TDA 12/20/2021

It’s been a little while since I’ve written a TDA. Life has been very hectic lately, and basically, I’ve driven around the West a few times with some really awesome loads. My first load after Thanksgiving was kind of a snafu. I got a good load that went from Green River to North Dakota, but they actually sent me to a place that wouldn’t load me. Finally, they figured that out and sent me to a different place. I headed up to North Dakota. On my way through Wyoming, I hit a deer, cracked my fender a little bit and mangled my front bumper. Needless to say, I’ve ordered a moose bumper to be put on my truck. After hitting the deer, I stayed in a tiny town at an interesting Cenex truck stop that was also a hardware store.

From North Dakota, I went to Minnesota and picked up sunflower seeds. I took the route I usually do when I haul this load. I stopped in Missoula at one of my favorite truck stops. It has a really nice walking path. I shot some pictures of a fisherman and also the rocks and ice.

The roads were pretty good going over Lookout Pass, as well as Snoqualmie Pass. I got unloaded at Puyallup. The people at the seed place are really great people. Next. I got a load of bobcat tracks from the port of Tacoma and headed back to North Dakota to the bobcat factory. From there, they bounced me all the way to Owatonna, MN for a load of glass. I made the mistake of not filling up before I started to drive, and I nearly ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere Minnesota, which was something I’ve never done before. But I guess live and learn. On my way to Owatonna, there was a tree decorated with lights where it was really dark. I managed to shoot a picture of it as I drove past, but it is a little blurry. I stayed the night at the glass factory and in the morning, they had me loaded when I woke up.

I took off from the glass plant and it was raining, which seemed odd because it was so cold it had been snowing everywhere else. Unfortunately, as I left going west, the roads north of Owatonna were deteriorating and there a series of major wrecks on I-35. Luckily, I missed that. I got to Belle Fouche, South Dakota for the night. The weather seemed good when I stopped but, in the morning, there was three inches of snow on the ground. As I drove across the corner of Wyoming and into Montana, the roads really deteriorated for a while but by the time I got into Montana, the roads had dried and were clear again. While going across Montana, I snapped a few pictures of some pretty areas and as I got to Bozeman, I got some sunset pics. Again, I stopped at my favorite truck stop in Missoula, and I got caught there in a really bad winter storm. I discovered that there’s an alternative route to driving over Lookout Pass into Idaho State. The highway is called Montana 200 and it is absolutely beautiful. It was snowing on top of the mountains, but I was driving at the river level, so it was cold and wet, but it wasn’t terrible. By the time I got into Idaho, the sun started to shine and it was just a beautiful day.

The weather across Eastern Washington was fine and as I climbed up into the mountains, Snoqualmie had a little snow on it. I had two drops in the SeaTac area for the glass load. The third drop was down near Portland, Oregon. The dispatchers got me a load of aluminum going from Portland to Broomfield CO, which paid really well. As I drove out of Portland, the weather got worse and worse and by the time I went over Pendleton Pass, it was really slick and bad. Idaho wasn’t as bad but when I got to Utah, it was raining and snowing as I went over Rattlesnake Pass and the other passes north of Ogden. I had to really drive hard and fast to get through the mountains in Utah and into Wyoming before they closed the road. I managed to get to Little America for the night and in the morning the roads across Wyoming were pretty bad. I don’t drive I-80 if I don’t have to. While driving across I-80 that day, I encountered really slick roads and really strong winds. When I got to the Arlington area, the wind was so strong that it was the first time I was afraid the truck might get tipped over. By the time I got to Cheyenne, the strong winds had closed the roads across Wyoming and down into Colorado. I found a parking spot at the Flying J and waited for the wind to stop. Luckily, early the next morning, the wind had slowed down some and I managed to get down to Broomfield to deliver my load. From there, I bounced home for Christmas Break.