Rough day on I-84 in Utah

I started my shift in Fargo, ND last night and proceeded to take state highways through the darkest depths of Minnesota. Drove through Brainerd, where the giant statue of Paul Bunyan is. Couldn't see it though, would have been cool to get a picture of it. Of course that would have meant getting out of the truck, and there was no way in heck that was going to happen. It was seven degrees below zero outside! Anybody see the movie Fargo? I think I hear a wood chipper.

Speaking of wood chippers, I'm dropping a load of plastic sheeting at a paper plant outside Duluth, MN. It's -9°F here. They said I should have been here the other day when it was really cold. Crazy Minnasotans...grumble...grumble...grumble...

My old boss is from Minnesota. Now it all makes sense.... Maybe I'll mail ole' Fred some Lefse.

I just had the coldest, wettest, dirtiest, unnecessary, frustrating experience of my life. All so I could drive 8 miles down Cabbage Hill (aka Deadman Pass) & undo it all. It's called Chaining Up, and it should never be done to a truck. It is only done when DOT says you have to.

We were supposed to put on 6 sets of chains, a pair on each drive axle & a pair on a trailer axle. We put on 4 sets. It took 2 hours. Each set weights 60-80 Lbs. We didn't need any, the roads were clear.

The other night was pretty rough in Wyoming. High winds (of course!) and ice everywhere. They say you can't drive on ice. If you are one of the few drivers who can keep his foot off the brake & throttle, you can get away with something that can't be done. If you have the discipline to stay slow, stay away from everybody (so you have no reason to try to use the brakes), and just get in line with the other trucks that are making it through, you can pull it off.

The icy patches will be clearly marked. Each one will have a four-wheeler (4 wheel vehicle, usually a derogatory term) in a ditch to let you know where it is.

I've been parked in the left lane of WY I-80W, mm196 for almost two hours while a jackknifed truck is cleared. Wyoming is an ice rink tonight. I'm not far behind the wreck, so it's probably one of the trucks that passed me.

This is what happens when a jostler (aka yard goat) goes around a corner way too fast. I've never heard of one rolling over before.

Jostlers are small, fast, very maneuverable tractors used to move trailers around a truck yard. They have a hydraulic fifth wheel so the driver doesn't have to crank up the trailer's landing gear. He just backs under it, attaches an air line to release the trailer's brakes, and pulls a lever to pick up the front of the trailer off the ground.

It's kinda funny to see them at air freight terminals with big red stickers saying JET FUEL ONLY. Jet fuel & diesel fuel are different blends of the same thing. Jet fuel is formulated to stay fluid at the extremely cold temperatures at high altitudes. As a result, it produces slightly less power than diesel fuel, but not enough less to be a problem. On the other hand, the higher temperature that diesel fuel burns at would quickly damage a jet engine. This is one reason why airports don't want it around. A mistake could be deadly.

For size reference, there is a person standing right in the middle of the picture.

My 1500 watt inverter just died. I have a 400 watt backup inverter to run the computers, but it's not big enough to handle the microwave, toaster, rice cooker, or George Foreman grill. Bummer.

14 years ago tonight I had my first date with Jennifer.

We had some excellent pizza at Bruno's on a double date with Bo & Tanya, then played miniature golf at Family Fun Center. Neither of us had much experience in the dating world, we didn't know what to expect. We did know that we'd be married. It took only a few hours to figure out. We just knew. It was a giddy kind of thing. We were totally in love with each other.

After about 3 weeks I had the courage to bring up the 'M' word. We thought it would be better to wait for a little while. It wasn't easy, but I put off asking Jennifer to marry me for an entire 32 days after our first date.

Message on the Qualcomm:

"Effective immediately, CRST has shut off all authorized fuel stops in the state of Georgia. In spite of a slight drop in prices around the country, Georgia has been consistently 10 cents over surrounding states much of which is due to their tax structure. It makes no sense to spend this extra amount so there will be no authorized fuel stops in Georgia until further notice."

CRST has a few thousand trucks that fuel daily. Good move, Georgia.

These are the rules we have to follow when we get a High Value Load. Break the rules and they won't give us high value loads. That could leave us parked while another truck gets a load that we should have taken.

1. Do not discuss your load with anyone.
2. You must have enough hours, fuel, etc to drive 200 miles from the shipper before stopping except to scale load.
3. Teams must have 1 driver remain with truck & hooked to load at all times.
4. Seal must remain intact & trailer padlocked.
5. You are not authorized to take the load thru the house unless approved by dispatch via satellite load plan.
6. If you are going to shutdown for more than 2 hours, you must notify dispatch via satellite your location & reason for shutting down. Any truck sitting for more than 2 hours will be assumed stolen and dispatch will call the local authorities to recover & secure the truck & trailer.

This is the message we get over the Qualcomm. I couldn't help but to correct a few errors.

Near Lake Shasta, CA

Picking up a load at 0300 in Portland. It's always easier to pick up or deliver in a major city in the late night/early morning hours. Kinda nice to be the only one on the road. Many shippers & consignees are in very truck-unfriendly parts of town, like downtown. Being able to get through narrow streets while they are empty saves an unimaginable amount of time & hassle, especially when you have to back up a 53' trailer where you really shouldn't be backing up a 53' trailer.

Need I say more?

The picture on the right is the San Diego County Administration Building

Sitting here in Portland, OR. My load doesn't pick up till 0300, not unusual for this part of the country.

When I set things up so that I could be tracked via APRS (Amateur Radio's Automatic Position Reporting System) I didn't know that I was supposed to add the suffix '-14' (Indicator to the FCC) to my call sign to show that I was a semi truck. I know now. You shouldn't notice any difference.

If you have a bookmark or shortcut set up to show my location, you'll just have to add a '-14' after my call sign.

This is the findu.com link to find me:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=KI6FCI-14

I was sitting outside Detriot, Michagan waiting for my load when I noticed something strange.

This is a building on fire about 200 yards from me.