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 n Friday evening I finally went back on the road, picking up a load in Logansport, IN bound for Tacoma, WA. It's nearly identical to the trip I went on back in January when I crashed, in fact I drove by my accident site yesterday afternoon.
I am enjoying the new company I work for. They're very laid back folks and yet, so far, have been fantastic with logistics. They're keeping me busy with all the work I could want, but with sensible parameters that don't require me to work myself to death trying to meet the demands of the load. After I deliver in Tacoma today, I back-haul with a load that's waiting for me in Wallula, WA this evening, due in Dakota City, NE by Friday morning. I'll take Friday off and part of Saturday to reset my 70 hour than try and knock out another 70 before I take a couple of days off next weekend with Welf in PA.
You know the type of people that, no matter what your problem is, they always have some bigger sob story than you? Like if you told them you were just diagnosed with cancer, they'd tell you about how they got cancer AND had to have a limb amputated in the same day? Ordinarily, those folks annoy the ever-living bejeezus out of me, but there is one instance in which I am that person. You can not complain to me about how expensive gas prices are and how it costs $80 to fill-up your SUV, because fucker, I will always win the bitch-fest in that department.
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 uess what's sitting in my driveway?
Steel tire chains!
 Actually, they're in the garage now. One set of dual-chains for the the drive tires and two sets of single chains to be placed where ever they're needed or required. They were left on my new truck by the previous driver. I'm guessing they were too troublesome for him to take when he moved out. I also inherited two load bars. I also have 4 sets of cable-style chains that I never returned to Werner, in addition to buckets full of straps. I assume they're mine to keep since they kept my bond. Heh. Yeah yeah, I know. These are the pictures you were hoping to see. 
 She's definitely prettier than Sally was and if the bobtail trip home from Omaha was any indication, she rides a lot nicer, too. She also has a lot more bells and whistles than Sally (air bag dump! power windows! power mirrors! steering wheel telescope/tilt!) which will make every day life on the road a little better. I've named her Rosie, because, you could say she's got it all. Specs: 2004 Peterbilt 387 Cummins motor Eaton Fuller 8-speed transmission McMullen put new rubber all the way around, replaced the air conditioning condenser and radiator, put a new hub cover on one of the rear axles, replaced/relined brakes, replaced all four batteries and replaced the heating/air controls. In all, a good 6-7k in repairs before giving her to me. Hopefully I can get a good 50,000 - 100,000 miles out of her before I encounter any breakdowns/repairs of consequence. | |
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 inally, I have a green light to go get the truck. It's been in McMullen's shop for the past week waiting to have a radiator core repaired/replaced. It should be done today or at the very latest, tomorrow morning. At ass o'clock in the morning I will be on a plane for Omaha, take care of a few details there and begin driving it back to Kentucky. Yes, by tomorrow night I'll be on a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha. I should be back no later than early afternoon on Thursday.
I called OOIDA this morning and had the insurance activated. It will take affect at 12:01 tonight. They also will electronically file the proof of insurance with FMCSA, so I should have my operating authority in 10-14 business days. In the meantime, I have a few licensing and permits loose ends to resolve once I get the truck back here (IFTA, KYU, base plates), but I should be ready to roll by the time I'm granted authority.
I have a three hour layover in Cleveland tomorrow morning. Sounds like a perfect time to polish up and post the first installment of A Guy's Guide To Cooking.- Tags:truckgeek
- Music:smoke the day's last cigarette
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 fter nearly three months of not doing anything, everything is finally beginning to come together - quickly. Yesterday I finally got my motor carrier number and D.O.T. number for the truck I'll be leasing. I'm shopping quotes on insurance, but will make my decision by Monday and have a policy activated. I may even do it tomorrow. Once this is done, it will be filed with the FMCSA and my authority will be granted in 10-14 business days.
On Tuesday, I'll be heading for Omaha to pick-up the tractor so that I can drive it back to Kentucky for an inspection and get my base plates. I'll also take care of IFTA, KYU and other loose ends while waiting on my authority. By the time I have it, I should be ready to roll. At the very latest, I should be back on the road sometime the week of April 13-19.
For those of you interested in the specifics, I'll be getting a 2004 Peterbilt 387 that will look nearly, if not exactly like, this:
 I thought about going into more detail about the journey to getting my own authority, but since it hasn't ACTUALLY come-to-pass yet and there may be more bumps in the road to circumvent, maybe I'll save it for a later entry once I'm successfully in business. I'm sure there are at least a few of you that would be interested to know just what it is you have to go through. - Tags:truckgeek
- Music:i'm the smiling face on your TV
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s some of you have known from the beginning, I was competing in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) therealljidol under the pseudonym ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) srs_bidness. For those of you who didn't know, surprise! I was voted out last week during a special contestants-only vote if you hadn't heard. I just wanted to thank those of you who followed along and enjoyed the fun, as well as express my gratitude for that one time a couple of weeks ago when I prodded you for some voting help.
I've posted my final entry over there, if you're interested.
I got in touch with the textbook publisher and sold them a nearly identical shot of the shoe tree taken in the summer time. I guess that makes me a quasi professional photographer now or something. A personal shout-out to the thoughtful hairy_canary who touched-up the photo they originally wanted, even though it was ultimately unnecessary. You're a doll. What're you doing with that goober?
I've been working part-time at the candy factory where welfy gives tours, doing some painting work. It doesn't pay much, but it helps while I sort out getting my own authority and insurance. McMullen and I finally came to an agreement on what my next truck is going to be and I will be submitting the necessary forms and what-not to the FMCSA for getting my own authority and working with OOIDA for procuring the necessary insurance.
Do you think Mr. Miyagi purposefully waited for Daniel-san to become angry about all of the wax-on/wax-off stuff so that he would be reactive and display his skills reflexively or was he just trying to get as much work out of him as he could before having to train him?
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 oday I began taking apart my desktop computer to prepare it for the new hardware I'm expecting on my doorstep tomorrow. I was getting kind of excited about jumping to a Duo Core MB and processor. The board actually supports quadcore but, with the lack of employment I thought it best to be modest in my upgrade. After pulling the MB from the chassis, I thought I'd pull the processor off and see if I could determine the source of the problem. Typically in a situation like this, you can find char marks where the power surged through the circuitry, and having seen no indicators on the MB, I figured it must be in the processor slot.
The heatsink was being ornery so I gave it a little force and the entire thing popped out with the processor baked to the thermal grease. It's not supposed to do that. Out of curiosity, I opened the latch on the CPU slot and reseated the processor and hooked the board back up to the power supply. I was thinking maybe this could be something as simple as poor contact between the processor and board.
It booted!
After more troubleshooting, I've come to the conclusion that the power supply is going bad. When I hook the final hard drive to the power connector, the machine won't recognize it, and it becomes sluggish and wonky. Each individual drive works fine when plugged-in independently. In fact, it'll power everything except any one of the hard drives; it doesn't matter which, it's just too much for it to power. The little 350w PSU I have in there was probably already taxed to its limits with the high-end graphics adapter, 4 hard disks and an optical drive and, while it's apparently operational, it must've suffered some damage which is effecting its power output.
Of course, big dummy that I am already has the new MB and CPU on the way. The thought of going Duo Core in my desktop is sexy as hell, but I really don't need it and, given my general financial situation at the moment, hard to justify. So I've RMAed the new hardware and ordered a 500w PSU. In the meantime, I can use my machine, I just have to keep one of the drives unhooked until the PSU arrives.
The company I've been talking with about going to work for has told me that they have a company policy against hiring drivers who have been in "preventable rollover" accidents in the past 5 years. That is, drivers using their authority. The folks at McMullen told me that I might have to go the route of getting my own authority, so I asked her about that. She said in the case of having my own authority, the entire application process is foregone and none of the company policies apply, but that she'd have to let me know tomorrow for sure.
The prospect of getting my own authority is both exciting and daunting. Exciting because I'd be truly independent except for the lease arrangement with McMullen. Daunting because, well, I'd be totally independent and responsible. The good thing about McMullen's rent-to-own leases though is that, if for some reason I decide I can't make it or it's too much headache, I can get out of the lease and walk away. While in the lease, I'll still be tethered to them and working for a company they're formally associated with, for ease of accounting. Once the truck is paid for though, I could go to work wherever I wanted, or just "free-lance" with a broker and not be tied to any one company.
The folks at McMullen also had some good news for me, too. My contact there estimates that, after the insurance settlement on the truck, I'll have 9-10k in cash left over. That will be a welcome addition to this financial mess, especially since the process of getting my own authority could take some time, and money. They assured me that they would work with me, to the point of even fronting some of the cash necssary to obtain my authority and work it into the lease. | |
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 ast night, shortly after going to bed, welfy and I were awoken by the sound of a warning siren. Checking the television, it was soon discovered that a Tornado Warning was in effect. We trudged down to the basement and I began cleaning off the couch so I could move it to the center of the room and we could curl under a blanket and wait it out. While in the process of moving things about, it occurred to me that I should shut down the computer. While in the process of Windows "saving settings" in preparation for a proper shutdown, the electricity flickered off then back on. The computer went blank. Later I discovered that it wouldn't boot. Upon further troubleshooting, I've ruled out the boot drive and video card - in other words, time for a new motherboard and/or processor.
I called APC, the maker of my surge protector/UPS, since they presumably provide a guarantee for your equipment connected to their products. The lady on the phone was very nice and will have me a new UPS here by the middle of next week, at which time I'm to return my old one for testing. The entire claims process could take up to 6 weeks before I find out if they'll pay for the replacement of my computer parts. It'll be interesting to see if they actually cover it or not.
Then this afternoon, Werner finally called me re: my suspension review. After a month of waiting, they're letting me go. I'm relieved to finally know something, though I wish they hadn't taken this long. So now the search begins for a new company to work for. I'm going to begin with McMullen, the folks I had gotten Sally from. I'm going to see what other companies they work with a lot in addition to what options there are for me just going wherever I want. Hopefully I can find something within a week or so. The wreck not withstanding, a guy with 5 years of OTR experience, especially all for a single company, is sure to be worth something in an industry with a turnover rate as notorious as retail/restaurant.
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s many of you already know, directly or indirectly from welfy's journal, I wrecked and totalled my truck a little over two weeks ago. With the exception of a short trip to Florida for a family wedding, I've been at home for the past two weeks dealing with insurance companies and replacing various personal items that were lost or damaged in the crash. I thought some of you might be interested to know the details of the wreck and I'm sure all of you would be interested in seeing the pictures. Now that I finally have some time on my hands, I thought I'd try to get back in the LJ saddle and ride.
I was driving across Montana, heading for the west coast on Friday, January 4th. I had stopped in Billings around lunch time for fuel and food. The sky was clear, it was warm, and the roads were dry. It was a little breezy, but nothing to be concerned about. A couple of hours later, I was in Livingston, MT. It's a small town which sits at the entrance to the canyon which leads into Bozeman on I-90. Livingston sits north of a natural wind-breaker and the interstate by-passes the town utilizing this rise in the land.
It was a little after 2 in the afternoon and I was climbing this rise in the truck when I noticed emergency vehicles on the side of the road at the crest of it in a curve. I checked my left mirror, changed to the left lane, and began reducing my speed. As I neared the top of the hill, I began to notice the wind picking up. As I came around the curve and crested the hill I saw three semis on their side on the side of the road and a recreational camper that was rolled over as well. Just as I was thinking to myself, "Wow, I wonder how they got all tangled up with each other?" my seat started to rise. Of course it was rising because the entire left side of my truck was rising. The wind at the top of this natural windbreaker was gusting up to 80mph I was told later. In a matter of seconds gravity was on the wrong side of me and I was suspended from my seat by the safety belt. My windshield cracked and I lost all visibility for the rest of my ride as Sally and the trailer she was pulling laid over on her side at 50mph.
With that kind speed and inertia, I skidded on my side for a while. I hate to sound cliche, but time began to slow. What probably was less than 5-10 seconds seemed like an eternity while I was suspended there, hanging onto the useless steering wheel trying to take some of the pressure of the seat belt off my side with my arms. The roof caved suddenly causing the plastic molding above me crash in on my right shoulder and arm, but thankfully not my head. I couldn't figure out why this was happening since, judging from where the gravity was, I was still on my side. The windshield was beginning to tear away as well and a combination of oil and antifreeze was beginning to sprinkle my face.
This is probably the only time in my life when I honestly and truly believed that my own death was a distinct possibility. In this way I wasn't cliche. My life didn't flash before my eyes. I didn't think of my kids. I didn't think of my wife. I was concentrating on two things. The first of these is that I was trying to hold myself as "high" in the vehicle as possible (the door above) while keeping my head away from the caving roof. The second is that I was concentrating on my own... consciousness. I don't mean that I was trying to stay conscious; I was perfectly alert and lucid. I was concentrating on the experience of my own consciousness since I had no idea with each passing second if it was going to be the last one.
The truck finally came to rest. Amazingly, the engine was still running so I reached down (er, up I guess technically) and turned the key to kill the motor. Diesel fuel is not particularly flammable, in fact, you'd be lucky to ignite it with a pocket lighter, so I wasn't immediately concerned about that. What I was worried about, though, was another truck coming through there and being blown over like I was. Gravity was still on my right. The roof of the cab was completely collapsed into the passenger seat and down between the two seats. Propping the weight of my body against the collapsed roof, I was able remove the seat belt. I pulled the latch on the door, turned my body slightly and pushed it up and open with my foot.
Now the fun part.
Using the steering wheel as a grip and the collapsed roof behind me, I pulled myself out of the truck, not unlike crawling out of a manhole. Once out though, I had limited options. The door was swung wide to my right and the highway was in front of me. I had skidded out of the left lane, across the right lane and across then off the shoulder into the grass. I turned to look behind me and... imagine my surprise to see the underframe and wheels of a flipped passenger vehicle beneath me. Just then, the wind gusted and blew me off the truck. On my way backward, I slowed my fall by grabbing the frame of my driver-side mirror. It gave me just enough time to aim my foot for the side of my motor, as the hood of my truck was completely gone. I landed on my ass on top of the flipped vehicle that was laying mostly under my truck.
Now I was worried about the possibility of a fire or explosion. Diesel's one thing, gasoline is something else. I scrambled off of the passenger vehicle as quickly as I could. A few feet away was an SUV with the rear end all smashed-up. I located a couple of bewildered looking policemen on the other side of the wreck. They asked if I was okay, which I was. I turned to look back at the vehicles now that I was a safe distance from them.
I had hit two vehicles after being blown over, flipping one of them. Both of them had decals on the side of them reading "Park County Sherrif." Both of them were newer model Dodge Durango SUVs. My own safety now secure, my next fear was for the potential passengers of the two Durangos. I asked the deputy if anyone had been in the vehicles and he assured me that no one was and that everyone was okay.
I don't fuck-up very often, but when I do, boy do I do it right.
( More of the story )
And that's the story. Now for the fun stuff. Pictures!
This photo gives the best overall view of the truck and trailer laying on its side. You can barely see the wheels of the flipped Durango off to the far right. ( Click to jump to the rest of the photos ) | |
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 ith only two hours remaining on his shift for the day, Don decided to stop at a truckstop to take a small bathroom break this morning. As he was returning to the highway, a combination of factors - but most of all his own inattention - resulted in his getting tangled-up with another truck. Don was making a left-hand turn and clipped the front fender of a truck that was sitting in the left hand turn lane. Don was facing the sun and in heavy traffic and didn't clearly see what his trailer was doing until it was too late.
 The other driver was stopped 15 feet over the stop bar, so the officer very graciously decided to not cite anyone in the accident and left it for the insurance companies to squabble over. It's not an excuse for Don hitting a stopped vehicle in traffic, but it was a contributing factor along with all of the others. | |
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eaving Baltimore tonight, Maryland state troopers decided to give Sally and the trailer we were pulling a D.O.T. inspection. They were thorough as hell. I have three out-of-service failures:
1) two brakes out of adjustment, both on the trailer
2) an air line chafing, on a trailer axle
3) an air service line on the truck cab air bags is leaking
Don was driving so he got the ticket, but I'll be paying the fine ($130). We're sitting here waiting for a service truck to show up and get us moving again. Since two of the three failures were on the trailer, I'm hoping Werner will pick-up the bill for the service call and just bill me for replacing the air line on the truck. I have a feeling though that at some point in the coming weeks I'll be making an irate phone call to get it sorted out.
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 ey wow, I have a LiveJournal.
I spent my home time organizing the house and spending time with welfy mostly. I've been back on the road for a few days now. I've acquired a new student, named Thomas. He has a horrible cold and is constanlty coughing. Today the back of my throat has started feeling sore. Lovely. Other than that, he's an alright guy. He's doing well and we get along; can't ask for much more than that.
Since autumn officially starts next Saturday, I'm going to try and finish up posting gams photos this week since it's supposed to be a summer project. A few more have straggled in over the past couple of weeks. If you've been putting it off, this is your last chance.
A small discussion began in my last entry about what "jake brakes" were. Rather than reply, I thought I'd just write one of my little truckgeek explanations for the remainder of this journal entry, just in case you ever wondered. This is a really basic explanation of somewhat complex mechanics and thermodynamics. But here's the meat of it.
The Jacobs Brake is actually a brand name which has become synonymous with all engine compression brakes. Diesel engines don't work like gasoline engines at a very fundamental level, even though both are four-stroke engines (one powered stroke in four). In a gas engine, you need fire, fuel, and air. (1) Air is throttled at a precise ratio with the fuel, mixed, and sucked into a cylinder by a piston on a down-stroke. (2) An up-stroke compresses the air/fuel then it is ignited by the spark plug, (3) causing an explosion which provides a powered down-stroke. Finally, (4) a small valve opens in the top of the cylinder and the smoke/heat is exhausted during the final up-stroke. The valve closes and stroke 1 begins again.
In a diesel engine, there is an absence of fire; there are no spark plugs. (1) Unthrottled air is sucked into the cylinder and (2) compressed. In a diesel engine, the compression ratios are much, much higher, creating temperatures upwards of 1,500 Farenheit as the air is squeezed. In other words, there's no need for a spark plug. (3) Fuel is then injected into the hot air causing ignition for the powered down-stroke and (4) the final up stroke exhausts the fumes through an opened valve.
If you've ever stuck your tongue in the top of a soda bottle and then sucked all of the air out using your tongue as a valve, you know the force the vacuum can apply as it tries to pull your face into the bottle. In a gasoline engine, this is what happens when you take your foot off the gas. Stroke 4 just pushed everything out through the exhaust valve. Since you're not giving it gas, nothing is sucked into the cylinder, so stroke 1 creates a vacuum inside the cylinder. This causes drag on the engine in stroke 1 and stroke 3, as the vacuum tries to pull the piston back up during these two down strokes.
Since air going into the cylinder of a diesel engine is unthrottled, this doesn't happen. Even if you're not supplying fuel, the air still is tightly compressed on stroke 2, but then acts like a spring pushing back down on the piston for stroke 3, the power stroke. In the case of a heavy truck going down a hill, gravity becomes "free energy" from the drive-wheels, through the transmission, providing compression only to have it push the piston back down in a powered stroke and send the energy back to the drive-wheels where it's added to the gravity... again.
What someone figured out was that by adding a second exhaust valve, which could be opened at end of the power stroke (3), the hot, compressed air could be exhausted. In a truck rolling down a hill, the "free energy" coming through the transmission is absorbed by the compression stroke, but is now robbed from the engine by its release through the exhaust, causing a discernible net loss in power. That is what an engine brake is and that's why it makes that loud WOP WOP WOP noise when a truck driver takes his foot off the fuel pedal; it's the tightly compressed air rapidly escaping the cylinders in succession at the end of their respective stroke 3s.
The engine brake disengages whenever the fuel or clutch pedals are pressed and can be turned-off altogether via a switch on the dashboard. They can be particularly dangerous on rain/snow/ice covered roads. Since it only provides braking power through the drive wheels, it's a recipe for a jack-knife on anything other than dry roads.
Hopefully that wasn't too confusing.
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ne of the recurring issues with Sally is a problem with the coolant system. I've been told by a mechanic that something is causing compression in the coolant. This causes me to lose about a half gallon of antifreeze over the course of a day through the overflow tube. I'm thinking of trying to rig something to "catch" the antifreeze as it overflows so that it's not just money down the drain. My guess is that this is a major, internal motor issue which won't get solved until I do an overhaul, which won't be for at least another year.
More annoying than that, however, is the overheating. More than likely this is related to this problem, though I'm not entirely sure. When laden and pulling a grade, however slight, the temperature creeps up quickly in a truck. This is ordinary and the engine fan kicks in at 210 degrees and knocks it back to down to 200 before turning back off. In this heat however, on really long grades, even the slightest of them, I've been experiencing problems with it climbing over the 220 mark, which results in the computer shutting the engine down. I've learned over the course of this summer how to avoid this: I have to keep the RPMs above 1500 so that the fan turns fast enough to cool the radiator sufficiently. This isn't difficult to do, just annoying. Sometimes you have to slow down and grab a lower gear just to keep the RPMs there.
Since I've figured this out, my previous two students both had a good deal of experience with road tractors and making them understand this principle wasn't difficult. With Tom, however, it's been more difficult impressing upon him the importance of this. He learned this lesson the hard way the other night as we were driving into Memphis. It was a long, gradual grade; virtually flat to the eye but Sally sure knew it. The "high coolant temp" warning was given and I instructed Tom to get onto the shoulder as quickly as possible. In times past when it's happened to me, getting off the road and letting the engine idle quickly enough will sometimes avert disaster.
Okay disaster is a strong word. Pain in the ass might be more appropriate, only this time it was disastrous.
The truck shutdown from the high temperature as expected. Ordinarily, I fix this problem by CAREFULLY venting the coolant reservoir, letting the hot vapor escape then refilling with some fresh coolant. Apparently I wasn't careful enough and the cap blew off the reservoir as the pressure inside sought its way out. I was greeted with a blast of hot coolant to the face. I was standing on top of the motor when this happened and I immediately turned and jumped for the ground before I got myself completely scalded by the green geyser spewing from my motor.
Thankfully I wasn't hurt, from the coolant or the jump. The sudden pressure release had resulted in a complete loss of coolant. I had four gallons of coolant on-board with me and began pouring it into the reservoir, watching it all disappear down into the motor. There simply wasn't going to be enough to run it. What's worse was that the reservoir cap was nowhere to be found. We tried looking up and down the highway, in the nooks and crannies of the motor, and the ground beneath... it was gone. I'm guessing it was ejected into the corn field and lost. So even if I had enough coolant, I had no way to keep it in.
First I called the breakdown department of my company. After being on hold for over twenty minutes I sent a Qualcom message to them. After no response for 15-20 minutes that route, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I called welfy and got her to run some Google searches for a Freightliner dealer in the Memphis area. Armed with phone numbers I placed calls until I got myself hooked-up with an area towing/repair service. I employed them to pick me up a cap from the dealer and to bring me copious gallons of antifreeze and water. The entire ordeal took 3-4 hours and we were finally back on the road. Ever since then, Tom has been more vigilant in monitoring the temperature guage on grades, making sure Sally keeps cool and it hasn't been an issue again.
Otherwise, it's been a great week. I've covered nearly 5,000 miles in the past seven days. It's much needed after the way last week went. | |
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 f you're driving through Arizona on I-10 this afternoon and see a candy-apple red truck pulling a big blue trailer, and the driver ain't got no clothes on... that would be me.
It's supposed to get to 115 today. According to XM, it's already 105. Lawd-a-mussy.
I'm getting a new student this afternoon in Phoenix. He only has 70 hours to complete, so he should be a breeze. Just teach him to use the Qualcomm and let him make money for me. This means I need to clean-up Sally this afternoon... in this heat. It's a bit of a wreck having had it to myself for the past month. Yesterday she got a bath and is all shiny on the outside... but the inside... hoooo boy.
I suppose with it being a holiday that there's a good chance I'll be sitting around until tomorrow. If that's the case, I might seriously consider investing in a motel room for the night. Poor Sally's A/C can't keep-up with this kind of heat.
I think I need to get a picture of Sally while she's clean and replace that icon I have of The Beast.
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he shop was able to identify Sally's woes and get her up and running again last night. I think this might resolve a long-standing problem she's had in the fuel system, which is good. Doubly good is that it wasn't terribly expensive; I got her up and running in 24 hours for a mere $500. By the time they called me last night, though it was late in the evening so it was decided that it'd be best to just settle up in the morning.
Yesterday morning, after sleeping off my night of wine and steak, I found myself awake at 6:30 AM. Welf lie in a warm lump beside me. She had a short day ahead of her, not having to go into work until 10 and out early by 4:30 which meant I was going to be treated to a bit more time with her than I otherwise would have in such a situation. We talked quietly and sleepily snuggled together for a while then I did what I do best; I made us breakfast! Eggs and bacon... tea for her, coffee for me. I saw her off to work then spent the rest of my morning dicking around on the computer for a couple of hours.
I met Welf for her short lunch break and then I took the rental car back that I had used to get myself home to Frankfort. The good people at Enterprise were kind enough to let me return it locally without having to drive it back to Lexington, without any one-way charges or anything. When she got home a few hours later we subjected ourselves to more of that much needed cuddle-time then headed out for dinner.
Ever since moving to Frankfort last year, there has been some commercial space near us promising a Japanese grill and sushi joint COMING SOON, and Frankfort doesn't have any other options for decent sushi. They finally opened in the past week or two, so Welf and I decided to go try it out. It was awesome... the service, the atmosphere, the food. Great all the way around. I have a feeling that we'll be regular customers of theirs now that they're finally open.
We made a quick trip to the grocery and returned home. We originally had planned to curl-up and watch a movie on a laptop in the bedroom, but we got into a serious conversation and never got around to it; conversation of the relationship management kind. Not to cause any undue worry among our many mutual friends around here, but Welf and I have been at a crossroads in our relationship for about 6 months, since way back before Christmas. We still are very much in love and make each other so happy, but the arc of our relationship has come to a place where we have to decide where we go from here, and sometimes the emotions that result from that love run high. By the end of the night though, we were enjoying the comfort of tangled arms, legs, and fingers while she rambled on about some of her favorite memories. It was inspired by something which happened on Lost this week, but she does this all the time anyway. It's one of those little things about someone you come to love. She'll ramble and giggle or cry about people I've never met or known and tell me their stories and how they relate to her. It's like she opens the window to her life and lets you look into it for as long as you want. There's this constant string of characters, a menagerie of family & friends, ex-boyfriends & lovers, that I get to meet through her stories that tells me more about the woman lying there with me. Those of you who read her journal love her for the very same thing. She's a great story-teller and loves nothing more than to share them with you.
Fortunately for me I was able to get back on the road this morning and not be off the road for days with this breakdown. I have plans to be home next weekend when Welf has two days off and I was concerned this would interfere with that. We'll have a lot of time for uninterrupted frolicking. Spring time in Kentucky is a great time for frolicking. There's no telling what we'll get into. As for now, Dave and I are bound for Nashville to pickup a load that has to be in Maryland tomorrow morning. He only has about 3 more days with me, then I'll likely remain studentless until after the holiday and take a small break from wearing the trainer hat.
- Tags:truckgeek, welfy
- Music:although i didn't do anything, no i didn't do anything. all i ever wanted was to be your spine
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hey didn't get the truck done on Tuesday, but it was done on Wednesday. It turns out that it wasn't a blown head gasket after all, but a bad oil cooler; a much cheaper and easier fix than tearing down the motor to remove the head. That's the good news.
After picking Sally up yesterday afternoon I took her immediately to an alignment shop. I had a 7pm appointment, so I was beginning to think I would be able to get back on the road by Thursday morning. Of course, things are never that simple. After getting Sally into the alignment bay, I wandered off into the truckstop to play video games for the next couple of hours. The shop called me back fifteen minutes later to inform me that there was some play in one of the kingpins and they couldn't do the alignment until it was repaired. They proceeded to quote me a $1500 estimate to have it done. That would be the bad news.
Effff that. I decided I'd just take it back to McMullen this morning and have them look at it. There was some play in it and the shop foreman assured me he could have it done by the end of today and added that working with tierods/steering is one of his personal specialities and he'd do the job himself. It won't cost me nearly as much to have them do it though. So hopefully I''ll have the truck back this afternoon, can get it in for an alignment this evening, then be back on the road first thing tomorrow.
I've been in one of my full-on Hearts moods lately. For the past few weeks I haven't been able to get enough of it. This week with all of the down-time, I've done nothing but consume vast quantities of Dr. Peppers, smoke cigarettes, listen to music, and play cards on Yahoo! all day. Which is where I'm headed now.
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fter getting Sally fixed last week, I acquired a new student. His name is Sam and he's been around trucks most of his life, but never had a CDL until now. Werner only gave him 105 hours to do for training. He's a bit of a good ol'd boy from Delaware; a self-proclaimed, reformed hellraiser and loves NASCAR. Yee-haw. Put him in a wife-beater, sweat pants, and flip-flops and he could co-splay as Carl. He seems to be a nice enough of a guy though, just not someone I can relate to. All the really tacky clothing and crap they sell in truck stops? This is the guy that buys that shit.
With only 105 to do, I won't have him for very long. In fact I may not even have him for all of his meager training. Since leaving home today, I plan to stay on the road until Easter. Part of the plan is that, I'm going to get myself routed to the Omaha area by Monday for the sole purpose of getting Sally doctored-up at the McMullen shop. I'm going to have the alignment done, the windshields replaced, a water-pump replaced, and - drum roll please - a head gasket replaced. Yup, I'm getting oil in the water. Not a good sign. I talked with the mechanic at the McMullen shop and they can do all of that work except the alignment. Having them change the head gasket will save me a bundle over having it done at a dealer.
With all of that work that needs to be done, especially tearing down the motor for the head gasket, I'm likely to lose several days of work... at least. Which is fine, it's work I need done and I'm scheduling my time there in anticipation of it, but I'm sure Sam won't be interested in sitting for several days, especially after having just sat for 3 days in Frankfort while I was on home time. We're playing it by ear and if I'm only going to be down for a couple of days, he might wait it out with me. But honestly, I see this being at least 3-4 days of down time so I imagine he'll try and snag him a different trainer out of the Omaha terminal.
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he final week with LARM was a doozy. We left Frankfort, KY on Tuesday morning and were in Seattle by Thursday. By Sunday morning we were in Atlanta.
Coming out of the deep south and bound for New Jersey, the solenoid went bad in the transmission and I lost my low range of gears. Not a huge deal as I was highway driving, but not a lot of fun pulling a 42,000 pound load when I had to get off the interstate for a detour in Baltimore. I told dispatch I could take it as far as Allentown, PA but then they needed to find someone to finish taking it to the customer: there's no way I was going to try manuevering and backing that heavy of a load in the high-range reverse.
I got here around 06:00 and passed the trailer off to the driver who would finish the delivery then took a nap for a few hours. Earlier, LARM had been given approval to exit training and process out to get his own truck. We went for breakfast and I tidied up some of the loose ends of his training then I handed him over to the training department at the terminal. I was due for my annual review, which involved a good amount of routine corporate bullshit that tied me up for a couple of hours.
I had turned-in my repair request to the shop that morning but still hadn't heard anything. I checked with the shop foreman and was assured I was at the "top of the list". It was after 19:00 before they finally got the truck into the shop. They can't get the parts for it until tomorrow afternoon so here I sit. The good news is, it's a relatively cheap and quick fix. I'll be heading home this weekend, then plan to work until Easter. Over the course of those three weeks, I'm planning to spend some time in the Omaha area getting my windshields replaced as well as a water pump. Finally, I'm going to get the alignment done on Sally as well.
Lately I've been giving some serious consideration to ditching this lease agreement and purchasing a truck. I've considered a new one, but the thought of a 60 month or more term with payments much higher than what I have now doesn't sit well with me, even for the promise of less repair headaches for the next couple of years. This truck will be paid for in another year.
What irks me though is that by the time I'm done paying for the truck, I'll have paid nearly twice what it's worth. At first this didn't bother me, I've known this from the beginning. The reason I accepted this lease is because I was unsure if I even wanted to be an owner/operator, and the lease is pretty much no strings attached. If I want out, I just take them the truck back. I'm out the money I've paid every month, but I'm not stuck with a truck and loan. After doing it for nearly a year, despite the hassles involved, the independence which comes with it trumps. I've been pricing some used trucks at a dealership in Kansas City which offers 3yr/300k mile warranties on any trucks with under 425k miles, and they have several listed for around $50k.
A 36 month loan/lease agreement would be payments comparable to what I have now, for a truck that has half the miles (and presumably half the headaches) of Sally with a warranty to boot if anything major were to occur. I'm not sure that I can secure the financing necessary to do it, but I've submitted one application today just to see what happens. Cross your fingers and wish me luck.
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fter picking up a load in Neenah, WI bound for California, my dispatcher arranged a load swap with an east bound driver so I could head toward home. It was arranged for us to meet in Rapid City, SD at 2am this morning. Not long after nightfall and crossing into South Dakota, we stopped for fuel and to check Sally's coolant situation. The temprature was falling fast and already well below zero. The night promised only to get colder. I treated the diesel with a strong dose of anti-gel and topped-off the coolant reservoir, stocking the sidebox with an additional four gallons of antifreeze as a precaution.
LARM continued driving and I laid down to get a nap so I could get-up and drive the night shift in a few hours. A hundred miles later, LARM was pulling the truck onto the shouler while Sally complained of not having enough coolant. I bundled-up and went outside to inspect. She was bone dry. I checked the right side of the motor, as that's where I've been seeing the tell-tale signs of a leak for the past two weeks. I didn't expect to see anything which would give me any indication of what the problem was, but I wanted to make sure that there were no blown hoses since she had lost her coolant so quickly.
To my surprise, I saw the leak. It was coming from the 5 inch piece of hose which connects the pipe to the radiator's low side. A small stream was dribbling from beneath the hose, right in front of the clamp. I fetched two gallons of coolant from the sidebox and replenished the reservoir. I considered tightening the clamps but, if there's one thing I've learned about road-side mechanic work, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I favor a philosophy of doing the least amount possible and getting the truck to a place where I have options: fluids, tools, parts, etc. The last thing I needed in this weather was to break a clamp and leave myself totally screwed. Since I still had an additional two gallons of antifreeze on-board, I figured I'd let LARM continue driving, even if it would only be for another hundred miles before it happened again. By then, it would be about time for me take over dirving anyway, I can finish-off that last two gallons of coolant and get her into a truckstop to tinker with the clamps.
I laid back down to resume my sleep. I was simultaneously happy and pissed. I was happy think I had found the cause of all Sally's coolant problems, but pissed that I'd been going through all the headache for so long over something so simple. Fifteen minutes later, she was out of coolant again. I suddenly had images of us being stranded in this subzero weather and not being able to run the truck for warmth. I imagined someone finally coming to our rescue only to find me dead of exposure to the extreme cold and LARM holding a utility knife and subsisting on Soopageek Jerky. I braved the cold once again and replenished the coolant. I decided also that any chances of getting any more sleep for the night was wrecked and took over the driving duties. Thankfully, there was a truckstop only 3 miles down the highway.
I pulled into the fuel island and got my toolbox. As I pulled open the hood I glanced at the plastic reservoir; completely empty. The nuts on the hose clamp were super loose so I cranked them down at both ends, at least a dozen revolutions each. I bought enough coolant to fill her back up and give myself another two backup gallons. The next truckstop was about 25 miles away, so I would use that as a test distance then stop again and see how she was holding after the clamp tightening. Just then, dispatch sent me a message asking if I minded extending the swap location to Buffalo, Wyoming. In a rare moment of confidence in Sally and my mechanic'n skeelz, I told them no problem.
LARM retired to the bunk for some rest while Sally and I rejoined the interstate and continued westward. The light in her temperature guage is burned-out so I kept an overhead light on so I could monitor it closely while I made the 25 mile trip to the next truckstop. After a few minutes she climbed to normal operating temperature and held, while the heater continued to blow nice and hot. Twenty minutes later I was at the new truckstop and popped the hood to check it out. The reservoir was still full and there were no new signs of leakage anywhere.
And it held. It continued to hold for the brutally cold, 400 mile trip to Buffalo. It has continued to hold, now almost 24 hours later. I don't think everything is perfect, it seems to have slowly lost about a half gallon judging from the level in the reservoir, but it's much improved over what I've been dealing with for the past two weeks. I've got Sally running rather nicely for the moment and despite the problems this time out, we will have covered nearly 13,000 miles by the time we get back home. | |
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 elivered bright and early in Renton, Wa this morning and was unloaded quickly. We're picking up a load that's due to be ready by 16:00 about ten miles north of here and taking it to Wisconsin... by Wednesday morning. That's some hard drive'n. Hopefully it will be ready earlier than the appointed time and we can get out of the Seattle area before the evening rush hour. I'm not going anywhere right now, though, as the morning rush is still in full effect. I can see the 405 from where I'm parked and it isn't pretty.
I will definitely be stoppping in Missoula, MT on the way for some of the best tomato soup in the whole world, even if it's for breakfast.
Since blowing the radiator hose on Saturday, I haven't had to replenish the coolant. We've been in generally warmer climates than what we were experiencing in the midwest and east coast, so I'm inclined to believe it definitely had something to do with that.
Inspired by lossfound, who was undertaking his own OS re-install yesterday morning, I decided to tackle the one I had been contemplating, to see if it would resolve the issue with my Aircard making the laptop crash. It seems to have helped a little, but in the end, I still think it's a hardware issue. It seems that when I stick it in the slot I have to be very particular about how I put it in or else everything goes to hell. I had a similar issue with my ex-wife. Thankfully I've not had to re-install as many SO's as I have OS's.
Speaking of SO's, welfy and I have an interesting development on the domestic front. Her brother (nebreztnem) and his fiancé (smiles_sweetly) both graduated from college last spring. In the rust-belt of western Pennsylvania, job opportunities are somewhat slim. Welf and I extended an invitation to them to come stay with us a few months to check-out the job market and milieu of central Kentucky. With the state government opportunities locally, nearby cities like Louisville and Cincinnati, and the micropolitan areas of northern Kentucky and Lexington all within an hour and a half from our front porch, Frankfort is kinda ideal as base of operations. It would give them an opportunity to see if a move would suit them without the commitment of apartment leases and the hassle of moving a ton of things only to move them back if they decided to return to PA. Somewhat to our surprise, they took us up on the offer. They're planning to come down next Monday, the 19th. The plan is to disassemble the much coveted Guy Room this coming weekend when I get home. They'll essentially have the entire downstairs as their domain complete with their own bathroom. If they decide they like central Kentucky and want to stay, they'll have some time to get on their feet and find their own place.
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