There really is nothing much to do in Belle Fourche on a Sunday, at least not the part I am at. So I was nothing less than a lazy bum today, well sort of. I cleaned the inside of the truck out the best I could with what little materials I have available. I went back over to the Pamida store and looked around, watched a couple of movies, and planned my route out to a “T” as to where I will fuel, where I will shut down for the night, etc. It was a pretty boring yet relaxing day.

I decided to stay the night there in Lovell, WY and hit the road at 9am this morning. It has been an easy day of driving today since I have 2 days to go 350 miles. As I cruised down HWY 212, I stopped several times to view the historical markers, scenic views, and Custards Last Stand.

It’s amazing how much we forget or neglect about our history as we get caught up in the “rat-race” world of concrete and asphalt. It’s nice to stop and “smell the roses” so to speak once in a while.

I am sitting about 2 miles down the road from my customer at a little truck stop on 212 & 85 in Belle Fourche, SD. I went over to a local store across the street called Pamida, it’s like a generic Walmart and stocked up on some food and other little things so I am now good to go for a couple of weeks.

I got to the KW dealership right at 11am and they said the valve just got in 5 minutes earlier, perfect timing. They got me in the shop right away and after a little adjusting I was out of there.

Called into Davis to report the status and they said I needed to get to Lovell, WY before 2:30pm to pick up the first of 2 loads. The second load is in Belle Fourche, SD and both of these loads will drop at one location in Michigan.  The part that sucks is that I can not pick up the belle Fourche load until Monday, that’s 350 or so miles to run over 2 ½ days!!!!! The only good thing is that the total miles I will be paid for when it’s all done and said is just under 1700.

Anyways, I am rolling down to Lovell and I am following a Watkins Sheppard (SP) truck as we cross into Wyoming, there is a bunch of road construction. Well just as we come out of the construction and cop pulls out of a parking lot behind me and his lights are flashing. Oh course I am like “oh shit” he’s going to nail me for going a few mph over the posted construction speed limit. I start to pull over and he passes me…..whew!!!! He gets behind the WS truck and pulls him over. I start to slow down and ease around them (it’s a 2 lane highway) and he motions me to pull over behind his cruiser. Crap, he IS going to nail me. After speaking to the other driver, he comes over and tells me that both the other driver and I blew passed the Port of Entry and they called him to stop us. He had us follow him down the road where we could turn around and then headed back to the Point of Entry.

I just know I am about to get my first ticket. When I go inside, I am apologetic for going past and explain that I knew there was one coming up according to the atlas, but I did not see them. The DOT lady is laughing and says that it has happened a lot lately because the road construction blocks the signs. She looked at my permit book and told me to have a nice day……..again, WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a nice quite and restful nights sleep right in the customer’s parking lot last night. I was up at 7am for my morning ritual and then checked in. As usual (knock on wood) the customer is super friendly and a pleasure deal with. They offer me coffee and doughnuts while I wait to be unloaded. At a little before 8am they start unloading me and 25 minutes later I was rolling out of there to the Kenworth dealership.

I get to the dealership and they look at the leveling valve. It turns out that the arm that comes off the valve is worn. The mechanic shows me the difference between it and the other valve (right side) and sure enough it has a ton of “play” in it…..it must be replaced.

Unfortunately they do not have the correct valve in stock. The guy shows me how I can “jury-rig” (SP) it or they can overnight the valve and have it here first thing in the morning. My response was that if I was an O/O I might “jury-rig” it, but since I am a company driver, I would prefer it is fixed the right way. Ultimately it will be Davis’ call on what to do and that is what I am waiting on now, for the dealership to contact Davis for their decision.

Got word back from Davis and they want it fixed the right way. This is good news to me because it tells me that Davis does in deed care about their equipment and drivers. However, the bad news is that I am now stuck here overnight. I headed down the road to one of our fuel stops and will wait here until I head back to the dealership tomorrow morning.

I get up early and after my morning ritual, I go inside to check in. The customer is apologetic as he tells me that his forklift operator is running a little late and offers me some coffee while I wait. I said it was no problem and I would just go untarp and unstrap so I will be ready when he arrives.

No sooner than I had the tarp pulled back and the straps off, here come the forklift….perfect timing. Today is already looking better than yesterday. 30 minutes later and I have all my paper worked signed and I am re-tarped. I go to do my vehicle inspection and those damn air bags on the left side are deflated again!! Gee, the day was looking promising and now this.

I repeat the process of deflating and then re-inflating and they are nice and firm. I get rolling down the road and call the shop in
Missoula to let them know of the latest issue. I tell them I am headed to Billings, MT and will be there this afternoon. They in turn call the Kenworth dealership in Billings but unfortunately they can not see me until Thursday morning. They tell me to head over there right after my delivery to have it checked out.

I stop about 100 miles down the road and check the bags, but this time even though they have air in them, they are not firm. Since I can not deliver this last load or go to the dealership until the morning, I decide to take it easy and end up stopping about ever 100 miles or so to check the bags.

I get to my final customer and am able to shut it down right in their parking lot which is where I am at the moment. On a brighter note, when I called in this morning, dispatch told me they already have a load assigned to me right here in Billings going to Michigan. Let’s just hope that I do not spend forever and a day at the dealership tomorrow.

On a last note, today also marks exactly one week on my own. In 7 days, I have gotten 3,070 miles and I even sat for 52 hours in Iowa this past weekend. I don’t think that;s too bad of a start for a rookie.

The last few days have been somewhat interesting and busy. Where shall I start? For my avid readers, I will start at the beginning. This will be a little ‘long winded’ as I try to catch you all up, so bear with me.

On Friday afternoon, I was instructed to call in at 8:30am Monday morning to see about a load. I was up at 7am, did the morning “ritual” of brewing a pot of coffee, getting dressed, washed up, etc. I sat in the truck watching the time slowly tick by and at 8:30am sharp I made the call and was told to call back at 10am as the dispatcher was working on a load for me. At 10 sharp I called in and was told I had a load to pick up in Harvey, IL (suburb of my favorite city (NOT) of Chicago) and that it had 3 stops. 1^st drop would be in Hope, SD, 2^nd in Bismarck, SD, and the final in Billings, MT.

I had a 5pm pick up appointment but went ahead and ran on over there, getting checked in at about 2pm. When I arrived, there was a Davis O/O already there and shortly after me rolled in another Davis driver. We all chewed the fat about this and that while we waited to be called. Finally, about 6pm they call me. This place was a little different than what I have experienced thus far in that here, you pull into a warehouse and drop your trailer. Once they have loaded it, you go back in, hook back up and then secure it, then roll outside to tarp. Not a big deal but a little inconvenient for a flatbedder. By the time I got done, the other company driver was also done and since we were heading in the general direction, we decided to run together.

My ‘goal” was to get to the TA truck stop in Hudson, WI before shutting it down. We crept out of Illinois at what felt like a snails pace (55mph speed limit). The only thing that made the slow drive nice was that the other driver and I gabbed the miles away like a couple of school girls on the CB. Along the way, he tells me that my right turn single on the trailer is out. No big deal, I’ll change when I shut down.

Well into Wisconsin, the other driver tells me he is tired and will be stopping at the next rest area. I told him that I would continue on since
Hudson was only about 30-35 miles away. By the way, “C”, if you’re reading this, it was a pleasure meeting you and thanks for the great conversations.

I get to Hudson and as I am exiting the interstate, my turn signal goes out. I mean no indication on the outside or on my dash. O.K., no problem, I look at it in the morning. I pull into the truck stop know darn well that I would not find a parking space at this time (I won’t disclose the exact time as it may incriminate me). Well low and behold there are 2 spaces open! I decide to take the 1^st spot I come to and as I set myself up I turn my 4-way flashers on. Well a few seconds later they go out and again, no indication on the outside or on my dash. I think ‘what the hell is going on?” It’s late and I am tired, I’ll look at it in the morning.

When I get up, the 1^st thing I do is to get the spare trailer light out of my side box. Well it is the wrong kind and there are no others. So I go into the truck stop and purchase the correct one I need. I get it changed and throw on my 4-ways to ensure its working. Well it’s not and within 30 seconds all the lights go out. What the “F” is going on? I go to check the fuses and realize I do not have a tester. So back into the truck stop and 8 freaking dollars later I am checking the fuses. There is a 15amp and a 30amp that are not working. Guess what…….I have no fuses, so BACK into the truck stop and 11 freaking dollars later I am back to the truck to change them out. I turn the 4-ways on and again, within 30 seconds they are out. I can hear it “clicking” but no indication on my dash or on the outside lights. By now I am getting really frustrated as I had planned to be on the road already.

I call into our shop and tell them what I was experiencing. They tell me that the 4-way flasher relay is going out and to go ahead and buy one to replace it. As I am thumbing through the owners manual to find where this relay is located (it’s not with the fuses and other relays) I am thinking to myself that if the relay was in deed going out, then why didn’t my trailer light that I just replace come on?? There must be a short somewhere. I decided to try a little trouble shooting. I disconnect the pig tail from my tractor and put the 4-ways on. If they go out then it may very well be the relay or possibly a short. Well they stay on, so now I know there is no problem with the relay or the tractor itself. Next I plug the pig tail back into the tractor but unplug it from the trailer. If my issue continues, then there is a problem with the pig tail. The lights stay on so I now know there is no problem with the tractor or the pig tail, it must be the trailer and I will lay odds that it is that light. I start at the tail light and start tracing the wires and BINGO, there on the right side center marker light the wire is exposed and touching the trailer frame. A little black electrical tape and a total of 2 hours from the time I woke, I was back in business.

I put everything away and roll over to the fuel island to fill up. As I am coming to a stop I hear this indescribable noise. After fueling up I head over to a parking space so I can take a close look at the truck, and again, as I come to a stop I hear this noise again. I start looking closely at any and everything for something that may be out of the ordinary. As I am inspecting the left side of the tractor, I push on my air suspension bags and they are empty. I check the right side and they are firm. What the “F” is going on….this is NOT the way to start off my day. So I deflate the bags and then re-inflate them. All bags are nice and firm. I get rolling down the road and about 100-150 later I decide to stop and check the bags. All was good to go as they were firm.

My run across Minnesota was uneventful and by now I figured that even though my day started off on the wrong foot, things are looking a lot brighter……..so I thought. I cross into North Dakota and just west of Fargo is a scale house with no pre-pass. This particular scale house is the king with the small scales where you have to place your steers on and stop, then the drives, and then the tandems. Just as I am about the roll off, a voice over the load speaker says “pull in to the right and park, bring in your license, medical card, permits, paper work and log driver”……What the “F”, I am only grossing 69,000 and some change and I know all my axles are legal, so what the hell do they want? Well long story short, it was my first level 3 inspection and I am happy to say I passed with flying colors.

I leave there and a short jog up HWY 38 and I am in the huge town of Hope, ND….population: 447!!! I get to the customer and as I am pulling into the no more than 12 foot wide driveway, all I can think is that I hope there is a place to turn around. Well you already know how my day has been going so I’ll let you guess. I get unloaded and now have to figure out how the hell I am going to back out. This is not a straight line back. It is going to require a serpentine back along this 12 foot wide driveway with cars on both sides as well as a few other obstacles as well as backing into and across the street, oh and I need to be extra careful as the end of the driveway there is a nice deep culvert.

Well wouldn’t you know it, I back it out so smoothly that I know the people watching me must have thought I was an old pro at it. Now I am not bragging my no means, in fact it just goes to prove that when people set their minds to something, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.

I run on down to my 2^nd drop in Bismarck and shut her down for the night. Thank goodness this day is over and lets hope tomorrow will be a little brighter.

I have explored just about every inch of the Iowa I-80 truck stop over the past couple of days. It is amazing how much “stuff” this place has. Some of the prices are not just your typical “truck stop prices”, they are plain outrages!! I can see how a guy could go broke in a hurry.

I managed to get a few things done such as the weekly grease job of the truck and trailer, (got it washed on Friday), cleaned the inside out real good, re-organized my straps and bungees, fixed my side box door on the tractor so that when it opens it doesn’t go all the way to the ground, did some laundry, and lastly I spent a few bucks on a Sirius Satellite radio and a couple of other little things.

Tomorrow I will call in with my fingers crossed that the dispatcher has a load for me sooner than later

I made it to Mitchell, SD today and shut her down. I was hoping to get to at least Albert Lee, MN but I got slowed down by road construction, heavy traffic in Sturgis (it’s bike week for my fellow bikers) and frankly, this truck does not like climbing hills very well. All those things combined slowed me way down.

If my calculations are correct, I have just a little over 500 miles to go to my customer’s front door. In an attempt to get there before they stop receiving, I will get up early and get the wheels turning no later than 4am. With that said, it’s time to shut down for the night.

I got to the yard at 8am this morning and planned on doing a load of laundry, make a few 4’ V-Boards and a couple of other miscellaneous things. Instead, at about 8:30am I was told I had a load. I would be picking up in Butte, MT and delivering in Fort Madison, IA.

I got my routing, said my goodbyes and by 9am I was rolling. I got to the shipper at 11:15am and wouldn’t you know it, the guy that does the loading is on lunch. I know what I have to do so I get all my stuff prepped as best I could while I awaited his return. About 12:45 he finally shows up and starts to load me. I do not want to disclose what my cargo is at this time, but when it is loaded, they split the load between the front and back of the trailer. Anyways, the guys starts on the front and when he has it all on there, the trailer nose is leaning seriously to the left, NOT good!!  Even the loader made a statement on how he has never seen a trailer lean so much. I am on level ground, have the right amount of tire pressure, my suspension air bags are full……this should not be happening.

I go ahead and call my truck manager to tell him of the issue. He says try moving the truck about 30 or 40 feet to see if maybe the ground is not as level as it looks. I try it, and it does help a little but not much. Next I ask the guy if he could unload me and let’s see what happens. After he gets everything off, we look closely at the trailer and sure enough you can see where it is warped or twisted down in the left front and right rear. I tell him to try loading the back partially and then the front and then the rest on the back and see if it helps balance things out. If not, I would have to call my truck manager and more than likely head back to Missoula. Well it worked. The trailer is sitting nice and level with just a hair over 45,000lbs on deck and all is good to go.

I get my loaded routing and head on out. I was planning and hoping to make it to Rapid City, SD before shutting down for the night but only got as far as Laurel, MT which I am NOT happy about at all (Securing and tarping a load by yourself can be just a tiny bit exhausting) but I will make up for it tomorrow as I want to drop this load by Friday. It isn’t due until Monday, but I would prefer to get it off Friday and take a chance on a new load to carry me through the weekend. We will see.