That is how long the load I picked up this morning has to go. It delivers Thursday in Saddle Brook, New Jersey at 0800 local time.
I was deadheaded from San Marcos, California down to our drop lot in Otay Mesa to swap my empty trailer for a full one. All total, just under 3,000 miles.
Today I spent a lot of time climbing hills and barreling down the other side. There are a line of mountains to the east of San Diego, and a series of long climbs from the Phoenix, Arizona area up towards Flagstaff. None very pleasant in a heavily-loaded truck, as mine is (21 tons of batteries, this time). The Cummins engine in my truck is very reliable and seems to consume less fuel than the Caterpillar alternatives most of our trucks are equipped with. However, it doesn't have anywhere near the same torque under a heavy load.
I finished in Winslow, Arizona -- about 620 miles. I will need to pick up the pace the rest of the way, but I won't have many mountains to climb and aside from Illinois and Ohio, the rest of the states have reasonable truck speed limits. According to the GPS, I have 2,275 miles remaining to run. I need to have three very good driving days in order to be set up to finish it on Thursday morning.
We'll see.
