Got to CMH Now off to Las Vegas

We arrived in Salt Lake City at about 1200 noon and dropped our trailer, hooked to the load headed for Columbus, performed the pretrip inspection and off we went to Columbus. We had to stop in North Platte, NE for fuel and that would be our last stop.

The weather across I-80 was very windy all the way to Davenport IA. The more wind all the way to Columbus. I'm not sure why but it doesn't matter where we are going, which direction we are traveling, we have a head wind. That is to say, we are always headed into the wind, the wind is at our face rather than a tail wind. That is really bad for fuel mileage. I had pumped an extra 40 gallons in North Platte because Of the wind and man was that a good forethought. We had 17 gallons of fuel left when we got to Columbus.

Before we got to Columbus, we took a call from dispatch asking which load we wanted out of there. We were offered a Miami, to leave immediately upon our arrival to Columbus or they had a Vegas, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, or Kansas City to leave early the next morning(Sunday). We chose the Las Vegas for the length of the trip, the ease of return, and the route and weather.

Anyway, we got there at about 1730 and dropped our trailer, fueled the truck in advance of our trailer readiness this morning and went for dinner at the local greasy spoon restaurant.

After dinner, knowing our load would be ready before daylight, we went to bed as soon as we finished dinner.

The message came at about 0630 this morning that our load was ready. Again, we jumped up, made ourselves ready and presentable for the day and went to dispatch to retrieve our paperwork. After hooking to the load we, as usual and as required, we performed the pretrip inspection and headed for the departure gate where security resides.

I decided to stay up long enough to get my weekly dose of church and tot refill my redemption and faith cups, from Cowboy Church on XM 13. I then promptly headed back to bed.

After review of our log books I seen that if we were to stretch out Tina's driving time and if I stayed out of the seat another 2 hours I could gain a restart on my logbook so we decided we'd stop in Troy Illinois and make my sister buy lunch. I love spending her and her husband's money. Especially if I can make myself and her husband think that it is actually his money and not hers. Anyway, we had a good lunch and a great visit. We had lunch at Red Robin in Glen Carbon IL. A pretty darned good burger I guess. The fact that it was free to me made it even better.

We are now off and running again, I will get my restart and have a full 70 hours available for the next 8 days. We should be in Vegas by about 1945 tomorrow evening. I have no idea what our assignment will be out of Vegas at this point but I do know that we will be starting to work our way towards Orlando for Friday morning.

We are taking next week, from the 19th through the 27th of March, off work for some routine doctors appointments and check ups. We are certainly looking forward to a week of sleeping in a bed that isn't bouncing down the highway at 60+ miles per hour.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Columbus to Denver and Beyond.

We arrived in Columbus OH at about 1600 on Wednesday afternoon and took a dispatch for Denver CO to be ready at about 1800. Tina had some laundry to take care of and I had some light maintenance work to do on the truck and then had to fuel the truck as well. I hadn’t bought fuel since Milan NM, 1590 miles. I love this fuel mileage.

The load was actually ready at about 1900 and after hooking the loaded trailer and performing a pretrip inspection; we were off to Denver CO.

The weather was pretty stormy from Indianapolis IN all the way to about Columbia MO. I suppose that was the same storm that produced tornadoes in Arkansas. After crossing into Kansas, the wind started picking up pretty heavily. It had been windy all the way across but not like it was in Kansas. The wind in Kansas and actually all the way to Denver was very strong and out of the north. I despise the wind, but a cross wind in a big truck is very bad. The side of the trailer acts like a large sail on a sailboat. Besides being dangerous, it killed any chance of decent fuel mileage. I used 73 gallons more fuel in 1280 miles than I had used in 1590 miles the previous day.

We arrived in Denver at about 1630 on Thursday. Before arriving we received a call from dispatch and were asked to take a load from Denver to Salt Lake City UT and then turn right back out of SLC to Columbus OH. The load in Denver was to be ready at 2330. We agreed to take the assignment and should be back in Columbus on Saturday afternoon.

After arriving in Denver, I dropped the loaded trailer we had, at the terminal, and headed out to the local truck stop about 3 miles east to dump our waste tank, fuel up for the upcoming load to SLC and for a bite to eat.

We had a pleasant surprise we got to the truck stop. It seems that the Flying J has made a deal with Denny’s Restaurants to place Denney’s in some of the truck stops in place of the Flying J branded restaurants. We had a great meal. Not that I’m a big fan of Denny’s but as opposed to Flying J food, well really there is no comparison.

After dinner, Tina and I headed back to the terminal for a nap before the load was ready. Trent, from 912 Project Fan Site, called while we were napping. I remember answering the phone and telling him to call me tomorrow, but I don’t remember anything else. I may have come off somewhat rude and if so, to him, I apologize. I assume he’ll contact me today. I awoke at about 0130 and still had no notification from the Denver terminal that our load was ready. I decided I had better call dispatch and check on the load. Come to find out, the truck from Kansas City had been delayed and they had some freight that was to be moved to SLC. We went back to sleep until 0245, when the message came, via Qualcomm that the load was ready.

Up and at it, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, dressed and hurried to the office for my paperwork. After retrieving the Bills of Lading, I hooked the loaded trailer, performed the pretrip inspection, and we were off to Salt Lake City.

The wind was very bad north on 25 and west on 80 until we got to about Rawlins WY. It seems to have laid a bit now but we’ll see how it is on the way back through here this evening.

We are now at about the 130 mile post on I-80 west. We should be in Salt Lake City by about noon and be headed back to Columbus OH by about 1245EDT. We will travel I-80 all the way to Davenport IA where we will access I-74 and run that to Indianapolis IN. In Indianapolis we will run I-465 around town and get onto I-70 on the east side of town. We will then run I-70 into Columbus OH. We should, if all goes well, arrive in Columbus OH by about 1900 on Saturday evening. Hopefully, after a 7770 mile week, we will get to lay over in Columbus until Sunday evening. I’m sure we can if we say we want to, however, the ever illusive dollar is very enticing. We shall see.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Yeah, I know, It’s Been a While.

Yeah, I know, It’s Been a While.

30 Days(7 down days), 21000 miles, 27 cities, 2974 gallons of fuel, Snow, rain, sleet, wind storms and even a little sunshine...very little. Yes it's been a very long time since I've been here. We have been very busy and the company has actually told us that freight volume is back up to 2006 levels. I am just waiting for the next shoe to drop.

As we crisscross the country, we seemingly get more and more remarks, all good, about the truck. We have spoken to folks in about 41 of the 48 continental U.S. and actually from all 50 states + Canada and Mexico. I have yet to find anyone who reads and understands the truck to be negative about the message of the 912 Project.

Tina and I feel blessed beyond our dues to have the opportunity to spread this message in America. We truly enjoy spreading the word that “We The People” are not alone.

We spent the day in Vegas yesterday. We were both very close to being out of hours on our logbooks so we had to have a restart. I spent the day servicing the truck, changed the FS2500 bypass filter, drained the Fuel water separator for the FASS system, I changed the FASS system fuel filter and the secondary fuel filter on the engine. I also lubed the chassis.

Finally, yesterday evening, Tina and I walked to a nearby Mexican food restaurant called “Super Mex”. This is actually one of our favorite places in the country to eat. They have authentic Mexican food, great service, and it is within walking distance of our Vegas terminal.

Dispatch called at about 1300 and we were offered a load to Manteca, CA or a load to Columbus, OH. We chose the Columbus OH load that would leave at about 0300 EDT this morning. The load was actually ready at about 0445. I hooked the loaded trailer, performed my pre-trip inspection, caught up my log book and we were off and running.

We aren’t allowed to cross Hoover Dam(pictures of coming bypass) in a truck and dispatch doesn’t want anyone to run across I-70 during the winter months, when unnecessary, because of possible weather delays, not to mention that a rock slide has I-70 closed near Denver CO. That being said, we routed down 93 south out of Vegas to 95 south. We ran 95 south to 163 and took that to Laughlin where we accessed 68 and right back to 93 south into Kingman and I-40 East. We will make a stop in Albuquerque NM for fuel and then continue east on I-40 all the way to Oklahoma City, OK where we will take 44 east to St Louis, Mo and get on I-70 and run that to Columbus.

My best estimation tells me we should arrive into Columbus OH at about 1600 on Wednesday, barring any delays. At this point we are unsure to where we will be headed from Columbus, but I am quite sure that there will be freight to move.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW