War and Peace, chapter 3

After dropping off the truck in Charleston, I called back in to dispatch, reported that truck delivered, and inquired about available loads. I was told that there might be something in Atlanta, but I'd have to drive back up there and only then find out... or if I was interested, they had a truck in Greensboro, North Carolina that needed to go to North Dakota.

Figuring that seemed like a lot of miles, and hence profitable (more on that much later), I took it, and drove up from Charleston to Greensboro, just in time to pick up the truck, another Freightliner semi, this one a day cab (meaning no sleeper, darn it!).



This time, I was EXTREMELY fortunate that I met Bob, a longtime veteran of the business, who helped me wire up the lights (he found me an adaptor so I could plug right into the truck, along with a whole bunch of extra wire, some extra chain to make my safety chains actually functional/legal, and a whole bunch of very good advice). Bob was a gem!

It was 5pm by the time I got out of there, so after first putting some fuel in the truck (it was practically bone dry), I hit the nearest Motel 6 and got a good night's sleep.

Next morning, I headed west on I-40 into the hilly then mountainous west North Carolina, and at Asheville was quite annoyed to find that I-40 was closed due to a landslide up in the mountains at the Tennessee state line! The recommended detour required about 60 extra miles, going up I-26 to I-81 and back down to I-40, but I noticed that US 70 (the old highway that I-40 supplanted) looked like a much shorter route, so I decided to go that way.

I suspect I don't have to tell you that was a mistake! Twisting, winding, steep, two-lane blacktop, heavy traffic, 35 mph most of the way (lots of fun with my non-advanced gearshifting skills!) . Oh, and two different bridges over the French Broad River (what a name!) that dated from the 1940s and were so narrow that I found myself praying for a break in oncoming traffic, because my truck was wider than my lane!

And, of course, at those speeds, I probably would've gotten back to I-40 faster taking the longer detour on the other Interstates! Sigh...

Eventually, I got back to I-40 and continued on my way, and as I drove on west, I noticed that my fuel gauge was dropping towards E much faster than anticipated. I pulled into a truck stop to get more fuel, and did some calculating and realized that I was getting around 5 mpg, instead of the 9+ that Bob told me to expect!

This worried me, but I thought perhaps the US-70 detour had caused me to use up more fuel. I drove on past Nashville, and back up into Kentucky towards Paducah, where I spent the night. The following morning, I fueled again (I should mention that on this trip, I never did FILL the tanks, preferring to put around $150 in at a time), and after sticking the tanks with a dipstick (which gives a more precise measure of fuel than the fuel gauge), did the math again. Damn. 5 mpg STILL! I thought perhaps going 70 mph was hurting the mileage, so I decided to slow down to under 65 mph.

So I got back out on the road, aimed for Omaha, Nebraska (where my uncle Pat lives). The route I was taking was slightly longer than the straight route through Chicago, but there was a lot of snow on the straight route. I drove on, passing St. Louis and Kansas City, and evening found me parking the truck in a truck stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa and going over to Omaha for a hot meal and a cold beer with my uncle.

The next morning, after going back to the truck, I sticked the tanks again and found there was no improvement in fuel economy, and I wouldn't have enough money left for fuel to drive the last 385 miles to Wahpeton, ND (my destination in the SE corner of ND). I called in to dispatch, and they told me they'd put some of MY money into my Comdata Card to cover the additional fuel (I should mention that they calculate my mileage and fuel money for the trip, and put half up front for the trip, reserving half to pay me after the trip was complete), and that after the trip was over, I was to get them all the fuel receipts and they'd "work with me" on the total money for the trip.

I didn't really like the sound of that, but figured I didn't really want to just park the truck and leave it, so I fueled up and drove on up to North Dakota. It being Friday, I called back in to dispatch to see if they had anything nearby for me to drive that weekend, and it turned out there was a truck in Ham Lake, Minnesota that was bound for Hastings, Nebraska that I could take on Saturday. I accepted the assignment, and was told to get a fax number so they could fax me the paperwork. I called Dave, the guy who was getting the truck bound for ND, and he said he'd be glad to take a fax for me, so I called back to dispatch with the fax number.

And couldn't get a human on the phone! After a few tries, I went ahead and left a voicemail message with the fax number. An hour or so later (after the home office was closed), I arrived in Wahpeton and delivered the truck and found no fax waiting for me. Sigh...