. They depended on each other for their day-to-day bread and butter. Then comes steam to replace the Mule.

Some of the Transitional Driver Generation - transitioned and learned to drive steam engines. Some retired. Some just passed into the unknown. For a very long time, though, all steam engine operators were still known as Drivers, because they were the mostly the middle generation of Mule Drivers that transitioned to steam, but with some older and some newer Mule Drivers learning how to drive new, mechanical mules. They were called Steam Engine Drivers. Rail, Water or Overland, they were all Steam Engine Drivers. Rail became Locomotive Driver then Engineer. Water became Tug and Tow Driver, then Captain. Overland . . . well we just became known as plain old Drivers. To this very day they still call US

Drivers. Might want to consider all THAT when you contemplate the changes we face today. Yeah, this sure ain't your Daddy's ride, but: How well can you adapt. The ONLY constant in the entire HISTORY of Drivers has been: there has always been a change in what we drive and there will always be some that can adapt to that change and find their new place in Driver History . . . and some that either can't or wont. There ain't no right or wrong or shame or pride to it either way. It's just one of those" That's just the way it is" things.

Me? I'm trying my best to adapt. Little older, little slower than some coming around today. I'm also a good bit wiser and definitely a lot more determined to not go quietly into ANY gentle good night. Funny how the closer to the edge of a cliff you get a Mule, the stronger it kicks and somehow seems to know just exactly where to put that hoof print. Night all. Be SAFE danged it. I don't want to read about a danged one of you in a Safety Bulletin - or worse.

OH, Had some single digit temps and the Carrier APU did fine as far as not getting roasting hot like a bunk heater does. It was a little harder to start on the 8 degree day. Could be the newness. She did the start thing then only banged one hot pop. Then did an auto restart and banged three hot pops. Then auto restart and real rough started popping and caught.

Night again.