OOIDA’s tour trailer hears Spokane, Wash, calling

For the next stop for OOIDA’s tour trailer, the Spirit of the American Trucker leaves the forested mountains for a stop in Spokane, Wash.

The Spirit of the American Trucker is scheduled to be at the Spokane Petro on Wednesday, June 10, and be there through Saturday, June 13. The Spokane Petro is at the Medical Lake Road exit from I-90, Exit 272 from I-90.

There are 200 truck parking spots at the Spokane Petro.

The Spokane Petro is west of downtown Spokane and the Spokane airport. It neighbors a Jensen Distribution Services facility. Jensen is a wholesale hardware distributor that serves more than 2,000 customers in 11 western states.

Also nearby are TW Transport and System Transport facilities.

The city is named for a tribe of Native Americans that lived in the area. The name means “children of the sun,” according to HistoryLink.org.

Spokane is situated on the arid and mostly unforested Columbia Plateau. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains through which the Columbia River has cut its path. To the west are the forests of the Selkirk Mountains.

Parking’s on the minds of regional drivers

At the last stop for OOIDA’s tour trailer in Missoula, Mont., drivers were buzzing about the Wyoming DOT closing 10 rest areas because of a budget crunch, as Land Line has reported. Truckers lose about 80 parking spots because of it. Here is Gov. Mark Gordon’s announcement about it.

“Are they going to ticket us for parking elsewhere to raise money to fix the rest areas?” was the question on a lot of truck driver’s minds, says Jon Osburn, skipper of The Spirit,

To that point, the Land Line article quotes a Wyoming DOT spokesperson as saying there are no plans to ease parking enforcement in the rest of the state because of fewer available truck parking spaces.

Stop by when you see The Spirit

If you see The Spirit tour truck, stop by and say hello to Jon. He enjoys visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. He usually has copies of Land Line Magazine to hand out. You can join or renew your OOIDA membership for $10 off the regular price there. Also, you can get vouchers for flu, shingles and pneumonia vaccines from Jon.

After Spokane, Jon and The Spirit are scheduled to stop in Portland, Ore., if social distancing requirements allow it. Here is the schedule.