[Windwalker]

Originally Posted by GMAN

It sounds like you had quite a day. I haven't stopped at that Flying J in some time. You have just given me a few more reasons why I should not stop.

The Flying J at Winchester, VA is set up as though Pilot was already involved with them, and making the decisions when that place was first built. One of the smallest, most unsafe parking areas that Flying J ever had. I fuelled there a few times, but I always tried to make it somewhere else to park for the night. Either up in PA or down lower in VA. Thankfully (at least when I was driving), very few of the Flying J's were like that. Of course, now with Pilot.......

[firebird_1252]

up untill about 2 weeks ago i never knew there was another exit driveway.. just thought everyone exited the way they came in. i HATE that place.

[Useless]

So, other than that, how was your day??

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

The Flying J at Winchester, VA is set up as though Pilot was already involved with them, and making the decisions when that place was first built. One of the smallest, most unsafe parking areas that Flying J ever had. I fuelled there a few times, but I always tried to make it somewhere else to park for the night. Either up in PA or down lower in VA. Thankfully (at least when I was driving), very few of the Flying J's were like that. Of course, now with Pilot.......

That has got to be one of the worst designed parking lots of any of the Flying J's. I spoke with the manager several years ago and was told that they really regret not having extended the parking lot when it was originally built. Now they won't be allowed due to the subdivision across the freeway and something about the "wetlands" on their property. It is always a nightmare to try and deal with the congestion in that store. I would rather pay a higher price for fuel and not have to deal with the BS.

[Orangetxguy]

Originally Posted by GMAN

That has got to be one of the worst designed parking lots of any of the Flying J's. I spoke with the manager several years ago and was told that they really regret not having extended the parking lot when it was originally built. Now they won't be allowed due to the subdivision across the freeway and something about the "wetlands" on their property. It is always a nightmare to try and deal with the congestion in that store. I would rather pay a higher price for fuel and not have to deal with the BS.

The Hess down at Tom's Brook isn't that much further.....has cheaper fuel and a bigger parking lot........and a better choice of food........IIRC.

[DaveP]

Originally Posted by Orangetxguy

The Hess down at Tom's Brook isn't that much further.....has cheaper fuel and a bigger parking lot........and a better choice of food........IIRC.

ALWAYS my first choice when I'm up that way. In fact, the last time I was across the road is the same time I met The Rev. And that was within a day or two of him giving up the mod job....so, it's been awhile. Anybody know what he's up to these days...?

[Malaki86]

I had one of those "glad it's over days" again today:

My allergies are going insane so I picked up some Allegra-D yesterday. It's a 24hr pill. Wrong move. Even though I got some sleep last night, it was anything but a good night's sleep. Seemed like I was awake every hour on the hour. Finally gave up around midnight and took off for my delivery in Lima (400 mile run, with US-25E to start me off).

When I got to the delivery location, I didn't have a preplan yet and figured I'd be heading to the closest truckstop to wait. Got all checked in, dropped the trailer, hooked to my empty and as I was pulling up to the guard shack to leave, the Qualcomm went nuts. Got a 3-stop load that loads guess where - the same damn place I'm already at. So, got the empty checked out, pulled up, did a u-turn and came back to the opposite side of the guard shack to check back in.

When I dropped my empty and went to hook to my preloaded trailer, the damn 5th wheel decides it doesn't want to latch. I tried everything on it and finally called breakdown. Two hours later he shows up and tries a bunch of things, but nothing would work. Turns out that the piece of the 5th wheel that releases the jaws when the kingpin hits it was bent, so the kingpin couldn't push it all the way in. He had to manually release the jaws as I backed the truck under the trailer.

By now, it's 11am. Remember that I slept like crap last night and still needed to get a little ways down the road before I could shut down for the day. Finally got finished around 1pm.

I'm a damn zombie right now and have a phone interview scheduled for 4:30pm. This should be fun.

The load I have right now (the 3-stop) has deliveries in Chantilly, Sterling & Leesburg, VA (in that order, which is ass-backwards) for Friday morning. Luckily, the place in Chantilly said I can park on their lot tomorrow for the night and there's restaurants all around it in walking distance. The screwed up 5th wheel is actually helping me, though. I'm due to turn the truck in at Richmond on Friday. Normally, in that area, they'd send me for a drop and hook at a PITA location, but since the 5th wheel is screwed, they have to send me directly to the terminal without passing Go.

Works for me.

[golfhobo]

I guess I can't talk about "a day," as my type of team running can put me halfway across the country in a DAY.

But, what a rough WEEK I had!

First night out, we dodged tornadoes around Kansas City and then, just as we reached I-80 off of highway 77... we blew an EGR housing and what a noise that makes! When we switched out in Cheyenne, WY... we lifted the hood to check the situation and the oil. The wind blew the hood down on me while I was under it. Shouldn't even be trying to cross WY with 60+ wind gusts with only 11,000 in the back trailer. But, I felt I could make it. Schneider didn't. Saw him laying on his side.

Ran into snow in the 84 canyon approaching Salt Lake. Had to pass that slow azz PRIME that was scared to do 45mph. Saw a jacknifed truck that must have been more impatient than me.

Left out just after midnight and took 6 hours to go 200 miles south of Provo in a driving snow. NO plows seen all night. Going down thru Barstow to get UP to Sacramento, cuz Donner Pass was closed.

They opened the pass, and we made two trips across it, the second one on our way to Kansas City again... on our way home. Got a 34 hour restart while trying to get that last 1,000 mile leg home! Finally got to Memphis from there, and had to spend Sunday night there. Didn't get home until midnight Monday night! 4 days to get home from the west coast! It's a two day run.

Oh, did I mention that I had a bad cold and fever for the first 4 days of this 7 day run? ... Did I mention the blown airbag under the bunk? I can't say I've ever had a worse week, but you know?... it wasn't all that bad!

I still love OTR! I still love the fact that I see the entire breadth of this country every week, and get home (usually) for weekends.

[firebird_1252]

mal, going to the beer distribiturers in Chantilly? they're really cool people and ahve a decent sized yard to sleep in.

lets see. for me.. my branch manager is pissed at me because i terminated my lease to go on my own. had a 3 stop load that was driver assist (for the first stop. went from north pa down to deep DE. the stop in de refused me and the branch manager forgot to mention that they stop taking deliveries at 3pm. oh well met up with a friend and had dinner figured it'd be a great time to try out the new tripak.. aparently i have a nasty draft coming up between the mattress and the wall.. cold air on my face all night.. didnt sleep too well.

all i can say is i think today is my last day and i'll be in in ohio monday under my own mc numbers.

[Malaki86]

Congrats on the full authority firebird.

Not going to a beer distributor - it's a retail store delivery load. I'm in Hagerstown now. 1st stop said they start unloading @ 4am, so I'll take off out of here @ 2am. I could go in this evening and park there, but then I probably wouldn't have my coffee in the morning.