GRADES:not school ones either!

Some of the greatest hazards of driving an 18-wheeler are steep mountain grades. These are hazardous because the weight of a truck (up to 80,000 lbs) and inertia make a truck want to go as fast as possible down a mountain while diminishing its ability to stop. A car, say weighing 7,000 lbs, has neough stopping power where the downhills are really not an issue. A truck "pulling" up a hill will just chug away at about 20 mph, but at the summit it is a whole different story. The truck needs to be in a low gear so to aid it from not picking up too much speed, then the brakes need to be applied every time the rpm's go up to the limit. This is called "stab braking." If the truck is in the wrong gear it is almost impossible to downshif in the downhill. The saying goes: "you can gown a mountain a million times too slow, but only once too fast." Now, in slippery road conditions the problem is much worse. Here, if the trailer brakes lock up, the trailer goes faster than the tractor causing a "jackknife" when the trailer comes around and slams into the tractor causing a rollover etc. In the middle of steep grades, states have found a way to try and avoid an accident in a last resort situation with a "runaway truck ramp." These are gravel or sand steep uphills that the driver would exit onto in the case that he/she has lost control. The truck hits it and, while sinking into it also hits a very dramatic uphill. These damage the truck but save the driver and other motorists lives. Ironically, states charge drivers a considerable amount of money to use these called a "reset fee," the cost of resetting the gravel after truck is towed out. In the East, the steepest grades are along the Appalachian range. In the West, it's a whole different world with grades double the steepness. Grades are measured by percentages. Typical Eastern grades are between 4% and 7%. In the West, like in the rockies and Sierras they can be as high as 15%.

Sunshine state to Savanna, GA

So I got to FL in an uneventful fashion, dropped my load at Wal-Mart D.C. in Alachua and waited for my next assignment. It wasn't long before QComm was beeping. The load was picking up in nearby Savanna, GA (where we are moving in the spring) and going to Clarksville, MS. I was excited that I was still remaining in the South. I drove to Savanna and stopped for the night after picking up the load at the port of GA. I was out of hours so I decided to stop at exit 109 in Savanna (9 miles or so from the old downtown historic area of the city). I had recently decided that I need exercise so that I would not resemble one of these massively obese truck drivers. The formula is all there and obvious: massive amounts of food, coupled with no exercise, smoking (50% of drivers smoke) etc. I decided I would get parked and then walk the 9 miles into Savannah. I did that and got into a restaurant and bar at about 7pm. Savanna is a beautiful city. It has been preserved very nicely and reminds me of a smaller New Orleans. The city is dominated by little parks or "squares" all over the place. The trees are all covered with hanging Spanish moss and the city has a "haunted" feel to it. The main thing drawing young people to the city is SCAD (Savanna College of Art & Design), one of the best art schools in the country.

TIPPY TRUCK SIGN!

DE to Florence, SC: a note on truckstops

The next day I was able to clock a nice amount of miles deciding to stop in Florence, SC. Stopped at a Petro truckstop, which are the cleanest and safes of the stops. They all feature a restaurant called Iron Skillet which has pretty good food unlike the crap at TA's. TA (Travel Centers of America) used to be the monopoly of truckstops when the mom & pop operations started to dissapear. TA took for granted that the drivers would be there to spend their money, and the places started to get dirty and sleazy (with exceptions of course). Petro is a class operation with good security, the lot lizard count is low to none because one cannot even go to the truck parking area without a CDL, the general public can only patronize the front of the place and the restaurant before they see a sign that reads "professional drivers only past this point." pilot stops are the most common but they are just fuel, showers and fast food (either Arby's or Subway or McDonalds). Pilot are where my company trucks are authorized to fuel, which is good because it seems like they are popping up at every exit if every interstate.

The New Year's run: 2 weeks in the deep South

On December 27th, after a fantastic Christmas at home I went to the yard in S. Kearney. I was prepared to go North because that is my luck and after Canada week how could it get any worse anyway right? Well, what a nice sup rise to see on Qualcomm that I was to get a relay trailer right in the yard and bring it to Lake City, FL! A nice mileage load (980) and no live load or searching for pick up location. After running around NJ for about 6 hrs gathering some loads from Newark and other close locations to the the yard, I was ready to get under the FL load. As I pulled in with a trailer from the vicinity the driver who I was relaying from was unhooking my trailer--perfect timing. Loads are relayed for many reasons, usually to get a driver home. This load was coming from IL and he lived in NYC so he was dropping it here and I would continue to FL with it. It was a Wal-Mart load which always means the trailer is dropped loaded, never live unloads to Wal-Mart D.C.'s (distribution center). As I only had about 3 hrs left on my day, I figured I would stop in DE or MD if I could make it. As I suspected, the NJ Turnpike was a mess at this time of day. As my hours ran out I was literally across the DE Memorial bridge on the NJ side. I stopped at a Pilot which I was thrilled to see had a welcome looking bar across the street called the Turnpike Tavern--a truckers bar. I went in ordered some food and listened to all the drivers tell war stories about impassable snowstorms, dealings with asshole 4-wheelers (cars-the bane of truckers' existence, good only for cutting off a truck then hitting the brakes, text messaging while driving, doing makeup and every other stupid act that causes fatalities, the majority of which the truck driver walks away from and the 4 wheeler occupants die). The driver next to me was a 43 year veteran of the road and we exchanged stories about the lousiest truck stops (the TA in Montgomery, AL), lot lizards (truck stop whores), fuel prices etc.

Nuclear Power Plants: The Hidden Facilities

I love nuclear power plants. I tend to see them all the time because they are generally hidden from view from the general public, but, of course, truckers see the underside of cities and country being in industrial zones etc. My favorite one is just outside of Owensboro, KY, a place I go a lot because it is such a busy port off the Ohio river, which separates KY and IN. On the IN side there is a downright scary and mysterious looking nuclear plant. The highway goes closer to it than any other plant I have passed. You are actually directly under the cooling towers. The plant is run by Michigan Power. As you can see by the small map below, most of these plants are in the NE and Mid-West.

The Random Factor

The places where I go are as random as it gets. They are based solely on where I am when the load comes, not where I'm going. In other words, If I'm in Newark, NJ, the next load will be the one closest to me, it doesn't matter where it is going as long as it doesn't interfere with my TAH, (time at home). The only weird thing about last time was that I was in St. Louis and I got a load to Norfolk, VA--a good load of 908 miles. Got to Norfolk and the load back was to St Louis! What next? Got to St. Louis and the next load was to Norfolk! Totally random. Different shippers and consignees both times. My week was nice in that I clocked almost 4,000 miles in 2 loads. Also, one interstate (I64) goes door to door literally--begins and ends in both cities. St. Louis is one of the many 2 state cities in the US--IL and MO (the IL is officially East St.Louis). The arch, which I have seen night and day always chokes me up. Norfolk is near Jamestown, VA; the first settlement of white people in USA (it was not Plymouth, MA). Norfolk and Chesapeake are extremely busy naval ports and freight ports. VA beach is an upscale community, where, ironically, the only truck stop in the area is located--Big Bob's Truck stop; an old, privately owned truck stop, the likes of which are disappearing quickly to Pilot, TA and Petro--big truck stop chains. The "mom & pop" stops are always interesting. Big Bob's was a crater laden field that held about 150 trucks and was right on the main drag in VA Beach, a landmark I'm sure the residents would rather do away with.