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This thread makes me feel awfully intellyjint. I've only done 3/4 of this stuff.

Is the US Xpress stuck on the Tail of the Dragon? That's a subject in itself the way it eats the big carrier, GPS using, two week wonders for lunch.

I've run that Tail Of The Dragon on morning about 2.30 with my Superliner and 51 ft spread axle stepdeck. Came from the north didn't know what I was getting into. If you could burn up a power steering box I thought it was going to be that night.

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This is not me or my truck. Just a pic of a truck on the dragon.

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I've been there delivering equipment to a new house job site, no real fun with a 55tn lowboy either.

"Any Society that would give up a little LIBERTY to gain a little SECURITY will Deserve Neither and LOSE BOTH" -Benjamin Franklin

"If your gonna be STUPID, you gotta be TOUGH"

"You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need"

Dammit.

If I had to be in an accident like that, I guess an extended hood Pete would be my vehicle of choice.

I've been on that Dragon many times on several bikes. For the life of me......I cannot understand why any trucker would follow that route? I would not want to go there in a mobile home or pull any kind of trailer through that eleven mile stretch of road or even beyond it toward Robinsville. I sure would like to hear from some of those drivers to just ask why. Do these companies send there drivers out on unfamiliar roads? I thought that before you could drive any truck, you had to be acquainted with the territory first.


mike

My guess would be that companies are teaching map reading to new students and telling them to buy a motor carrier atlas and/or a GPS with truck routing software.

My other guess is that drivers are running to WalMart and grabbing the cheapest GPS unit they can find and them blaming it for their own stupidity.

Jim

I've been on that Dragon many times on several bikes. For the life of me......I cannot understand why any trucker would follow that route? I would not want to go there in a mobile home or pull any kind of trailer through that eleven mile stretch of road or even beyond it toward Robinsville. I sure would like to hear from some of those drivers to just ask why. Do these companies send there drivers out on unfamiliar roads? I thought that before you could drive any truck, you had to be acquainted with the territory first.

mike

I delivered in Maryville Tn had to pick a truck up in Robbinsville NC. I thought to my self I'm not driving all the way around so I waited till late then hit the Tail. Lot of work but no problems.

When did a Pete become exotic? The second pic looks almost like a tag axle under the back of the trailer

"Any Society that would give up a little LIBERTY to gain a little SECURITY will Deserve Neither and LOSE BOTH" -Benjamin Franklin

"If your gonna be STUPID, you gotta be TOUGH"

"You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need"

Do these companies send there drivers out on unfamiliar roads? I thought that before you could drive any truck, you had to be acquainted with the territory first.

mike

Mike,

To be honest I am a bit perplexed by this comment. Do you think that truck drivers should "pre-run" their routes in a passenger vehicle 1st? I'm just asking, not trying to start anything. The 2nd time I went OTR I hauled hardwood doors out of WI into the south east each week. multiple drops in multiple states mostly to construction sites. Every week was something very different usually 5-8 drops in states like KY, TN, AL or VA, NC & SC or GA & FL. Each Monday when I hooked to my load I spent the remainder of the afternoon calling & making my delivery appointments then routing myself from point to point & writing out my directions. I'm not sure how you can expect someone from Indiana to be "acquainted" with every road in KY, TN, AL, GA, VA, WV, NC, SC & FL. Truck driving is (like almost any profession) a learn as you go career. If you have stopped learning then you need a new career. If you cannot learn, then you just need a job, not a career. One time I dropped in Chattanooga, TN on Tuesday & next drop was Wed a.m. in Greenville, SC. I had time so I thought instead of going up to Knoxville or down to Atlanta I'd just take 64 & 74 through the National Forest. I'm glad I had plenty of time! It was beautiful but no place for a truck. The highway crew that I went by that was clearing the rock slide sure did look at me like I had two heads when I went passed them....

So again, not picking a fight & not picking on you, I'm just curious about your comment.

It's nice to be able to go to places you've been before, like I do most of the time. But there was a first time I went to everywhere i've ever been too, as it is for everyone. Jobsite deliveries are the worst, some of the places we've taken the crane mats to in West Virginia and Pa. are not good places to be in a truck either, they might be off on some dirt road in the middle of nowhere, but you have to do it.

About all you can do is call the job site and hope they give you good directions. I went across rt. 16 from rt. 42 back over to I-81 once, not knowing any better. It was down right scary! Now it has a 35' length restriction on it but it didn't when I went across it.

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

When I was delivering doors, I did so off of a 48' dry van. I delivered to 3 schools up above Hickory NC someplace that were being renovated. The only way in & out had deep cut switch-backs that when I got to the 2nd school, I had green grass stains on the top 2 feet of my trailer on the right side....

Ha, Rt 16 that's the way we haul oversized tanks out of Pa.

This was rt. 16 down near Marion, Va. Crookedest road i've ever been on I do believe! No way to stay on your side, mountain on one side, edge of a cliff on the other.

google earth image-

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

I was I wondering about the "pre driving youre roads" comment myself. Kinda hard to pre drive a road if its 2000 mi away. But you should know youre limataions as well as that of youre equipment. Some of these pics sure get youre attention

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Remember if it's got a hood it's no good!

This was rt. 16 down near Marion, Va. Crookedest road i've ever been on I do believe! No way to stay on your side, mountain on one side, edge of a cliff on the other.

google earth image-

attachicon.gifrt16.jpg

Sorry I was thinking rt16 in Pa comes out on I-81 at the MD state line. That one your talking about in VA looks like a tough one.

When I was delivering doors, I did so off of a 48' dry van. I delivered to 3 schools up above Hickory NC someplace that were being renovated. The only way in & out had deep cut switch-backs that when I got to the 2nd school, I had green grass stains on the top 2 feet of my trailer on the right side....

I was hauling big concrete pipe to Shinnston, W.V. once. 84 inch, biggest they made. Had to haul them on a drop deck trailer because they were so big, and I was rounding a curve and had to take part of the wrong lane to make it around and clear everything, but I met a car and had to get back in my lane. When I did the trailer tire caught a rock that was sticking out and blew the tire and bent the wheel beyond repair too. Stuff happens...

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

Sorry I was thinking rt16 in Pa comes out on I-81 at the MD state line. That one your talking about in VA looks like a tough one.

I certainly wouldn't do it again, restriction or not!..unless I absolutely had to- no place to be in a truck for sure.

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

always liked the job sites where you have to un hook and have the crane turn your trailer around because that's the only way to get out. Did a sewer treatment plant in Kirkland Wa. one lane about 9% grade and a mile long to the bottom of a canyon , two axle hyster lowboy 68 pete 280 w.b. tractor. 57 point turn about for the truck areal manuver for the trailer ,hauled ecology blocks in there for a week. what a pain!

always liked the job sites where you have to un hook and have the crane turn your trailer around because that's the only way to get out. Did a sewer treatment plant in Kirkland Wa. one lane about 9% grade and a mile long to the bottom of a canyon , two axle hyster lowboy 68 pete 280 w.b. tractor. 57 point turn about for the truck areal manuver for the trailer ,hauled ecology blocks in there for a week. what a pain!

took some concrete pipe to a new landfill they were building off of rt. 100 north of Dublin,Va. They had to pick the back of the trailer up with a chain hooked to the bucket of a track hoe and swing it out over nothing but air while we turned around.

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Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

First road call I went on for a non-speaking driver was to fix an air leak on trailer, drove 35 miles, found truck on entrance ramp, looked under trailer, there was about 75 feet of guardrail all twisted up on both trailer axles, torn airlines, airbags, and wire in a hundred pieces. Worked most of the day cutting and repairing, Just as I was getting service truck loaded, DOT and State Boy shows up and gives driver a few tickets and a free inspection. As I pull away, looking through my mirror, They are loading him in the car. From bad to ??????.

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