STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

I decided to try a new look for the new year. Maybe it’ll change my (out)look as well. I didn’t get too far between Christmas and New Years. I wanted to head East to get some decent miles, but there was nothing coming out of Las Vegas on the 26th to give me a good start. First, let me catch up on the daily grind.
On December 23rd, I made the delivery in Las Vegas. I was done with this little task and settled in at the Wild Wild West by 0915. My Christmas break has officially begun. I have absolutely nothing planned for the next 3 days. I diddly-dinked around until about 1600, not wanting to tackle the hordes of shoppers doing their last minute shopping, but then realized that I needed to get to my mail box before it closed so I could pick up my mail. I knew I had a couple of packages waiting (my Christmas presents from me). I arrived at about 1700 and picked up my packages. There were two. The first contained my order from http://www.oldies.com/ where I currently buy most of my music. The second contained my order from http://www.duluthtrading.com/ where I now shop for work clothes. Among the CD’s I recieved from Oldies.com were Gene Pitney’s Anthology, The Best of Jimmie Rodgers, The Best of Jay and the Americans, and The Best of Pat Boone (yes, Pat Boone). Also I recieved a number of ‘compilation’ CD’s. From Duluth Trading Company, I recieved my ’side clasp’ suspenders and some ‘long johns’. All in all, a pretty good ‘haul’ for myself. After “raking in the loot” from my mail-box, I decided I may as well have dinner. There is a Lonestar Steakhouse in the same shopping center, so I went there. It was not crowded. I had a good dinner there of Steak and Shrimp with all the trimmings. It was good as usual. After dinner, I went to the TA truckstop so I could set up my computer and begin inputting my new music.

On December 24th, I just ‘vegged out’ and ‘geeked’ at the TA for most of the day. About noon, I decided to get my truck washed. Poor baby was filthy after all the ice and salt.

After that, back to ‘vegging’ and ‘geeking’. About 1800, I drove back to the Wild, Wild West. I retrieved my car and went ‘in search of’ dinner. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to ‘cruise’ the Strip. As it turned out, it wasn’t such a good idea after all. The traffic was abhorrent. I made it as far as Desert Inn Blvd before I gave up and got off the Strip. I went to Paradise Rd. and cruised back south. I wound up at The Hofbrau Haus again for dinner. The Hofbrau Haus is located at the intersection of Paradise and Harmon, diagonally across the street from The Hard Rock Cafe.

It was not very crowded. There is a Gift Shop as you enter the restaurant.

As the Oompah Band played, I enjoyed a Bavarian Burger (half pork and half beef) and Fries. It was good.

After dinner, I drove back to the Wild, Wild West and called it a night. Walter was especially glad to discover that Santa had visited the truck in our absence.

On Christmas Day, I opted to do nothing special. I had the breakfast Buffet at the Silverton Casino and was not impressed. I went over about 0900, and they only had 1 table of breakfast items. The rest were salads and lunch/dinner entrees. A shame because I was ‘primed’ for mini-waffles w/ strawberries and whipped cream. For dinner, I had a Pizza from the restaurant in the Wild Wild West. It was surprisingly good.

On December 26th, I made myself available at 0900. There was virtually no freight. I settled on a load which picked up at our drop yard in Henderson, NV and delivered in Lancaster, CA (23 miles empty and 249 miles loaded). After dinking around all morning, I finally drove to Henderson to pick up the load about 1330. After catching up on all my neglected paperwork and letting the MMM romp untethered in the desert for a while, I drove back to Vegas for fuel. Finally, about 1600, I departed for Lancaster I arrived at 2100 and went to bed at the customer after checking in with Security and finding that I would be unable to unload until 0700.

I awoke on December 27th at 0630 to find a PrePlan on my QualCom. I picked up at the same customer to which I was about to deliver and delivered in Scottsdale, AZ with an extra drop in Yuma, AZ (0 miles empty and 487 miles loaded). I accepted it, did the drop delivery and tyhe pick-up and left Lancaster at 0900. I drove to Palm Springs, CA. I walked the MMM and had lunch. At 1400, I left and drove to my first drop in Yuma. I arrived at 1730. Since the store was still open, I checked with the manager to find out where I needed to be in the AM. He took me through the store to show me the location of the loading dock. It was in a ’strip mall’ and the delivery docks behind the stores are remarkably similar. With the location firmly fixed in my mind, I went back to my truck. I decided to have dinner at Applebees which was at one end of the mall. It was OK, but i’m still not overly impressed by them. After a prolonged dinner, I walked the MMM and went to bed.

On December 28th, I had my first full work day since leaving Vegas. I awoke at 0430 and walked the MMM. Promptly at 0500, the crew began to unload me. They were finished by 0600. At 0630, I left Yuma and drove to Scottsdale for my final delivery. I arrived at 0945. They weren’t ready for me, so I went to a restaurant called the 5 and Diner for breakfast. It was excellent. As the name implies, it is a ‘retro’ 50’s style diner. There are about 9 of them in the Phoenix Metroplex, and soon, they will be expanding nationwide (happily to include a couple in Las Vegas). When I arrived back at my truck, they were ready to unload, so I docked the trailer. I noticed that I had a Pre-Plan. It picked up in Tolleson, AZ and delivered in Tulare, CA (23 miles empty and 526 miles loaded). I accepted it. At 1300, I was finished in Scottsdale, and I drove to Tolleson. I arrived at 1345, did the drop/hook pickup and departed at 1400. I drove to Cabazon, CA where I stopped for the night. I arrived at 1900.

I left Cabazon at 0515 on December 29th, and drove to our terminal in Fontana, CA for fuel. After fueling and walking the MMM, I left at 0800, drove to Tulare, did the drop/hook delivery and drove to the local truckstop to wait for a PrePlan. The truckstop was a ‘dive’; mud parking lot and dirty inside. Thankfully, I got a Plan about an hour later. It picked up in Madera, CA and delivered in Phoenix, AZ (68 miles empty and 626 miles loaded). It also had 2 additional stops, one in Tempe and the other also in Phoenix. I accepted it, then drove to Madera. I settled in at the WalMart because the load did not pick-up until tomorrow. About 2030, I was out exercising the MMM when I noticed an older model Jeep Cherokee go sputtering by. It had a bad miss, and was smoking terribly. As I took the MMM back to the truck, I noticed it ‘limp’ into the parking lot and park about 100 ft. behind me. Shortly after I sat down in the driver seat, I glanced into the left mirror. I could see the car behind me, still smoking, with the driver doing something in the back seat with what I thought was the interior light on. Upon closer scrutiny, I saw that the interior light was flickering. I got out of the cab for a closer look and saw that it wasn’t the interior light flickering, but flames. About this time, some other people nearer to the car, took notice and began shouting for the guy to get away from the car. Evidently, he was trying to retrieve some valuables. Then the car really caught and the driver backed away. I saw someone with a cell phone, so I assumed they were calling 911. I grabbed my camera.

The Fire Department arrived in less than 5 minutes, and made short work of the fire. Before they arrived, both rear tires and the gas tank exploded in a shower of sparks. I wasn’t so curious as to try for pictures of that however. The whole ordeal was over in 30 minutes. After that I lounged around for a while then went to bed.

On December 30th, my load was finally ready at 1400. It doesn’t deliver until the 3rd, so I decided to drive a little out of route and spent the weekend in Las Vegas. It was better than any other place along the route that I could think of. I picked up the load and departed at 1500. I drove to Bakersfield where I took a break and had dinner at Bill Lee’s. After that I left and drove to Las Vegas. Traffic was good until Boron, however, shortly beyond there, where CA-58 narrows from 4 lanes to 2, it came to a halt. This was caused by a freight train crossing the highway. It was heavy all the way to Barstow. Being the Friday before New Years Eve, traffic once I got to I-15 remained heavy. It slowed down to a crawl again around Baker and most of the way up the hill. I finally arrived at the Wild Wild West shortly before midnight. I got the last possible parking spot. Nevada D.O.T. was stopping every Commercial Vehicle at the Inspection Station. They ran each driver’s license for wants or warrents. They were also scrutinizing HazMat loads closely. Security for the New Years Eve celebration. They are expecting over 1,000,000 people.

On New Years Eve, I drove to our ‘drop yard’ in Henderson to drop my trailer. It was the only option I had unless I wanted to be stuck in one spot for the rest of the weekend. My car was secure in the WWW parking lot where Security had told me to park it before I left after Christmas. They will be charging for parking later today because of the event on the Strip, and if I move it, I may have to pay when I get back. By dropping my trailer here, I’ll be bob-tail and have a better chance of finding a place to park after running my errands. Going back toward Vegas, I was again stopped and checked by DOT at the junction of US-93 and US-95. I drove to the Speedco (Jiffy Lube for trucks) in North Las Vegas for a PM Service on my truck. After that, I drove back to the Wild Wild West. I arrived just as they were setting up barracades to close off the parking lot because it was full. I was allowed to enter because i’m known there and I was bob-tail. I managed to find a parking spot. They (Wild Wild West) had already barracaded all entrances except one to the Automobile parking lot. They were charging $15.00 per car to park there because of the event on the Strip. I had already checked with Security and wasn’t charged for parking my car. At 1700, the “Strip” was blocked off and completely closed to automobile traffic. This was for done security reasons more than anything else. I thought about hiking across the freeway to get dinner, but the weather was threatening rain, and the wind was really bad, so I just decied to eat at the WWW. I had Prime Rib (I may make this meal a New Years Eve tradition). The restaurant isn’t the most aesthetic, but it is clean and the food was good. The dinner cost $12.95+ tax, but included the drink and desert. It was more than I could eat (much to the delight of the MMM). I don’t often eat dinner here. Mostly, I eat the $1.99 breakfast, which is always good. After dinner, I went to the bar for a few colas. about 2100, I got bored, so I took a walk around the block. The foot traffic was heavy with all the people walking to the Strip. I stood on the corner and watched “the parade” for a while. I’m glad I decided to stay put at the WWW. I don’t deal well with hordes of people, and even less well with drunken hordes of people. After a trip back to the truck to give the MMM their New Years Eve treat and a walk, I went back to the bar for more cola and TV. At 2345, I was given a ‘noise maker’, a silly hat, and a flute of Champagne. The clock in my cell phone was in exact synchronization with the clock on the TV station (the local CBS affilaite) who was broadcasting the festivities on the Strip. At midnight, I watched the fireworks on TV, but I could hear the explosions from the Strip. Much better than being there. Shortly after that, I went to bed.

New Years Day, I drove to the TA so I could “geek” on the computer. Tomorrow, I’ll drive to Phoenix.