Denver is Beautiful This TIme of Year

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 filter and 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

Sitting in Denver now, Leaving for DFW Tonight

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

While We Were in Denver the Other Day...Wait, We're There Again.

While we were in Denver Co last week and had a pretty big response to the truck. We were parked over at the Flying J Travel Plaza on Airport and had a parking place where everyone that came in and or went out through the fuel island or walking to the restaurant from the parking lot seen the truck. I pulled in the parking place as to show the rear of the truck where the "Bring Home The Politicians" logo is prominently displayed.

While we were sitting, at one point, I looked out the window of the truck and there was a group of about five folks gathered looking at and reading the truck and discussing the message('s) on the truck.

I was also able to get a few video clips of a few of them talking about the idea of an eCongress... The Bring Home the Politicians movement. I sent those clips to Michael Norbury, the founder of the latest BHTP movement, and he made a short video of the clips.


We got loaded at about 2300 Tuesday night and headed for Los Angeles CA. I had to go back out to the Flying J Travel Plaza for fuel before we could take off and while I was there another fellow came over and was reading the messages from the side of the truck. I asked him, Charlie, if he liked the message and his words were, "ain't no way to disagree with that, there ain't nothing wrong with that at all."

I asked Charlie if since he liked and agreed with the message on the truck if he wanted to sign it and he was obliged to proudly profess his support of the 9/12 Project and the messages on the 9/12 Truck with his signature.




From there we headed to LAX traveling West on I-70 then south on I-15. We arrived at our terminal at about 1900 on Wednesday evening and went to bed for a good nights sleep. We were there all day on the 29th and we were given a dispatch to Columbus OH for the wee hours of the morning on the 30th.

We were awakened about 0930 on the 30 and advised that the Columbus load had canceled and that they, dispatch, would be in touch shortly. At 1400 we took a call and we were asked to run an emergency load to San Diego and from there we could have a dispatch to Atlanta GA that evening. Begrudgingly, we accepted the assignment and off to San Diego we headed.

I just despise running up or down the California coast. Partly because the traffic ALWAYS sucks and partly because the more miles you run in California the more likely you are to be accosted by a California CMV enforcement officer looking to bail his state out of debt by landing the 1 lucky inspection of the most unsuspecting driver in the state, but I digress.

As usual we did hit traffic due to a broke down automobile on a tow truck at the side of the road. A full hour delay because these nosy folks had to know every detail, about the tow truck, I guess. Who really knows what goes through the heads of rubberneckers.

As we made our way on to San Diego, our terminal is near the football stadium, we jumped off the freeway at Friars Rd. While we were sitting at the light, at the end of the ramp, waiting to make the left turn onto Friars Rd a car came up beside us and was reading the truck, we get that a lot, and he made the trip to San Diego worth all the grief getting there with a thumbs up sign to report his support of the 9/12 Project and the message. Note to self...even in California, God will provide the strength and drive to move forward even when you least expect the encouragement.




We ran from San Diego to Atlanta, then back to Dallas TX and today, here we are back in Denver CO. While sitting here, parked in approximately the same place we were parked last week, again, the interest in the truck and the message thereon has been amazing. Some folks will talk and others just want to read quietly and leave. Here are a couple of amazing Patriots, Lean and Jake who both are drivers with MBM Corporation, and who chose to talk, and sign the truck to show their support of the 9/12 project.

From here tonight we are supposed to go back to Dallas. We will be traveling back down U.S.287. We should be back in Dallas on Thursday morning and we'll just have to wait and see what happens from there. I can only hope that the oppressive heat has subsided a bit. It was actually 108 Degrees here yesterday...in a shaded area.



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

Sitting in Denver, Leaving for Los Angeles Tonight

A lot of time has passed since I last wrote. We have been to about 7 different cities and met talked with many Patriots throughout the country.

We have handed out about 35 pocket Constitutions and several copies of Glenn Beck's "Common Sense".




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

Columbus to Denver and Beyond.

We arrived in Columbus OH at about 1600 on Wednesday afternoon and took a dispatch for Denver CO to be ready at about 1800. Tina had some laundry to take care of and I had some light maintenance work to do on the truck and then had to fuel the truck as well. I hadn’t bought fuel since Milan NM, 1590 miles. I love this fuel mileage.

The load was actually ready at about 1900 and after hooking the loaded trailer and performing a pretrip inspection; we were off to Denver CO.

The weather was pretty stormy from Indianapolis IN all the way to about Columbia MO. I suppose that was the same storm that produced tornadoes in Arkansas. After crossing into Kansas, the wind started picking up pretty heavily. It had been windy all the way across but not like it was in Kansas. The wind in Kansas and actually all the way to Denver was very strong and out of the north. I despise the wind, but a cross wind in a big truck is very bad. The side of the trailer acts like a large sail on a sailboat. Besides being dangerous, it killed any chance of decent fuel mileage. I used 73 gallons more fuel in 1280 miles than I had used in 1590 miles the previous day.

We arrived in Denver at about 1630 on Thursday. Before arriving we received a call from dispatch and were asked to take a load from Denver to Salt Lake City UT and then turn right back out of SLC to Columbus OH. The load in Denver was to be ready at 2330. We agreed to take the assignment and should be back in Columbus on Saturday afternoon.

After arriving in Denver, I dropped the loaded trailer we had, at the terminal, and headed out to the local truck stop about 3 miles east to dump our waste tank, fuel up for the upcoming load to SLC and for a bite to eat.

We had a pleasant surprise we got to the truck stop. It seems that the Flying J has made a deal with Denny’s Restaurants to place Denney’s in some of the truck stops in place of the Flying J branded restaurants. We had a great meal. Not that I’m a big fan of Denny’s but as opposed to Flying J food, well really there is no comparison.

After dinner, Tina and I headed back to the terminal for a nap before the load was ready. Trent, from 912 Project Fan Site, called while we were napping. I remember answering the phone and telling him to call me tomorrow, but I don’t remember anything else. I may have come off somewhat rude and if so, to him, I apologize. I assume he’ll contact me today. I awoke at about 0130 and still had no notification from the Denver terminal that our load was ready. I decided I had better call dispatch and check on the load. Come to find out, the truck from Kansas City had been delayed and they had some freight that was to be moved to SLC. We went back to sleep until 0245, when the message came, via Qualcomm that the load was ready.

Up and at it, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, dressed and hurried to the office for my paperwork. After retrieving the Bills of Lading, I hooked the loaded trailer, performed the pretrip inspection, and we were off to Salt Lake City.

The wind was very bad north on 25 and west on 80 until we got to about Rawlins WY. It seems to have laid a bit now but we’ll see how it is on the way back through here this evening.

We are now at about the 130 mile post on I-80 west. We should be in Salt Lake City by about noon and be headed back to Columbus OH by about 1245EDT. We will travel I-80 all the way to Davenport IA where we will access I-74 and run that to Indianapolis IN. In Indianapolis we will run I-465 around town and get onto I-70 on the east side of town. We will then run I-70 into Columbus OH. We should, if all goes well, arrive in Columbus OH by about 1900 on Saturday evening. Hopefully, after a 7770 mile week, we will get to lay over in Columbus until Sunday evening. I’m sure we can if we say we want to, however, the ever illusive dollar is very enticing. We shall see.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Arrived in Carson, Now off to Denver 12/10/09

We got to Carson yesterday at about 1630. Promptly, upon arrival, we were asked to run a load to San Francisco, one that had been dropped at the LAX yard, and then they would get us a load to Dallas from there. We turned that down. We just didn't want to go to San Francisco.

Our trip here was pretty uneventful, except for the weather and road delays in and around Flagstaff AZ. Here are some pictures.


This is a picture of a government vehicle passing me, on the icy roads, with an amazingly safe, courteous, government employee flipping me the finger, the middle one, while passing. I didn't have my camera out in time to get a picture of his courteous gesture towards me but here is the license plate if anyone has the ability to find out who might have been driving and let them know that their picture is online.

We also, on our way to Carson, ran through a pretty bad wind storm just west of Oklahoma City, OK. There was an beautiful, an somewhat unique, cloud formation just above us as we drove. Here are some pictures of those clouds.









And finally, not that you care to see, but here is a picture of our dash top Christmas tree. I suppose it looks a bit tattered, but this little tree has traveled almost as many miles than most vehicles do in 20 years. That's right, Tina and I have had this tree for over 10 years and have used it in the truck for that loang. We usually put it on the dash just after Thanksgiving and leave it there until December 26th. thats about 22000 miles average in the average year and for 10 years that comes to 220,000 miles. The average driver drives about 12000 miles per year and in 20 years that would be 24000 miles. So, though tattered, it remains a tradition, that if Tina has her way, will continue. My guess is that Tina will get her way. I mean...I'm just sayin'.

Finally, we took a call at about 0300 this morning and we were asked to make a run to Denver, CO. I really didn't want to go to Denver, nor did Tina, but sometimes, you are given an opportunity to do something that will better your lot in life, and though you may not want to di it, you have to be thankful for the opportunity. We agreed to take the load if they would route us across I-40 to Albuquerque Nm then north on I-25 to Denver. The normal route would be about 250 miles shorter but would take us through the south western Rockies on I-70 into Denver. They agreed, we agreed, at first reluctantly and later, very thankfully. Somehow, I must find a way to make it a habit to just be thankful as an immediate response as opposed to reluctantly thankful.

Anyway, below is a map of our route into Denver. We have no idea where to from here, but we are hoping to head in the general direction of Orlando or Tampa. The closer vacation time grows, the harder it gets to go in the opposite direction of home. We, however, will do what is needed and take advantage of the opportunities afforded us to make better our monetary position, regardless how hard.

View Larger Map

Hey, don't forget Tina's Scream-n-Fling Dolls. Just in time for Christmas. 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 for Christmas or to give as a gift for Christmas, 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

Back to Columbus and Now to Salt Lake City

We stopped in Tucumcari for fuel at about 0530 on Wednesday morning. After fueling we moved on towards Phoenix. The snow started flying just East of Albuquerque, NM and just got nastier the closer we got to Flagstaff, AZ. I suppose, considering how bad it was up north, that the weather there really wasn't too bad there. I guess there was actually only about 4 inches of snow, but the ridiculously stupid drivers are just amazing. Big trucks and cars in the ditches, in the medians, on their sides, their tops etc. I just never get used to how crazy the people drive. Anyway, we finally made it to Phoenix at about 1400 EST on Wednesday and dropped the trailer at the terminal. We were both tired but we had, on the way to Phoenix, made contact with a couple of 912 Candidates from the Phoenix area and made plans to meet with them for some pictures with them and their 912/West Valley Tea Party Patriots group from the greater Phoenix area.

After dropping the trailer, we headed to the truck wash and had the guys there clean up the truck while Tina took care of the laundry. The truck was took way, way longer than necessary because the guy in front of us decided that he didn't like the job that they done the first time and made them do it a second time...and then a third time, until the manager of the facility ran him off. They done a great job on our truck, we grabbed a burger and off we went to meet with the 912 candidates.

We ended up meeting with Jim Deakin, Senatorial candidate for Arizona, working to unseat the liberal Republican John McCain, and Hugh Kealer, running for the gubernatorial seat in Arizona. Both of these guys seam to be amazing Patriots and dedicated to the service of their country, state and constituents. We were able to do a short interview with the two of them and as soon as I can figure out how to edit the material, I will get the video posted here and at the 912 candidates site.





We also were able to have them sign the truck, got some pictures of that happening and there again, as soon as I get my other computer back, I will get those pictures posted here.

The 912/Tea Party Patriots meeting started about 2100 EST and the folks started getting there at about 2000 EST or so. The response to the truck was fantastic. There were about 45-50 Patriots at the meeting and they were all very pleased with the truck and very happy to sign it and have there pictures taken for this site,(again to be posted at a later date).

I guess I have never met a more gracious, accommodating, pleasant bunch of folks in my life. Well, other than the 1.2 million or so at the 912DC event last month. I just can't get over how all the people involved in this movement are alike, but yet individuals. This is truly the most organized, disorganization I have ever witnessed. I mean, every body is working towards one goal, using different means to arrive at the final destination. Organized disorganization is the best way I can think of to describe what is happening in this movement. After the meeting we went back to our hiding place in south west Phoenix and went to bed.

Much to our surprise, we were dispatched back to Columbus, OH. The phone rang at about 0400 EST and the dispatcher wanted to know if we would pull a load back to Columbus OH. The load was ready then and needed to go as soon as possible. We got up, fueled the truck, checked everything out and off we went to the terminal to hook to the loaded trailer. After figuring out where the king pin lock key was, and locating the paperwork, I performed a pre-trip inspection and took off towards Columbus OH. I-17 North to I-40 East to Oklahoma City. There we got onto I-44 and ran that to St Louis MO. In St. Louis we got onto I-70 and took that all the way in in to Columbus,OH.

Before we ever got ot Columbus, we were asked if we could pull a load to Salt Lake City UT. We let them know that we could do that but that we needed some time, about 4 hours or so, to ready the truck for the trip. We needed to find an RV Dump so that we could dump the waste tank, and we needed to find somewhere to get the oil changed. We don't normally drain the oil and put new oil in because we have an oil bypass filtration system that allows us to extend our drain intervals. When we had the EGR cooler failure, though, that allowed coolant to get into the crankcase. We performed an oil sample, which we do each time we change the bypass filter, and that sample indicated that there were enough traces of coolant properties in the oil that we should drain the oil, replace the filter and refill with fresh oil.

There are few places that carry enough oil, 11 gallons, of the brand and type that we use, that we can buy it all in one place. I usually do the changes at home so I don't have to worry about finding that much oil while traveling. I knew I could get the oil at Speedco, but they are pretty expensive. $35.00 per gal as opposed to $19.95 at Wal-Mart. The problem, though, is that I can usually only find about 3 gallons at a time at any given Wal-Mart. Anyway, I begrudgingly purchased the oil and moved on thinking I could get our terminal to do the drain and fill. I was surprised to find out that they couldn't do the drain. They have no ability to dispose of the waste oil.

We ran out to the Flying J travel plaza, emptied the waste tank, and then back to the terminal. We went ahead and hooked to the load and took off for Salt Lake City, UT, and had the oil change done in New Paris OH at the Petro Travel Plaza. That is on I-70 at the Indiana/Ohio state line. About 1.5 hours and we were off and running again.

We ran I-70 to Indianapolis In and got on I-74. We took that to Moline Il and got on I-80 all the way to Salt Lake City. The highway, I-80 was closed at North Platte NE until right before we got there. We stopped there at the Flying J for breakfast and to kill about 1 1/2 hours and then we headed off to SLC again. This was a very uneventful trip. I didn't get to write this until we got here though because we had no signal for Internet access. We arrived here in SLC at about 0130 this morning.

We were contacted by dispatch, again, before we got here and asked if we could pull a load to Denver CO. We had to decline that load because Tina is out of driving hours and I am very close. We will be here, in SLC, until Monday night while our DOT clock resets. I plan to make contact with Cherilyn Eagar while we are here. Cherilyn Eagar is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Utah and she is running as a 912 candidate. I hope to be able to meat with her and get some pictures of her signing the 912 Truck. I also hope to get the opportunity to ask her a few questions on video and get that posted as well(after I figure out how to edit the vid that is.).

Anyway, here we sit, relaxing, in sunny SLC. It is about 60 degrees here, far warmer than I had expected, and a very nice day.

Finally, 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