Goldstrike!

If there was ever a way to do a lot of traveling across America and get paid to do it, it's buying a truck and hauling flatbed. I have actually been in the forest industry for 16+ years and from time to time things slow down. There is nothing worse than having a bunch of huge payments and nothing to do. So a couple years ago during a lull I leased my trucks to a small trucking company aptly named Outlaw Trucking and Logistics. It really is a great little company. The plan was to hire OTR drivers and then I could concentrate on getting work for the crew. For anyone who knows the trucking biz, you know how tough it is get a reliable driver in a start up outfit. After a short time I found myself in a truck trying to get things done for Outlaw involving coast to coast and Spanish to French America. So I want to share a story about life on the road when travel becomes an adventure of a lifetime.

In the midst of all the arranging to fit an OTR outfit, I bought this nice but older Freightliner. It was a good deal overall but wow I had no idea that when it started having trouble, that it would be at the worst possible time. I still have the thing. It has a 435 hp Caterpillar engine with a Fuller Road Ranger 15 speed turnaround transmission, a big flat top sleeper, and lots of chrome. A little over week before Christmas '06 I got a call on a run to Carlin, Nevada. It's about 2,100 miles or so and paid great. I picked up a load of rock crushing equipment 15 miles from the house in Pulaski, TN. The destination was actually 22 miles north of Carlin, NV and it turned out to be the Barrick Goldstrike Mine. When I learned this I realized my 9 yr old boy would be excited about going. We loaded up and off we went.

We took US 72 to Memphis and up I-55 to St. Louis. Then I-70 to KC and took the 435 to I-29 to Iowa and hit Nebraska hwy 2 before hitting the I-80 west of Omaha. From there I went through Grande Island across the Platte and up into Cheyenne, WY. My last stop was on Thursday in Carlin, Nevada at a little Pilot Bosselman Truck stop. Along the way my son got to see the big Mississippi, The Pyramid, KC Royals stadium, all sorts of roadside icons and the salt flats, but one of the most memorable was in Western Nebraska. It was almost dusk at the end of the second day of driving when a wind storm erupted and 100+ mph gusts. One gust was so hard it shifted our 80,000lb truck a couple feet and blew the windshield wipers completely off. Then like something out of a science fiction movie then ground appeared to be moving. I suppose folks from south western NE are cool with it but after several trips through the area I never saw this! I have seen tumbleweeds as I lived in So Cal as a kid and had been seeing them all my life in my travels but never like this. For about 15 minutes solid I rarely caught a glimpse the road. All anyone could see was a wild herd of tumbleweeds moving like rain across the highway. I keep going but only because of the side markers and bridges told where the road was. In that part of the world I am not sure there is a curve anyways.

We finally got to Cheyenne, WY. I sorta hate the fact I couldn't spend more time there but every trip through I had a deadline. I like Wyoming a lot from what little I have seen. Well all that wind was the leading edge of a very cold front. We stopped at the TA and parked in the back and the place was full. We got a bite and settled in. Ya ever thought you were in for a good night sleep on a freezing windy night and wake up only to realize you heater quit working? Omg, Freightliners are not known for keeping the wind out. I rushed across the 1/4 mile parking lot to the TA and bought a 2500 watt inverter and a ceramic space heater. There went about 400 bucks I didn't have. After about 30 minutes wiring it up in unbearable cold I got it going. Phew! what a night.

As bad as it got at times I'd do it several times over to have my son with me for the adventure. In a few days I'll finish the trip there.