Columbia River in Oregon

Think it's expensive to fill up your car?

You can't let your guard down against the weather yet. Winter is still hanging on by it's fingertips. We are in the twilight zone between winter & spring where temperatures rise above freezing during the day and drop below at night. This causes the snow to melt during the day, and re-freeze into black ice at night.

Speaking of letting your guard down, CRST had a truck, trailer & load stolen last night. The drivers left the truck at the fuel aisle and went into the Pilot in Lake Havasu City, AZ (I-40, exit 9). Good move guys...

Are you old enough to remember this?

This would make a great ringtone if it was available. It's not, I've looked.
Too bad the guy's camcorder didn't pick up the basses any better.

Found this site: IHateCilantro.com

There are three groups of people in the world: most people like cilantro, another group can't stand it, and my group can't taste it.

Until a few years ago, I didn't even realize that parsley & cilantro (coriander) actually had a taste. I thought it was simply a garnish, something to make a nice presentation. All I get from it is a weak, vague, grassy taste. On the other hand, some people get something completely different. It can make some physically ill. It seems to be an inherited missing enzyme. It's not that they just don't like it, it is a totally different, vile, taste to them. Kinda like looking at blue and seeing orange.

Sunday morning I was dropping a load of air freight at Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport. I didn't realize that I had to take a ramp on my right to make the left turn off the main road. It was 0300 in the morning. That's the only way I got away with it. I ended up having to drive right through the passenger terminal. The area where passengers are dropped off & picked up, under the walkways & driveways to the parking structure. This was with a tractor pulling a full size, 53' long, 13' 6' tall trailer. I have no idea how I made it through that gauntlet.

It was 0300 in the morning on a Sunday in Kentucky. I don't think I saw a single human being the whole time.

Loads under about 20,000 Lbs are considered light. They usually make driving easier, unless you run into snow or ice where more weight gives you more traction, or high winds where it will keep you upright.

Some loads cube out (completely fill the trailer), some loads weigh out (reach the weight capacity, about 46,500 Lbs if very evenly loaded) first. A load of empty apple juice bottles will cube out the trailer, but weigh in at about 3500 Lbs. Seven rolls of newsprint fill about a third of the trailer, but weigh closer to 44,432 Lbs.

Some loads, like air freight, just don't matter. They have to be run on schedule, even if the shipper has almost nothing to load. Last night I ran a load from Baltimore, MD to Hebron, KY (just south of 'natty). 2048 Lbs. The trailer was virtually empty.

PS: It was a very small load, just a few pallets. I know, but can't say what was on those pallets. The trip was worthwhile for the shipper.

18

Had a Drive-By GTG with Ruth (RL42) & Bobby from WidowNet.

A drive-By GTG (Get ToGether) is always a spur of the moment thing, as I rarely know when or where I'll be. This one was almost by accident! WidowNet is an online support group for widows & widowers. There are no strangers on WidowNet.

This is a T shirt from BustedTees.

After I changed to the new camera software and set the upload rate to the maximum the connection would allow, some people emailed me that they were only getting partial images. I guess I was sending them faster than their connection could download them. I've changed the upload rate to once every 5 seconds. I've also edited the web page so your browser will look for a new image every 3 seconds. I think this will fix the problem.

The old software would choke under slow/weak signal conditions if the upload rate was set faster than the connection would allow. From what I've seen so far, I have a feeling this software will cope better when the connection speed goes south.

Laid over in Fresno. My next load picks up at 2300 tonight in Commerce, CA and heads out to Mechanicsburg, PA.

Picture from Europe. Didn't secure his load properly.

Driving through California's central valley this morning, things got interesting. A few motorists waved at me and pointed at the trailer to let me know I had a flat. I didn't see any rubber flying in the mirror, and it wasn't far, so I slowed down a little and waited for the next truck stop to check it. (Never stop on the freeway, unless you have no other choice.)

Lucky for me, I was able to find a little tire shop run by a very nice Indian man. Easter wasn't an issue. I didn't speak Hindi, so commuinication was hit-&-miss, but he took a ComCheck, and I was on my way!


I think I dragged this about 10 miles. Got lucky though, it was a cool day. I'm carrying 44,432 Lbs of paper. A blowout with that kind of load instantly puts a severe overload on the other tire on that end of the axle. On a hot day it would have quickly failed, leaving me on the side of the freeway, a place you never want to be.

NEVER stop on the freeway, unless you have no other choice! It is at least as dangerous as an Aircraft Carrier deck, and has many, many more fatalities. Drive on the rim if you have to. Pull onto the shoulder and limp to the next exit. Replacing an expensive custom rim is still cheaper than buying a casket. I know, I've had to buy both.

A number of years ago a friend who used to go to my church had a blowout in her car down in San Diego. Another motorist stopped to help her change it. For safety, she sent her kids up an embankment to sit and wait, away from the freeway. Before the tire was finished, a drunk driver climbed the same embankment. Her son was 11. He was a good kid. He would have had a bright future ahead of him.

They're back!!

The blue lug nut covers were really hard to find.
I only put them on the front axle, you can't really see them on the drives.