24 hours in a Denver truck stop

I drove us back to Spanish Fork last night. Another clear and cold night. Lots of stars. Nearly ran over a dead deer at the edge of the road. It's poor little face hanging over the white line into my lane. The moon was rising just as I switched with Victor at the bottom of Spanish Fork canyon at 1am.

Victor picked up the next load a few minutes later at the bottom of the canyon for delivery back in Denver today. With a full dose of NyQuil to get over this cold, I awoke as he put on the brakes at 10am at the Pilot truck stop north of Denver for refueling and a shower(not quite as nice as the last one).

Just as we were approaching the JCPenney for delivery an hour later, our Dispatch Manager messaged us that the load was actually not due for delivery until Wednesday and that they would not accept it today. Her bad. That means we have 24 hours to kill in Denver. In my previous life of travel, 24 hours off-duty in a new city was a welcome opportunity to visit the local art museum, wander downtown, find a good restaurant, meet some locals, etc.

Apparently in the truck driving life - at least while I'm on someone else's truck - it means 24 hours parked in a truck stop miles from downtown. It also means loss of about $1000 income for Victor. (Fortunately I'm currently getting paid by the day, not the mile so I'm still getting paid to sit in this pub and sip Guinness.) Victor, and likely most truckers, are very paranoid about driving off-route and especially anywhere not specifically designed to handle trucks, and about leaving the truck. Three reasons for this.

1. We've been getting about eight miles to the gallon which Victor is ecstatic about. My old-man driving must be paying off for him. At that kind of gas mileage detours are pretty expensive in fuel costs.

2. Most accidents happen in parking lots, followed only by downtown driving. Truckers see the miles they accrue on the highway as pay-day, the few miles accrued near the delivery point or in a town are fraught with danger - accidents waiting to steal your paycheck. Best to avoid unnecessary diversions.

3. Believe it or not, both tractors and trailers are stolen on a fairly regular basis. Leaving a truck parked somewhere, especially in a city, makes drivers very nervous. Considering that the tractor alone costs $175k new, an empty trailer another $80k, and possibly millions worth of merchandise within it, you'd think the security systems would be pretty bullet proof. In actuality, there are NO security systems in these trucks other than the locks on the doors. WTF? Sounds like a market opportunity to me (and perhaps a conspiracy between the manufacturers and the mob?).

So, I'm thinking, with an adequate security system (something involving pepper spray) on a truck, it might be a good idea to carry a bicycle or scooter out on the cat-walk behind the cab to allow me to explore inexpensively.

Today, I've found a pub near the truckstop which serves Vietnamese food (though nothing else would indicate ANY Asian connection) to continue my massive fluids therapy for this cold - primarily Guinness - good for what ails ya. The bartender, Debbie (who looks like she could be the actress Meredith Baxter's little sister, see photo), is an interesting woman with a pickle business - http://busydspickles.com

She just handed out samples of her pickled asparagus. Salty and slightly spicy and crisp and tasty. Really good and unusual. She says her favorites are the brussel sprouts so I'm going to get a jar. (Delicious) Apparently excellent in martinis - and you know me and martini mixing. She also said she's driving down to Dallas this week to deliver gift baskets for forty hall-of-fame Superbowl players. There are characters all over.

Ahhh. We found out today that Highest Wind was NOT awarded the Navy grant for the Energy Glider. Damn. Our next possibility is not until March with the USDA. I guess I'll be driving truck for awhile.

Life goes on.