We made it to Calexico about noon local for our 2:30 deadline. We requested some time before we got there to have the afternoon to do some laundry. Our fleet manager got a load heading out at 4am Thurs morning to allow us some time. Well, we did have some time in Calexico to do some laundry, then had to deadhead into Los Angeles for our early morning pick up that goes to Seattle area. This is at a Con-Way terminal and the load is what a Con-way relay. These are hard runs with not much extra time built in. They are also dispatched a little faster (50mph vs 47mph) than normal for some reason. If we were out in the midwest somewhere, it would not be such an issue for this run, however, in Cali and Oregon, the speed limit for trucks is 55. That coupled with the mountains in northern cal and Oregon will make this a close one. We are due by 3am local tomorrow. At least getting thru LA at 5am local was somewhat easier than it could have been later, and we will get into the Seattle area late tonite/early tomorrow morn.
Kim had some experience with the mountains coming out of the LA area thu Tejon pass. This had some pretty steep climbs holding us down to about 30mph, and had a 6% downhill grade for 5 miles that had a 35mph speed limit for trucks. Just using the engine retarder (jake brake) and 6th gear she was able to come down with no problem with snub braking (braking from 35mph to 30, then letting the truck slowly work back up to 35, keeping brakes cool by not using them all the time.)
Thats about it for now, gotta sleep. This run doesn't have time to allow us to stop at all.