1 tanker, heading to Winnemucca NV

... spending the night at Evanston WY

Breakfast, today was a nuked ham and cheese croissant. All they had was peach yogurt. Seems their last shipment came in already expired so they are putting out what no one wanted before.

7:30 we are ready to go. Still less than 10 cars in the lot but not totally empty. BB and I are not going to run together for the first leg. So goes to Loves to fuel and I head down the road.

1st stop is the WY Port of Entry. I guessed correct. I do not need a permit. I am under 20,000# and the rig is going direct to the user. But as a guy is explaining that to the new person taking care of me ... he says ... when you are done, come and see me. That usually is not a good thing. This time he just wanted to run my VIN to see what class Ford had this listed under. That was it :)

2nd stop - 10 miles down the road. I have enough range to get to Laramie, but the overhead sign says wind gusts to 65 mph. I am less worried about loosing mileage because of the wind. But if I get stuck behind an accident, I don't know how long I can idle on the few gallons I have left. And the only gas station between Cheyenne and Laramie WAS Buford, population 1. But he left in 2012 and the station has sat empty since then. It is only 50 miles, but it can be a very long 50 miles.

I fuel at the Walmart for $2.17. The truckstops are $.70 a gallon more. I am not paying but I just can't see spending the extra money, even when it is not mine.

Clear sailing to Laramie.

3rd stop is the Loves in Laramie, this is where we agreed to meet up. I had planned on fueling in Laramie, but even where we usually fuel is $2.39 so I did good. BB has been waiting for about 15 minutes. I don't need to run in, so we say 'hi' and plan on meeting again in Rawlins.

4th stop is for food in Rawlins at the TA / Subway. We are still trying to stick to the truck stops as we don't know which places only allow drive thru and no inside orders or seating.

A couple of times today when I would open my window I would smell diesel. And when I got out here I could smell it again. But nothing is leaking, it is not on my clothes and the tank is at the rear of the truck. Before we leave the TA I decide to put in the last of my diesel anti-gel. Opps. That is the smell. I had put the jug behind the passenger seat so it would stand up. When I bought the jug, the side panels on the truck were froze shut and I didn't think about it again until now.

Not a huge spill, I was able to get it wiped up with the half a dozen left over Subway napkins. But the floor was still shiny. So for the next 100 miles I had the heat on full blast and the windows open for 10 minutes at a time and then closed for 10 minutes at a time trying to get the odor out.

5th stop is for a rest break at the Shell in Rock Springs. BB has a range of an extra 60 miles and decides not to fuel here.

As I am getting into my truck I notice the hills to the north, and the snow coming down over them. I am thinking the air is so dry that the snow doesn't hit the ground. Kind of like the rain.

Wrong. Before we get back on the freeway we can see the snow blowing across the road. I run with the cruise on until the road gets wet. Then I try to hold it at 65 mph without the cruise.

Then 60 mph.

Then 55 mph, then 50. Then I see the semi ahead of me hit his breaks so I do to. Now the variable speed limit sign has gone from 75 mph to 45 mph ... at the top of the hill. Everyone stays in line down the first hill, but traffic is soon back to passing me. At one point I pass a snow plow, I thought about following him but they usually run about 35 mph. He wasn't plowing, just dumping sand. A lot of us pass him, but most stay at 45 mph.

Then there is a sign that says 'crash in 17 miles.' We are at mile marker 34 so it should be at mile marker 17. It wasn't, so I thought we were good to go. Nope.

I wish I had turned on the video on my phone. As we start up a hill we can see flashing lights ahead. I assumed they were still clearing the wreck. Then we see semi's parked in the right travel lane. Waiting it out maybe? On this hill there are three lanes, the right one now has parked trucks. And everyone else seems to be getting in the left lane so we did too. Then we come to a complete stop.

I can see people getting out of their trucks ahead of me to try to see what is going on. Then a few trucks start to pull up between us in the left lane and the parked trucks in the right lane. At first they stop but then they are moving, and people from the left lane start getting over to the middle lane.

Then I can see traffic moving in our lane, some traffic. As the lane thins I can see that the two semi's in front of me are moving ... sideways. They are stuck on the ice. BB manages to get in the middle lane and I jump in front of her. Here is where I wish I had the camera.

Freeway, three lanes wide. At different points there were semi's stuck in all three lanes and moving traffic was winding its way through the debris. One of the semi's that had been ahead of me was able to spin it's way free and stayed in line about two cars behind BB. A ways up the hill, we are in the left lane and a semi going about 2 mph is in the center lane, but a tanker is parked not too far ahead of him. I start flashing my lights for him to get over in front of me. He finally does and keeps moving. He never would have gotten moving again if he had stopped.

I wasn't counting, so I will guess there were 2-3 maybe for dozen semi's that were stuck on the ice on that hill. Some were putting on chains, some were throwing sand under the tires. It looks like a sanding truck had dumped it's load in front of trucks in hopes that would help. Only one tow truck there when we went past.

But no crashes. Just trucks and slow and go. And it was at mile marker 13 when we got there. I'm sure it likely built back to mile marker 17 before it was cleared. Asked BB later and she was worried about when to shut her car off to save fuel. But she got to the station with a range of 56 so not much range lost.

6th stop for me was the Mavrick in Evanston. BB went to the Flying J for gas.

After I fueled this AM in Cheyenne my range was 401. When I fueled tonight in Evanston my range is 495. Just as many gallons of fuel in the tank both times. From here it is 430 miles to Winnemucca. So I may not have to fuel before Winnemucca but I need to leave 1/4 of a tank at the drop, which is around 125-150 mile range.

7th stop was a few miles down the road also in Evanston at the Comfort Inn. First time here, we usually stay across the street at the Quality Inn but the reviews have gotten better on this place. By people with only one review each which is always suspect.

Once we are checked in we order food from the Best Western / Legal Tender. They had run out of noodles for my order so we go back to the car as they said they could bring it out. 10 minutes later BB goes in and our order is sitting there and the crew is all standing around talking.

But good food. I had chicken alfredo. And I have enough for breakfast ... again.

It should just be rest and food breaks tomorrow. Dispatch can text my permit. NV is the only state that allows the permit to be on a phone / device and not printed. Then a final top off for fuel and the motel.

Load board

US - 296

IA - 93

MN - 5

WI - 6

We saw a few crashes and burnt out trucks. Nothing recent.

This AM BB had was looking at the weather and we are not going to make it back home without some delay. We were hoping to be home Wednesday night. Now we are looking at how to get around the storm, I-90 via MT? I-40 via OKC? And we have a local rental car so we need to get it back. They use different cars for local than they do for one-way.

Most trips we would be looking for work on the way back, but if I work that means BB has to drive the car back. And after today she is talking about flying home and staying in the house until spring.

Also this AM I contacted dispatch for my NV permit. I got it sometime during the day but didn't look at it until tonight. It is wrong. The time is correct but the highway and miles are wrong.