corn encore

I have day two behind me and have now slept two nights in a row in a cascadia. You need to know that I am a notorious insomniac and also that I have a history of back pain. Well, guess what. I slept really well, and I slept really well twice in a row. I am thinking of going into a Freightliner parts store, buy a Cascadia bed and install it at home. No pain and only sleep. I also like the heavy, black, leather type curtains I have in the truck, behind the windscreen and between the driver and sleeper compartments. Not a single tiny, little ray of light gets even the slightest chance of getting inside and disturbing my sleep. I love it. Here again I am thinking of buying some and install them at home. Henry suggests that I move out and into a Cascadia. I'll have my lovely wife comment on that before taking any further action.

Day one was the black Cascadia and day two was (and still is) the silver Cascadia, both powered by my loyal, silent and powerful engine, the DD15. I definitely like the silver Cascadia. It has more of a what I would call an owner-operator spec whereas the black Cascadia was more of a typical fleet spec. One of the differences is the number of speeds. I now have a 13-box whereas on my first day it was a 10-box. Driving around St-Louis in Illinois yesterday was a struggle in dense traffic with speed limits at 55 and 50 mph and rolling up and down bridges. I splitted the top gear into low and stayed there all the time. It was very comfortable to drive that way. With the black Cascadia it would have had to shift between top and top-1 gear or rev the engine all the time in top-1 gear. None of the alternatives I like to do.

Talking of driving around St-Louis. City skylines are great to observe from out of the truck. I could not have picked a better season to do this trip. It is the f-season and I like it. All the leaves are turning colors and provide you a non-stop beautiful and colorful picture pleasing the eye. Add to that the crossing of major rivers like the Missouri, the great construction of bridges (I like watching bridges and figuring out how the forces flow) and last but not least the play of hide-and-seek that the setting sun and puffy clouds were receiving me with on the I70 going west, and you know I had a scenic experience.

Not so scenic but still very interesting were all the corn fields in Illinois. Some fields have oil pumps in them and make you reflect on energy. You see the energy of the past and present (oil) and the energy of present and future (bio-whatever such like ethanol) in one spot. All media seem to talk about ethanol and biodiesel - first generation biodiesel that is. I wonder why I do not see more coverage on second generation biodiesel, so called BTL : Biomass To Liquid. In today's times of intense debates about climate change, public health and energy independency, this biofuel makes much more sense than (first generation) biodiesel and ethanol. The key differences are that it uses the entire plant, not just the seed, it can use waste biomass and is chemically identical to parrafines which make up 70% of diesel. You can use it in any of the past and the present diesel engines and dispensing infrastructures. It is good to know that Detroit Diesel's parent company Daimler AG is pioneering this technology in cooperation with Choren Industries, Shell and other automotive groups.

That is it for now. I need to run about 800 miles today if I want to make in time to Portland, OR by tomorrow night.

Have a good one.

Miguel

P.S. : If you check out my pictures, you'll see a building with OOIDA on it. This can only be the headquarter of the Owner-Operator / Independent Driver Association. I had no idea it would be there. It was an interesting surprise.