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Attention:

I FUCKING HATE ICE!!!!


That is all.

Live (Dead?) Unload in Portland, Oregon

So here I am in Portland, 30 minutes past an appointment time that I arrived 2 hours early for.  No big deal, except that they just started unloading trucks, one at a time.  Smells like some detention is coming my way, but it's still a pain in the ass.

One of my PrimeDrivers.net friends asked why I chose to take the very northern route of I94 across instead of I80.  Here is why:

Billings, Montana

This place is just as exciting as you'd expect, minus any excitement.  I did get a few pictures in North Dakota and Montana, though.  Nice country, just not much population.  Of course, knowing how cold it gets up here in the winter certainly keeps me away, too.

 

This is a duck lagoon in North Dakota next to a rest area.  Supposedly some waterfowl habitat paid for by "duck stamps".  Hey!  The posted signs said it, not me!


My truck parked at said rest area.


View from the Rosebud rest area in Montana, westbound I94.

A Stupid Route To Take...

...but it was on purpose.   You see, I was driving from Wilmington, DE to Shelbyville, IN and wanted to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  Qualcomm says to take I68 across Maryland to US40, up through southern Pennsylvania to I70 and then across.

In the past, I always assumed that the Qualcomm routing is on crack because US40 looks on the map like a little 2 lane highway going through some pain in the ass Pennsylvania mountains and would just proceed on to I79 and go up to I70 from there.

This day, I had a little time to spare and was feeling adventurous and decided to see what US40 was all about.

In reality, US40 is a little 2 lane highway going through some pain in the ass Pennsylvania mountains.  In short, my reasons for avoiding the route were well-founded.  Now, to be fair, US40 is a far cry from the worst roads I've driven on, but it is still a time waster.  The terrain dictates slow speed through a lot of it.

Here are some photographic highlights of the route:

9% downgrades are always fun!




Woohoo!  "Dangerous Mountain"!  Could they have been just a little less specific?

10mph truck speed on this downhill.  Yes, it was steep and curvy.

If your driving day didn't end in one of these, then your day didn't go so badly after all!

A Rookie Mistake...

Last week I had an opportunity to be pissed off at myself.  I did something incredibly stupid.  Unbelievably stupid. 

I decided to heed the Qualcomm's routing advice and take I895 through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.  Not really a problem except that only trucks 96" or less in width are allowed there.  My truck measures 102".  Somehow, some way, I missed the sign announcing the width restriction and I just don't miss signs and get pissed off at people who do.

So, the Maryland Transport Authority police were kind enough to pull me aside AFTER getting my $8 EZPass toll deduction.  The officer scolded me a little bit and proceeded to give me a level 3 (paperwork) DOT inspection.  Nothing else being wrong, I left with a only a warning.

Seriously, I can't believe I did something that damned stupid.  Ugh.

A New Camera

Not really much interesting happening, except that I finally got the hell out of the northeast for a bit.  I bought a new camera at a Meijer in Lima, OH and have been trying it out.  Too bad there's not a lot worth photographing out in this area of the country.

 

Battling An Old Enemy...

On August 22nd last year (click here for a refresher), I mentioned a rather painful run through Ohio on two-lane highways.  The other day, I got to re-experience that in daylight, without the fog and deer.  Man, that made it a lot easier, and even more so because I was empty and didn't have to keep downshifting to make those hills.

Even better, I have some photos of OH-93:








Not nearly as fearsome as I remembered it, but the 55mph speed limit still seemed awfully optimistic.  The frequent 25mph curves kept me down to about 45 max.  Very pretty country, though.

A Couple of Good Days

Monday and Tuesday were good days.

On Monday, I made my delivery in Milton, PA and just as I was getting back onto I80 to head back to the Petro, a TriState straight truck passed me that looked suspiciously like some photos I've seen on Pumpkindriver.com.  I made a phone call, and sure enough, it was Wolfeman, who I'd been hoping to meet for a while now.  Had a good breakfast and good conversation with him.

Tuesday was even better.  I got a load assignment that delivers in Fredericksburg, VA this morning.  Greg, a friend of mine from high school lives in Ruther Glen, about 20 miles south.  Haven't seen him since around New Year's 1995.  Even better, he invited ANOTHER friend of ours (Scott) so I got to chill with TWO relics of my high school days for an evening of pasta, beer, attempts at trombone playing, and other old fuddy-duddy debauchery.  Lots of reminiscing, and Scott brought along some artifacts from Frankfurt American High School that he swiped when the school closed in 1995. 

The shame of it all was that I left my camera in the truck.  We had almost half of the 1993-1994 Frankfurt American High School advanced band trombone section reunited (missing Jason, Alaine, Raymond, Doug, and Joe) and I couldn't even get a picture.  Oh well.  A good time was still had by all.

And who says truck drivers don't get good benefits?