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So I did a run to phx and back between saturday and tuesday... 3600 miles, 4 days. Someone should have taken my damn keys away. There were some moments worth sharing.
First, was the 50+ mph wind in new mexico. My truck was struggling with the uhaul trailer (6x12 trailer with about 1500-2000 lbs worth of crap in it, all of my tools, work bench, etc). Was shit for weight - 4k lbs max, but it shaped like a brick. Where it could hold o/d at 70-75 the whole trip before that, I couldn't hold 60mph uphill in 3rd, had to drop down to 2nd a few times in that wind.
In Albuquerque, it was supposedly 45mph. When I went to fuel up, I calculated 7.17mpg. Further down the road, almost to Gallup, I had to fuel up again, this time it had dropped to 6.93mpg; and I was no longer able to walk straight outside (had to walk at an angle, like those people reporting on hurricanes). Was just absolutely insane wind.
I didn't get any damn sleep the night before, it seems Toothlessville Oklahoma is a tourist hot spot or something, and no one had rooms available, especially ones that take pets. I ended up sleeping in a truck/rv stop, in a regular cab truck, with the damn dog inside too. Woke up every some some jagoff decided his dizzle needed warming up, and every time my dog got pissed that people got into their trucks without his permission.
That Flagstaff to Phoenix drive is never fun to do at night after 15 hours of driving on 3 hours of shitty sleep, with ~10000 lbs of metal and shitty Ford factory headlights. I don't think I blinked until I saw the street exit I needed off I17 - 120 miles from Flagstaff. There are also some new scratches on my steering wheel.
I then left the truck/trailer at my parents (was around midnight) ran to Chandler to see the house I was buying for the first time, went in (real estate agent gave me the code for her lockbox), realized the lights were out, went to walmart, bought some flashlights just to use them 30 seconds to figure out the electrical breakers had been turned off... 
The best thing I saw on the road was an old school Dodge Dakota (the boxier generation) with a v8 badge, pulling a decent size 5th wheel camper, and behind that a motorcycle/atv platform trailer, with a nice harley on it - looked like one of the bigger ones, dynaglide or something, def not a sportster or vrod or anything lighter, but definitely worth 5-10x what the truck was worth. He was going about 45mph; I wanted to slow down and pull out the camera, but I had people behind me when I was passing him, and didn't see the puny truck in front of the tall/big 5er (which had about 1-1.5ft on the side of the truck width wise) until I passed it. This was on the way back, in new mexico, luckily the wind had died down and didn't change directions, so it was somewhat of a tail wind at that point, but only about 15mph.
some pics (no order):
gas station in northern missouri had this price still listed for 91. No pay at the pump or I would have filled up with 91
UPS saving money - 30 wheels on the ground:
Found a classy hotel in Amarillo on the way back, so I parked my rig with the expensive cars:
I have no idea wtf is wrong with my dog, I even ripped ass at one point, didn't phase him:
In the parking lot of a classy roadside diner. No lines, I just made my own parking spot:
Oh yeah, fuck Kansas:
First, was the 50+ mph wind in new mexico. My truck was struggling with the uhaul trailer (6x12 trailer with about 1500-2000 lbs worth of crap in it, all of my tools, work bench, etc). Was shit for weight - 4k lbs max, but it shaped like a brick. Where it could hold o/d at 70-75 the whole trip before that, I couldn't hold 60mph uphill in 3rd, had to drop down to 2nd a few times in that wind.
In Albuquerque, it was supposedly 45mph. When I went to fuel up, I calculated 7.17mpg. Further down the road, almost to Gallup, I had to fuel up again, this time it had dropped to 6.93mpg; and I was no longer able to walk straight outside (had to walk at an angle, like those people reporting on hurricanes). Was just absolutely insane wind. I didn't get any damn sleep the night before, it seems Toothlessville Oklahoma is a tourist hot spot or something, and no one had rooms available, especially ones that take pets. I ended up sleeping in a truck/rv stop, in a regular cab truck, with the damn dog inside too. Woke up every some some jagoff decided his dizzle needed warming up, and every time my dog got pissed that people got into their trucks without his permission.
That Flagstaff to Phoenix drive is never fun to do at night after 15 hours of driving on 3 hours of shitty sleep, with ~10000 lbs of metal and shitty Ford factory headlights. I don't think I blinked until I saw the street exit I needed off I17 - 120 miles from Flagstaff. There are also some new scratches on my steering wheel.
I then left the truck/trailer at my parents (was around midnight) ran to Chandler to see the house I was buying for the first time, went in (real estate agent gave me the code for her lockbox), realized the lights were out, went to walmart, bought some flashlights just to use them 30 seconds to figure out the electrical breakers had been turned off... The best thing I saw on the road was an old school Dodge Dakota (the boxier generation) with a v8 badge, pulling a decent size 5th wheel camper, and behind that a motorcycle/atv platform trailer, with a nice harley on it - looked like one of the bigger ones, dynaglide or something, def not a sportster or vrod or anything lighter, but definitely worth 5-10x what the truck was worth. He was going about 45mph; I wanted to slow down and pull out the camera, but I had people behind me when I was passing him, and didn't see the puny truck in front of the tall/big 5er (which had about 1-1.5ft on the side of the truck width wise) until I passed it. This was on the way back, in new mexico, luckily the wind had died down and didn't change directions, so it was somewhat of a tail wind at that point, but only about 15mph.
some pics (no order):
gas station in northern missouri had this price still listed for 91. No pay at the pump or I would have filled up with 91
UPS saving money - 30 wheels on the ground:
Found a classy hotel in Amarillo on the way back, so I parked my rig with the expensive cars:
I have no idea wtf is wrong with my dog, I even ripped ass at one point, didn't phase him:
In the parking lot of a classy roadside diner. No lines, I just made my own parking spot:
Oh yeah, fuck Kansas:
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