I've Never Seen So Many Truckers!!!

I-5 and 99 are both heavy with trucks...can get claustrophobia when
boxed in. What is really scary is to have those long lines barreling
along in a morning Tule fog. I get off and wait for the sun to do its
work rather than risk getting into one of those multi-hundred car
wrecks.

"Scott en Aztlán" > wrote
>I drove up I-5 through the San Joaquin valley last night. The number
> of Truckers was unbelievable! I passed a couple of conga lines with at
> least 20 trucks in each. It was a SlothPassing nightmare!!! And every
> rest area I passed was full to overflowing with trucks - even the ramp
> shoulders were bumper-to-bumper with parked rigs.

It's real fun when one trucker decides to pass another (usually
on a downhill), then ends up micro-passing or falling back...
Since it's kind of rolling hills this happens A LOT.

Floyd

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> I drove up I-5 through the San Joaquin valley last night. The number
> of Truckers was unbelievable! I passed a couple of conga lines with at
> least 20 trucks in each. It was a SlothPassing nightmare!!! And every
> rest area I passed was full to overflowing with trucks - even the ramp
> shoulders were bumper-to-bumper with parked rigs.

Check out I-880 in Oakland during the afternoon commute sometime. Or
I-5 between here and Lodi during tomato harvest.

> Check out I-880 in Oakland during the afternoon commute sometime.
> Or I-5 between here and Lodi during tomato harvest.

I think these can be very similar events in terms of cause and effect:
a big pulse of time-sensitive cargo. In the case of 880, when a
container ship comes in at the Port of Oakland, a lot of trucks seem to
gather and mobilize all at once.

This can make the "Nasty Nimitz" even scarier than usual. I gather
that schlepping sea-land containers for short distances is often both
the entry level for drivers and the endgame for trucks -- an uneasy
combination. They are usually pretty good about staying out of the
left couple of lanes, but also tend to drive practically nose to tail
like circus elephants on parade, which makes it hard for everybody else
to get in and out.


: It's real fun when one trucker decides to pass another (usually
: on a downhill), then ends up micro-passing or falling back...
: Since it's kind of rolling hills this happens A LOT.

I-5 through the San Joaquin (I have much less experience on it in the
Sacramento half of the valley) needs to be three lanes each way.
(Which will of course not happen; given the budget woes at both the
federal and the state levels, I don't expect 58 to get its even more
badly needed conversion into freeway between I-5 and Bakersfield or
Kramer Junction the rest of the way to Barstow anytine soon either.)
There's just too many cars on too little concrete. I hear ya re
micropassing and even failed attempted passing, though.

Quite often a trucker who thinks he can go just a bit faster than the
one in front of him feels obliged to pull out and do so. Sometimes he
discovers partway through this maneuver that he's in a combination of
grade and gear and load and horsepower that won't even let him keep up
the pace, let alone overtake. The drivers in the right lane may or
may not be willing or able to lift and let him in.


Both situations are of course greatly complicated by car drivers who
have too much testosterone, too little skill, a deep belief that their
desire to cut a few minutes off their commute is more important than
the smooth flow of traffic, or just the situational awareness of a mole
in its burrow on a dark night.


The best example I've ever seen on I-5 (and there have been plenty) was
someone tailgating a tanker of liquid hydrogen. The trucker was in
the right lane, doing maybe 50-55 (I think that's technically the speed
limit for trucks on that stretch anyway), a good speed for keeping all
that stuff in just one lane over all the potholes and ruts and
whoop-de-doos in the pavement. And somebody was tailgating him. One
false move and a couple dozen people's demise would've been on the
evening news quicker than you can say "Oh the humanity."


< conga lines with at least 20 trucks in each

The more heterogeneous packs can be even more amusing, being less
predictable. To know I-5 at its best, take a 98- degree afternoon
when everybody's tired and cranky before they even leave the driveway.
Then throw together half a dozen over-the-road truckers, a couple of
RVs, some business people in expensive cars up from LA or down from
the Bay Area who see I-5 as an opportunity to set the cruise control
and micromanage their offices over the cell phone, students with
luggage halfway up the windows who are saving money on motels by
driving all night , a farmer who only drives his '68 Freightliner at
harvest time, a couple of tricked-out pickups whose drivers have their
manhood tied up in passing everything they see, a U-Haul redlined at
80, and a minivan bound for Disneyland with a pack of kids all
voicing incompatible needs and desires. Point this whole furball up a
steep hill while somebody fumbles his Big Gulp at the top of the
on-ramp and somebody else changing a tire on the right shoulder sticks
his starboard butt cheek into the traffic lane every time he starts in
on a new lug nut. It's a wonder more people don't wreck out on that
road.

Of course it has other charms...



| What is really scary is to have those long lines barreling
| along in a morning Tule fog. I get off and wait for the sun to
| do its work rather than risk getting into one of those multi-
| hundred- car wrecks.

That's a very sensible strategy. Some parts of I-5 in a good thick
tule fog are right up there with the scariest driving scenarios I've
ever seen. The worst part is these stealth bombers who hardly even
moderate their speed, let alone turn on their headlights, in those
conditions.

Cheers,
--Joe

First off, if you are a Toyota/Honda enthusiasts than you are a jerk
for being unsupportive of the economy where it counts.

Secondly, you need to realize that CA depends on roads/tractor trailers
many times more than it does on rails/freight trains.

You're doubtless thinking of the feedlot of the Harris Ranch
agricultural empire, in the broad general vicinity of Coalinga. Like
a lot of things in California, agriculture often happens on an epic
scale. That's seventy to a hundred thousand head you're looking at,
plus or minus -- California's biggest single feedlot and finisher of
about a third of the state's beef cattle, according to one of their
websites.

I was once driving down I-5 with a colleague whose highly
urban/academic life had not included even the concept of a feedlot.
"It's the Grand Central Station of cows!", she exclaimed, tearing her
eyes from the spectacle just long enough to slide the climate control
knob to the recirculate position.

I think they used to offer tours, but quit doing that as part of
several preventive measures during the foot-and-mouth disease scare
several years ago. Dunno if they resumed.

An exit or two further south, and fortunately not downwind, they have a
restaurant and inn where you can check out the end product. The way
the timing and nature of my trips have always worked out, that's a
place to take a break rather than a major stop or a destination, so
I've never gone beyond a cup of coffee and maybe some gas at the
adjacent store.

--Joe

"Scott en Aztlán" wrote:
>
> > spake thus:
>
> >Of course it has other charms...
>
> You mean like Cowschwitz, that enoumous beef slaughterhouse where an
> enormous sea of bovines covers acres and acres while the cows await
> processing and shipping to McDonald's?

They really call it Cowschwitz? Where is it?

Do you remember the Farmer John packing plant with artistically-painted
pictures of terrified pigs trying to escape through the windows?

Almost put me off my feed, it did!

--
Cheers,
Bev
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Nothing in the universe can withstand the relentless application
of brute force and ignorance." -- Frd, via Dennis (evil)

Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:
> You're doubtless thinking of the feedlot of the Harris Ranch
> agricultural empire, in the broad general vicinity of Coalinga.

Nope. "Cowschwitz" = Kettleman City, a couple hours farther south.
Harris Ranch is peanuts compared to them. (But makes better steak.)

wrote:
> First off, if you are a Toyota/Honda enthusiasts than you are a jerk
> for being unsupportive of the economy where it counts.

Bite me. If GM workers weren't so greedy, they'd get the business.

> Secondly, you need to realize that CA depends on roads/tractor trailers
> many times more than it does on rails/freight trains.

Non sequitur. The truckers may need to travel on the freeways, but they
don't need to do it during rush hour. If a few hours' delay mattered,
the cargo would have been shipped by air in the first place.

"Scott en Aztlán" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 17:09:42 -0700, The Real Bev
> > spake thus:
>
> >They really call it Cowschwitz?
>
> I dunno if *they* call it that, but I think the name is very fitting:
> every single one of those cows is imprisoned there, waiting to be
> killed.
>
> >Where is it?
>
> It's visible on the east side of I-5, somewhere (far) north of Hungry
> Valley. I don't remember exactly where, but I'm sure John is correct.
>
> >Do you remember the Farmer John packing plant with artistically-painted
> >pictures of terrified pigs trying to escape through the windows?
>
> No, I didn't know about that. Got any pictures?

http://www.brendarees.com/sampleclips/murals.htm has a small picture, which is
not all that informative even when blown up. Maybe it's still there...

10. Hog Heaven (Pig Paradise) (1957-present).

Farmer John Packing Plant, Soto Street between Vernon and Bandini boulevards,
Vernon. A truly unusual, ironic and somewhat creepy mural?images of happy
frolicking pigs set in blissful pastoral scenes when, just steps away, others
are slaughtered and turned into bacon, sausage and hot dogs. Hollywood movie
scene artist Les Grimes worked on the mural for 11 years, then fell to his
death from a scaffold in 1968. Another artist, Arno Jordan, continued the
work, and today it is constantly added to and retouched. The mural has a
three-dimensional look as it winds around the exterior of the 10-acre
processing house.

> >Almost put me off my feed, it did!
>
> An organic California vegetable diet is better for you anyway.

Hey, I grow my own cherry tomatoes so back off!

--
Cheers,
Bev
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is.