On the Road with Kurt Grote

IMG_0609, originally uploaded by kurt.grote.

hello everyone, i hope all is well with all of you! as you can tell from my picture my truck is pretty dirty. i did this on purpose to show how well the truck actually cleans up! i went or the truck was at big rig expo over the weekend. even tho it was a little slow i had a great time. met some great vendors with some good products. i will be talking about these products in the future. i also had the chance to reconnect with old friends. the truck looked good after the bath. i was even awarded the third place prize in the truck competition or i should say the cascadia received the third place award. that is one thing i must say about the paint on this truck not only in the pictures that were taken in dallas, but at this truck show also the paint has really held up. after 165000 miles i’m impressed! i would like to take this time to thank all the people that made the big rig expo possible and also to the judges that gave me this third place finish! lastly i hope all of you have or will register for the fourth driver of the cascadia! until the next truck stop be safe!
kurt

hello everyone, spencer and i hope that all of you have had a very profitable week!! we are back from california. with a very impressive fuel run. the number one factor for me in my operation is fueling strategies. because of the way i run, i.e. weight, speed, and of course terrain, my fueling strategy is very important to me. i had fueled up in lake havasu city az going into california and did not fuel again until amarillo tx. now that meant going into califorinia and making my delivery and making my pick up to bounce all the way back to amarillo tx. i was really wanting to get to the ok state line but i didn’t have the guts or enough time on my log book to make that happen. those of you that are regular readers of my blog already know i don’t drive very slow!! we also know if i would slow down i could get a lot farther on my fuel run!! however it is what it is, this is how i run consistently. to be able to manipulate where you buy fuel and where you don’t is a direct reflection on your bottom line!! i don’t claim to get the best fuel mileage out there however my fueling strategies are still a big part of my operation. it is not all about mpg’s. it’s everything combined that make us profitable!! i am on my way to tulsa for the “big rig expo” the truck looks absolutly fantastic!! for whatever reason that truck sure does clean up rather nicely! i hope to see you all there so stop by and chit chat a bit!! i also know that a lot of you readers out are awaiting spencers return to the writing scene, but i did give him the week off, so maybe next week he’ll write something. until then all of you be safe and profitable!!

hello everyone, I’m on may way back out to california. last week when i went out there, i had a gross eight of 70,000 lbs. so i ‘m going to brag a little this week. i had fueled up in lake havasu city az. before going in. my delivery was in tulare ca. which is approx. 350 from the az state line up hwy 99 in california. so i made my delivery in tulare and the company dead headed me up to manteca ca. which i pick up my load there! now as most of you can imagine my truck gets a lot of attention. i have people that ask me my mpg. which i have no problem with that, but they proceed to tell me how they are getting just as good of fuel mileage as i am. after i probe in to their operation i find out that they are lite with about 25,000 lbs in the box and they are getting 6.75 mpg! this time it’s my turn. i loaded in manteca with 15,000 lbs in the box!! as some of you may now when it comes to california i don’t do any speeding!! at any rate 1700 miles on this fuel run. while i was in california at 58 to 60 miles per hour i hit the az., ca., line at 7.50 mpg!! which i think is great. because we want to see how this truck matches up against my old w900l. at the az state line i bummed up the speedometer to 68 miles per hour. i finally stopped and got fuel in tucumcari nm. my fuel mileage was a big 7.0175!!if that’s not impressive i don’t know what is!! i am real impressed with this truck!! i know my w900 would never get this kind of fuel mileage at those speeds. after running almost 1000 miles at 60 miles per hour and getting 7.5 mpg i know even in the rocky mountains i would continue to get great fuel miles. if you have a similar story and can back it up i would love to hear it. but if you are running 60 miles per hour and pulling lite loads and not the mountains, just look at what you could achieve!!i realize there are alot of drivers that wonder why i don’t slow down, and my answer to that is that we wouldn’t know the difference between a big nose truck and a aerodynamic truck. i would like to give you my honest opinion and the only way i know how, is to let you see it for yourself. in case you were wondering no this isn’t the blog i have been working on!! I’m still putting it all together. i do hope you all have a chance to drop by and see me at the big rig expo next week in tulsa ok. i will be there all three days so stop by and say hi. until next time spencer and i are off on another adventure!! spencer has had a lot of request for him to do some more writings we will see what happens going forward. stay safe and stay informed!!

kurt…………. and spencer

hello everyone, i hope your week has been safe and profitable!! spencer and i are on our way back to california this week. we have been fairly busy as of late. i keep looking at the clouds and thinking that winter is just around the corner!! we should be getting into winter fuel shorty, some of you might have already purchased some. i always dread winter blend because of the poor fuel mileage. my new tires seem to be breaking in rather nicely. i wish my fuel mileage would come up a little, but i guess that wont happen until these tire get a few more miles on them. i hope you all will check back on my blog in a couple of days because i have been working on a blog for several months that i think will be not only entertaining but fun also!! we will be making a big announcement soon how is that for a tease? so please check in often and dont miss my blog!! be safe as you travel!!

kurt……..and spencer