In my three weeks out I have driven 5500 miles already, all of them without accidents. I suppose that doesn't sound all that impressive, but it's better than nothing.
This past week we pretty much had all good roads, except for a little bit in Illinois and Indiana, thus I was able to set a new record for miles driven in a day; 616. I averaged a little over 59 miles per hour, and my mentor was quite impressed with that. The most, at least according to Swift, I could do in an 11 hour period is 684, since Swift says you shouldn't be averaging better than 62 miles per hour. Now this may seem odd since we are governed at 65 miles per hour, but you have to remember that just about every hill we have to slow down, also it takes us a while to get up to speed when getting on the freeway, as well as it takes a while to get off the free way. The reason they enforce an average at all is that a lot of drivers will drive by the odometer rather than hours. See, we are limited to driving 11 hours, then we have to take 10 consecutive hours off, but some drivers will drive 600 miles, say it took them 10 hours on their log book (thus averaging 60 MPH) even if it actually took them 12 hours. So the 62 MPH average at least limits how much Swift drivers can cheat on their logs.
While the roads were mostly good this week, it was bloody cold outside. It dropped to zero again in North Dakota, but in Minasota and Wisconsin it dropped to around -17 degrees. Now while these temperatures makes it miserable to leave the truck to go to the bath room or get something to eat, it also makes it a little bit more dangerous too. Apparently Desiel engines don't really like extreme colds like that, and in fact Desiel fuel will actually begin to gel at around -20 degress (which means that the fuel turns into more of a gel than a liquid). To try to prevent this we did add some anti-gelling compound to the fuel tanks, but even then the engines can have lots of problems in such extremem colds. We didn't end up having any, but apparently just this past year my mentor has had his truck break twice in such extreme cold.
Just one last semi-exciting thing that happened. I was driving along at night, the road was kind of windy, I was going along a little slower than the speed limit due to the windy roads when all of a sudden, when I was coming out of a curve there was a deer! Luckily for him he was on the shoulder, but even still it was hard to resist the eurge to swerve the truck to the left to avoid him. Luckily I was able to avoid that. (In case you're wondering, trucks really aren't made for swerving, and at those speeds very likely could have turned the truck over....these things aren't made to do anything quickly, including turning).
Well, that's about it for this week. The route is already starting to get a little boring, really looking forward to getting out on my own and driving other roads. Only 4 weeks left!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
2 Weeks Down, 5 to Go
This past week we did the route we will be doing now for the next five weeks, it is about 4,000 miles total. We take a load from Lewiston, ID to Chicago, IL (well, actually Elwood, but it is close to Chicago). Then we pick up an empty trailer and take it to two different places in Indiana, passing through Indianapolis. We then return to Lewiston, ID (well, actually, he drops me off in Spokane, then he goes to Lewiston). So this past week I added four more states to my list of states I've now been too. Wisconsin, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
The weather this week was about the same as last week, some good spots, some bad spots. I half jokingly asked my mentor if there was any extreme weather I haven't experienced yet, other than tornadoes and hurricanes of course. He thought about it for a moment then said, “No, you've pretty much have had it all”. I then added that about the only weather I haven't had yet is a nice sunny warm day, and it's the truth. The one day that it was kind of warm (high 30's mainly) there was quite a bit of wind, so I was having to fight to keep it in my lane the entire time, and at parts there was also heavy rain. Hopefully spring will come one day, although I won't know what to do on a warm sunny day and am liable to drive the truck into a ditch or something.
I know in my last post I mentioned that North Dakota was basically empty outside of the two cities they have. Well I obviously didn't know what I was talking about because South Dakota is even more deserted, and they don't even have any cities of any notable size. It was an incredibly boring drive. The only thing that entertained me through it was reading all the advertisements for attractions there. Some of the more notable ones are the World's only Corn Palace, the World's largest bull's head, Cosmos the mystery spot, where drivers were encouraged to “See it. Feel it. Survive it.” There was also something called Wall Drug. Despite the 150 miles of ads I saw for it, I never could figure out exactly what it is. Judging from the signs they have a dinosaur, cowboys, cowboys on rocket ships, coffee for 5 cents, and “Something for everyone”. Oh, and they also have Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota too.
Well, I'm off to my third week out. Here's hoping it's warmer than last week (the coldest was 0 degrees with a wind chill of about -20, the average high was in the 20's).
The weather this week was about the same as last week, some good spots, some bad spots. I half jokingly asked my mentor if there was any extreme weather I haven't experienced yet, other than tornadoes and hurricanes of course. He thought about it for a moment then said, “No, you've pretty much have had it all”. I then added that about the only weather I haven't had yet is a nice sunny warm day, and it's the truth. The one day that it was kind of warm (high 30's mainly) there was quite a bit of wind, so I was having to fight to keep it in my lane the entire time, and at parts there was also heavy rain. Hopefully spring will come one day, although I won't know what to do on a warm sunny day and am liable to drive the truck into a ditch or something.
I know in my last post I mentioned that North Dakota was basically empty outside of the two cities they have. Well I obviously didn't know what I was talking about because South Dakota is even more deserted, and they don't even have any cities of any notable size. It was an incredibly boring drive. The only thing that entertained me through it was reading all the advertisements for attractions there. Some of the more notable ones are the World's only Corn Palace, the World's largest bull's head, Cosmos the mystery spot, where drivers were encouraged to “See it. Feel it. Survive it.” There was also something called Wall Drug. Despite the 150 miles of ads I saw for it, I never could figure out exactly what it is. Judging from the signs they have a dinosaur, cowboys, cowboys on rocket ships, coffee for 5 cents, and “Something for everyone”. Oh, and they also have Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota too.
Well, I'm off to my third week out. Here's hoping it's warmer than last week (the coldest was 0 degrees with a wind chill of about -20, the average high was in the 20's).
Sunday, February 10, 2008
3 New States
I know I haven't updated this since I left, but I didn't really have time, and I probably won't be able to do it while I'm out with my mentor, but since I'm back every Sunday and Monday, I'll be sure to update it those days, and when I get out on my own, I'll probably be able to update it more.
Anyways, the first week with my mentor went well. We're both still alive, no accidents or other such things. I was wrong on the areas I'll be driving though, we don't stick around the North West at all, we head due East. On this trip, which was shorter than all the other trips we'll be doing since it was my first week and all, we went through Montana, North Dakota and Minasota, and stopped at Mineappolis, dropped off our load, picked up another load and headed back. The weather went back and forth between being fairly nice (but very cold) to being pretty bad (and very cold), although it started to warm up in Western Montana. It was fairly exciting since I had never been to any of those states before, and we also crossed into Mountain and Central Standard time. Next week we'll be going all the way into Eastern Standard time. There was only one truely scary moment, and that was in North Dakota. It was night, and it was snowing a little (the roads were still fine, since it was just a powdery snow), and there was some powder built up in the left lane. I was cruising down the free way when a truck passed me (this happens a lot, since the speed limit for trucks and cars in North Dakota is 75, but Swift trucks are goverened at 65). As the truck passed me all the powdery snow on the ground flew up and completely blinded me. I couldn't see a thing for about 5 seconds. When I could see again I was driving down the middle of the road, instead of my lane. Well I was rather freaked out for a while, but now I know what to do in those situations again, so it was a learning experience.
The drive through those states are kinda boring, with very few cars or anything else, until we got to Minneapolis. As such I tend to think about what I could learn about the people of those states while I was driving down the road. The people of Montana seem to be very fond of gambling, given that every truck stop we stopped at or passed had a casino attachted to it. In North Dakota there are probably about 120 people in the state, out side of the cities of Fargo and Bismarck. I base this on a few things, there were hardly any cars on the road, just trucks passing through, the majority of exits off the free-way said "No Services" meaning there is nothing off those exits, just a road to head either North or South instead of East or West, and finally, outside of the two cities, the roads sucked, they were very bumpy and not well maintained, thus I had to conclude that there were just very few people in the state (the 120 comes from a wild guess). North Dakota wasn't all bad though, I did see a Buffalo, so that was kind of cool. The only real thing I learned about the people of Minasota is that they like their de-icer, which is a good thing, since it is cold there.
I'll try to wrap this up so this post isn't too long...As far as the life style, it is tough, but mainly because my mentor and I are driving more or less like a team, which means that while I drive he sleeps, while he drives I sleep. It will be a much more pleansent life style once I'm on my own, since I'm required to shut down at least 10 hours every day due to DOT regulations. As it is now we don't stop much (which is why I probably won't be updating while I'm out with him). We do try to take a shower about every other day (most truck stops have showers for truckers), and a cool thing I learned was that Swift will actually pay for those showers. You just have to turn in the reciept. At the moment he pays for my shower as well, and Swift reimburses him. In some ways the route we're driving is good, since I am getting quite a bit of experience with winter driving conditions, but on the other hand, I'm not getting all that much experience in good driving conditions, which doesn't matter too much I suppose, it just makes for a more stressful tiring time.
Just a couple other highlights: I got to blow the air horn a few times, which was very exciting. I also talked on the CB once (my mentor doesn't use it all that much, and the CB he has isn't very good, and since we are constantly being passed, it is hard to talk with anyone all that much). After someone calling me and me responding on that thing, I felt like a real trucker.
Hope that answers many of your questions. I'll update next Sunday or Monday.
Anyways, the first week with my mentor went well. We're both still alive, no accidents or other such things. I was wrong on the areas I'll be driving though, we don't stick around the North West at all, we head due East. On this trip, which was shorter than all the other trips we'll be doing since it was my first week and all, we went through Montana, North Dakota and Minasota, and stopped at Mineappolis, dropped off our load, picked up another load and headed back. The weather went back and forth between being fairly nice (but very cold) to being pretty bad (and very cold), although it started to warm up in Western Montana. It was fairly exciting since I had never been to any of those states before, and we also crossed into Mountain and Central Standard time. Next week we'll be going all the way into Eastern Standard time. There was only one truely scary moment, and that was in North Dakota. It was night, and it was snowing a little (the roads were still fine, since it was just a powdery snow), and there was some powder built up in the left lane. I was cruising down the free way when a truck passed me (this happens a lot, since the speed limit for trucks and cars in North Dakota is 75, but Swift trucks are goverened at 65). As the truck passed me all the powdery snow on the ground flew up and completely blinded me. I couldn't see a thing for about 5 seconds. When I could see again I was driving down the middle of the road, instead of my lane. Well I was rather freaked out for a while, but now I know what to do in those situations again, so it was a learning experience.
The drive through those states are kinda boring, with very few cars or anything else, until we got to Minneapolis. As such I tend to think about what I could learn about the people of those states while I was driving down the road. The people of Montana seem to be very fond of gambling, given that every truck stop we stopped at or passed had a casino attachted to it. In North Dakota there are probably about 120 people in the state, out side of the cities of Fargo and Bismarck. I base this on a few things, there were hardly any cars on the road, just trucks passing through, the majority of exits off the free-way said "No Services" meaning there is nothing off those exits, just a road to head either North or South instead of East or West, and finally, outside of the two cities, the roads sucked, they were very bumpy and not well maintained, thus I had to conclude that there were just very few people in the state (the 120 comes from a wild guess). North Dakota wasn't all bad though, I did see a Buffalo, so that was kind of cool. The only real thing I learned about the people of Minasota is that they like their de-icer, which is a good thing, since it is cold there.
I'll try to wrap this up so this post isn't too long...As far as the life style, it is tough, but mainly because my mentor and I are driving more or less like a team, which means that while I drive he sleeps, while he drives I sleep. It will be a much more pleansent life style once I'm on my own, since I'm required to shut down at least 10 hours every day due to DOT regulations. As it is now we don't stop much (which is why I probably won't be updating while I'm out with him). We do try to take a shower about every other day (most truck stops have showers for truckers), and a cool thing I learned was that Swift will actually pay for those showers. You just have to turn in the reciept. At the moment he pays for my shower as well, and Swift reimburses him. In some ways the route we're driving is good, since I am getting quite a bit of experience with winter driving conditions, but on the other hand, I'm not getting all that much experience in good driving conditions, which doesn't matter too much I suppose, it just makes for a more stressful tiring time.
Just a couple other highlights: I got to blow the air horn a few times, which was very exciting. I also talked on the CB once (my mentor doesn't use it all that much, and the CB he has isn't very good, and since we are constantly being passed, it is hard to talk with anyone all that much). After someone calling me and me responding on that thing, I felt like a real trucker.
Hope that answers many of your questions. I'll update next Sunday or Monday.
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