An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

Our Rancho terminal manager might have to call off and take a snow day, he lives up near Hesperia and deals with that pass and it's traffic every day.

 

I took a peek at the 191/491 route before I posted about I-40, it was orange and red. And it didn't look like I-70 from Green River UT to Denver was gonna be an easy trek either. Challenging week to be out here, that's for sure.

Well, MT roads were their usually intermittently crappy. The passes in ID were fine going east, get over Lookout into MT and it wasn't as bad as when we pulled that oversized saw mill equipment. Got thru the scales, then at that curvey section east of the scales was fun. I caught up to a Crete going exceptionally slow in the mostly clear right lane, but I needed to run a bit faster before climbing any grades, so I played super trucker for a little while and passed him(or her) in the polished snow covered left lane. I am glad I did because the next grade, anything over 15 psi on the turbo broke traction, so it was a feather the throttle climb, even using the shoulder snow. If I had stayed behind Crete and hadn't gotten a little run at the hill, I might have spun out. The one drawback of most modern trucks today, the diff locks don't work over a certain speed. Got past that, and the only real issues were from wind blowing snow across the road until I got to Homestake Pass, where it looked as though the road crews didn't want to even try. Uphill going east wasn't bad, but going back down the eastern slope, I spent more time riding the snowy shoulder than on the Zamboni polished lane. Made it to the Peelot just before the 90/94 split and called it a night...and this is how cold it got





One of the coldest nights I have seen in a while...but I was warm and snug as a bug in a rug...yes, I idled my truck all night...all of yesterday I never saw the ouside thermometer get out of the single digits, and west of Livingston at 15:00 it was -9°. My truck's coolant temp hovered just slightly above 160°, even climbing grades. Last night at idle, it stayed just below 160°. If it would have been as windy as it was west of here, I might have had to fashion a tarp winter front. Even this morning facing that firey ball in the sky, and with the truck doing one of it's parked regens, the truck's outside thermometer said -6 (the sensor on the Volvo is just below the radiator/condenser/air-to-air CAC)

There are a couple things about Volvos I like over the KWs. This truck goes better in crappy weather...yes, it'll still spin it's tires, but it's manageable. I also like having ductwork in the doors that shoots out nice warm air on cold trips like this. The KW had air leaks around the door handle panel, and in single digits, the window/arm rest was so cold you had to put a towel down if you wanted to use it, just to insulate it.

 

We need to get our own tax ID number so we can bill SPD/Wylie for our repairs and they can have a legitimate receipt that is cheaper than what the truck stop shops charge.

 

Montana roads weren't bad. Once I crossed into WY, it was a different story. WY was mostly o.k. at first, but it was almost like a ski slope at times, and it seemed as though they were doing it on purpose. Small up and down grades, the road was mostly clear. Hit a more moderate grade and going up had at least one set of duals on dry road in one lane, but not the other(total Zamboni slick), but on the down grade it was a toboggan chute. After Sheridan, a lot of the road was milky white ice until the 25/90 split, then on 90, for the first 10-15 miles, in the right lane it was a rapid fire succession of clear ice patches where the snow drifts were, so I kept my light load in the left lane. Managed to make it to Box Elder and that's where I am staying tonight. It is actually going to get warmer over night, so I won't need to idle the truck, just the Carrier boat anchor.

 

Holy guacamole Batman!!!!!!!!! Now I see why I-80 in WY has been closed since the latest super-snowmagedon event....

 

Seeing all these pictures makes what I have driven thru seem miniscule in comparison. I guess I've had it pretty easy on this storm.

 

After all the winter fun, I stopped for the night in TN and woke up to off and on dense fog. I was gonna stop at the Beacon outside Knoxville and get the old girl de-salted...but it was just to soupy. Decided to go a little off route and hit the Beacon in Columbia before heading to the closest truck stop near the customer. I could deliver today, but wouldn't have much time left, so I will postpone delivery until tomorrow. Dang does this Beacon stink...smells like a fish processing plant in July or a movie set after a gangbang porn filming...can I say that without insulting anyone? We shall see.


My Carrier boat anchor started running right...or at least it is starting up to charge the batteries without me doing it manually. However, they put a new alternator belt on when they serviced it, and I guess it finally ran long enough to loosen up some, now when it starts you get a 10 second squeal. Guess I break out the tools again...but at least it's starting!!!!!!