On returning to work from home, my first trip was from Sioux City, Iowa to somewhere in Wisconsin. From there I went to Green Bay, Wisconsin for a load back to somewhere in Iowa, followed by a day driving up Iowa through corn fields, into Minnesota, for a California load.
Time was relatively tight on this load, so I was only able to stop in Rapid City for my half hour break on the way back through. But that is better than not being able to stop at all. From there I carried on as long as I could for the day, which finished in the middle of a warning level lightning storm as I went to visit a ghost. My first night was at a truck stop called ghost town, in the city of Casper, Wyoming.
The view when I arrived in the evening, just after the storm had moved on.
The same view, the next morning.
And a couple more from Ghost Town in the morning.
One of the interesting things about the trucking industry over here, is the amount of diversity. Take for instance this truck.
You can tell it is a coal powered steam engine truck, by the twin funnels. I suspect it's running a twin triple expansion steam engine. They are quite common here, and the black smoke belching out of the funnels gives away that they are burning coal for their boilers.
Some of them are kept in immaculate condition. I was passing one the other day, and looking into the cockpit as I passed, I could see the operator with a big grin of satisfied pride in his machine. With gleaming, polished steam gauges surrounding him on the dash. A full steam ahead / All Stop / Full steam abaft lever coming out of the floor in the middle of the cockpit, to nearly up to the roof. What a marvel of Victorian engineering it was.
On this day I was aiming to get as far into Nevada as I could, to make the last day as easy as possible. I had selected a rest stop, and knowing that they are sometimes closed for maintenance, looked it up, as I would run out of hours going somewhere else, if I got there and it was closed. The official website said it was open, so I set off for it.
At the end of the day as I was approaching the off ramp to enter the rest area, there was a sign saying it was closed, and barriers were across the entrance. So I decided to back into the on ramp at the other end, so as to get out of traffic. (I didn't have the hours to go further for somewhere else to park.) When I pulled into the other end, there were no barriers, and since my truck comes equipped with a reverse gear, I merely went in that way.
A couple of evening / next morning photo's from the rest area.
The next day I made my way across the rest of Nevada, into Califronia and over Donner Pass and into the Central Valley for a following morning delivery, then further down the valley for my next load. The valley was up around 100 degrees F (37.5 C). As I was leaving via Tehachapi, I stopped up there for the night, at a much more reasonable 92 F (33 C)
Mission control at rest for the night.
I was surprised to see the prairie schooner's not quite identical twin had stopped for a visit on the right, sometime during the night.
On this day I was aiming to get over as much of Southern Nevada as I could. I could make it as far as Arizona, but there wouldn't be parking on that stretch, so I settled for a truck stop in an Indian Reservation in Moapa, Nevada. It was 112 F (44.4C), though the truck was saying 126 F.
With a 04:00 start the next morning, the temperatures had dropped to a much more reasonably mid 80's F
It was time to head toward a staging area in Colorado for two delivery stops the next day. For my half hour break I stopped at this rest area in Utah.
The scenery was very different here, but had I have waited another half hour, I would have photo's that could have come from a different planet. Next time I go that way, I'll get them.
That night I stayed at a rest area about a dozen miles befor Vail, Colorado. I left for Denver at 01:45 and drove over what is supposed to be very impressive Colorado mountain passes. But due to it being the middle of the night, all I saw was a little patch of road in front of me. I could have been driving from Springs Junction to Culverden NZ. The driving was about the same for both in summer. Maybe not as steep in Colorado.
My plan from Denver was to go to my final delivery via home for the night. However due to delays with delivery, I didn't have enough hours to get there that night. So I headed in the more direct route. Stopping in this rest area in Nebraska for the night.
Where I saw Fireflies for the first time in my life.
From there I carried on to the Yard in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the night, and this morning reprovisioned the truck. I am now parked up at my delivery location for tomorrow, in Fargo, North Dakota.
Until next time. Ka kite anō au i a koutou.
