Running With Watkins & Shepard

Thanks buddy, I plan on it. Mike told me about it a few days ago. But first it's...make some money...then get caught up on bills...then BUY stuff!....LOL

You know how it goes....

I too have had Nextel for like 15 years now. I plan on getting the droid that comes with the "Simply Everything" plan from Sprint (now Nextel as well) with the 4g network....

 

Not yet...LOL...getting there...have much to do tonight including a shower....LOL

 

So my experience with this run from Lebanon OR to Avondale AZ has been just that, an experience...LOL

Now when dispatch asked me if I could get this load there by 08:00 on the 15th, picked up at 14:30 on the 13th, roughly 1200 miles, this NEWB says...SURE!! No problem....LOL...

I had no idea what it was, how much it weighed and of course, this is my very first time in OR and CA....LOL An "experienced" driver would have said no way....LOL

It's 45,640 lbs. of grass seed, the MOUNTAINS out here are NUTS!! and the speed limit for both OR AND CA is 55....LOL

Folks, you haven't lived until you're dragging a touch over 21 tons and you see a sign that says..."Slow Trucks Next 7 miles".... SEVEN MILES???? ...yep! Add to that it's 12:00 midnight here when I start out, dark and you can't see the darn hills coming so all of a sudden your truck starts slowing down. Well by then, it's too late to MASH the fuel and you have no running start. Sooooo.... you start downshifting...and downshifting and yep, downshifting some more. I can't even count how many "hills" like that there were....LOL

I managed to put down 566 miles today and I'll bet half of it was in 7th gear, crawling uphills at 20 MPH, warning lights a flashing and patting the dash saying..."Come on baby, you can DO IT!!"...

Tight twisty turns both up and down, tight one lane construction zones through those turns...Yep...a REAL experience. So I'm sitting in a Pilot in Madera CA right now with 606 miles to go. I'll be late but I called the broker, the receiver (nice guy named Chris) and told dispatch so all is good for a 12:00 or sooner delivery. WHEW!!

MAN!!! this is FUN!!!!

I'll be headed out at 02:00 EST later on.

Between these two runs I'll have 3869 miles.