On the Road with Kurt Grote

hello everyone, i get the feeling that spring is in the air. on my way out to ca., i look at all the trees blooming and snow melting and of course the wind blows a little more in the spring. however the temperature is raising which means no more coats in order to fuel. which also means a switch in fuel blend. that will or should be a huge boost in my fuel economy. it’s nice not having to watch the weather so close to see what storms are coming in. i do that in the winter time so i can figure out how much time i need to not be late. another thing that spring brings is truck shows and that is always fun. not just the trucks but all the products also. i guess that is why i liked going to louisville so much, to mark the start of spring. untill next time be safe.

kurt

hello everyone, i hope things are good for you this week. just a few comments on the truck show. even tho i have never been to MATS before i thought it was great. most of the vendors i had talked to said the quality of the drivers seem to be getting better and better. with peterbilt and kenworth not showing up i think it really opened the door for freightliner, mack and volvo trucks. the drivers that i talked to said they felt betrayed the guys and gals that wore the peterbilt, kenworth, and caterpillar hats gave the freightliner truck a good look over. maybe they feel that peterbilt, kenworth, and caterpillar wont be in business much longer. at any rate i for one enjoyed the show. i looked at a lot of new tech stuff and some of the new gadgets that are being sold. one thing i was happy to get my hands on was the shamwow’s. but i was disappointed i couldn’t find the vuecube i was wanting info on. one of the things i did find that really impressed me was the McCuff it’s a fuel cap so that your fuel nozzle wont come out of your fuel tank while fueling. i really enjoyed the freightliner innovation truck with all the high tech stuff on it, such as cameras instead of mirrors, the cruise control was pretty amazing too. it use gps positioning to calculate curves and adjust you speed for that, and determine what grade the hill is and adjust the speed accordingly. i had met a lot of real nice people interested in this web site and the cascadia along with the DD15. knowledge it seems is what they are craving to better their bottom line. I’m sure i will find more topics to write about in the days ahead, so until then enjoy the pics.

hello everyone, I’m approaching 80,000 miles on this truck and i still can’t believe how well this truck works. scaled 78,000 lbs. and I’m in bakersfield ca. and I’m getting 6.37. what a difference from my w900. i don’t know if i could go back and drive the w900. i deliver in tracy ca. tomorrow afternoon. i already have a reload lined up for tomorrow nite and head for “MATS”. I’m real excited about the truck show. because, i have never been to Louisville for the truck show before. being in the show has a lot to do with my excitement. i do realize that a lot of vendors have pulled out of the show and that’s to bad. however there are a lot of vendors that will be there. so I for one am not going to concentrate on the negative but on the positive. if you have any suggestions on the things to look at or things you might be interested in let me know. and i will do my best to get that info to you. i what to know what it is that you are interested in, and just because you can’t for whatever reason  make it, you shouldn’t have to miss out on all the new stuff that is available. some of you that have been to Louisville before, i know you can help me out and give me direction. the show is to start on the 19th. i will be at the booth with the other “slice of trucker life” drivers henry albert, and dick mccorkle. as we get closer i will post what booth number we will be at. until next time.

hello everyone, what does your maintenance program look like? i would really like to know what everyone else is doing to make sure i am doing mine right. am i missing anything, you might be doing. i know it has been hard for me with the cascadia because even tho i grease every 12-15 thousand miles the oil don’t get changed for 50,000 miles. in my old truck which had a cat motor in it, i was doing oil changes at about 20,000 miles. i wasn’t real sure of the 50,000 miles so i did oil analyses just to check and make sure the engineers knew what they where talking about. do you have the automatic grease system on your truck and how do you like that and does it work well? i am the kind of driver that questions every thing. i have been told i think to much:) just drive the damn truck. but i want to learn to be the best i can be. the best way i know how is to ask questions and take ideas from other drivers. it does matter if you have been driving for 10 weeks or 10 years i feel i can always learn from you my fellow drivers. just like this cascadia, i don’t know every thing there is to know about this truck. so i rely a lot on your comments so we both can learn about the new technologies that are coming not just with the cascadia but all the new trucks that we are seeing on the road. i will wait for your comments on your maintenance program and maybe we all will learn something new!!!

hello everyone, i congratulate Tom Lear for being named Oklahoma’s driver of the year. on Feb., 26 the ota and osmb held their annual awards banquet. your very humble slice of life driver was fortunate enough to be nominated for such an award. along with several other drivers i received my one million mile award and i also received an 2008 professional driving award. i fell very honard to be put into this very fine company of drivers. my grandfather was a driver, and i often wonder what he might be thinking. i don’t think he ever imagined one of his family members would achieve or that an award was even in existance. i hope he is looking down with a big grin, and with his thumbs under his arms and telling anyone that will listen that’s my grandson. i cant even start to put into words how proud i feel that i received such an award and was nominated for the other. to have your peers look at and respect you enough for such a high honor makes me very humble. these are just some of the pictures taken that night. once again thanks to everyone for all the awards.