Go West, WAYYYY West

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Yesterday morning my dispatcher hooked me up with a load out to central California. It has been months since I've been that far west so this is a nice change of pace.

I sat in on the weekly safety meeting and got caught up on Hours of Service, logging, CSA 2010 and other fun stuff. Oh, and the free pizza didn't hurt.

The trailer for the load was already at the yard and ready to go so I hooked up, pre-tripped and grabbed the bills from dispatch. My dispatcher told me it was 15,000 pounds which would be a great weight to take over Donner but it turns out he must be needing a new eyeglass prescription since the weight was 25,000. Still, better than most of our loads that are 40,000 plus.

Before I even left he bounced a pre-plan off me to pick up Monday after I drop in Cali. It is a two-day 1,300 mile trip back to Colorado with 22 tons of alcohol on board. The pay and rapidity of the trip are nice, but the thought of hauling a max weight load up Donner AND Vail AND Eisenhower with my wimpy engine gives me pause.

Yesterday I finished in Big Springs, Nebraska at the Pilot there. Had dinner at the excellent steak house then hit the sack. Today was one of the longest single-day drives I've ever logged, 704 miles from there to Wendover, Nevada. Tomorrow will be another long slog, just over 600 miles with the last third or so in California as I come down Donner. The following two days will be similarly busy getting that other load back out to Colorado.

UPDATE: I finally punched in that next trip into Google Maps and I won't be going over Vail and Eisenhower after all! Schweet!