08/24/07
I was on the road and rolling by 4am. With the exception of some morning fog in Minnesota and so light rain in South Dakota, it was a great day for driving.

I got into a “zone” or “rhythm” if you will and before I knew it, my 11 hour clock was just about up and well over 600 miles was now behind me. I went ahead and shut it down in Broadus, MT although I wished I could have kept going. I intend to get rolling early tomorrow as I want to be in Tacoma by Sunday evening.

 

I here MT has some nice country land. Glad to here your chuggin along.

 

08/25/07
Today was an easy day. I left Broadus at 4:30am and was intending to run to Spokane before shutting down for the night. Well I got to figuring things out and since I can not unload until Monday at the earliest and Tacoma is only 500 miles from Missoula, I decided that I would shut down at our Missoula terminal and do my weekly maintenance, clean the inside of the truck, wash a load of clothes, take a hot shower and just relax.

So As I am moving along the interstate, I see another Davis driver headed east bound about 6:30am. As we pass, I look over and wave. I guess the driver was somewhat blinded by the sunrise and did not look over at me or wave. Well I get a brief look at the driver and he looks familiar, so I call out of the CB and low and behold it’s GFI (GFIW’s Hubby). I lose him on the CB and call his cell, because of spotty cell phone signals, our conversation is short.

A couple of hours later, I see a familiar purple T2000 heading east bound and as it passes, I see the Davis logo on the door. There is only one person I know of that has a truck like that and sure enough it was “Doc”, a O/O I met in Harvey, IL about a week ago. I have a brief conversation over the CB with him and wish him a safe journey.

About 15 minutes later, GFI calls me as we were both in better areas for cell phone signals. As we are chatting, I hear someone over the CB hail me and as I look over in the East bound lane, there is a red T600 with the Davis logo on the door, well there is only one person I know with a truck like that and sure enough it was “broncrider1”. Boy what a small world that all of our paths would cross at those various times.

Anyways, I am shut down here at the terminal and as I am going about my chores, I meet and speak with at length an O/O that has been with Davis for 2 weeks now. Our conversation covers just about everything under the sun. It was a true pleasure to meet you “L” and I wish you the best of success here at Davis and look forward to meeting up with you again.

Tomorrow I will make my final run into Tacoma and anticipate I will be there sometime in the late afternoon.


P.S.............GFIW, tell me what mile marker you will be hanging my fresh baked cookies and as I pass thru your neck of the woods, I will use my 5th wheel puller to hook them :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

I have to go and look for your cell number I could meet you at the Flying J when you come through this way! What time?

Goin Fer It's Wife

 

08/26/07
Wow, that was without a shadow of a doubt the longest 500 miles I’ve ever driven. It felt more like a 1,000 when it was all said and done. It probably had to do with the fact that 90% of it was driving through the mountain ranges not to mention the traffic! Geez, what was up with all the traffic on I-90 on a Sunday?? And when I got to I-5, it was even worse.

Anyways, I am parked across the street from my customer and will unload first thing in the morning. When and where I will go next is anyone’s guess. Apparently freight (at least for Davis) is a little slow coming out of Washington. Some drivers have been stuck here for up to 4 days at a time. Actually, I am down to 3 hours left on my 70 and a day and a half here would do me good.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I stopped in Coeur d’alene, ID this morning and met GFIW. She is just a nice and pleasurable in person as she is on CAD. And she “paid” me in full the cookies she owed me……LOL. I have lost 14 pounds since I started this new career and now I will gain it all back after eating the delicious home baked chocolate chip with M & M’s cookies. Thanks GFIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

DD...eating the delicious home baked chocolate chip with M & M’s cookies. Thanks GFIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:mrgreen: Green-eyed monster

DD hope you enjoyed them they were a long time coming, be safe!

 

I have to say there Devildice you are getting some miles! I too have the miles but have to stop every so often since my motor is overheating all over again....!#$$%%^&*(, (&*&^^!!!!!! Oil is still leaking.... I think the coolant is getting into the oil... tamara is aware of all this....!
I have been in communication with everyone in Missoula about this truck!

To add fuel to this..... last night in Sparks, Nevada I had a driver come up to me after I had parked and told me that my brake can was hanging... Sure enough I look at the left rear drive axle and the can is hanging by a hose. What a truck! I called the On Call truck boss who told me to speak with the TA and see if they could fix it tonight or in the morning. I spoke to the mechanic who told me that I should wait till 6am and talk with the day people and see if they could fix it. I pulled up at 6am and was told I had to wait till missoula opened and they could speak with Tamara. At 8am missoula time I spoke to Tamara and told her what was going on... I asked Tamara if I should have them look at the overheating and the oil leak issue also.. she said no... just get the bracket fixed. While doing so another mechanic came up and said that he wanted to look at the truck. So off we went, he looks at it and said that he might be able weld it or get a bracket but that it would be a while. So back to the office.... In there the seasoned mechanic hears what's going on and said we can't weld the bracket and that I should just drive over to Kenworth Dealer and have them fix the truck there... At that time Tamara calls the TA and the desk guy who is already on the phone answers Tamara's call and then hands me the phone. Tamara is asking me what my name is and if the driver is there. I had to laugh and told tamara what everyone is telling me. she told me to hold for a second while she spoke to Troy, our mechanic. Tamara gets back on the line with me and tells me head for Kenworth. So.... at 9:00am I get to the dealer, with my can dragin. So here it is they pulled the truck in at 9:50 and then tell me they don't have a bracket and that they might be able to get one from Bendix in a couple hours.
So I made more calls to CYA and here I sit at 1130am. I'm suppose to be in Stockton, CA before 3:30pm to unload but with this who knows... I've been cleared to deadhead 430 miles to my home after this drop.
When I called into central this morning to update I was told that I would be coming back to missoula, so after talking with Matt again, I'm still to go home and then head to missoula for so shop time.
As far as finding this during a vehicle inspection.... sure if I would have scraped off the grease from the bracket to see the break at the weld..

If you ever get to Sparks TA.. get there early since the lot is real tight! I enjoyed listening to the people selling stuff on the CB, the arguing... and the porno princess trying to sell her dvd's... sadly I had to turn off the cb and call it a night.

:roll:

See ya all soon.....

 

08/27/07
I got up early and conducted my morning ritual of making a pot of coffee, getting cleaned up, etc. There was an O/O from a different company there that also loaded out of the same place I did a few days back. He and I chatted about this and that until the customer opened. We got checked in and in no time they had both of us unloaded.

I called in my empty status and was told there was nothing for me at that time and to check back in 2 hours. I fully expected this as I have heard that the freight coming out of Washington has been slow for Davis.

2 hours later I call back and bingo, got a load that picks up in Madras, OR tomorrow morning with 2 stops, first one is in Spring Hill, KS and the second in Moberly, MO. The bad thing is that I could not get very far today as I only had about 3 hours left on my 70 and will only gain a little over 10 tomorrow. So I shut it down and will be up way before the crack of dawn to run down to Madras for my early morning pickup appointment.

So much for all that long waiting Washington State…..LOL

 

Dang bro, you are having some rotten luck. :sad: I hope they get everything fixed and running smooth for you back in Missoula or give you a better truck.

Enjoy your home time I am scheduled to be home at the end of this week but with this current load, I am not so sure they'll get me there :roll: ........we'll see what happens

 

you dirty rotton sob....i sat for 3 days, along with others