Logistics Management

Dave Schneider

The Summer Road Trip
July 31, 2008

Sorry about the long delay between posts. I got back from 9 days on the motorcycle on July 23 and have been busy getting caught up.

This trip I covered the central Midwest, from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. I spent time on the major trucking routes of I-70, I-80, and some of the connector interstate and state highways along the way. I do these week-long or longer motorcycle trips every summer. I go in just about all directions; sometimes north into Canada, sometimes South to Georgia, Florida; and many times on the Blue Ridge Parkway where you will not ever see a truck on the road. This year it was out to Gillette, WY for the BMW Motorcycle Rally. I get out to the Northwest about every 4 years, which means a long ride through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and finally Wyoming. The “home” leg added Kansas and Missouri, to the list.

Yeh, it was a 3,800 + mile run. I love these long trips.  I remember as a kid going on long trips with family, my Mom behind the wheel of the VW bus on 2,000 mile trips in the summer. When I got older I did the same thing with friends in cars. As gas rose and my life got “more complex” I switched over to touring motorcycles to go on my tourist “journeys”. This year was a sticker shock; even with 40 MPG, a 3,800 mile trip is not so cheap anymore.   

From the road you see things that you can’t from the air. With the many miles, and the time it takes to do those miles, you end up doing things to keep your mind occupied. I look at the details along the way, gathering information that is relevant to my world, like the names of the truckers on the way. I take note of who are the carriers in the lane. I also like to look at the cargo, understand what if the cargo behind the tonnage numbers. What shape are the roads in? Where is the construction? Where have the improvements worked? What is on the farms? How do the crops look? How green is it? Do these people drive like they have their heads somewhere else?  How many drivers are “on the phone”? When you are making 600 – 800 miles in a day you have to keep to the road, and keep your mind active and watching. So I think of what I see and use it to help explain why things are in different places.

Like Ohio. I think that the state pastime is driving in the left lane. Most states have a “road hog” rule that requires slower traffic to stay right, and to use the left lane only for passing. Not in Ohio, they like that left lane. There were many small fuel efficient cars and hybrids hanging out in the left lane, perhaps because of the efficiency. Ohio also has some very active state troopers who enforce the 60 MPH truck speed limit. When you get behind one of the “leftists” in their car slowly passing a string of rigs moving on the right you better pack a lunch, you will be moving past those rigs very slowly.

Traffic was down. I rode through Columbus, Ohio in Monday afternoon rush hour. I have been on this trip before and have been hammered by the traffic, both on the loop and through town.  This time I sailed through without any major delay. 

There were fewer cars out there this trip, not only in Columbus, but on all of the highways.  The rest stops were not crowded at all, even at night when I would pull in to take a nap. In years past I would find rest areas packed with cars and trucks, but this year there were fewer trucks in the rest areas, and many fewer cars.

There have been times in the past that I would plan my transit across Missouri on I-70 to happen at night to avoid the congestion between Kansas City and St. Louis. This year I was fine, my delay was from a powerful lightning storm outside of Columbia, not traffic. Same thing through Indiana, Ohio, and then in Iowa on I-80; the effect of gas being over $4 per gallon.

There were a lot of modular homes going into Iowa, but I did not see them going out. I suspect this demand in replacement of homes lost in the flooding. There was one string of 6 trucks and guide cars that were extra wide, and they were passing the standard semi’s in the hills. Lots of heavy machinery leaving Peoria, and low boy rig under the green burden of John Deere product.

It looked like to me that the specialized carriers were very busy. While taking a break in a Iowa rest area I watched 7 wind turbine blades roll past. These are very long units (over 60 feet) that look like they are supporting their own weight with one end of the blade on a trailer front and a set of wheels at the rear. I saw all manner of large vessels being hauled to plants in the interior of the country; large round hoppers on multiple trucks south of the Quad Cities; an amazing large polished round tube, 16’ in diameter; armored personnel carrier shells moving from one plant to another. I was amazed at the variety of large compressors and machinery on flatbeds. Oh, and pipe, lots of pipe. The specialized truckers look to be busy in the Mid-West.

It looked like a great hay years in Southern South Dakota, the fields were thick with bales and bales of hay. Friends in Rapid City report that they are looking forwards to a few “wet” years, with this year being the right amount of rain. One said that if the rains are from global warming, then turn it up a degree or two.

A week after return and I am still digesting some of the sights that I had from the trip. It gave me some ideas on things to work on for my business, for my clients, and to share here. Expect to see some gems in the next month or so.

Posted by Dave Schneider on July 31, 2008 | Comments (0)