9/6/07

Why do I get the feeling I've been here before? Oh, that's because I have. A few days ago. Hmm...

I thought I parked at the customer, a grain distributor, last night. I was mistaken. I parked at Grand Central Station. The trains roared by every couple of hours as I was trying to fall asleep. Then, when it seemed like the train traffic might be dying down, the trucks got going. Apparently grain haulers start early, as in real early. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

The loader knocked on my door this morning about a half hour before my alarm was set to go off, but I was awake anyway. I weighed my empty and the lady asked me how much fuel I had. That seemed like a weird question. I thought maybe the load had a crazy timeline with no time to stop for fuel or something. It turned out that she wanted to know exactly how much weight she could add within the 80,000 pound gross weight limit. I'm hauling pinto beans and they add as many 100 pound bags as they can once they figure out your empty weight. Beautiful, another maxed out load going through the mountains.

Heading south on US-85 I had to pull into the open scales. I had weighed before leaving the customer so I was 90% sure I was fine, but sometimes the DOT scales disagree. This time I had no issues though. I remembered the experience on US-6 and CO-2 on the way up through Denver to Nebraska, so I stayed on I-76 all the way to I-25 this time. The traffic just seems to be disproportionately heavy in Denver for some reason and today was no exception. South of Denver I got a red light on my PrePass and had to roll across another scale. Again, no issues. That's the first red light on my PrePass since... hell, I don't even remember the last red light.

After a fuel stop near Pueblo I was heading south into New Mexico when my truck decided to chime in on the day's events. Going up to Raton Pass I was thinking to myself, "This mountain bullshit really sucks." My truck apparently replied, "Yeah Godfather, I agree." The engine started to overheat, the alarms and lights and shit started going crazy, and the engine was losing power. Luckily I found a spot to pull off the road just before the guardrail began. I sat for about a half hour with the engine idling in order to bring the temperature back under control, then got back on my way.

I have to say something here. The following roads can kiss my ass. I-25, US-84, US-54. Lest they feel left out, the cities of Denver and El Paso can do likewise. There, that's better.

Rolling down through New Mexico tonight, I saw a bunch of animals along the side of the highway. Rabbits, field mice, wild dogs, deer, a kangaroo. What did I just say? Yeah that's right, I saw a freaking kangaroo on the side of the road tonight. I'm pretty sure there are no kangaroos in New Mexico, so obviously I have been spending too much time in the desert. Let's hope I get sent back toward civilization before it gets any worse.

I'll get up in the morning and have a couple of hours to El Paso. The customer is not far from our drop yard, so I guess I'll go there and wait for my next assignment once I'm empty. Something to the midwest with enough miles to keep my weekend occupied would be nice.