And Then There Was Cali

Well I just finished out my very first trip to California and let me tell ya my body is TIRED! I left Joliet, Il at noon on 12/30 with 8 hours left on my 14 and was expected to be in La Mirada, CA by 01/2 @10am 1980 miles! I made it out to Avocada, IA that night and shut down at the Wings/ Flying J exit 49 off I80. Real decent place. Planning on stopping there omw back thru IA. Had to wake up super early and basically run overnights all the way to Cali. On NY eve I spent the night in Wheat Ridge, CO I70 exit 266 at the TA. I was in bed by 8 lol Woke up the next day and checked the weather on vail and everything was checking out great so I fueled and rolled out. Once you leave that truck stop theres not another for about 200 miles. I get 20 min down the road and it starts snowing like crazy and they put the chain law up. So it's 2am on the top of a mountain in the freezing cold and im throwing chains for the first time:/ Luckily there was a nice driver named Alex that showed me how to put em on or I would have been lost! No one ever showed me how. It took me 5 hrs to drive 100 miles that morning. Had I know I would have never left the truck stop. Just goes to show ya things change in the blink of an eye out here. When I stopped to unchain one of the chains had fallen off the tire and wrapped around the rim:/ It was hell getting it off. Had to climb under the trailer between the tires and try to find the hook that links the chains together all the while dirty snow was raining on my head:/ YUCK! After that I made it to Beaver, UT at the Flying J I15 exit 112. Had to pick up at midnight just to make it into my 10am. I stopped to get my truck washed since it was gross and Id heard that if you roll across a Cali scale with a dirty truck its a no brainer they will pull ya in. Well I didnt realize they had been closed NY day and fidnt open til 7am so I got stuck in an 1 1/2 hr line. Was 15 min late for my appt cause of that. Then I had to reset in front the shipper because I ran out of hours. I woke up about 1:30am to drive to No. Cali (Livermore) for my 2nd drop at 10am. The receptionist gave me car direction into a restricted road so I had to call 3 different ppl to find the place but I made it right at 10am. It took them 3 hrs to assign me a door and I only had 6 on my 14 when I got there and a load picking up at 2pm about 36 miles away in Hayward, CA headed back to IA. My company got on the horn and got me unloaded with 1:45 on my clock I hauled it up the road to my pick up. The broker said id be able to overnight park there. Turns out it was a tiny chinese place with no parking not meant for 53ft trailers so I had to call the local mall to get permission to park there. The shipper added an extra stop to my aleady 4 stop load and another 20000 lbs so I rolled out of Cali wirh 43239 in my box:/ I drove to the mall and there was alot of food options so I was happy since I hadnt eaten in damn near 2 days so I got Bbq at famous daves and fell asleep. About 2 hours later someone is banging on my door. Its security telling me I cant park there. I explained that I spoke to Jessica abd she okd it and he was like yea I was there when you were talking to here. Sorry go back to sleep. My thing is if you already knew why the hell are you waking me up?????!!!!!! so I go bk to sleep. 2 hours after that the police are knocking on my door telling me its private property so again I tell her Jessica said it waS ok and shes like oh ok no one told me. Gave a good night. Now I have like 2 more hrs to sleep and I roll out. I get up at 2:30 and im trying to find the scale in Oakland but thanks to Calis lack of proper signage I cant:/ On my way out here my GPS broke so im navigating my map and road signs which usually isn't an issue but Cali SUCKS at marking anything! Would it killem to at least put exit numbers on every exit?! Well the fog was so bad you couldnt even see the signs so I ended up on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco! Instead of 80East out of Cali:/ I managed to get turned around. I made it up Donner Pass today but it was still dark so I couldn't enjoy the views:/ Am I the only one who couldn't stop thinking about folks eating each other up there?! I couldnt find a damn truck stop to scale til I made it to UT. Oh they have em in Calu one at the 81 abd 85 but wouldnt ya know exits 75 thru 120 are unmarked! I ended up running across an open Cali scale 34660 on my drives and they didnt pull me in Right now Im in Winnamucca, NV i80 exit 176 at the Flying J trying to decide when I want to wake up. My bodys tired. Im running recaps and only get 3 bk tomorrow. Gotta be in Des Moines IA 1/7 @7 for 2 drops 1 drop in Davenport, IA then 1/8 drop in Madison, WI and one in Milwaukee, WI. Temps in Iowa are supposed to be -45 on Monday

Sounds like a rough day. Explain to me why I am thinking about doing this job. ROFL! Hope you sleep well. Be safe!

TTM if your talking about doing reefer/dry box it definitely has its adventures! Lol

Cali SUCKS at marking anything!

Why would they bother? If they put up signs, they would have a half dozen different "minority groups" complaining that wasn't in their language and it would cost a fortune. And most of 'em can't read anyway. But they can sure tell ya about global warming.....

Stay safe and good luck, Gator. Don't wanna see you in a ditch!

Cheers, Howard

Can we not with the xenophobic ethnocentric nonsense? The reason not all exits are numbered in California is because of cost, plain and simple. When the freeways in the state were designed prior to the Eisenhower Interstate system, exit numbering wasn't a requirement. California was grandfathered in, and as signs need replaced they are numbered on an individual basis. The expense to re-sign every exit on every stretch of freeway in the state would be astronomical. It has nothing whatsoever to do with languages or minorities. Much less anything to do with the climate.

I thought we had a separate board to keep the politics off this one?

Heh. our joke was never eat the free BBQ on Donner Pass.

Something else about California roads, they are strict in some areas about enforcing the limited trailer truck length restrictions. My co driver got a ticket for an over length combo on a road our GPS took us on. It was a no points violation but he still ended up paying 250 dollar fine.

Also some of the loop exit ramps are the tightest I have ever seen and you have to seriously slow down. Right there where 40 ends at 15 in Barstow, there is an exit where all the truck stops are. The on ramp to 15 N is super tight and I have seen several trucks laying on their sides at that ramp. And you approach it through several red lights, so its not like you are trying to slow down from the interstate.

Redgator,

Just running your route in reverse, staying in the same truck stops. Spent last night in Wheatridge TA after having to chain up in Vail...miserable day...horrible traffic, chain broke and buried itself in a tire. Cold, blowing and nasty. Got the tire fixed this morning and delivered at the Bud plant in Fort Collings

I did have a great meal at the little Mexican restaurant at the Flying J in Beaver...highly recommended!

I picked up the load of Kirin Beer at Anheuser Busch in L.A. Spent the night at La Mirada where we have a terminal and dropped a load of flour nearby. I'm in La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs a lot.

The bad part about California (and Oregon for that matter) is the 55 mile per hour truck speed limit. It is horrible running I5 through the central Valley at that rate. Too bad we didn't run into each other on those trips!

And Troubadour...I love the TA in Barstow...great layout, great barber and they even have an RC store in the TA...nice place.

Tracy

Redgator,

Just running your route in reverse, staying in the same truck stops. Spent last night in Wheatridge TA after having to chain up in Vail...miserable day...horrible traffic, chain broke and buried itself in a tire. Cold, blowing and nasty. Got the tire fixed this morning and delivered at the Bud plant in Fort Collings

I did have a great meal at the little Mexican restaurant at the Flying J in Beaver...highly recommended!

I picked up the load of Kirin Beer at Anheuser Busch in L.A. Spent the night at La Mirada where we have a terminal and dropped a load of flour nearby. I'm in La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs a lot.

The bad part about California (and Oregon for that matter) is the 55 mile per hour truck speed limit. It is horrible running I5 through the central Valley at that rate. Too bad we didn't run into each other on those trips!

And Troubadour...I love the TA in Barstow...great layout, great barber and they even have an RC store in the TA...nice place.

Tracy

Im on 80 now in Iowa. Having hell unloading my freight.