Cascadia Evolution Of Efficiency Tour Day One

Finishing the last details before the start of our journey

The launch of our trip began on the morning of May 17, 2012. We performed our pre-trip inspection and were instructed to conduct a synchronized engine start up, idle and warm up for a specified period of time. The morning run on route I-8 took us from San Diego, CA to Welton, AZ. After lunch, we continued on I-8 east to Hwy 85 north (Gila Bend) to I-10 east and ended our day in Phoenix, AZ. Day one consisted of hard pulls as we drove away from the west coast.

Today was my first day to experience the new Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission. I found it to shift smoothly and precisely at the right time for maximum efficiency. For the amount of steep grades experienced today, I was surprised to attain a 6.98 m.p.g average at days end. This day we traveled 348 miles into our trip.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the results from Day 2

Henry

Lined up and ready to leave San Diego,CA

Henry Albert

Henry Albert is the owner of Albert Transport, Inc., based in Statesville, NC. Before participating in the "Slice of Life" program, Albert drove a 2001 Freightliner Century Class S/T™, and will use his Cascadia for general freight and a dry van trailer. Albert, who has been a trucker since 1983, was recognized by Overdrive as its 2007 Trucker of the Year.