A traveling display of the Principles and values that the majority of America, and ALL 9-12er's try to live by on a daily basis.
CONTACT: timex39n01@ymail.com
We left here, Denver(which is beautiful this time of year), last Monday evening at about 1500, well that was the first time. You see, dispatch called, they said they had a load from the airport in Denver to the airport in Dallas. They said it was to load at 2000 supposedly local time. I called the shipper, because that sounded awful late for a load at the airport, and they said that they close at 2000 and we needed to be there prior to their closing.
I went and found an empty trailer, we went out to the airport, and they loaded us with 1 300# pallet, on a 53' trailer. Hmmmmm. I called dispatch before we left to make sure that I had all the freight that we were supposed to get. Both, dispatch and the shipper, said that that was all I was supposed to take to Dallas so we proceeded on to Dallas International airport.
About 45 minutes after we left the airport dispatch called and wanted to know when we were going to go pick up the load. I advised them to hold on for a minute so I could pull off the highway so that when I threw my phone it wouldn't cause glass to blow back into my face. I then exited at the nearest off ramp and continued the conversation with the dispatcher from Sacramento. After exchanging pick up addresses, names, pickup numbers etc. they made another call to the shipper and it was determined that we left without getting all the freight and that we needed to turn around and go back to the shipper for reloading.
We headed back to the shipper and they reloaded us for our trip to DFW. Finally, about 2040 Eastern time we were on our way again and after a brief fuel stop we were off and running. We got to the assigned address about 2 hours earlier than the appointment time. Upon arrival, we were told that we were at the wrong address. They did have the correct information though and we were only a few miles from where we were supposed to deliver.
We made our way to the correct delivery address, they removed the freight from our trailer and we headed to our Dallas terminal. We took a call on the way over there, which was actually only a few miles, and we were asked to pull a load to Orlando out of DFW at about 0100 on Wednesday. We agreed to take the assignment.
We piddled around most of the day in Dallas. Went to get a bite to eat and came back and went to bed pretty early as we were up all night driving to make delivery. Not griping, driving is our job, just stating the facts.
The Qualcomm system woke us up at about 0400 with a message letting us know that our Orlando load had canceled. We drifted back off to sleep and got up at about 0800 and went for breakfast.
We seen a couple of our friends there on our way out so I left one of them a message and woke the other from a sound sleep to go with us to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. After much wrangling, Jose' and Ceci finally got up and met us for breakfast and to catch up on much needed fellowship.
After breakfast we went back to the terminal so that I could do some maintenance on the 9/12 Truck. I changed the FS2500 bypass filterand did a chassis lube. I also had some wires that needed re-tied and a loose fender bracket that I had to tighten.
Joe and J.B., both who are pictured here, Joe is the red and J.b is the blue truck,had gotten their dispatch for the day and I was beginning to wonder if we had been forgotten. I called dispatch in Columbus and sure enough, they had accidentally skipped over us t-on the available power list in Texas. Rich said he'd work something out and call us when he had something. Rich is a stand up guy that always does as he says and can admit a few and far between mistake.
Rich called back just as I was finishing up with the maintenance and asked us to find an empty and head for oak Grove MO. We would meet another driver there and take his load on to Denver. Again, Tina accepted the load assignment and told Rich it would be about an hour before we got moving because I was working on the truck and needed to finish up before leaving.
I finished up, cleaned up, and headed for the fuel island. There were no available empty trailers in the parking lot so I was going to have to go to the office and have them find me one. Just as I pulled onto the fuel island, another driver came in with an empty and I had him drop it so that I could take it to Oak Grove.
We got to Oak Grove at about 0130, went to bed and woke up to the ringing of the telephone at about 0530 with the other driver calling to let us know that he had arrived with our load. After Tina dropped our empty trailer and hooked to the loaded trailer, she performed a pre-trip inspection and headed for Denver. I remained asleep like all good men might do in such a situation.
Tina got to Denver at about 1615 yesterday thinking we might get a dispatch right back out. That didn't happen. We went to bed pretty darned early again and got up this morning and went for breakfast at the local Denny's. We are still awaiting a dispatch. Again, If we have to sit somewhere, there are far worse places this time of year. The weather here is absolutely fantastic right now.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We left Columbus OH on Friday morning and headed back west to Salt Lake City UT. A relatively uneventful trip with the exception of the wind. That is, I suppose, the worst part of going west this time of year. There is almost always a headwind or worse yet a side wind out of the North. They are both fuel mileage killers but the side wind can blow you over, especially as light as our loads normally are, so I personally try to avoid that whenever possible.
We arrived in Slat Lake City on Saturday afternoon and were promptly asked if we could rescue a load in Wendover NV, from a driver stranded who was out of hours. Because we were both exhausted we declined that load. I just didn't think I could go another 50 miles much less another 115 to Wendover then 570 more on to Sacramento.
We made it to dinner and then promptly to bed by 7pm EDT. We awakened fresh and ready to go on Sunday morning. Got up, cleaned up, had breakfast and headed out to do some much needed shopping for groceries, prescription medications, a new phone because the old one only lasted about 30 minutes on a charge, etc.
Dispatch called at about 1230 or so EDT and asked us to run to Denver Sunday evening. We accepted that assignment and were glad to have something to do out of SLC.
We got here, to Denver, this morning at about 0500 EDT and I had some emails I had to send. It seems the company, to whom we are leased, wants to do an article on the 9-12 truck and it's mission in life. Obviously very humbled, yet excited, I answered the questions the writer sent and sent several pictures to him as well. I ended up sending the picture files 3 times in total because the 1st time, he couldn't get to the website I used to send them due to company IT privacy and security issues, the second time, I attached them all in an email attachment, I received an email back from their server that the file was too large for them to receive, and the third time was a charm. Of course, I had to send 7 different emails with a picture or two attached to each, but what the heck, it's only time, right?
Finally, I got to bed at about 0800 and didn't get up until 1330 or so. Man did I need that. We just took a call from dispatch wanting to know if we would pull a load to Dallas tonight. We have to go to the airport both here and in Dallas to pick up and drop the load but we accepted it anyway. You see, we really don't like running customer to customer freight, we've been somewhat spoiled with the terminal to terminal loads but when freight is slow and you need to run, you do what you must to make a living. View Larger Map
We are to pick up the load this evening at 2000 local time and will deliver in Dallas tomorrow afternoon. We are hoping for a Columbus load or something of that nature out of Dallas tomorrow evening, but we will see when we get there what they have. they usually treat us pretty well out of Dallas. Actually, the entire company treats us pretty darned well, it just appears as if we are going through a "retraining" phase with some newer dispatchers in the Sacramento hub. We'll get them brought around though, all in due time.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We arrived in Las Vegas today. It's been very hot here. Our Generator has quit running so we have no air conditioning while sitting still until I can get parts and get them installed. That is actually on what I have been working rather than writing here or at the other site.
We are leaving here in the morning for Dallas. We should leave about 0500 or so and be in Dallas by about 0400 on Saturday. We will travel I-40 to U.S. 287 in Amarillo and run that into the Dallas area. Maybe we'll see you along the way.
I'll write more from there if I can find parts and get the generator repaired.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
I was laying around watching television Tuesday night when I heard some commotion outside the truck. I got up and looked and there were some folks reading and taking pictures.
I got myself together and got out of the truck to talk to them but most of them wondered off. I suppose they wanted to read but didn't want to be bothered. This was the only guy that hung around and talked with me. We talked a few minutes and he wanted to sign the truck, and did so.
After he signed the truck he told me he had seen it in a magazine and drove off to find me a copy. I'm pretty sure it's never been in a magazine but he assured me he had seen it there. He returned in about 45 minutes or so...with no magazine.
We were notified that our load was ready at 2359 EDT. I jumped up, got dressed, hooked and inspected our loaded trailer and after what was supposed to be a quick stop at the nearest Flying J Travel Plaza for fuel, we were off to Columbus OH.
The stop at the Flying J ended up taking a bit longer than expected. I fueled, went inside to get my fuel receipt and when I returned to the truck, there was a crowd around it reading and talking about what was there.
I walked up and introduced myself and asked if they were familiar with the 9/12 project and for what it stands. They had no idea so I proceeded to explain the idea and from where the 9 Principles and 12 Values were derived. They were all very supportive and even asked if they too could sign the truck as a show of support. Their pictures are here as well. I need to apologize to the couple here where the photo is blurred. My camera settings had been bumped and I didn't realize it until it was too late. Obviously, as evidenced here and with photos from the past, I am no photographer.
Finally, I was on my way at about 0100 EDT and decided we should be in Columbus OH by about 0600. The trip was pretty much uneventful. We did have a few thumbs up from passersby but other than that very much a normal ride.
We got to Columbus OH at 0555 this morning, sitting on pins and needles because of a lack of fuel. You see, I fueled, like I said, in Salt Lake City before we left and decided I was going to Columbus without fueling again, much against the beckoning of Tina.
It ended up being 1806 miles and I put in 253.8 gallons. I only have 300 gallons worth of fuel tanks and only 90% of that is useable from the tanks. That simply means that I had less than 17 gallons of fuel left when we arrived at the Columbus terminal. I realize that sounds like a lot, but in the world of a class 8 truck, let's just say, "it ain't much".
I fueled when I got here and we laid down for a short nap. We got up at about 1000 or so and showered and then went for breakfast at the local "greasy spoon" diner called "Port Side Cafe".
We are now sitting back at the terminal awaiting a load going to Memphis TN then on to Irving TX. We will travel I-71 south out of Columbus to I 65 in Louisville KY then I-40 west in Nashville. After a brief stop in Memphis to take some off and put some on we will move on to Irving TX. We should be in Memphis early Friday morning and then Irving Friday afternoon. From there it is anyone's guess. View Larger Map
One more quick note of some importance. On the 25th of September, Tina and I will have the 912 truck at the Collinsville IL American Legion Post #365. We will be there most of the day and I have been asked to speak on honor and activism with honor. I would sure like some support from some of my driving friends who might be in the area. If you let me know by contacting me via twitter, facebook or email through this blog, we will do our best to see to it that you get a ride from the area truck stops to the rally. The rally will last from about 1400 to 1600.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We are currently in Denver Co and have met many folks here. We Delivered here, in Denver, on Monday morning at British Airways and the truck/912 Message was a big hit there.
We were in Dallas TX on the the 20th and had a little grocery shopping we had to do for the truck. We headed over to the local Wal-Mart to do that shopping. While we were inside a someone had put a couple of business cards on our door. We found the cards upon returning to the truck. His name was Gregory Romeu. He is a former Marine and is currently an "Oath Keeper" and an amazing Patriot. If we ever find ourselves, God forbid, in an armed insurrection I'm going to wherever this guy is and taking him for my team. Gregory is pictured in the picture to the left.
We will be leaving here tonight to head for Los Angeles CA and should be there on Wednesday evening. We will simply travel I-70 west to I-15 south into Los Angeles. I look forward to getting out of Denver, though this is beautiful country.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We finally left the Kenworth dealer in Dallas last night at about 0045 EDT. We headed over to our terminal to get some sleep just in case a load came available. I made a phone call to dispatch to make sure that they knew we were avail for work. Dispatch, much to my dismay at the time, was working on moving a load from McAllen TX to Dallas. One of our other drivers had failed to show for pickup and they needed a team to take an empty trailer down and pull the loaded one back to Dallas.
Dispatch called back about 30 minutes later and said that the load from McAllen was covered(God is SOOOOOO good), but that they had a load out of the Dallas terminal that was added to the lineup and needed to go to Kansas City MO. The load was to be ready between 0430 and 0500. We accepted the load and drifted off to sleep.
The massage came at about 0345 that the load was ready. I got up, got ready to go, went to the office for the paperwork and headed to the fuel island. After fueling I hooked the loaded trailer, performed the pre trip inspection, caught up my log book and we were off to Kansas City(MCI).
We decided on a different route this time. We normally run 75/69 to I-35 and into Kansas City. This time we opted to run 75/69 to Big Cabin Oklahoma and then go east on I-44 to Joplin Mo where we would access 71 north to Kansas City MO.
Just before we headed north on 71 in Joplin, the "Check Engine" lite came on again. Talk about being sick to your stomach. You spend $7000.00 to fix a problem, drive 325 miles and an indication of the problem reoccurs. Now that'll make you sick.
I stopped the truck on the shoulder and tried to access the fault codes, to no avail. I then shut the truck off and restarted the engine and the light was out. I chose to run on to Kansas City and see what happened. The fault never reoccurred, so when we got here, I checked everything that I can check and opted to let it go as a fluke for now. I will continue to monitor the situation and see what happens.
We arrived in Kansas City today at about 1400 and went straight to bed for a nap. It was a long day and night yesterday so we were both pretty tired. We thought that since we had arrived early enough in the day that we might get a dispatch out of here tonight. That didn't happen. It looks like we'll be here all night unless something strange happens like another truck breaking down of falling off a load for some reason. Either way, it is what it is. I'm sure we'll get out tomorrow evening at the latest.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We arrived in Irving, TX this morning at about 0600. After dropping the trailer we got a much needed and appreciated nap. The phone woke us up at about 1030 or so and it was my mother just checking in to let us know that all was well.
We decided it was time to get up and get ready for the day. At about 1130 or so we headed over to Grapevine Mills to the Cracker Barrel and had a great breakfast. From there it was back to the terminal and wait for impending dispatch. It is rather warm here today, about 98 degrees or so.
The phone finally rang at about 1545 and dispatch said it was pretty darned slow today. They did offer us a load to Orlando but it didn't leave until noon tomorrow and it was a customer load rather than a load from our DFW terminal to or Orlando terminal. We turned the load down and will now head to the nearest Kenworth dealer to get the truck repaired.
It appears that we have a turbo failure happening and certainly have a turbo actuator failure. I will leave that diagnosis to the professionals though.
I will update you as I get new information.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We have had a rather busy three weeks. Between truck repairs and lots of fright, there hasn't been a lot of time for blogging. I know, that is really no excuse but those are the only reason I have. I didn't lose an arm, or my vision, I haven't had a lobotomy, though Tina says I do sometimes act like I have. Just very busy and trying to work hard enough to take most of August off so that we can attend Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally in D.C.. We are very excited about the event.
We have had a couple break downs in the last three weeks. We had to have injector "O" rings replaced to repair a coolant leak, which it didn't. We were home yesterday and had a sleeper air bag failure, so I had to replace that air bag. Now, we have either a turbocharger or a turbocharger actuator failing. Oh well, without failures we wouldn't appreciate all the "non-failures". We drive so many miles without failures and just seem to forget those when something does break or fail. We must learn to count our blessing more often.
We are sitting in Columbus Oh today. We arrived here last night and got a good nights rest. On the way here, it seemed to be even more apparent than ever how the awakening of America is taking place. We didn't even got 11 miles from the house and some amazing patriots approached the truck while I was fueling. From there on up to here, it was just 1 car load after another waiving in agreement with the message on the truck. America is Awakening, and D.C. needs to do the same. We are seeing more and more billboards about the coming house cleaning in D.C., the improprieties of Congress, and the incompetence of our chosen leaders. I am trying to get pictures of those billboards but it proves rather difficult at times while I am driving, well, at least without running other folks off the road.
We are sitting here now, listening to our Cowboy Church and Bill Mack's Sunday Social on XM radio. We are waiting on our load going to Irving Texas. We were actually dispatched to Minneapolis last night for today but then we were asked to take this Iriving Tx load that was added with extra freight. Either way, they seem to be running ab out 4 hours behind right now so the load should be ready about noon.
I have no idea what awaits in Irving but we shall see soon enough. My guess is that we will have a dispatch before we even arrive there. That seems to be the way it has been working in recent days. Either way, I will try to keep this site updated more regularly.
We will be traveling down I-71 to I-65 to Nashville TN then onto I-40 to Little Rock TX and I-30 into the Dallas area. Be sure and wave if you see us along the way and smile for a picture as I will be trying to take one if you are waving. If you are in the Dallas.Ft Worth area and would like to see the truck, send me a message from this site and we'll see what we can do to set up a meeting.
In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
Our load to Orlando was to be ready at about 0500 on Friday morning. Dispatch sent a message at about 0230 and said the load had canceled and that they had nothing else to offer. I typed a "Thank you for the heads up" message back and, though aggravated about being stuck in Jersey for another day, drifted back to sleep.
The phone rang at about 1130 on Friday and it was dispatch again. They had an offer of Orlando, Atlanta, Or Columbus OH. While we would rather have taken the Columbus OH load, because it is easier to get another load out of there, we were forced to take the Orlando load so that we could pick up our new registration for the truck. The reason we don't like going to Orlando between our time off requests is that we inevitably wind up getting stuck there for 2-3 days.
Again, the load was to be ready at about 0500. We decided to go to bed early, get a good nights sleep, and be ready to go when the trailer was loaded and ready. The message came at about 0215 that the trailer was loaded and ready to go.
After I got cleaned up and ready to go, I headed to the office to pick up our paperwork and went to find our trailer. After getting the trailer hooked up I pulled it away from the door and performed the required pre-trip inspection, closed, sealed and lock the trailer doors, caught our log books up and we were off to sunny Orlando.
We were sad to leave our squatted sanctuary in Newark. No really, it's fantastic. The fresh aroma of the Garden state, that aroma is apparently organic fertilizer...if you know what I mean, the amazing demeanor of the locals, the feeling of such security with a prison just down the road. Oh, and lest we forget the beautiful view of a fresh water stream meandering though the area.
We traveled straight down I-95, through Baltimore, the D.C. area and right on down into Florida. We had to stop for a splash of fuel in Latta, SC. Tina drove from there, the rest of the way into Orlando.
We arrived Orlando at about 2130 Saturday evening. Our company, the company to which we are leased, moved to a new facility in Orlando. Man they bragged about this facility. More room, easier access, etc. Well, it may be better, but only for everyone other than the contractors. This place is horrible to get to, there is only room for 7 trucks to park in assigned areas, there is less room for backing into the doors. I suppose there are more doors for trailers to be docked, but there is nowhere for empty trailers to be stored. In short, this was, in my humble opinion, a poor...no a very poor acquisition, but I digress.
Upon arrival, and seeing the lack of space for waiting trucks, I called dispatch to see if we would be able to get back out of there on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. We were told that it would be Sunday evening before we received a dispatch out of Orlando so we decided to go to the house, 63 miles to the West, to sleep comfortably, have a personal parking place for the truck, facilities to perform maintenance on the truck, laundry facilities, etc. While we were at home, I was able to do a lube and bypass filter change on the truck. I also installed a water pump to be used to wash the truck while we are sitting.
I knew when we went to the house that they would leave us sit but it at least we would be sitting at home. They would have done the same had we been sitting, in the truck, in Orlando.
Finally, after much griping, moaning, and airing my feelings about what was happening, we were dispatched on a load out of Orlando on Monday evening going to Atlanta. Not a lot better but we would be out of Florida and away from our terminal of domicile. The load, reportedly, would be ready about 2300.
After dinner, and after putting the truck back together, we headed over to Orlando to get some rest before the load was ready. We got there at about 2045 and got a call at about 2140 that the load was ready to go. Again, we hooked to the loaded trailer, pre-tripped, and headed for Atalanta.
We traveled up the Florida Turnpike to I-75 the straight north into Atlanta. I stopped in Reddick Florida for a bit of fuel and moved on with little delay. We arrived in Atlanta this morning at our customer location at about 0600, bumped the dock and were empty and back to our Atlanta terminal by about 0730.
We were dispatched on a load going to Dallas tonight. The load should be ready by about 2300. We will have to stop outside of Atlanta for a little fuel and then on to Dallas. We will travel across I-20 all the way into the Dallas area TX114 up to the DFW Airport area. We shall see what happens from there.
We hope to see you along the way. Should you see the 912 Truck, be sure and wave and let us know you seen us by commenting here with time and place.
Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
After I left off yesterday, I slept a bit longer and then took over driving from Tina at about 2030 in Hurricane Mills, TN.
We had a fairly uneventful trip until the mirror insert on the driver's mirror came loose and went flying behind me. Now, this is the 2nd time this has happened to the mirror on the driver's side and we have also lost two from the passenger's side. Obviously and inherent problem with the mirror design.
I have learned to carry an extra mirror insert in the truck, but at 0300 on the side of the road it is a bit difficult to find and install. It too though, is very difficult to drive, safely, with a missing driver's side mirror.
I decided to stop at the next truck stop and buy a mirror and some tape and tape a temporary mirror in place to use until we arrived in Newark. I bought a "West Coast" style mirror like would be used on a Pete or Kenworth W900L and 12 yards of "Gorilla Tape" and below are the results of my hurried efforts to regain side and rear view vision.
Between this and the traffic accident just East of Dallas after we left yesterday, we were late for our arrival in Newark by about 15 minutes or so. The accident involved a big truck and a hazmat spill on the interstate and that always involves closing the roadway until the hazmat team arrives for cleanup.
We finally got here, Newark, at about 1315, dropped the trailer and went to find a parking place, which can sometimes be a challenge in this facility. We were lucky today and there was plenty of space left for us to park.
I started looking for the mirror insert that I knew I had. I found it in the toolbox, on the back of the truck, still in the original and ready for install.
I decided this time, since time did permit, I would not only install the new insert but also devise a plan to keep from losing it the next time it comes loose, and it will come loose again. I decided to make a tether out of a tie wrap and a short length of wire and loosely attach the mirror to the mirror housing.
The real problem with this insert is the method they used to attach the insert to the motor adjusting assembly. They us a locking ring that rotates after insert installation, upward. By rotating the ring upward and not providing a good lock mechanism onto the lock ring to keep it from rotation back to the unlocked or down position, they have allowed vibration to rattle the lock ring loose and failure occurs after enough vibration to release the lock ring.
After installing the home made tether, I installed the new insert. I also placed a tie wrap around the lock ring lever to try and keep the ring from unlocking while we are driving down the road. This is a problem Paccar really needs to deal with, in my humble opinion. These inserts are about $110.00 to $130.00, depending on which dealer you by it from. Below is a picture of the finished product. You can't see the retention method I used but it is there and should last this time.
Dispatch sent a load, via Qualcomm, at about 0730 and it seems they would like us to travel south to Orlando tomorrow. That is a good thing considering our new registration is at the Orlando terminal awaiting our arrival and retrieval.
We will be traveling straight down I-95 into Florida and the I-4 into Orlando. We are going to Orlando at a good time of the week actually. They always have a Vegas run out of there on Friday night Saturday morning. That would be a great start to next week if I can talk them into giving us that one. We shall see.
We hope to see you along the way. Should you see the 912 Truck, be sure and wave and let us know you seen us by commenting here with time and place.
Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
Okay, but what happened to the last 9 days? Well, let's get caught up.
We sat in Phoenix until about 1500 on the 13th. We actually enjoyed the down time. Didn't really do much other than just sit around and watch television, napped, talked with other drivers etc.
Dispatch called at about 1400 on the 13th and asked if we could hook to an empty trailer, run it over to Los Angeles, and then load from there to go to Atlanta GA on the morning of the 14th. That sounded pretty good to us, we would head over to L.A., get another good nights sleep and leave for Atlanta the next morning. After fueling, and emptying the waste tank. we headed to the Phoenix terminal, found an empty trailer, performed the required pre-trip inspection, and headed to L.a.. While we were emptying the waste tank a local drove up pulling a portable toilet trailer that he rents out for weddings and other events. This wasn't a porta pot like you see sitting in construction sites but rather a high end trailer configuration. Anyway, I sparked a conversation with the guy, which considering the conversation piece isn't hard to do, and we talked for a bit about the country, the 912 Project and the local groups with which he could get involved. After a brief encounter he signed the truck and we were off. we headed to the Phoenix terminal, found an empty trailer, performed the required pre-trip inspection, and headed to L.a..
We arrived in L.A. at about 2300 that evening and went promptly to bed, knowing that our load was to be ready at 0600.
true to form, the L.a. terminal ran late and the load wasn't ready until about 0930. That was alright though, the sleep was good. Nice and cool outside, not much noise, pretty darned good sleeping.
We received our "load Ready" message at about 0930. We had already been up for about 45 minutes or so, had some coffee, a breakfast sandwich and had already gotten cleaned up for the day. I headed to the office to retrieve our paperwork and then off to find the trailer. After hooking the trailer, I again, performed the pre-trip inspection and took towards the exit of the yard. Our illustrious security officer stopped me, interrogated me( which they are told to do) for about 3 minutes or so, and then checked the seal on the trailer and released me to the free world.
Because we are on I-40 so much of the time, and we get a bit tired of the same old grind, we decided to run across I-10 into Texas and then I-20 the rest of the way to Atlanta. That is neither the shortest nor the fastest route but it is the cheapest route. While it is about 70 miles or so further, I can and do make the case that fuel is cheaper on I-10 and I-20 than it is on I-40 plus the roads are better on that southern route and there are less hard pulls(hills, mountains) on the southern route so we use less fuel going that way. Not to mention, the personal preference of I-10/I-20 over I-40.
So we got as far as Eloy AZ and we had a steer tire starting to fail. The tire on the right had an internal steel belt slipping and causing a pretty bad shimmy in the steering wheel. Now, I knew I needed steer tires, not that they were worn out bad enough to be a safety concern, but I was aware that we would have to put a set on in May when we would be taking some down time at home. Now, with one of the tires failing internally, we would have to move that date forward a bit. I started making calls trying to find the tires I wanted to no avail. Because we are extremely heavy on the steer axle, we are forced, in some states to have wider tires than normal. Of course, however, no-one carries the tires I like in stock. I usually run the Micheline XZA2 315 80 R22.5 tire that is rated at 9090# per tire in a single tire position. Again, no-one stocks that tire because it is so rarely used.
I ended up settling on a Bridgestone M860 315 80 R22.5. While this wasn't the tire I wanted, for several reasons, I had little choice at this point. While the guys were installing the tires an elderly lady came from the inside and was reading the side of the truck. I could see she was interested in the purpose and reason behind what was there. I spoke with her for a few minutes, explained the 912 Project and why we are participating in the project in this manner. I explained the poem on the side of the truck and she got teary eyed. She said "Oh my Gosh, yes, I know who Pastor Niemoller was, this just gives me chills", she continued, "you see, we came from Germany in 1952, when I was just a young lady, and I remember what had happened there and sometimes it seems as though some of the same things are going on here". She cried a bit, read some more and out of the blue turned to me with a tear in her eyes, grabbed and hugged me and turned and walked inside just shaking her head.
It is times like this that makes the tough times worthwhile. Times like this make the naysayers of our mission moot. Times like this restore my faith in the human race and keeps me plodding forward. You see, I don't think anything happens by chance. I think my tire was meant to fail when it did, we were led to that tire facility, and that our meeting with that lady was as blatant of a push forward as anyone could ever have. I was humbled that day, I was moved to plow on. Times like this happen often, though not usually as profound as this. While awakening many or at least letting them know they aren't alone in their feeling, I believe God knows we need encouragement and gives it when needed.
After the tires were installed we moved on towards Atlanta. We arrived there at about 0100 on the 16th and they had a load, a short one going to Raleigh NC with a return empty to Charlotte NC., and a promise of a load back to Los Angeles from there. After a long traffic delay due to a truck fire on I-81 in South Carolina, we made it to Raleigh at about 0900. We took a brief nap, got up, showered and got ourselves ready for the day and headed to Charlotte with an empty trailer. Since there wasn't a need tot be in Charlotte until 0600 the next day, the 17th, we took our time and stopped for some lunch. After lunch we moved on to Charlotte and got there at about 1800.
The load for Los Angeles was to be ready at about 0600, so after a little television we went to bed for a good nights sleep. The load was ready pretty early. Actually at about 0245 is when we were notified and we were hooked to the load and on our way by about 0330. A fight with a very stubborn, bent trailer door was to blame for the delay. It took a pry bar and a hammer to get the latch pushed into place before I could close the other door.
This routing was a bit tricky because they still have I-40 closed at the TN/NC state line due to a major rock slide several months ago. We decided to head for Atlanta on I-85 and then run I-20 to Birmingham and U.S,78 into Memphis where we would access I-40 west and run that all the way to CA. Again, I know there are much shorter ways but why beat the heck out of the truck on mountainous back roads when time permits otherwise? Again, time, fuel, terrain, etc all play a part in our decisions about which routes we run. It isn't always "the shortest is the best" mentality.
Again, on our way to L.A. we were inspired by some passers by giving us the thumbs up and taking pictures of the truck.
We finally got to L.A. at about 2100 on the 18th. We were pretty sure we'd be there all night so we parked, got a good nights sleep after a long run, and got up in the morning and took a walk. Now we never hear from west coast dispatch until about 1600 or so for our load assignment out of LAX so when my phone rang at 1030 while we were walking, I didn't even think about it being them. Kyle from Sacramento dispatch was on the other end wanting to know if we wanted to take a load to San Diego. I really don't like running up and down the coast of California. It is hard enough getting in and out of L.A. unscathed by law enforcement without tempting fate by running up and down the coast. I told Kyle I'd have to call him back but that I really didn't want to do it if he could find someone else. By the time we got back to the truck, about 20 minutes or so, he had found someone else to make the run and we were off the hook.
I spent the day tearing apart the light bars on the rear of the truck and repairing wiring inside the bars. I had 1 light working on the right side and 2 on the left. No need to give D.O.T. unnecessary cause for a roadside check, so I had better fix the lights while we are down. This mandated grinding out the pop rivets holding the lights into the light bar and repairing the wiring, installing tubing around all the wires inside the light bar to alleviate the wire rubbing on the steel and then re-riveting the lights into the bar.
Five hours later, due partially, okay probably mostly, to my anally retentive nature, I had the lights repaired and back in place. Now I could take Tina for a bite to eat.
There is a little burger joint in the area to which we can walk, about 3/4 mile or so away, and they have really good food and great service. The name of the place is Columbia Burger. We really like this place. Just a hole in the wall so don't get excited about "atmosphere" but the food can't be beat for a quick meal and great service.
After sitting all day we found out that we would be headed to Dallas out of LAX. The load would be ready at about 0600 and should deliver in Dallas by about 0900 on Wednesday the 21st. The load was actually ready at about 0630, we were up, ready to go, hooked and inspected and on the road by about 0730. We traveled across I-40 to Amarillo and down 287 into the Dallas Fort Worth area. We went this way, across I-40 this time, because there is a rest area in Iowa Park TX with an RV dump station and we knew it was time to dump our waste tank.
On the way to Dallas, when we were in New Mexico, dispatch wanted to know if we wanted to pull a load to Newark NJ that would be ready when we got to Dallas. We accepted the load, though not overly happily. We arrived in Dallas at about 0730, dropped the LAX load, retrieved the paperwork for the Newark NJ load and took out to find the trailer. After hooking, inspecting and checking out with the guard on duty, we were off to Newark. We decided to travel across I-30 to Little Rock and the I-40 to I-81 to I-76 into Joysey. We'll miss D.C. traffic on I-95 that way and while it may be a few miles longer will probably save an hour or so in traffic. Not to mention I won't be subject4d to the slime in D.C. and take a chance on it rubbing off onto me or the truck. Incidentally, by "slime" I mean the politicians, not the regular citizens. They are mostly great folks in that area.
We are currently in the West Memphis area, Tina is driving and traffic is pretty bad. We expect to be in Newark by about noon or so tomorrow and then hopefully get to Orlando. Our new registration is sitting there and the old one expires at the end of this month.
We hope to see you along the way. Should you see the 912 Truck, be sure and wave and let us know you seen us by commenting here with time and place.
Here is a novel item for the coming election year. When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.
All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.
In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission. We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We did get out of Dallas on time. The load was ready at 2300 and we were hooked to the loaded trailer, had the pre-trip inspection performed, and out the gate by 2330. We traveled out tx114 to I-30 to U.S. 80 and on to I-20.
We had to make a quick stop in Terrell TX for a splash of fuel and then again in Greenwood LA to fill up with fuel. We arrived, uneventfully, in Atlanta at about 1300 and figured that since it was Easter Sunday, we would likely be there all day.
We were enjoying the Rick Warren special from Angel Stadium in Anaheim CA when the phone rang and it was dispatch. They had some short runs that they didn’t have enough solo trucks to cover and asked if we would take a load to Raleigh NC and then run empty back to Charlotte NC. Again, we accepted the load.
The load was actually ready when they called so we hurriedly headed to dispatch for our manifest and hooked to our loaded trailer. I performed the pre-trip inspection and again, we were off and running.
The load wasn’t scheduled to deliver until 0500 on Monday so we decided to find a place for dinner. We stopped in Commerce GA at a T/A truck stop. Now that was a mistake. The service was pretty good, but they had very little food. The restaurant manager had apparently forgotten to plan for Easter Sunday and they were out of many entrées and even condiments on the salad bar.
We had dinner and relaxed for about an hour and we were off again for Raleigh. We arrived at our terminal at about 2230 or so and I unhooked from the trailer so that I could install a kingpin lock and go find a parking place to go to bed. Not so fast, they had plenty of king pin locks but there were no keys available to install them. I had to stay hooked to the trailer until someone from the warehouse arrived to keep watch of the freight.
The warehouse supervisor arrived about 0130, woke me up so that I could pull away from the dock and open the trailer doors and bump the dock again and then I dropped the trailer and went to bed for the rest of the evening.
We were supposed to go to Charlotte with an empty but that plan changed as well. We were asked to stay put and they’d let us know in a bit where we would be going.
In the mean time, I decided to make contact with an internet friend, Karen Allen, the amazingly talented young lady who done the header for this blog site and is also the purveyor of Annieoakley.org. Karen told us if we were ever in the area, she and her kids would love to see the truck. We made arrangements, I gave her directions to where we were parked and she and her wonderful kids came and visited, signed the truck, and took some pictures.
Just before Karen and family arrived, dispatch called and asked us to hook to an empty trailer and go to Reynoldsburg OH (North Columbus area). After our visit, we did as they asked and were headed for our next load by about 1445. Again, the load we were going to pull from Reynoldsburg wasn’t going to be ready until about 1000 the next morning, Tuesday.
We stopped in Wytheville VA for dinner and to kill some time. About an hour and a half later we were gone again. We traveled up I-77 to U.S. 33 and arrived in Reynoldsburg about 0100. Went to bed and this morning, before we could hook to the loaded trailer, dispatch called and asked if we would pull a load to Dallas rather than the Miami that we had been assigned to earlier. That was a great call.
It seems that every time we go into Florida, we get stuck there for 2-3 days and we just really didn’t want to be there at this point. We headed back to the terminal in Columbus, about 18 miles or so south and dropped our empty, filled up with fuel, and hooked to the loaded trailer. We were hooked, fueled and rolling by about 0945.
We are now south of Cincinnati OH between there and Louisville KY. We will be traveling I-71 to I-65 south, to Nashville TN. In Nashville we will access I-40 west and run that to Little Rock AR. From there we will exit to I-30 west and run that the rest of the way into Dallas.
As I sit writing this entry, dispatch just called and asked, when we get to Dallas, whether we might want to turn around back to Columbus OH. Since we aren’t out here for our health, but rather to make money, we accepted the load. Our trip back should be ready when we arrive in Dallas, so it should be a pretty quick turn. I’m guessing that we should be back in Columbus by about midnight Wednesday night. We shall see.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
Dispatch called at 1700 to tell us that yet another load, our load to Columbus OH had canceled, and therefore we wouldn't be going to Eagan MN as planned either.
They called back at about 1710 and asked if we would take a load to Atlanta GA tonight. We have accepted the load and are scheduled to leave here at about 2300 this evening.
Assuming the load leaves on time, or even leaves at all, we should be in Atlanta by about 1300-1400 tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, we wait.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
We arrived in Los Angeles at about 1445 on Wednesday, the 13th. We didn't have a dispatch yet but it wasn't long before we took a call and we were dispatched to Dallas. The load was to be ready at 0600 and we need to be ready when the trailer is loaded. We decided to eat dinner and go to bead early to get plenty of rest so that we could leave upon notification of the load being ready.
Awakened at about 0445, I jumped up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, slid into a clean shirt and jeans and headed for the dispatch office. Dispatch told me it was a haz-mat load and had to be placarded. I also noticed that it was a pretty darned heavy load compared to what we normally have and what I like to have...32000#.
I signed the paperwork, left the office and had Tina look up the haz-mat information while I was hooking to the loaded trailer. Come to find out, the "haz-mat" part of the load consisted 32 lithium batteries, totaling about 32# and mounted inside a dental instrument. The load did not need placards because the package was placarded and the total haz mat weight was only 32#.
After getting hooked up and performing my pre-trip inspection and updating our logbooks, we were off to DFW. We decided to travel I-10 east to I-20 into Weatherford and then around the 820 loop to 121/114 to the terminal. We could have run I-40 to Amarillo then 287 down into Fort Worth and saved about 9 miles but the fuel is always cheaper and the mountain pulls are far less on I-10. I opted for cheap fuel and less mountains.
We stopped in Phoenix and fueled at the Flying J travel Plaza at about 1130am. From there we traveled on to DFW and arrived at the terminal at about 0545.
Again, with no immediate dispatch looming, it was off to bed for a good nap. We got up at about 0930 and went for breakfast at our favorite local Cracker Barrel. After Breakfast it was back to the terminal and relaxing. I had taken a call at about 0800 and we had a dispatch back to LAX. The load wasn't to be ready until about 0400 though. We had a great day kicking back and just enjoying the company of one another, Not really talking alot, just knowing that each of us were there if we cared to talk.
We thought we'd go to bed at about 2200 after the movie we were watch had ended. I got tired though, and worried that the load might be an hour or so early so we shut the movie off at about 2115 and went to bed. The call came at 2315 that the load was ready and had to move right away. 5 hours early, not good.
Here we go, I got up, cleaned up, hooked up and began truckin' it up. We had to fuel in Tye Texas, so I stopped there at about 0230 and filled up with fuel. We took of again and stopped in Phoenix, AZ for one last top off of fuel. We arrived in LAX at 0200 and took a long leisurely nap. That was one tough trip. I can't go into detail about who drove when and for how long, due to D.O.T. log regulations and rules, but suffice to say, a very tough trip.
We have been here in the LAX terminal since early Sunday morning now and are headed to Atlanta in the morning. We spent yesterday listening to our Cowboy Church on Willies Place, XM channel 13, and Bill Mack's Sunday Social on the same channel, watching it rain and visiting with family and friends via social media sources and telephone. Today it has rained again, all day. We have spent the entire day doing nothing but typing, talking and texting.
Our load for Atlanta is to be ready by about 0800. We will be running across I-10 to I-20 again, right into Atlanta and then 285 down to the terminal near the airport. We'll have to stop for fuel in Phoenix again and then probably in Shreveport LA or Jackson MS, wherever the fuel is least expensive. We should be in Atlanta by about 2100 on Wednesday if the load is ready on time out of LAX.
I will update tomorrow, sometime after our departure.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
Well, it's a new year, a new beginning, for many things in many of our lives, and Prayerfully, a whole lot of newly awakened Americans, and some who may even remove the liberal chains and blinders placed by the Democrats and many of the left leaning Republicans over the last century or more.
Tina and I had a great vacation. We had planned on taking off on the 19th of December but when we got close to home on the 16th, it was going to be near impossible for dispatch to get us to leave Florida again. We ended up at home on the morning of the 17th and came back to work on the 9th of January.
We left Florida, in the car this time, on the morning of the 19th and headed for Southern Illinois, where most of both our families live. We spent about a week and a half there visiting with, and actually getting some quality time with friends and family. I was able to visit, at length, with a pair of twins, with whom I attended high school. You know you have a true friendship when you can walk into someones house and pick up right where you left off 20 years ago. Though I have talked to these two a couple times since I left Illinois, it can't have been more than 3-4 times in 22 years and nothing has changed...except my hair line and waist size, but I digress.
I was also able to spend some time with another very close friend of mine with whom I used to work and who married, what I would guess, is probably my only other true friend in this world. They are no longer together, but we remain best friends all the same. I would just like to say thanks to all of them for taking time from their busy holiday and work schedules and spending, with me, what time was available.
I was also able to spend some fantastic time with my mother, who is undoubtedly the greatest mother of all time. Though we don't see eye to eye, politically that is, we both understand that we do still live in America and she has the right to be wrong. I spent a few hours with a younger brother at his house and then 1 1/2 days with my fantastic, older, much older, sister. My sister is running for a Precinct Committeeman seat in Illinois, Madison County, Jarvis Precinct #1. To say we had a good visit would be to short change the quality of the time we had together.
Tina was with her family most of the time. Since we are away from our families all year,or most of the year, and we are together all the time we are away from them, suffice to say that separate vacations can be a good thing at times, and yesm that feeling is mutual. HaHa
From there, we arrived back at our water damaged, torn apart for repairs, humble abode, early on the morning of the 31st. We bought a couple of movies and stayed in for to ring in the New Year.
On Saturday it was back to work, well at home anyway. I had a lot of work to do to the truck. I had to replace all 6 shocks, change the oil and filters, do a grease job of the chassis, check and adjust air pressure in the tires, replace a broken link rod for the over-inflate valve on the rear suspension. I had to remove the waste tank and box and install a vent and a flush valve so that the tank would drain and clean out properly, I had to repair a water leak near the water pump for the sink and shower, I repaired several small air leaks, of which 1 still alludes my endeavor. there was a lot of work to do and relatively little time to get it finished. The challenge was there and the mission was accomplished...just in time to go for a great steak before we left the house to head to Orlando and load for Dallas.
We were supposed to load for Las Vegas out of Orlando but the load for Vegas was freight light so we were redirected to the DFW terminal. We left Orlando at about 0400 EDT on the 9th and arrived in Irving at about 2300 the same day. Before we arrived at the DFW terminal, we were asked leave for Chicago at about midnight. We accepted the load and it was ready shortly after we arrived in Irving. After fueling and checking the truck over, we hooked the loaded trailer and performed the required pre-trip inspection and were off for the frozen tundra of Northern Illinois.
We traveled up U.S. 75 to U.s 69 then accessed I-44 east to St Louis where we got onto I-55 north. We had planned to stop in Springfield Illinois for a quick visit with the 912 group there but were asked to hustle to Chicago and take a load to Paw Paw, MI to relay with another truck from Detroit and return to Chicago with his empty trailer. No time to stop. We arrived in Chicago about 1615 EDT on Sunday afternoon and 10 minutes later the load for Paw Paw canceled. Good thing actually though. The water was frozen to the shower and I had a broken water line connector that had to be fixed. The temperature was down to -5 degrees at one point and was only 2 degrees in Chicago when we got there so I understand the freeze.
I used a blow dryer, shshshshshshshsh, don't tell Tina, to thaw the line and had a connector to patch the broken water line. We decided to leave the water dripping overnight so that I could stay warm the next day and not have to be in the cold weather working on frozen water lines.
since the water lines were okay, I decided to be in the cold anyway and took about a 2.25 mile walk, 5 times around the terminal, in the 18 degree weather. I figured we were in a warming faze, I mean really, from -5 to +18, so what the heck, get some exercise. Global warming my butt. I busted my rump, twice, on Al Gore's Glacial thaw.
We were dispatched to Los Angeles from Chicago but the LAX load wasn't to be ready until 0200 on the 12th(today). Our load was actually ready about 0130 and we left about 0200. We were routed down to I-40 west out of Chicago to LAX to keep us out of any real chance of terrible, load delaying weather. We again traveled down I-55 south to St Louis and now we are on I-44 in Missouri. We are currently near Springfield, Mo. We will run I-44 west to Oklahoma City, OK then I-40 to Barstow, CA and I-15 south to the L.A. area. We should be at the LAX terminal by about 1500 EDT on Wednesday. At this point we have no dispatch out of LAX.
Hey, don't forget Tina's Scream-n-Fling Dolls. Just in time for a new political year and changing of the guard. They are available now at Conservabid.com at the bargain price of $6.95 as an introductory offer and that even includes shipping to the continental United States of America. Check out the video.
For those of you that would rather have something other than a doll, check out our T-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, etc. at the links below.We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America. Thanks for your support.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
and did a chassis lube. I also had some wires that needed re-tied and a loose fender bracket that I had to tighten. 
had gotten their dispatch for the day and I was beginning to wonder if we had been forgotten. I called dispatch in Columbus and sure enough, they had accidentally skipped over us t-on the available power list in Texas. Rich said he'd work something out and call us when he had something. Rich is a stand up guy that always does as he says and can admit a few and far between mistake. 
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
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