Sleepy rider

When traveling through Nebraska and Wyoming last week, it was nicely warm, bordering on being too hot with about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Not so yesterday. We stayed overnight at the truckstop Gas 'n Go (the one with the Cowboy Cafe) in Wyoming and decided to blend in with the other drivers and have the engine idle all night to keep us warm. Good thing we did. As part of our pretrip inspection in the morning, we wanted to clean the windshield, only to find out that the windshield scrubbers were frozen into their buckets - solidly !

With winter knocking on the door, it is not all that bad. The rolling hills in Wyoming covered by a white powder coat are beautiful to look at. Not only do things get scenic in the cold, the freezing temperatures also take care of the bugs. Last week when driving through Nebraska, the windshield was one big smear of suicidal bugs, whereas now Nebraska turned into a no-bug-zone.

On day 8 or rather night 8 of my trucking trip throughout the great US of A, we also learned a valuable lesson. You want to get into the truckstops early enough if you intend to find a place to stop your truck at. Those truck stops get entirely overcrowded near midnight and hopping from truck stop to truck stop not only is an annoying activity, it also means you are adding more on-duty and driving time than the driving rules allow you to do. So start the 14 hours early in the morning and you'll be OK at night. Early birds rule the parking lots at night.

We do not only sleep at night when parked at a truck stop. Being a driver team allows the one driver to rest while the other is driving. The lower bunk bed in the Cascadia is equipped with a restraint system to allow you to lay down while riding. Or rather to try and sleep while riding. I spent over two hours in there and was very amazed by how comfortably it is to be laying down even when traveling at interstate speeds. It shows how well the Cascadia's Airliner combined with its cab suspension are tuned for driver's comfort. No wonder I learned a couple days ago that nothing beats a Freightliner in driver orientation. Beside a driver, my Cascadia turned me into a happy camper and an easy, sleepy rider.

Miguel