Good night from...

For some implausible reason I decided to get an early start toward Longmont from Parachute, CO. That was a bad choice. It wasn't light yet when I headed eastbound on I-70, not too long into it I see electronic signs that chains are required for CMV's and mm 178. Conveniently there's a truck parking space not too long after that and I pull in to wait until daylight.

By the time I get to mm 178 there's a solid row of trucks chaining and a LEO with flashing lights. I find a spot toward the far end of the line and start throwing iron, only to find that one of the tire chain singles is missing a clasp so it is pretty much unusable. I try to jury rig it with a carabiner, but only manage to pull forward about 20' before it falls off. Just then a CR England team pulls up next to me and says only drive chains are required. I notice everyone pulling out only has drive chains.

Fortunate for that, the tandem chains on the drive function with extra bungies, but they are so loose that I can't go more than about 20 mph. So I limp along and the road is basically bare and wet and ...

.... trucks are firing past me with NO CHAINS? Then I see two LEO's parked in the median turnaround and I'm thinking, "They're sure to nab those guys without chains!" Nope, they blast on by unmolested...

... so the moral of the story is wait until it warms up, then the chain requirement is turned off. I ended up chewing up a couple of hours limping 40 miles to the first available area to drop the chains. Then it wasn't that bad driving as long as I stayed at a reasonable speed.

Dropped my trailer, bobtailing to pick up and empty, then off to the Denver yard to grab a trailer and start heading back (tomorrow) to home time in Mira Loma!!! It will be a late Christmas but at least I finally got some miles in to keep the paychecks flowing....

 

Nope, but I think that I have the cure. Just waiting to hear from a couple of people and make sure. Now btw, if you have a smart phone, I want to recommend a app to download, Fuel Book. It is great as far as saving on fuel purchase. It has found me some places that are at least .30/gal less then the big boys.

 

Home Sweet Home for 3 nights. Pick up the wife tomorrow and she gets to come home for 2 nights before she has to be back at work on the 26th. Then I am gone on the 27th for another 6-8 weeks. With freight slowing down, now is the time to stay out longer. Already have a pplan, but not accepted yet. Owens Corning to Aurora, CO. First, want to talk to Command in the morning, then want to see the weather. It is the wrong direction for me. Have a happy everyone.

 

I got a nice load from Laredo up to Montana.
Two Dodge vans headed for Canada, and I'm t-calling in Great Falls - hopefully the evening of the 25th if I can manage to make 550 miles for each of the next 2 days.
Maybe 10k weight, and 1800 miles.

 

Moose, I might say, take your time and deliver on the 26th. Have a relaxing run

 

Moose, I've pulled three of those to Great Falls and you are in for some incredible scenery. Plus the weather for the route looks really good for this time of the year; cold but no storm systems for at least the rest of the week. The last two times I stopped along the Missouri River north of Helena to do some fly fishing. Monster Brown Trout! !!
The drop is at the Town Pump/Pilot not the Flying J across the street which is not that clear from the directions. The loads back so far have been paper with one going all the way to San Diego and the others to the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.

 

Thanks for the info.
I ran into some very icy roads this evening in TX so I stopped a bit early. Hopefully the next couple days will be clear sailing.

As for delivering on the 26th, I could take my time and do so.
But that would mean less than 1000 miles for the week, and I simply can't afford it. I need to deliver in this pay period if I can.

It's nice to know that there is a Pilot and a J there. I need a shower badly, and the places I have had to stop in the past few days didn't allow for it.
Laredo terminal is one. I refuse to shower at a terminal, because I'm never sure how clean they really are. Better to use wet wipes for a couple days when that is the only other option.

 

im with you on not wanting to use terminals, those showers are so dang iffy worst one I seen was Mira Loma with their single shower

last night was a long night, drove to Atwater to deliver then returned and then went to Gilroy, I never taken the 152 before and I took it a little slower than normal with all the curves etc and being unknown territory and let the super truckers blast past me since I rather take 2 lane winding roads easier, dropped my trailer about 45min ago in the dock hooked to the mt that turned into a sweep dispatch didnt know about but works for me since now I get like 48cpm for all miles instead of the 37cpm I would of gotten. Only a hour left on drive time and it would take just about that to get to a truck stop and finding parking at 3am just doesnt sound like a plan for me so I parked in some parking spaces behind the Target, will take off after my 10 and deliver this load then have my wife drive down to pick me up, head over to my mothers house to grab my other car im reposessing since my mother decided to buy her a brand new truck. Either I figure out making the payments or get someone to take over the loan....for now will let me wife drive the newer car and I will take the other to the DC so I have private transportation during the week without having to worry about hos hours driving the truck around.


Everyone be safe out there and have a merry x-mas, traffic has been a little chaotic at times already.

 

By the way, when is the new Mira Loma terminal supposed to be completed? Looks like it should be within a few months. I hear tell that it will be very nice, with additional amenities like perhaps a barber shop a la Phoenix.

Currently I'm waiting a little bit longer before getting underway westbound from Denver. I don't want to make the same mistake I made yesterday, being one of the last truckers to be forced to chain up. The good news is that if I need to chain I know I've got a good set. I replaced the mismatched and defective set that came with this truck for a new set and got an extra packet of bungies.

Regarding chains, I really dislike the double set for both both tires on a drive. When I put those on yesterday they were incredibly loose, even after tightening all the links around the rim. I ended up putting about 6-8 bungies on each and they still ended up being so loose I could only drive a maximum of 20 mph. I took 6 singles for my new set.

 

They'll put the chain law in effect climbing the west side going east ... heading west .. meh. They figure you will have no problem sliding down the mountain, chains not required.