On the Road with Kurt Grote

hello everyone, i made it back from the northwest with some interesting facts. going down cabbage with the 73,000 lbs the truck did great!!! the Jake’s held better than i had expected. there were times that i had to put my foot on the throttle to keep it going down the hill and that was going the posted speed limit, so i guess i would go down the hill in a little higher gear. i guess i shouldn’t take anything for granted i did put the autoshift in manual and select the proper gear. and fuel mileage was better than expected also. i also wanted to see how well the truck pulled going up the hill eastbound. coming out of Washington with apples i thought i would be a lot heavier. i was only 68,000 lbs gross. even at that the fuel mileage was still better than i thought i would be. I’m glad i got to go up there before the snow starts to fly. i know that my fuel mileage would be a little better if i hadn’t put some new tires on however in the long run i think it will prove to be a wise choice. i will be posting some pictures in the future so stay tuned!!!!

thx, kurt…. and spencer!

hello everyone, i hope you all had a great week!! i would like to start this blog by apologizing for Spencer’s rant last week he tends to go a little overboard. at any rate Spencer and i are off on another adventure to the great northwest. this is probably my favorite place to run. the scenery is something to be hold. it really doesn’t matter what time of year winter or summer it’s all beautiful. i had several choices of routes that i could have taken up here. one is going through Amarillo TX up 287 and Denver, or  I-40 to Albuquerque NM and hookup with 550 and up that way. however i choose to go over to Gallup NM and take devils highway route 666 renamed now highway 491. i took this way because of fueling strategy’s. it is not that much out of the way to go my way and buy the cheaper fuel. the difference in fuel was .10 per gal. also fueling in Gallup i wont have to put fuel on again until i get to Stanfield OR. to buy that cheep fuel which then i should be able to do what i need to do loading and unloading and bounce back out for the trip home. I’m just outside Salt Lake City UT., tonite and the truck is doing great at this point. I’m loaded gross about 73,000 lbs so i cant wait for the truck to see cabbage. i really want to test the Jake’s with this kind of load on and the hills with the auto shift it should be a real test for the cascadia. i should be going down cabbage sometime tomorrow afternoon. wish me luck!!!

kurt, and spencer

hello everyone my name is spencer the one in the picture. i know you all have heard about my dads little trouble in amarillo texas, but you haven’t heard my side of the story!! this is the way i see it from my prospective. we had just left tucumcari nm., dad let me out for a long time so i knew we were going to do some hard trucking that day, which usually means homeward bound. i think i know my dad pretty well so we had not planned on stopping again for a while. when we got on the east side of amarillo i knew something was wrong, dad hit the shoulder made sure the truck was secure and off the road and set the brakes. i’m sure you all know my dad likes to brag about his cascadia, but this time i have complaints!! my job in this partnership we have is to #1 make sure the truck is secure inside and out, how do you expect me to do that with all these windows?? when the highway patrol arrived, i see people coming at me in all directions!! #2 protect my dad, here again you have people getting in and out of the truck from both sides. with the doors that open that far i could have easily fell out from my front seat vantage point. all of these people took real good care of my dad and me. they could have left me in the truck until a later date but they didn’t. what they did do was in one swift move get me out of the truck and the next thing i knew i was in the COUNTY JAIL!!! i must remind you i have NEVER spent a day outside in my life, and the sheriff puts in a pen all to myself which i thought was pretty cool until i hear from the pen next to me” hay boys look at the rookie next to me over here!! fresh meat what do you think boys should we show this pip squeak the ropes??” i was in the county lock up for 3 full days before my dad finally came and got me. i was never so happy to see him in my life i thought he was gone for ever! but i must say that before i left the county jail and in the safe arms of my dad i did give those guys a big fat middle finger just for fun. i just hope i don’t run in to them again!! after being off the truck for an entire month it sure does fell good to be back with my dad doing the things we love to do!! thanks to everyone that helped and took care of us. we really appreciate it thank you!!! until our next adventure you all take care and be safe!!

thx spencer