High Plains Trucking

Still Have Hopes

2008-04-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

I still have hopes of going on the road with an 18 wheeler. I want to do it in a certain way. It is going to take a good bit of creativity and persistence. I am pretty sure I am going to do it in a way which is as austere as I can make it. A used tractor and a simple flatbed. I think I can, I think I can . . . .

Today I saw a truck and lowboy hauling a digger heading south on US 195. I stood in the field I was walking through with one of my dogs. (The one I freed from the dog gulag, the one who was about to be gassed. Prince is his name. He is a unique dog, he's part Chow and part Lab. He has a sweet part to him and a . . . . Well, I do not have words to explain it except to say I think he is studiously and intentionally obnoxious.)

I stood in the field and watched as the driver piloted his rig down the road. He would be in Lewiston by dusk. The sun came out through the falling April snow. The truck was newer, the lowboy white, the digger a deep orange yellow. The truck, trailer and digger lit up as the sun hit them. It was a beautiful sight. I imagined myself behind the wheel. I felt myself behind the wheel. Easy, intentional, feeling everything, outside of myself.

Being a driver will be work. It will be real work. I have no illusions, believe me. Still . . . Maybe I will be unable to do it. Don't know. Still want to try it.

Fuel Prices

2008-03-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Diesel is moving halfway up to $5.00 per gallon. I do not see how an independent can make it unless he is clearly moving that increase on to the shipper. My guess is the independent has a hard time doing that.

I also guess there is quite a bit of competition for loads. Competition between independents. There are some just barely hanging on. The overhead will tell the tale. If the truck and trailer are paid for or nearly paid for, the trucker will be able to hang on for a while. He will be able to eat the increased fuel cost if he cannot pass them on. Gradually, even this operator will be squeezed from the market.

We will not see this. But what we will see is this: Older trucks pulling loads. Trucks that are paid for. In fact, in the West you can see this already. Rarely these days does a trucker see a new truck run by an independent.

The Emptied Prairie

2007-12-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

There is a piece in the National Geographic for January 2008 (for more about the high prairie search "prairie" at www.ngm.com) about North Dakota and the High Plains between the Rocky Mountains and the area in eastern North Dakota about 200 miles west of the Minnesota line. The High Prairie is the prairie east of the Rockies running from Oklahoma to Edmonton, Canada. The story and pictures were of North Dakota.

The story was sad from the human perspective. The northern tier railroad owners and the United States government tried to turn the area into farms -- about a quarter section each, 160 acres, give or take. The farmers came from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Ukraine. They built homes and barns and broke the ground. They created towns with schools, creameries, churches, stores, granaries, stores, dance halls, libraries. And then economics and weather began to confront the dreams of these resiliant and hopeful people.

The rains did not come, the wind blew most of the time,the area was vast and lonely and worse yet, unforgiving. Human life began to leave and to die off. The towns began to die. But, the death has been slow. Slow because the economics of the area and climate is such that crops can be grown on large acreages, it is possible to live on the High Plains. But, economics causes the acreages to become larger and larger. As a result, human habitation will not leave the area but the numbers of inhabitants will become less and less. Only those who find the vastness of sky and the extremes of the elements will be able to live there. (I wish I were younger and more knowing of my self. I think I could find a home in the High Plains.)

The fate of the mining towns in the Rockies was the same but their deaths happened much more rapidly. Here is a site dedicated to ghost towns of the United States West. The towns were quickly created in confined spaces and survuved as long as the local mine, mines or sluicing operations were profitable. Once they were not, the towns began to die. Some came alive again when skiing became popular and the wealthy wanted a third or fourth home in the Rocky Mountains. See Park City, Utah, Aspen, Kellogg and more. The West and the High Plains are alive again, but not in the way first imagined. And some of the area is returnining to what it once was. See here and here.

The Second Amendment

2007-12-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

The DC Gun Case. Opinion. The case is now before the United States Supreme Court.

On March 9, 2007 the DC Court of Appeals reversed a trial court decision essentially saying that the District of Colombia could prohibit the ownership of guns kept in one's own home. The trial court said that the right to bear arms was tied to the requirement of a well regulated militia. Since owning guns had nothing to do with a well regulated militia the guns could not be kept in one's home.

The DC Court of Appeals reversed the decision essentially saying that the District of Columbia by its interpretation of the Second Amendment would render the amendment meaningless.

I am not going to get into an extensive legal discussion. What I want to say it is my understanding of history and the meaning of the Second Amendment.

The first point I want to make is that our country and our law were based upon revolution and the disassociation of our government from a tyranical government.

The right of revolution is based on the natural rights of man. Our Constitution, even if it could, does not deny the natural rights of man. Indeed, the Constitution is based upon the natural rights of man.

So, what does the second amendment say? It says "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shallnot be infringed”

Our revolution and our detachment from England would not have taken place but for the fact that people in America had formed a militia and that militia used armaments. The revolution would not have taken place and the militia would not have existed but for the power of armaments owned by the members of the militia and the power of the malitia t gain armamens from others.

Thus, the militia the Constitution speaks of is the militia necessary for the security of a free State. A free State sometimes can only exist by virtue of a force of arms by a militia. With this understanding, every person has a right to keep and bear arms because every person has a right to become part of a militia and can support a militia with a their arms.

The state recognizes that sometimes revolution by a well regulated militia is necessary for the security of a free State and the people desirous of maintaining that free State have a right to keep and bear arms and that that right cannot be infringed.

Though a State may regulate the armaments, the State may not prevent a person from having them.

Death in Northeast Washington: Deer Hunting without Reverence

2007-11-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

Death in Northeast Washington. What we hear is this: A young man and his father were hunting in Northeast Washington. See recent stories -- Spokesman-Review; Seattle-Times. There were various hunting camps in the area made up of father - son hunters. The camps got together on a Saturday night for some fun and drinking. Things got out of control. One son made threats. A father told his son to get in their pickup truck and be ready to drive away. Some time afterward the father put a rope around the neck of one of the hunter sons, the one said to have been threatening others. He told his son to drive away. The son in the truck followed his father’s command. Apparently he did not know the other end of the rope was tied to the truck’s bumper hitch. One father’s son died by being dragged by the neck over many miles.

I used to hunt deer in Northern Minnesota with my father, brothers, and the fathers and sons of other Minnesota men from the country. In a way it was a reverent event not unlike the sort of attitude one would have when killing a pig for a winter’s worth of meat, sausage, head cheese and lard. Guns were handled with a great deal of care. We would move through the woods in quiet – no talking, careful steps so as not to break any branches on the trail, gently moving branches out of our paths and placing them back so there was no sound.

There was hardly any drinking in the Northern Minnesota woods during deer season. If there was any the father’s sons normally did not participate. No one drank to excess at any of the various hunting camps or summer lake cabin used during the season.

Of course there were always exceptions: Once I remember my father clearly indicating to a deer hunting party from the Twin Cities who were wandering inebriated through the woods and shooting at things with their high powered deer rifles it was time for them to leave. They were endangering my bothers and others in our party who had already gone to their deer stands or were ahead of us and on their way. My father was calm, I stood behind him on the forest trail we were taking to our deer stands. I watched as he confronted the hunters making his words clear as to what the hunters were going to do next. When they objected he made his words a bit more meaningful with the slight but perceptible lifting of his 30-30 lever action. It was time for the hunters from the cities to be on their way, on their way entirely out of the woods. No more words were spoken.

The reverence of the hunt returned and my father an I continued a few more miles to our deer stands deep in the Minnesota forest, each of us hidden in gently sloping ravine leading up from a large lake a three hundred yards distant.

I am a Trucker

2007-11-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

The week before last I finally got a chance to be a long haul trucker. My friend Kevin is an auto hauler. He has three trucks which move cars in the Western United States. Here is a picture of the truck (and Kevin) we took to California and back to Spokane. The next picture is a picture of Kevin, my brother George, and myself. Kevin and I had stopped at the Ogden rest area south of Madras, Oregon. Bud and his wife Sue were on their way to Bend to be with family. I got to do quite a bit of driving. It is harder than I thought but still very appealing. Very appealing.

Wind Farms

2007-11-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered where the large segments of the wind farm windmills come from? I have solved part of the mystery. Here is a picture of a ship, the Beluga Formation, docked at Duluth, Minnesota with several of the segments for the towers.

The windmill generator segments were on their way to a wind farm in North Dakota.

Highway Tragedy

2007-11-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

About fifteen miles north of Klamath Falls the Oregon State patrol told drivers heading south that the road was closed a few miles ahead. We joined a long line of trucks and vehicles stopped due to something that had taken place a few miles ahead. As it turned out there had been a tragic accident between a long-haul truck pulling a semi loaded with steel and an oncoming vehicle. Information we were able to obtain over the CB radio only gave us a small idea of what had happened. During the three hours we waited the only thing we could learn was that a southbound vehicle had veered into a northbound semi-truck getting the truck head-on.

The next day, on our way back through Klamath Falls we learned that two young men had died in the collision and that the truck driver had suffered only minor injuries.

As we drove by the accident the night before we saw that the truck tractor was upside down halfway between the road and a railroad track on a steep incline. The flatbed was still upright but also sliding down the incline.

The vehicle, an SUV, was rolled into a ball of steel it was probably a little more than half the length of its original length. The young man in the SUV must have died immediately. Here is a newspaper article about the tragedy.

US 97 is cut into a hillside where the accident took place. The shoulders are very narrow and the road is bounded on both sides by substantial steel guard rails. The driver of the truck really had no place to go to get out of the way of the SUV that had come into his lane. Going toward the outside shoulder he was able to keep the contact from being truly head-on and the SUV struck over towards the driver's side of the truck.

The incident was quite sobering. Apparently, according to the newspaper article the driver of the SUV had been stopped for speeding by the Oregon State patrol some time before the accident.

I am on the road!

2007-11-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my friend Kevin Carbury invited me to join him on a shakedown trip of a used car hauler he was taking down to Hayward, California to bring cars from a car auction to dealers in Spokane. He had found a 1989 Freightliner with a Boydston carrier integrated into it. The equipment was in remarkably good condition.

We headed out on Saturday and got in on Sunday. I got to do quite a bit of driving in the areas of the route which did not require high levels of experience.

The main route was four lane (I-90 to Ritzville and US 395 to the Tri-Cities and the Oregon border)for first 140 miles. Then we moved onto two-lane roads down to I-5 in California -- Washington 14 to Biggs, Oregon and US 97 to Weed, California. Further on we moved from I-5 to various sub-interstate highways and on to Hayward near Freemont on the East Bay side of San Francisco Bay.

After a few hours of sleep we helped one of Kevin's other drivers load the another one of Kevin's car carriers -- another Freightliner with an Boydston carrier -- after an hour or so he was on his way. We then loaded our carrier -- I pulled the cars and Kevin did the loading. We had a breakdown in part of the hydraulic system on the carrier so we were limied to six cars -- we had to leave two 2005 Jeep Cherokees in the lot for another carrier which was on its way.

By the afternoon, we were on our way. After Kevin got us out of the freeway maize around San Francisco I took over. Having a car on top of me hanging out over the windshield and truck engine took a bit of getting used to but I felt comfortable after an hour or so.

The road north of Redding on the East side of Mt. Shasta was a real challenge. I gave up the wheel so Kevin could apply his experience.

We had snow near Bend and north of Madras. I took over again just north of Biggs at the junction of US 97 and Washington 14. From there I took the truck in to Spokane.

It was hard work but I loved every minute of it. What a fine change from practicing law for over 37 years.

French Prisident Sarkozy

2007-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

French President Nicolas Sarkozy walked out of an interview with 60 Minutes a few days ago. He complained that the question asked of him had already been asked. Obviously, the interviewer was pressing a point -- he wanted to push the President into areas of discussion he knew the President did not want to go into. President is "smart, energetic and tempestuous" -- he is one of the new European leaders with energy and class. He will stand his ground and the world will be better for it.

Fall 2007: Awash in Wheat

2007-10-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

We were awash in wheat this year in Eastern Washington. Production was good but not as high as it has been some times in the past. The farmers still did very well if they were able to keep their wheat off the market until the price per bushel reached $7 to $10.

Alan Greenspan: Thoughts from the Tub

2007-10-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

Heard an interview this morning between Alan Greenspan and a BBC interviewer. Finally, I learned why Greenspan does much of his work in a bathtub. Years ago (in the 70's I think) when he was having back problems his doctor advised hot baths for at least an hour at a time. He began to make use of his time in the tub and learned to think and write while he was all wet. He has continued this to today.

Why should we be interested in Alan Greespan? He can tell us something about our economy. Understanding the economy helps us understand our place in the vast mystery of our work.

Fuel Prices

2007-10-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

Diesel at the Petro Truck Stop west of Spokane yesterday was over $3.60 per gallon.
The highest price in the nation as best I could figure. This is quite a jump. This has to be quite a shock. Until the new fuel surcharges come into play, the operator will face some lower profits or maybe no profits at all, losses.

IdleAire

2007-10-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the IdleAire installation at the Petro Truck Stop west of Spokane. I expect the use of the installation will increase as the weather becomes colder.

Solitude

2007-10-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

Do not allow yourself to be imprisoned by any affection. Keep your solitude. The day, if it ever comes, when you are given true affection there will be no opposition between interior solitude and friendship, quite the reverse. It is even by this infallible sign that you will recognize it.

Simone Weil

In some occupations, some undertakings, one lives separate, alone, remote from society. In the process of any such occupation one must constantly choose between diversion or it's opposite. One cannot experience solitude by pursuit of diversion --the illusions of affection and place. One can experience solitude in quiet and in struggle against the desire to create illusions. Solitude can only be understood in the place where there are no diversions, no illusions.

Femme Fatales

2007-10-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

The British have Princess Diana. Even in death she is very much alive. The Agentinians have Eva Peron (is she dead?). The French have Segolene Royal and now Cecilia Sarkozy. (See piture.) We have Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsy Lohan. I wonder, is there any meaning in such observations?

Komatsu Mining Trucks

2007-10-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

This summer, a heavy hauler team was moving these Komatsu mining trucks from Centralia, Washington to upper Alberta, Canada. It had taken the hauling team 30 days to move 6 of these trucks (each truck split into several units -- at least 4) from Centralia to Spokane. Each Komatsu can carry 263 cubic yards of material at a time, weight permitting.

Heavy Load

2007-10-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

This heavy load, a large gear, was photographed a few weeks ago west of Spokane, Washington at the Petro truck stop at I-90 and Hayford Road.

High Plains Trucking Website

2007-10-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

I have begun a website for my dreamed about trucking company, High Plains Trucking Company. I hope people will find it useful and interesting. The creation of the website is an exercise in self-education. In the creation of the site I am trying to understand the work of an "owner-operator" long haul trucker.

I have my Commercial Driver's License with a whole panoply of endorsements. My plan is to go on the road part-time sometime in the next few months. Next year I would like to go on the road full-time or nearly full-time. I hope to evolve into an owner-operator sometime in the next two years.

The "New Cold War"

2007-10-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

It appears the USA, China, and Russia are embarking on a "New Cold War." In the last few days we have seen movements on the part of these world powers which seem to be challenges to each other. We are seeing the challenge of China by the US regarding the Dali Lama and Tibet. We are seeing the challenge to the US by Russia and V. Putin regarding Iran and its move to develop nuclear capabilities.

These challenges are good. The world powers are alligning and challenging. This will not evolve into new dangers although it might seem so from time to time. Instead, the challenges of weak states will be picked up and refined by the allegiences of weak states with one major power or the other. The major powers are more refined in the field of international relations. Such refinements will civilize the debates and allow the debates to happen.

These developments may seem like a recreation of the "Cold War" but this would be a misnomer. Another description should be used, one which is true to the "real politik" which is evolving today.

Ethics, Business

2007-10-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Business ethics are on a downturn. There are numerous cases involving the backdating of stock options. A WSJ story tells how it works: “Stock options give employees the right to buy shares in the future at the market price on the date a grant is approved. If the stock rises later, the recipient can cash in the option to take a profit. Backdating a grant to a prior date when the price was lower increases the award's value.” H-P Settles Suit Tied to Mercury And Backdating, Benjamin Pimentel, October 16, 2007, WSJ. One wonders why a person would engage in this type of activity? It seems so obviously wrong. Yet there seem to be lots of these cases and some involve the great leaders of industry such as Steve Jobs of Apple. In January 2007 Bloomberg.com reported that at “least 200 companies are being investigated for changing the dates of options grants to inflate their value. Companies have taken over $8.1 billion in charges or restatements to account for backdated options grants.” In one situation Apple reported a fake board meeting which allowed backdated options for Steve Jobs and others. Ibid.

Justice Clarence Thomas, Dreaming of an 18 Wheeler

2007-10-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas dreams of driving an 18 wheeler. Here is what he said in a recent interview with Rush Limbaugh:

RUSH: What would you do if you weren't a judge? Other than being a judge, what would you like to do?

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) Oh, goodness. My wife always sort of has problems when I answer questions like that, because what I'd like to do is a little bit different --

RUSH: Well, is she there?

JUSTICE THOMAS: No, she's not.

RUSH: Well, then go ahead and answer it!

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) I would like to run a small- or medium-size business in a small community. That would be sort of the more top-end of the options. I'd like to be a coach. I would love to know enough football or basketball to coach teams, and my one dream job was to be a truck driver. I still have that in my system. I love being around tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers. I love working on large vehicles, driving them. Maybe that goes back to delivering fuel oil and working on the farm. But I love being around people who work with their hands, who do the hard things to keep our country going. They're just my kind of people.

Source

To learn about a thoughtful, tough, compassionate and courageous man read Justice Thomas' biography My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir.

Thoughtful Trucker

2007-10-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a story about an interesting trucker, Robert Jordan of Wisconsin. Overdrive Magazine.

Mack Battery APU Option

2007-10-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Mack Trucks mow offers a battery APU unit. Here is what they say:

The system uses a bank of high-efficiency absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries to provide stored electrical power for heating, air conditioning and amenities, such as TV or microwave. The sealed AGM batteries are known for their durable, long-life operation, and can be safely housed inside the truck. The bank of five AGM batteries is stored under the sleeper's bunk.

The batteries can be recharged three different ways: by the truck's alternator when the engine is running; through a shore power connection when the vehicle is stopped; or through an available connection to the reefer unit for tractors hauling refrigerated trailers. When the truck is not moving, the driver can use battery power or shore power to run heating, air conditioning and amenities. The system provides either 12- or 120-volt power.

Idle Free uses a Xantrex Prosine 2000W inverter/charger to control and regulate electrical power, as well as to charge both the Idle Free batteries and the truck's batteries. Mack's complete climate control package includes a Webasto diesel-fired heater and a Dometic HVAC unit. The Odyssey AGM 31 batteries have the ability to run the AC for 10 hours with an outside air temperature of 90 degrees.

According to Warmkessel, Idle Free has advantages over traditional auxiliary power units. The total weight of the system, with five batteries, inverter, HVAC and controls is 370 pounds, which is less than many APUs. It is also quiet, does not consume fuel, requires no maintenance, and is not subject to local idling restrictions.

More can be found at the Mack website.

Just Use Your Batteries

2007-10-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

California law, starting in 2008, will not allow truck engine idling by long-haul trucks.

A long haul truck is also a "living unit." While on the road, the truck is the driver's home. When the truck engine is not running the living unit requires power and other utilities. The main requirement, of course, is power. How best to provide power. One solution is to allow trucks to "plug in" to a resource at truck stops. Another, is to provide auxiliary power by a power device attached to the truck. The most simple solution is to provide the energy from batteries already in place on the truck. However, such batteries will have to be different from those currently in use. Of course, if new batteries can be developed which will be able to provide such power they will more more costly than the current batteries available for trucking use. They may be worth the cost. Enhanced batteries seems the best solution to the auxilary power supply need.

Batteries as APU

2007-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Firefly Energy is about to introduce a new battery line to be used instead of truck engine idling or auxiliary power units as the power source for sleeper requirements.

The Danger Today

2007-10-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Danger Today. At the CIA one will find this sign "Today's date is September 12th 2001."

Arnaud de Borchgrave says:

On Sept. 7, CIA Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden told the Council on Foreign relations: "Our analysts assess with high confidence that al Qaeda's central leadership is planning high-impact plots against the U.S. homeland... we who study the enemy see a danger more real than anything our citizens at home have confronted since our Civil War.

General Hayden’s full remarks can be found here.

Cost of Diesel: Run on the Dollar

2007-10-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

The price of oil will go up if there is a run on the dollar. If the value of the dollar goes down and the price of oil is pegged to a currency other than the dollar the cost of oil in the future market will be higher than the cost of oil in the present market. In time, truckers will pay more for diesel fuel.

2007-10-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last summer, trucker Ted Maki of Missoula, Montana was injured when a bowling ball dropped from an overpass crashed through the windshield of his semi as he was passing through Fairmont, Minnesota on I-90. This dangerous prank almost took Mr. Maki's life. The children will be punished. The report can be found in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Fairmont is east of Sioux Falls, S.D. and west of La Cross, Wisconsin. I-90 runs roughly parallel to the southern border of Minnesota and about 20 - 35 miles to the north.

Driver Income

2007-10-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

Sage, a local CDL school, advertises there are lots of truck driving jobs. They say a team can earn $80,000 per year and that a single driver can earn $30,000 per year.