I need a hat, a chain for my wallet & a can of snuff.

Whizzer said:
Are those highways as smooth as they look? Beautiful scenery. Would love to do a trip to Utah and visit the national parks.
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For the most part they are. At the higher elevations, where chains are used, they can get tore up.

Yes, it sure is beautiful country.
 
Sunrise in Nebraska…..

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You take real good pitchers, Dude!! What a beautiful photo of the sun rising. Life goes on ..................... the sun rises and the sun sets and another day ends. Life goes on ....
 
Love these pictures. My Bride looks at them and says, "be sure to tell him how much I enjoy the pictures," so there it is. The various lighting created by Mother Nature definitely puts a unique spin on an area. Of course, living in a city like Chicago is not my idea of a good place to live and I'm sure others will disagree, or agree, whatever their preference might be.
Keep the photos coming. 👍 :cheers:
 
The road ahead isn’t looking so good. I80/90 EB in Indiana. Some westbound car apparently crossed the median into the eastbound lanes hitting a pickup truck head on.

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So sad these types of accidents happen. We can only hope there were no serious injuries but that might be wishful thinking. I suppose in the overall scheme of things, these accidents are rare but the usual end result is a fatality or two.

Great picture of Chicago in the rear view mirror. A classic picture and one I plan to post to a few friends. It is truly imaginative to think of taking such a photograph and adding the caption, Chicago in the Rear View mirror. It is like a story title of a guy leaving the city to start a new life or departing a lost love.

No matter, the photo is great!!
 
It is nearly love bug season in Florida. Those little buggers are nasty to remove and windshield washer solution won't do much more than smear them into an arc.
 
Whizzer said:
So sad these types of accidents happen. We can only hope there were no serious injuries but that might be wishful thinking. I suppose in the overall scheme of things, these accidents are rare but the usual end result is a fatality or two.

Great picture of Chicago in the rear view mirror. A classic picture and one I plan to post to a few friends. It is truly imaginative to think of taking such a photograph and adding the caption, Chicago in the Rear View mirror. It is like a story title of a guy leaving the city to start a new life or departing a lost love.

No matter, the photo is great!!
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I agree 100%. In 2015 one of my buddies was in the sleeper of Brittany Forces top fuel hauler on the way to Vegas when a lady lost control of her car and crossed the median in Mo, so the driver of the hauler ran off the road to keep from hitting her head on. That move saved everyone's life and there were no serious injuries. They brought in another hauler and loaded everything up and made it to the track in time to race. But a couple of years ago another close buddy of mine wasn't so lucky when he was heading to Vegas in Jim Heads hauler and a truck lost control and crossed over and hit him head on just west of Indy. Sadly, Dylan was killed instantly.
www.dragzine.com

John Force Racing Crew Unhurt In Highway Accident En Route To Vegas

Members of Brittany Force’s Monster Energy Top Fuel team were uninjured in a highway accident in Missouri while en route to this weekend’s Toyota NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.
www.dragzine.com www.dragzine.com
 
Pittsburgh, PA > Warminster, PA
Warminster, PA > Pittsburgh, PA

My day in a nutshell. A whole lotta miles only to end up where I started.

Tomorrow I head to Waverly, NY. And then back home for the weekend.
 
Waiting on my preloaded trailer to arrive so I can get underway. Sitting at this pictured tank wash on Neville Island, just down river from Pittsburgh, PA. This building is where they clean the inside of the tanker so it’s ready to be loaded again.

Chemicals are loaded into trailers that are cleaned and dried. They are clean enough that you could eat out of them. I don’t actually know that but it sounds good.

Most lubricants are loaded into diesel flushed trailers. The diesel breaks down the remnants of the previous load. The trailers are then drained. There’s not enough diesel left in a flushed trailer to affect the next product loaded.

Some lubricants, that are extremely high grade, are loaded into trailers that have been cleaned like a chemical trailer would be. There is no room for impurities. An example would be turbine oil. The type of oil used at nuclear power plants for the turbines that generate electricity.

Other lubricants are top loaded. Meaning loaded into a trailer that has just carried the exact same product. These are normally dedicated trailers used over and over for the same customer and nobody else. Those types of trailers are normally cleaned on a predetermined basis. Perhaps after X number of loads or after X period of time.

In addition to them cleaning tanker trailers here, they also clean the hoses that are used for offloading. Diesel flushed. Some hoses are carried on the trailers in tubes or tubs that run along the side of the tanker being hauled. Other hoses, like mine, are hauled on my tractor. Just behind the sleeper on a hose rack. I carry 90’ of 3” hose.

Pumps also have to be cleaned. Diesel flushed. I have a PTO powered pump on the right side of my truck. It takes just over an hour to pump off 6500 gallons of a mid grade motor oil. Longer for thicker products and less time for thin products.

IMG_3470.jpeg
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Pittsburgh, PA > Warminster, PA
Warminster, PA > Pittsburgh, PA

My day in a nutshell. A whole lotta miles only to end up where I started.

Tomorrow I head to Waverly, NY. And then back home for the weekend.
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In the '70s, my Bride and I bought a farm from a guy in Waverly. The 135 acre property was in Chemung County just outside Horseheads, NY and had the claim of the highest spot in Chemung County. It was about six miles from Watkins Glen.
The idea was to buy it as an investment and resell when prices were better and came mega bucks. All sounding good in a a way and we were excited to go to the place and stay for a day or two on weekends and it worked well as we watched land prices begin to rise. Then the Arabs put an embargo on oil, gas was either non-existent or priced higher than the sky and we decided to rent it and eventually sold it. Didn't make any money but managed to get out from under it and learned a good lesson.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
dpk, I'm really enjoying your narratives. There's so much I didn't know about the trucking industry. And I LOVE your pictures.
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Glad you enjoy. The better looking pics are great but that bad picture of a tank wash doesn’t even do a tank wash justice in just how bad they look or smell for that matter.

Lots of chemicals used inside that building to make those tankers acceptable at the loading rack. If those guys in there don’t do their job, we can’t do ours. I don’t envy those that have to climb down inside one of those tubes. They don’t do that for the tankers I bring here to have cleaned but they do for chemical haulers.

Some chemical loads, that are flammable, are loaded with a nitrogen blanket. Basically, after loading, nitrogen is out into the tanker to fill the space between the product and the top of the interior of the tanker. The nitrogen is heavier that the oxygen. By filling the top of the tanker with nitrogen, it forces the oxygen out of the tanker before the seal the dome lid. This blanket prevents the possibility of fire.

After unloading a tanker with a nitrogen blanket, that blanket remains in the trailer. Trailers loaded with a blanket are labeled in several locations. While rare, it’s happened that a novice tank washer has climbed down into a nitrogen blanketed trailer and not climbed out. No oxygen. There’s a lot behind many jobs out there that none of us really give a thought to. Who would think being a tank washer could be that dangerous.

Well, my trailer just arrived. Time to get in the road again. Maybe I’ll listen to a little Wille today…..
 
Whizzer said:
I think there are a lot of posters who enjoy DPK's adventures and some, like me, living vicariously through his daily activity.
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I love his adventures. I never pulled any tankers, so it is interesting learning some of the procedures he has to do. There are a lot of different types of hauling. Flatbed, livestock, grain, produce, dry goods, tankers, racecar haulers, and many more...and they all have different procedures.
 
On the road again…..

Heading East to Swedesboro, NJ with an empty where I drop and hook a loaded trailer that’s headed for St Thomas Ontario. Deliver tomorrow morning. An easy delivery where they do everything. I simply pull into a building and park.

Out this time till the 24th. Packed enough food for a month. Lots of great leftovers.
 
You must have one helluva food storage pod in your sleeper. Food for a month? WOW!! Sounds like having a motorhome with a full pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Plus an ice chest or two. ;)
 
Whizzer said:
You must have one helluva food storage pod in your sleeper. Food for a month? WOW!! Sounds like having a motorhome with a full pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Plus an ice chest or two. ;)
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My truck has a built in fridge/freezer. It’s not real big but you’d be amazed at what it can actually hold. In addition to that, I have also have a very large plug in cooler. The size is listed as 58 quarts. It’s not the normal plug in cooler to just keep good/drinks chilled. I can adjust the temperature to well below freezing. The temperature range setting is from -4F to 68F. It was more than I wanted to pay but it is worth every penny. If it failed tomorrow I’d not hesitate in purchasing another. I use it as a freezer mostly, taking my meals out to thaw as needed.

AstroAI 12 Volt Car Refrigerator, Portable Freezer 12V Fridge 58 Quart (55L) Electric Cooler -4℉~68℉ with 12/24V DC & 110V AC for Car, RV, Truck, Van, Boat for Camping, Travel, Fishing Outdoor

 
Delivered in Ontario this moving. Dispatched back to Swedesboro, NJ. Not enough time to get back there today. Planning to arrive there early tomorrow. I’ll be picking up a preloaded trailer bound for Edmonton, AB.
 
Not sure if you heard or monitor the industry; There was a 4-wheeler-versus-18-wheeler accident in downtown fort worth at 5AM this morning. Had I-35 shut down from basically that time until late in the day, 3 or 4 PM.

It happened at an intersection not far from my work; i go though the intersection every day if not multiple times a day. Hwy 287 and Spur 280 merge into 35 from the southeast, then Spur 280 and Hwy 121 split off I-35 to the northeast. 3 lanes with 3 merging in, one ends, then one splits off, then a 2/2 split. It's mass chaos every morning.

anyways, tanker rolled over but stayed sealed. They brought a crane in to upright it, and one of the tanker cells cracked open. Made for a huge hazmat mess.
 
Magnethead said:
Not sure if you heard or monitor the industry; There was a 4-wheeler-versus-18-wheeler accident in downtown fort worth at 5AM this morning. Had I-35 shut down from basically that time until late in the day, 3 or 4 PM.

It happened at an intersection not far from my work; i go though the intersection every day if not multiple times a day. Hwy 287 and Spur 280 merge into 35 from the southeast, then Spur 280 and Hwy 121 split off I-35 to the northeast. 3 lanes with 3 merging in, one ends, then one splits off, then a 2/2 split. It's mass chaos every morning.

anyways, tanker rolled over but stayed sealed. They brought a crane in to upright it, and one of the tanker cells cracked open. Made for a huge hazmat mess.
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I didn’t hear about it but normally they would offload the product before uprighting it. Sounds like the tank did its job but they effed up after the fact.
 
In Canada About 6 hours from where I’ll deliver in Edmonton. Heading there later tonight/early in the am. My appointment isn’t until Tuesday morning. Looks like I’ll be catching up on some tv the next few days.

I will have 3,872 miles in the books for this week when I park tomorrow morning. A good weeks work.
 
Yes, this is a horrible picture but it’ll demonstrate just how weird a sunrise is thus far north. I took this picture just over an hour before sunrise. What is so strange about this is that’s due north. To my East it’s still black as night. Basically it’sa false sunrise because of the earths axis. The same thing occurs up here for sunsets too. Even way more pronounced in the middle of summer.

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I know it's been said many times before but the pictures you take are special and the one with the false sunrise was so very interesting. It makes those of us living in the lower 48 to understand a little better how it is in the frozen north. Please keep them coming. No kidding, but my Bride keeps asking if you have anything new and she was quite impressed when she saw the mentioned photo and explanation. Me too!!
 
Soon to be 72hrs+ of sitting. I will be leaving here shortly for delivery.

I think I finished Netflix yesterday afternoon. I subscribe to just over a half dozen different streaming platforms. Only a couple work while in Canada when streaming over a local Wi-Fi network. Peacock, Paramount+, HBOMax and Amazon’s Prime Video do not. I think there are others in that category as well. All of them work if I use my phone or tablet. They also work when using the hotspot from AT&T. I’m not sure why the difference. Verizon is useless north of the border.

After delivery today I’ll probably be sent to Chicago. I’ll have two ten hour breaks between here and there. Probably be there Thursday. Hopefully getting something long going into the weekend.
 
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