Owner-Ops Only

Everybody else will be bored.

OK I'm taking on loose metal turnings in Worcester and expect to carry 42,000 lbs.

I plotted two routes to Buffalo. One is US 20, and I avoid most of the tolls. I haven't been on 20, but I see some meanderings which usually indicate hills. It's also upstate New York, and I bet it goes through a lot of towns.

It's tempting--in fact it looks a lot like the 20 I take through Ohio to avoid I-80 tolls. I might try it.

If I take 90 I know what I'll have. With 42k I should average 6.2 mpg. Taking 20 will cut that down, as I'll be hitting hills slow and stopping/starting a lot. On 90 I'll get there fast, whereas 20 takes me at least two more hours.

53.29 is my EZ Pass rate. What about fuel?

Well, with 42k and assuming the worst (lots of stoplights and a few bad hills) I reckon 5.2 mpg. It's 416 miles so that's 80 gallons. The toll road would give me 6.2 mpg's and I'd burn twelve fewer gallons. Just using the lowest rate alonmg that route, which is 2.99 cpg, that rounds off to 36 bucks. The difference is about 17 bucks.

But wait! There's more! The twelve gallons give me about eighty miles of range. This might mean the differnce between paying 2.99 now, a lower price later. Plus, the cheapest fuel on this route is ON I-90, so I'd have to get up there anyway.

Also, I consider wear and tear. 90 is smooth. 20 would abuse Herbie much more. I want to preserve him.

Then there's the chance I can deliver later today rather than tomorrow if I take the fastest route. (I won't bother checking. I like surprises.) Get empty early and I can get to the next pickup early--if Courtney has it ready for me yet, or can at least give me a city.

Then there's the variables: Traffic and construction on 90. That plus terrain and obstacles on 20. (I also haven't ckecked for low bridges and weight restictions either. On that road a re-route up to 90 isn't hard).

I also estimate conservatively. 6.2 are the lowest mpg's I get on I-90; I could get up to 6.4. 5.2 on the low side is a guess. Probably a safe one. And then there are probably a lot of cops on 20 waiting for a hill to tug me up over the speed limit on 20.

Then there's my mental health. I see myself getting angrier and angrier every time I have to use up my brakes going down a hill I should be using for momentum--because there might be a cop waiting for me. Then angrier when I hit the bottom of the next hill at near the legal speed limit and am going 30 mph at the top...knowing I've just burned a whole extra gallon of fuel for no good reason.

Angrier at the clown in front of me who thinks physics is what you do in the bathroom, and stifles me going up a hill. Stopping and starting and stopping and starting...

Guess which way I'm going. It's worth the extra 17 bucks.

So there.

CORRECTION: I completely forgot the MA. tolls. Probably another 22 bucks or so. Call it an extra 40 bucks I paid to avoid insanity.

But now I go from here to Philly, know all those roads, and know I can avoid the tolls without beating Herbie up or burning all my fuel.