200,000 Miles!

  Another OTR milestone!  August 23rd, in 19-months of driving, Butch reached 200,000-miles!  The red Freightliner Cascadia we named Traveler is the truck he's currently driving & best of the five trucks he's driven.  It took ten-months this time to travel 100,000 due in part to a slowdown in the economy earlier this year.

9-2-2023 Butch & Traveler~

 On the 22nd in Port Angeles, Butch had to ask that the trailer he was picking up be reloaded.  CA requires the center of the rear tandems to be at 40 ft. or less to navigate the highway & ramp configurations. The delay caused him to drive late that evening & travel south on WA Hwy 101 to I-5.  It was after 11:46 p.m. Pacific time when he stopped driving for the day. 

9-23-23 - 9:13 a.m. Gee Cee's Truck Stop, Toledo, WA

It was late morning the 23rd before the ten-hour break was over & he could again get on the road. Leaving Toldeo, it was a typical start to a cool Washington day. (The dispatch was to Stockton & on to Sacramento, CA.)  

8-23-23 Near Grants Pass, OR - 4 p.m. 

Smoke from the fires in Oregon was thick in the air the length of the state.  Even so, driving through Oregon is always beautiful.  The goal for the week, was to get Butch back to IA for his home time.  It takes some doing, now that he's driving the west coast.

TA Travel Center, Redding, CA - 8:19 p.m.

By evening, Butch reached Redding, CA & had passed the 200,000-mile mark!  Since November first of last year - there have been a few changes.  In December, Butch turned in his Blue Freightliner to be sold.  While waiting for his new truck, he picked up Rebel in Louisiana & drove that truck until December 16th, when he returned it to Salt Lake.  At the Premier Dealer, he made the move to his third red truck & third Freightliner, a 2020 - Traveler.  

Mid-June of this year, Blake Scott Logistics made a change from hauling trailers for D&D Transportation Services of Gooding, ID to Jacko Logistics in Vancouver, WA.  This change moved most of Butch's dispatches from the mid-west to the west coast.  On the positive side, the dispatching is improved & Butch is getting consistent miles.  The downside - Omaha is at the far eastern range of Jacko's usual routes.  There are no more overnight layovers at home & we both miss that.  He does manage to get home within 3-to-4-week intervals for a few days each time.

8-30-2023 - Traveler finally home, the night of the Blue Moon~

Traveler had 408,310 on the odometer when Butch took the wheel & he's enjoyed issue free driving for his second 100,000-miles. During Butch's drive today, Traveler's odometer turned over 500,000 miles!  The two of them make a great team!  Congratulations to my husband, an outstanding driver & to Traveler for staying sound!  

Traveler "Drives" his Point Home!

Traveler waiting at Premier~

Our Memorial Day Weekend was not at all what we'd expected...  Butch had hoped to be home for our yearly trek to Greenfield, but this year it was not to be...  It was the first time in our married career we were in two different motel rooms, in two different states, over 1,200-miles apart!

Hum - what was I to think about this?

On Thursday the 25th, I received the photo above...  I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, so gave Butch a call.  He explained the steering was suddenly gone.  He manhandled the truck fourteen-miles to an exit near St. George, UT.  He was on a return trip from Boron, CA.

Traveler waits his turn~

Traveler is one smart truck!  He'd decided to have a difficulty - his first - as close as possible to a branch shop of the same Dealer where he had been purchased, Premiere Truck Group in St. George, UT. Butch had driven 325-miles since leaving CA.  It was late in the afternoon when they arrived.  Traveler would go into the shop the following day. 

Butch's unexpected abode~

Friday, it was early afternoon before the mechanic's started assessing the truck.  Unsure as to the issue, they closed for the weekend & would return Tuesday.  Butch was one of eight other drivers waiting for their trucks to be repaired.  Since Traveler was now in the shop, Premier gave Butch a ride to a nearby motel.

Butch's Sat. morning walk~

Butch spent a boring weekend, taking walks & finding a restaurant with good food.  He was more than anxious by the time Tuesday morning rolled around & caught a ride back to Premier.  Traveler had recived an oil change, all his scheduled maintenance items were taken care of & the steering wheel was realigned.

Waiting at Southern Tire~

 Butch's next stop was eight miles away to Southern Tire Mart.  Traveler received a new set of very expensive steer tires. 

In the shop~

Since this business did not do alignments, with new tires on, Butch drove toward Salt Lake City.  He stopped at Walmart to re-supply & spent the night at the Flying J in Springville, UT. 

Traveler without tires~

The morning of the 31st., Butch had arrived at Jack's Tire & Oil in Salt Lake City by 7 a.m. Traveler received an alignment of both the steer & drive tires.   After the alignment - Butch drove to Frito Lay.  He found the trailer (now uloaded) he had been bringing up from CA full of potato chip potatoes!  (Another driver had picked it up at Premier & made the delivery.) 

Traveler gets a bath~

After all this - Traveler insisted on a bath!  Since they didn't yet have a dispatch, Butch agreed.  They found a Blue Beacon nearby & took the last spot available at the Flying J in Salt Lake City.

Today, they're on the road again, heading to WA.  So far, Traveler is behaving himself!  When Butch told me how close he had been to the Premier Dealer - I told him Traveler couldn't have been more kind!  Considering the miles they've gone, we both think Traveler has done a great job!

A somewhat funny postscript to this post.  It was almost a year to the day from Big Red's breakdown in Texas, when Butch was hauling a hazmat load for CFI.