08/13-14/07
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. 1st drop would be in Hope, SD, 2nd 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 :wink: ). Well low and behold there are 2 spaces open! I decide to take the 1st 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 1st 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 2nd 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.

 

08/15/07
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.

 

My ‘goal” was to get to the TA truck stop in Hudson, WI before shutting it down

Big Mistake-can't believe you stopped at that Dump :P

 

I had no choice, it is one of our fuel stops and I would not have been able to get much farther without stopping there......but yes that place is a dump!!! You can tell it was one of the old 76 stations back in the day

 

08/16/07
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.

 

man you have some kind of luck

enjoy the local entertainment.....shotgun willy's is right next door

 

I almost went in but am too cheap for the $5 cover charge :roll:

 

dd,

Sounds like it was your turn for trouble. I figure now is better then in the middle of a snow storm somewhere! ......How are you keeping stuff cold? Ice or a plug in cooler?
What year is your truck?

I spoke to my bro-inlaw about that place, Shotgun Willys. He told me he was there 2 weeks ago for a bachelor party, he said the girls are rough looking..... I did my drop in Alabama and almost past out from the heat. I was bunging back down and got really dizzy. I just took a knee for a few and then made it back to the cab for water. I did my drop this am at TN cust and scooted over to the TA in Greenville off of the 81. I have been here since around 9am MT time.
I was told to call Iowa Fri am. Its hot and humid down here..... I like desert heat better 8)

Pb

 

Hey Devildice..... Speaking of bad days.......
I saw a Watkins Shepard truck the driver tried to make a u-turn in the middle of the highway where the highway patrol turns, center median... He didn't make it... Trailer was stuck on the west bound hammer lane DOT bumper on the road which put his rear tandem axle in the air and the tractors bumper was sticking out in the east bound hammer lane. This poor guy was really having a bad day! He saw my truck and looked right at me... :shock: The talk on CB was about how many tickets, damage to the road, to the vehicle and the loss of his job. All I could think was glad I didn't do the W&S route and get only 10 days of training!
I need to hook up my laptop and camera to record the stuff we see on the road...

pb

 

DevildiceNow Now by the time you would end up getting those cookies they would be stale and old....yuck....we can not have that!

Goin Fer It's Wife