Haulin arse...

Well did four trips from Topeka, Indiana to Prince George, BC (Canada for my American cousins) 2242 miles one way, Drive down empty and come back to Prince George, BC 4484 miles round trip. Hauled 12,700lb Fiver down to a 6500 TT and in between. Driven on the bald arse prairies even that small hill near Moose Jaw, SK... I think that's where they bury their empty Pilsner beer cans? I been up and down the mountains of the Canadian Rockies. Through sunshine, rain, snow, ice and high winds (North Dakota and Saskatchewan (Canada). I have gotten anywhere from 25mpg (tail wind and empty) down 6mpg (that goofy big fiver and 40mph head wind... I did stop to wait out the high winds between Fargo and Minot, ND)I have endured the nuts driving...err racing along I94/80 through Chicago, IL (I go through Chicago to avoid tolls...just like the trolls on some boards). Seen my fare share of auto accidents on both sides of the border. Speaking of borders I've experienced a vehicle search in Emmerson from both sides of the border patrol. Last one was with the US border patrol... Had my truck in their shop while I sat in the Border office waiting. I was called into the shop to explain a peculiar wee sack of material tied to the rad support, they were very suspicious... I had to explain to them it was "mouse deterrent" which was met with skepticism, until I said "take a whiff... smell it" "its spire mint, mice don't like the odor... I use it to keep mice out of the engine bay". With a few raised eyebrows they said "ok...um you can go".

I've hauled a few loads in December from Oregon to my home province of Alberta (Canada too). Hadn't realized they moved the Spruce Goose to Oregon (McMinnville) Hoping to get another load from Dallas, OR to have a chance to check out the museum and visit the ole Spruce Goose.

Truck has performed well, with miles racking up I'm doing oil changes once a month about every 24,000kms or 15,000 miles (I get my oil and filters from my neighbourly Cummins dealer, with exception of the water separator filter... FCA hasn't yet allowed Cummins to sell em).
Fuel up at the Pilots/Flying J's OMG the exchange rate is killing me!!

Currently, sitting Burns Harbor, IN loaded with a StarCraft 31' TT, will be delivering it near home base. Gonna take a few days off to see accountant and price out some new shoes.

BTW... I pull all my TT WD and sway control free, even with head/cross winds never wag the tail... last thing I want is to be on a icy hwy with TT and with WD or "sway control", I've seen the results of having those on icy roads...its not pretty!

Tow Vehicles

12 Replies

Community Alumni
Feb 01, 2016
FishOnOne wrote:
My fishing buddy and his wife took a road trip up into Canada last year and the Canadian border patrol asked them to pull over to perform a search. When the whole ordeal was done my buddy asked why did they pick them out of the crowd and the Canadian officer pointed at their license plate and said "your from Texas".

Lol, I know the feeling. I get flagged for searches from time to time, but I don't mind. I know they have a job to do. I don't always get a search, but I'm guaranteed to get a ton of questions about guns and Mexico lol. Coming back home, I barely get asked anything.
jmtandem
Explorer II
Jan 31, 2016
Fuel up at the Pilots/Flying J's OMG the exchange rate is killing me!!

Do you also sleep in the truck stops? If you do, since most truck stops fill up by around 5:00 pm how do they treat an RV among the 18 wheelers?
Marine_By_Choic
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
Dirty Oil,
The Spruce Goose is fantastic. So many other things there as well. Plan to spend the most part of a day!
Grit_dog
Navigator II
Jan 30, 2016
That's a lot of windshield miles!
45Ricochet
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
Glad your staying busy and hopefully enjoying some of the sights.
Border patrol ALWAYS ask's me at least twice if I have a firearm for some reason :W
I'll due my part in getting you back to the field this summer, much of it in Canada BTW.
We had Howard land that goose in Lake Arrowhead way back when. Had a heck of a time flighting it back out.
Take care
jus2shy
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
OP, just a heads-up on the chassis water/fuel separator. It isn't Fleetguard that designed and built that filter, it's actually Parker-Racor that builds them for Mopar. Fleetguard only makes the fuel filter that's mounted on the engine. So you can buy Parker/racor units and they're the same as OEM quality.
DirtyOil
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
deltabravo wrote:
I've been to the plant in Dallas, OR a few times. The outside of that place is pretty messy, which makes me wonder what the floor of the production facility looks like.... uh, no thanks, I won't be buying that brand of rig.

Roger that! Actually the production floors were "organized" yard was like a war zone! When I was there they had two guys loading up on goose necks, those wee TAB like TT, 3 and 4 trailers each, I was trying to get my TT, with 3 fork lifts hauling arse around the yard moving trailers around and a OTR semi with a load of frames all in a very tight yard. All that "junk" laying around, left wondering if I picked up any nails/screws in my tires, not to mention being nervous, one of those yahoos on the fork lifts running into me... did not like it there!
deltabravo
Nomad
Jan 30, 2016
I've been to the plant in Dallas, OR a few times. The outside of that place is pretty messy, which makes me wonder what the floor of the production facility looks like.... uh, no thanks, I won't be buying that brand of rig.
DirtyOil
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
FishOnOne wrote:
My fishing buddy and his wife took a road trip up into Canada last year and the Canadian border patrol asked them to pull over to perform a search. When the whole ordeal was done my buddy asked why did they pick them out of the crowd and the Canadian officer pointed at their license plate and said "your from Texas".

I'd do the same... we've heard about you Texans. :W
DirtyOil
Explorer
Jan 30, 2016
Lessmore wrote:
Interesting thread.

If I recall correctly, you were working in the Alberta Oil Patch before. Which do you prefer....and why...being on the road or working in the oil patch ? :)

Is Emerson, Mb. / Pembina ND...the toughest crossing so far.

Love the open road, I do take some time out to check a few things out, the people I meet whether they be fellow Transporters, OTR truckers or the people at the various RV factories or fueling stations and other facilities are great! Haven't met a "unfriendly" yet, even the border patrol ppl are great!

Which would I prefer... Oil patch... its safer :W

I have taken a pretty good pay cut, so yeah... oil patch. So, if everyone would hook up their RVs and haul em out somewhere and use as much fuel as possible we could lower the glut of oil on the market and drive the price up and all us laid off oil workers can get back to work, thanks! :B

I would say Emmerson/Pembina would be the "toughest" been searched by both border patrols. I usually cross at Portal, ND and out west Kingsgate, BC, never have issues at either.