This Weeks Off Topic

man, I wonder what kinda gas mileage those things get... About 20.4 gallons per mile. :rolleyes:

Actually,the 'fuel' mileage(diesel) in the days when it was cheap, on the average,an 18 wheeler would run about 3 to 5 miles per gallon.
With the higher prices and the concern with the bottom line(which is dollars made now) have caused them to work a' bit harder to get better mileage and it's up around 8 to 12 mpg. Speaking in 'Colonist' terms of course.:)

As said by others,I also feel the OT threads are a way to get to know the good folks here on a' slightly more personal side. Which I,for one,consider to be a good thing. Kind'a brings people together a lil' closer. Which,imho,is a 'very' good thing...

If they are real good with the rig, they might get 6.8 miles per gallon of fuel. 14 liter engine at that. Then it goes down hill from there. That is why they have such big fuel tanks. :D

Can remember getting 2 gallons to the mile with one rig. Seems I hit the scales at 194,000 ponds. OK so I had the special permits to haul it. ;)
Boy was that rough to get stopped. Top speed 45 mph. Louisville, Ky to Kansas city, Mo. :mad:

SGV. Sounds like what we in the U.S. call a semi truck. A cab with a trailer. Or a tractor-trailer.

Funny story about a semi that happened near me. This new expressway just up the road had a ramp with a severe curve and though trucks were warned going in, they had a tendency still to speed up the ramp while coming from the adjoining expressway at top speed. Numerous trucks tipped over for several years on this ramp. Eventually the transportation people got together with the trucker people and the township people to straighten/smooth out the ramp, but before they did, a really awful but really humorous accident took place on the ramp.

It started when a guy hijacked a semi full of toilet paper (don't know if he knew or just had an urge to steal something he hoped to fence or whatever) from the Philadelphia port in South Philly, about oh, 20 miles from me, and proceeded out the adjoining expressway with it, cops in pursuit. He tries to exit to the new expressway via this steep, curvy ramp, and proceeds to tip his rig, spilling toilet paper all over the road.

Well, you never saw such a mess. A couple hours later I left for work, which requires me to take the older expressway eastbound. By this time, due to fears about gasoline spills, injury of the driver, etc. etc., the state police and other bright lights had blocked off the expressway westbound (coming from Philadelphia out toward my house). As I drove in 16 miles eastbound, I looked to the other side and saw, to my horror, traffic backed up all the way into Philadelphia. I simply flew down to work, which like never ever happens. There was absolutely no one driving east because everyone was on the westbound side.

And this traffic jam continued for 11 hours. After it was all sorted out, the state and local authorities started scratching their heads and saying, oh gosh, d'ya suppose we ought to have more exits along the way???? Should we get cops out to back people off the ramps??? Philadelphia-area authorities are the most unbelievably dense about moving traffic around, and don't seem to think they have any responsibility at all for helping people get the hell out of a jam. They just kind of stand around and hope everyone has a cell phone. (I personally don't, but luckily, this time it was not me stuck.)

Another true incident. On my way down into the city, speeding along eastbound, I saw a Domino's Pizza truck parked on the shoulder. The guy hopped out with a pizza box, dashed across a couple of lanes and over the barrier, and proceeded to deliver pizza to some car stuck in this 16-mile backup!!! I swear I am not making this up and of course, since I work for a newspaper, I duly reported this and it was in the paper the next day. I presume the person ordering the pizza just told the Domino's guy what milepost to go to . . . wonder if he got there in 30 minutes the way they guarantee.

Cheers
Wendy
:rolleyes: :cool: :D