FF2: Filling in the Suburbs

[krigl]

After spending the night in some temporary accommodation for dock workers at the Port of Oakland, I was more-or-less ready for the next challenge – a consignment of TVs for Walmart in Truckee, east California.


I can’t expect to get a job back to Medford from Oakland anyhow, as I don’t have the long-distance driving chops for that right now. Still, it’s a classy ride for the day, and the route from Sacramento to Truckee is beautiful.


This LoneStar has 605 hp, which is pretty high. I guess it’s to get us through the mountains, though the TVs only weigh 18,000 lb. Well, whatever. Topped up the tank just in case.


Nooo. That’s going to be in my head all day.


I am!


As the sun rises, the newish Al Zampa suspension bridge across the Carquinez Strait peeks coyly above the hillside to the left. We crossed that yesterday. The way back is across the 1958 cantilever bridge.


As we enter the bridge, we pass the Crockett sugar refinery. It produces 14% of America’s cane sugar, apparently. Shame we can’t take jobs from there. That would be… …sweet.


Over the Strait. San Pablo Bay to the left.


Toll to pay ahead – the company will take care of that. Just like the fuel. Yep, despite the low payouts, I’m in no hurry to start my own company right now. I plan to work as an agency / freelance driver for a good while, building experience and skills. Mixed in with my traditional touring with other ETS2 and ATS profiles, of course.


Passing Sacramento. To be honest, the payout is actually pretty much irrelevant, I’ve realised, after whining about being fined on the last trip. Right now, fines are actually the only thing I have to spend money on!


Sierra Nevada range ahead, and the Donner Summit (7329ft). Well, at least I hope it’s feet.


No, no weird fetishes here.


Making use of those 605 horses on the climb.


Fantastic views from my classy cab. The idea with this 'hard mode' profile is to do what works normally if one wants to bother with levelling up instead of just cheating - get to the point where you can cover repayments on a big loan, in my case via quick jobs, as I plan to hire a driver or three to fill a medium HQ. With this 'Real Economy (Hard Mode)' mod, the bigger the loan, the lower the interest and the lower the repayments, and the mod offers a $1m loan at level 20 with the lowest repayment of all loans. So, I'm going to be doing agency and freelance work until then, and then also for a while after that, until my eventual 3 drivers are making enough for me to risk buying a second HQ and purchasing my own truck and trailers. That's the plan, anyhow. And that means that if I get fined once or twice and lose a few trips' worth of profit, it doesn't really matter. A couple of hundred here or there is nothing when you're planning to borrow a million... and hopefully invest it wisely.


I really should pull in at the next rest stop. It’s not 8 hours yet, but I’m getting tired.


Took the opportunity to get a beauty shot.


The local facilities at Donner Summit.


Almost no one about, but there wasn’t a bad weather warning. Suits me – fewer people to foul things up. Had myself a quick shower, even.


Time for the last part downhill to Truckee.


It’s a long stretch, used the jake to keep us under 55.


Alright, will do.


And we’ve reached Truckee.


Oof. Reversing onto an incline? Bleh. Well, I asked for hard parking, and that’s what I got.


Made it, eventually. Next time – Truckee to Redding.
Krigl

[krigl]

Today's job takes us from Truckee, California back a bit closer to my home base in Medford, Oregon - we're going to Redding.


This time, to 'get us through the mountains' they're providing a 370hp W900 with a 120 gal. tank. Seems a tad feeble for the task, but we did manage.


Cargo: a cunningly concealed collection of Empty Pallets. My first ever Empty Pallets job on this profile! I'm so excited!


It's the worst paying job I've done so far, worse even then the introductory job (which I didn't show): 87 dollars. Well... good job I've concluded that the payment doesn't really matter all that much at the moment, then.


We passed through the centre of picturesque Truckee on the way out, so I snapped a couple of shots.




What about FURRIES?


The Sierra Tavern. Can't see any old 80s Fords around, but sure.


So, it's back up to Donner Summit.


Stopped off just for a moment when we reached the top.


Glad I did, the lake by the rest stop had a beautiful colour.


Looks like it's Jacobs time again.


Grrrroooowwwwllllllllllllll...


Down at last.


Made a longer stop here south of Redding. Gave everything a once over after those difficult mountain roads.


A nice ambience prevailed.




The last part took us through pleasant autumnal countryside. Autumnal. Can't do that with 'fall', can you. Fallal? Nah. Sounds like something made from chickpeas.






Well, we've arrived. Some kind of timber processing plant.


I was surprised when this thing came scooting past us - didn't expect anything at the delivery site to be moving except us and perhaps a guy sweeping, or keenly observing the fall of woodchips.


Parking 'the hard way' turned out to be especially difficult as we went the most direct route and ended up flailing like a gibbon on shrooms, trapped amongst loosely lying logs that we had to scramble over, and too-close walls which we almost clipped. Next time I'm going to make use of the console camera and plan my route better - after all, in real life you would probably be informed a bit more specifically about where to go to make a delivery than just 'go to the green flag'.


Still, another excellent effort, no damage, no fines. And so I sit, basking in the warmth of the fallal sunshine, contentedly riffling through my thick wad of 85 bucks plus change.

Next time - we fail to return to Medford once again (not that it matters of course), and head from Redding to Eureka on the north California coast.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Today we’re driving from Redding to Eureka on the coast of Northern California.


Nice early start down on the farm in an International LT with decent horsepower but no GPS.


I’ve recently completed training on reefer operation, so it was great to be hauling my first reefer – filled with buttermilk products! Luckily they have their own packaging plant here at DFA, so I can deliver the product directly to Walmart and not to some factory. Cut out the middle man, that's what I say. Farming done right.


Country driving as we approach Redding.


A long freight train rumbles by.


I pull out my old TomTom GPS as we pass through Redding. Wouldn't want to get lost, would we. Just starting to get my employer's confidence back...




Accident in Redding. I got totally boxed in and had to save and reload to remove the jam. First time I’ve tried that, worked a treat and better than ‘teleporting’ somehow.


Serene scene on screen.


It’s another spectacular route.


Pulled into a rest stop just before Weaverville.




Weaverville.


Further westwards lies Willow Creek with the Lost Steak House and Beta Freez…


…and a mean mural on the Garden Centre. You could have an ‘art seen’ section in the career statistics, there are so many gems like this tucked away.


Okay, okay, got to keep my ‘tourist’ instincts in check. This is supposed to be a ‘trucker’ profile.


More dramatic hilltop driving.




Nearly at Eureka, thought I’d better top up the gas.


Mainly, though, I’d heard the ice cream’s especially good here.


This guy looks like he makes less than I do. He does scoop a mean ice cream, though.


You have discovered a new location. Eureka!




Parking – a bit less tricky this time.


And we’re done with driving. $136 dollars richer, and an XP bonus for an urgent delivery. Now to clean out the reefer. It was packaged buttermilk, so got it done quite quickly. Next time – utility poles to Coos Bay. Medford is evidently out of bounds…

Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Trip #8 of this totally-true-to-life-trucking-tour (that's TTLTT for short) as an 'agency' and freelance driver, and prospective owner operator - one day - haulin' utility poles from Eureka to Coos Bay.


Despite there being a Walmart in Eureka, there was nothing suitable to carry from the sphere of dry vans, curtainsiders, reefers and the like, but the company wants me generating revenue, so they had me carry these utility poles up to Coos Bay. Back in Oregon, at least. Well, I made sure they were well lashed down, but otherwise didn't have to handle the loading, so it was all good.


On the way out of Eureka in a 370 hp 57x with another measly 120 gal. tank. Phat GPS though.


It's kinda funny, I'm doing my best to focus on trucking rather than exploring the map, and I'm still seeing a ton of new places just by accident. The trip up the coast we're about to do is really nice, and looks great in the fall.


Still in northern California right now.


I was thinking how stupidly small the numbers on the dial are, and then I noticed that your speed is actually displayed in large numbers below. Doing quick jobs is great in that you see a variety of cab layouts, new and old, fancy and plain.




Beautiful colours. Technically we should already be driving in late autumn/early winter, but I'll 'catch up' with that later. We can imagine it's early October.






Sea view.


Elk view.


Elk County car park. No elk for sale though, just the usual handmade tat. Just nipped in the loo quickly.


Popular as hell, though. Ended up losing more than I'd hoped to that loo break.


Approaching the border now. At least I won't have to stand in line for an agricultural inspection on the way out.






Magic Trees!


And here we are taking a longer break at Crescent City. Did a walk around, cleaned the remains of a Humboldt pine marten off one of the wheels. Strangely, I think it was dead before I hit it, as it was slightly burnt, as if fried by a dose of electrical current.


Must have been the Humboldt current.




Aaanyhow, there's a gas station in Crescent City...


...so we bought some gas and some gourmet eats (cold pasta with sundried tomatoes and a spork).


The journey onwards to Coos Bay was kinda similar, so I ditched a lot of shots. Night began drawing in while we were still on the road, as it seems wont to do.




It was fully dark by the time we reached Coos Bay.


Forever 21...


...and would you look at that! Coincidence? I think not. It must Mean Something. I'm sure. $169 for this haul. Just raking it in! Well, it was 265 miles. And yes, the job really did require me to deliver these processed logs to that Home Depot loading bay. Utility Poles - an ideal enhancement for every Home and Garden.

Continuing up the coast to Newport next time. Krigl

[krigl]

This time we are making two trips, first from Coos Bay to Newport, and then a local job from one side of Newport to the other.


Starting out in Coos Bay with an International 9000i Day Cab, 450hp.


The cargo is a double (yikes!) trailer of House Prefabs for 148 dollars. Again, I’d feel a lot more confident with a curtainsider or a reefer, but those options weren’t there.


Passing through the downtown of Coos Bay.


And the suburbs.


A very strange rotating bridge as we head up the coast.




My first tunnel with this profile, I think.


Forest rest stop. Checking everything's in order.


That’s the place to go for the restrooms, basic camping supplies, postcards, tea…


Continuing up the coast.


Bridge just before Newport.






Oh yes, I remember this bridge… spectacular!




Off the bridge, and heading for a construction site.




It was a double trailer, so no hard parking this time. I just had a bit of time to snatch some lunch, and then I had another thing to take care of.


Hauling wine in a 389.


That is one good-looking truck.


It was a bit of a squeeze getting out of this place.






Still, we made it.


Forever 21 again. And back over that bridge.




Traffic jam on the way to Dollar Tree.


Here we are, with another inclined slope to deal with.


Managed it again. What are you looking at? And why are you clapping so slowly?


Done. Next time we’ll be visiting Portland by night!
Krigl

[krigl]

Driving from Newport on the mid-Oregon coast to Portland this time, much of which was in the dark. Still in 1.48 right now, and in a Freightliner Cascadia.


Once again, I'm unable to take a curtainsider or reefer or container trailer to Portland, my only choice is to ferry cars. The game is supposed to be a kind of sandbox. Why can I not choose a pick-up city, a delivery city, choose the kind of thing I want from all possible job types and simply generate a ton of jobs?


And so it happens that I'm suddenly driving a car transporter, which I also, er, trained for recently. Yeahhhhh... okay.


''All seems to b-b-be in order'', I quaver, knees trembling, never having driven one of these on my own before.


Driving inland through dense forests.


Enjoying the scenery while the daylight lasts - we left late today.










The light is fading as we near Portland.


Triple trailer ahead.


There it is again.


Portland by night.


Funky lighting.








The delivery point is near (at?) the airport, possibly over the border in Washington, not sure. Seems very close to Vancouver, WA. The ATC tower can be seen ahead.


Alright, need to squeeze these cars in between the two trailers.


Doing one of several GOAL (get out and look) checks. There wasn't a lot of manaeiouvering space (that's deffo the spelling, right?) so I ended up blindside backing past the shorter trailer. Luckily I have a spotter with me - I didn't mention it before, but I always travel with my identical twin brother. I don't want to go into details, but he has a very specific condition that makes him totally freak out around most people, especially if they try to tell him what to do, which means that even though he's a pretty smart guy, he can't do most jobs. He's hard working, a perfectionist and fast, and when I showed the agency his skills and also his disability papers, they hired him too, and allowed me to take him with me on every job. He's brilliant at loading and calculations, spots every kind of issue during pre-checks, and also excels at spotting during parking, so he's very handy to have around, though he doesn't speak much, and mostly draws when we're travelling That's actually him in the truck there. Whenever I'm outside holding up my mobile to take a shot he always leaps into the drivers' seat, a strange habit, but there you go.


He draws mainly trucks, and he always draws the driver's seat occupied, too. I thought that he was drawing himself in there, expressing a wish that he had the patience to train to be a driver himself, hence his desire to always be in the seat when I'm not there. But that's not the case, as it turns out. ''That's not me'', he said. ''It's you''. He simply always wants to make it look as if I'm driving the truck.

Medford is now within reach, as the next job I've got lined up goes down to Eugene.
Krigl

[krigl]

Today my dream of getting back to Medford finally almost became a reality, as I drove a 400hp Cascadia south through Oregon hauling forklifts down from Walmart Logistics in Portland to Napa Car Parts in Eugene, Oregon.






We’ll see something of Portland by daylight this time – glimpses of the city’s great bridges, mainly.












Leaving Portland. Time to get moving southwards past Salem to Eugene.


Is this really a billboard? For Spotify?


One of America’s many vintage plane-stocked airfields.


Feels like England.


Cable-stayed footbridge. Interesting.


Approaching Eugene, I think.


Here’s the 3M plant.


And Napa Autoparts.


I guess they need these for shifting car parts around the warehouse.


All done, and a decent payout this time - $146! Sadly, I collided with a vehicle a few sets ago while taking photos with my head-mounted GoPro on the way from Coos Bay to Newport (not sure why I forgot to mention the accident, posting a day or two later was to blame, probably) and had to pay damages of 480 dollars, wiping out 3 or 4 trips’ worth of earnings. So, now trying to claw back that lost money, lololol…
Next time – a triumphal return to Medford.
Krigl

[krigl]

Making my last trip for a while with this 'trucking' profile - from Eugene back to Medford in the dark.


The Mack Anthem day cab I was allotted looks like a strong machine but only has 345 hp. Still, it's enough for the mainly flat route we've got ahead of us, carrying furniture between Home Store depots.


Let's get going, then.


Leaving Eugene proper, we prepared to hit the highway, and found the entrance blocked - detour required. Damn.


The GPS recommended a route that seemed to offer an alternative way onto the same highway (there are no other options if you want to go to Medford, it's either south to Medford, north to Portland or west to Newport and then all the way down the coast to Eureka, where we've just come from) so we followed it east towards an area of jobsites named Springfield and then doubled back. Upon reaching the highway entrance...


...we found that it was also blocked. Sigh. What now? The GPS was now sending us west...


...back to the part of Eugene we'd just started the trip from! What the???


And so it was that we ended up back at the first entrance to the highway, which was still blocked, and resolutely remained blocked even after moving the 'detours' slider to 0%, saving and reloading. Once again, nothing I could do except toss any pretences of realism out the window and carefully edge the truck past the police cars and down the slope.


It turned out that both access roads joined together BEFORE reaching the blockage, preventing any access whatsoever to the southbound route and necessitating a detour that would add hundreds of miles to the journey. I'll try to remember to simply turn detours off for this profile, I think.


Finally, we were on our way. It's just a short trip. Rest stop glimpsed through trees.


Now playing in 1.49, which means pretty much none of the mods I was using work. I started up the game with the 1.48 'beta' loaded so that everything would still work, and then found the author of the real economy mod had already updated it to 1.49 just a few hours after 1.49 came out, and that this most important mod for the profile no longer worked with 1.48. Because it's a workshop mod, there was no option to use an earlier version. Grrrrrrrr.... could have waited a day. Well, in any case, it's pitch black and I don't remember even seeing a moon, so not the best first encounter with 1.49. At least the dark hides the fact that it's suddenly no longer autumn, lol.


Mobile home park. 1.49 by daylight will have to wait till tomorrow, when I begin Part 4 of the Texas tour. Looking forward to seeing the new version in ETS2 as well, especially as the new DAF truck doesn't seem to work with 1.47, which I'm currently running. However, that depends on how fast ProMods manage to update their map, as I can't tour Norway without it. Will PM have an update ready in 2 or 3 weeks?? Seems very unlikely, as they will probably want to include routes to Western Balkans with it. So I may do another set of posts from this 'trucking' profile after Texas Part 4, or just use PM 1.47 still... arrrgh. I don't know. Decisions, decisions...


Pulled into a very large rest stop some way north of Medford. While crossing a wide open area of asphalt, I must have deviated from the route that AI trucks use, as those that had been following me suddenly started flooding past.


Headed for a quieter part of the car park.


My brother and I headed for the restaurant - we were hungry after the frustrations of trying to escape Eugene's clammy clutches. Of course, he ran back to the cab and clambered in to sit in the driver's seat as saw as he saw me raise my phone, just on the off chance that it would be visible in the dark that ''I'' wasn't sitting there. He's the best brother a guy could hope for, though it does tax my patience sometimes. And then we continued on our way to the bright lights a few hundred metres away.


It's a 7 FEATURES stop, which means good quality facilities. This one's got a Creekshore Restaurant! I loves me a good Creekshore steak.


Last stretch to Medford.


Here we are. Fun and sand? I hate fun.


Delivery time.


I've really been enjoying driving with this profile. Not only is it a breath of fresh air after all the relentless scenic touring, and a less labour-intensive activity as well, but also it's prompted me to start researching things that truckers actually do and get into the game a lot more. For example, I now know (in theory) how to open, close and clean a reefer trailer and what 'reefer' actually refers to, I've found out what bobtailing is, and that it can actually be very dangerous, and I've gained a far greater appreciation of the many skills a trucker has to master after watching videos on reversing, loading, air brake checks, pre-trip engine inspections... So, I will definitely return to it.


Truth be told, I'm quite sad to leave it right now, but with Kansas on final approach and the first sets of screenshots from SCS Greece no doubt on their way in the near future, I really need to get cracking with the tours. So, off to my other thread now, and a tour of eastern Texas.
Thanks for looking in, hope you've enjoyed!
Krigl

[krigl]

Back in here again after touring eastern Texas, and I'm about ready to tour ProMods' northern Norway. I'd like to show this beautiful region in the best possible light, so have decided to wait just a little longer for PM to update to 1.49 and make a few more trips with my 'trucker' profile. If it's not out by the end of the coming week then I guess I'll up sticks and head for Norway.


The Truckers For Hire-type company I seemingly work for were very happy with my probational period and have sent me on assignment to Arizona to work for Amazon and anyone else who might need a dependable pair of hands. I've also been doing some hazmat training for flammable liquids, so I might be called upon to transport gasoline or something like that.


For now, however, I'm taking plain old Home Accessories in a dry van from Phoenix Arizona to San Felipe in western Mexico. For the task I have a 2014 VNL with 550 hp and 580 thousand miles on the clock, though it's apparently in mint condition 'and we'd like it to stay that way', as the homies at the Amazon loading bay said.


It's a big change from the green vistas of eastern Texas, the lushness of Oregon and the conifer-clad wilderness of Norway - which is why I chose it. It's also going to be my first time ever driving in Mexico with the Project Reforma mod. We won't be there much, but a bit. My plan is to take a peek at ProMods' British Columbia with my next 'trucking minitour' so it's all very exciting right now... yep.


Heading out of Phoenix, it is perhaps visible that I'm using various 'realistic' mods for the roads, vegetation and eventually the mountains here, as they seem to be working for 1.49 now. The weather mod I was using before also seems to be fine.


Heading along Interstate 10 to a place called Quartzsite, a popular recreational town with a museum of chewing gum wrappers and the grave of an Ottoman camel driver. The town was, I think, added by the Reforma mod. At least, I don't remember it being there before.




We've reached Quartzsite.




Now heading southwest to Yuma.




Passing the local proving range.


This arid region is a colourful place.


Yuma reached.




Needed to stop off at the Yuma weigh station before crossing briefly into California.




Some of the sights of Yuma.


Entering California. We won't be here long.


Stopped for an agricultural inspection. Very wise, because some of the Home Accessories I'm carrying could be made partially or wholly of plant-based products.


Not much further on, just before El Centro, we were asked to stop at another weigh station.


El Centro lies that way, but we're about to cross the border from California into Baja California.


Queuing. Luckily it didn't take quite as long as it probably does in real life.


Border post.


Into no man's land.


And we're here. The journey to San Felipe continues next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

Continuing our journey to San Felipe in Mexico.


Mexican border controls.


Baja California is the part of California where we are.


The first place we encounter is Calexico.


Gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with Project Reforma so far, Mexico looks great. Maybe better than base game Arizona.


I've decided to abandon the 'realistic economy and fuel prices hard mode' mod I was using and go back to default SCS. Several reasons.


First, the mod gave zero rewards for levelling up after level one in 3 areas, making it almost pointless to level them up (apparently there was a 1% increase in payout or XP per higher level, forgot which, but that wasn't written on the skills page), meaning that you were pushed towards fuel economy, ADR and long distance driving. When you have a higher level profile, the fun comes from all the options you can choose from, but at low level it comes from levelling up and getting better. Not getting better didn't really suit me. On top of that, the amount of XP needed to go up levels was increased by the mod, meaning that progress was really slow. If I only had one profile in one game that might have suited me, but it's just too slow.


Another reason is that the author has apparently made compulsory snow appear in the winter months, even in places where no snow (almost?) ever falls, and when someone complained about it, saying they use the mod for the realistic economy stuff, they don't want snow with it, the author said they can just drive in areas where snow naturally falls during the winter if that bothers them, and that the snow is going to stay. That's bad modding and a bad attitude, and I can't really trust someone who makes decisions like that.


The default SCS economy is unsatisfactory, but I've decided to make things a bit harder for myself by not taking any loans at least. So, I'll upgrade my garage, get trucks and start hiring drivers when I've saved up enough. Also, it shouldn't really be about the grind, especially as the mod wasn't a fantastic alternative to SCS's feeble 'management' part of the sim. It's about the approach, which I'm going to keep - trying to drive realistically, only take pics from outside if we've stopped for some reason, always choose hard parking (maybe I'll put it on random later when I don't need the XP so much) and continue to read up on aspects of trucking so I have a bit more of a clue about what's going on... It's a lot of fun, I have to say. Who would have thought?


So... Alto means stop, I guess.


On the way to Mexicali now. Or perhaps we've just been through it. I wasn't very careful with recording where we are this time.


The place is actually called this, named after a famous doctor, it seems.






It's starting to get dark.




Interesting bridge pillar markings.


Some kind of checkpoint.




Approaching San Felipe, we spotted a driver caught by the cops with aid from a helicopter.


And we've arrived. A very cool drive indeed.




Great stuff. Next time - from Mexicali to Indio in California.
Krigl