Trip to Oregon

I left Ponderay crossing and took a steady run down to a place called Clackamas. There was no rush as it did not have to be there until 8pm but I still don't like wasting driving hours because you never know when you might need them.

As you travel along the I84 towards Portland there is one big river that looks like a lake that runs all the way alongside the road. There was loads of people in boats having a good time it was a very hot day I felt like jumping in to cool down. There was not much traffic on the road (because they were all in there bloody boats lol) the views were fantastic a beautiful place to live I bet.

I got to Clackamas about 7pm it took me ages to find the place all because some dipstick had put a different name on the qualcom (very nice of them) when I got there I was told to come back at 8pm their time so I sat around the corner for a couple of hours watching Dexter.

When I went and booked in they told me it would cost $50 to unload me well in the past it has taken me hours to get a number from H&R to go on the cheque to pay the lumpers. I just couldn't be arsed so I just gave them the $50 out of my pocket by the time I got back to my truck they had started to unload me I was unloaded in 15 minutes and driving out the gate so not bad really.

I had got a message earlier on my qualcom to tell me to park up and ring in in the morning this has never happened so I was wondering all night what they had planned for me. It was good news I had to drive to Salinas in California empty and do 4 picks all for Winnipeg so it was a nice drive down to California the views of Oregon were very boring it was very hilly and there were trees everywhere so you never saw much, the best bit was bombing past all the slow trucks going up the hills lol.

When I crossed into California the weather was bad it was raining heavy and the clouds were really black. The speed for trucks is only 55mph in this state so I kept it to 58 don't think they will get funny at that speed.
I kept my eyes on the black clouds then the wind picked up it was actually pretty scary as I was empty I was being blown all over the place. Then I could see the clouds starting to spin and then it started hail stoning at this point about 10 trucks went by me at about 70-80 mph and all you could hear on the CB was lets get the hell out of here so I put my foot down to 62mph to clear it. It looked like the start of a twister I was on the edge of it so I only had it bad for about 10 minutes but my arse was twitching a bit lol. Then when I got the other side it was really hot and sunny...weird!!

I got down to within 45 miles of San Francisco so I called it a night my collections were not until 4pm the next day so no worries about time. The next day I drove the final bit and went to the truck stop to fill up and fuel up I wanted to do my washing but they didn't have any facilities to do washing.
I went to my first pick early but they didn't want to know until 1 hour before my booking time so I sat and watched TV and slept a bit then 1 hour before my time I went and booked in while I was waiting for the call to come in. I got chatting to a group of American drivers a couple gave me their numbers and said if I am ever in there area give them a call it was really nice to chat to some decent drivers instead of a few dicks you get to chat to in Canada.

I got called in and they gave me my 1 pallet lol then off to pick 2 still early but they loaded me right away then off to pick 3 had to wait for a couple of hours but I didn't worry then off to my last pick got loaded as soon as I backed on.

There are a few drivers who hate waiting and not get paid but it doesn't bother me too much. Over here its all part of the job you can't have it good all the time! While I was sat around I was thinking of the times I had to wait at Felixstowe or Southampton or Liverpool docks and thought shit I would rather be in sunny California waiting for a load than in the UK, any way when you add up my picks and mileage I had done in the morning it worked out I earned $205 for sitting around all day watching TV and chatting. If you add up how much you got if you were driving for 11 hours you only lose $55 and you can roll the hours better with days like that.

I left Salinas the next morning and followed my sat nav before I knew it it had taken me a different way than I wanted but the roads were empty so I think it was a better route in the end. I went past Sacramento on the I80 towards Reno you have to drive over Donna's past what a long horrible route that is! When you come down the other side there is a warning sign saying narrow lanes I didn't think much of it until I got there.... I think they used Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder to place the concrete barriers, no word of a lie you had about 6 inch's each side you could see the many colours of paint on the walls left by trucks who had hit them I just went real slow. The new trailer I have on has the very large single wheels instead of duel tyres and when you get in the ruts with these it throws the back end of the trailer about a bit so I was worried about hitting the wall.

I stopped at a truck stop where me and my dad had gone to a few years earlier I think they still had the same chicken there lol!! I carried on for a few more hours until my time was up that's when I found out my tripac was playing up so I booked in to a hotel for the night.

The next day I drove past O J Simpson's new home for the next 20 years lol I made my way up to Dads truck stop on the I15 where I fueled up and got a subway sandwich. As I left there I went on to US20, now this was a route I had never taken and what a beautiful route it was, loads of nice views. Loads of small towns and a few cowboys around, the road was empty hardly any trucks on the road. The trucks I did see were all H&R I must of seen about 10 on that route the most I have ever seen on one road. I got up the other side of Bozeman and called it a night.

The next day I went to Beach North Dakota to fuel up then I bumped into Adrian an H&R driver. We ran all the way to Fargo chatting on the CB which was great as I have not spoken to anyone other than my wife for 3 days I am parked up in the Flying J I just paid $149.99 for 1 year of Internet as I am fed up trying to find free Wi-Fi so I thought I would up date my blog.