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
The phone rang a about 1515 yesterday and it was dispatch. They asked if we would take an empty trailer out of Columbus up to Chicago and then pull a load out of there back to Louisville KY.
We headed out, in search of an empty trailer, hooked and inspected and we were on our way. The load in Chicago, going to Louisville was to be ready at about 0100. We arrived in Chicago at about 2245 and the load was already loaded and ready to go.
After dropping our empty trailer and hooking to the loaded one we performed the required pre-trip inspection, drew a few lines in the log books and we were off to Louisville KY.
We made it to Louisville at about 0500, dropped the loaded trailer and went to bed for a nap. We finally got up at about 1000 when dispatch called and told us to hang in Louisville until this evening and we could pull a load back into the Columbus yard.
The load out of here is to be ready about 2030 this evening and we should be back into Columbus shortly after midnight. At this point, we have no idea to where we will go from there, but i am sure there will be freight to move.
I did see another billboard last night that I thought was rather interesting. This one is located in Indiana on I-70.
Another perk of driving a truck is that we get to see some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets in the world. Here is another fine example of just that...A beautiful sunset. I believe God shows us things like this from time to time to keep us humble as mere mortals. Who could possible look at this and believe that God doesn't exist. My goodness how the potters hands work is simply amazing.
A good friend of mine happened into the Atlanta yard while we were there the other day. This is Jose'. He and his wife Cece' started with this company at the same time Tina and I started. Yea, I know he dresses funny, like...I don't know...a girl I guess, but he is a pretty decent guy and has a great wife and a beautiful truck. Jose' is a very good fiend of mine and one of those people who just needs to be picked at all the time. He thrives on the constant commotion.
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
Wow, that was quick. Dispatch called at about 1345 yesterday and told us to hook to an empty trailer and head to Mexico. WHAT??? Oh, Mexico MO, about 20 miles North East of Columbia MO north of I-70. Well, once we got the country thing straightened out, we done as asked and hooked to an empty trailer, headed out on I-70 east and went to Mexico Mo.
Here is a picture of a billboard seen on the way to Mexico MO. Again, more and more of these billboards are popping up across America. If you can see your way to do so, I believe we should patronize the folks placing these ads, be whomever they may. This ad was placed by Osage Food Products. This company is actually on who mostly sells ingredients to other food service and manufacturing industries so while most of us can't patronize them directly we can patronize those by whom they are used.
Once in Mexico, we dropped our empty trailer and hooked to a pre-loaded one that was waiting there. Once hooked to the loaded trailer, we headed to Atlanta GA for an 0600 delivery this morning.
The trip was relatively uneventful. There was an accident on I-57 north so we did stopped at a rest area just east of St. Louis Mo on I-64 to look at a map and find an acceptable detour and also to reset the generator control unit and there we were approached by another driver wanting to know about the truck and the signatures on the tool box. I explained the 9/12 Project and the idea behind the truck and Edward was very interested in the whole movement. Edward told me he was a 4th generation Mexican American and how he loves God, Family, and Country. He believes, as most of us believe, that this government is on a tirade of a power grab and Liberty usurpation.
I also spoke to Edward about the Bring Home the Politicians idea and he was very interested in that idea as well. I made a video of my conversation with Edward but unfortunately my inexperience and amateur abilities came through when I was too close to the truck with the generator and truck engine both running and that is all that is heard. You can see his mouth moving and engine noise. I have learned a lesson. The next video will be usable.
We arrived in Atlanta at about 0500 at the receiver and of course, they weren't open that early. They finally got to the warehouse at about 0555. Heaven forbid showing up a minute early for work. Anyway, we dropped the loaded trailer, hooked to an empty that was sitting there, and headed back to our terminal about 3 miles to the north.
Upon arrival at the terminal, we dropped the trailer and Tina went for a walk, I went for a nap, straight to bed. I got up at about 1030, Tina made us some breakfast and no, here we sit, at about 1330 waiting for our next dispatch.
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
Our load out of Columbus OH was finally ready at about 1745 Friday night. By the time the the paperwork was ready, we got fueled, hooked to the loaded trailer, and performed our pre-trip inspection, it was nearly 1900 when we drove out the gate at the terminal.
We hit some pretty nasty weather around Indianapolis IN. Heavy rain, lightning and high winds mostly. The rain and winds lasted until we got to Effingham IL and then it cleared up pretty nicely.
It was very warm in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, around 100-103 most of the day yesterday. This was a relatively uneventful trip. We did have several folks waiving and taking pictures of the truck but other than that, just a run of the mill drive across America.
We arrived in Phoenix at about 0330 this morning and had a great nights sleep. We got up about 0930 and got ready for the day. We dropped our trailer at the terminal, headed of over to the closest truck stop for some breakfast. After breakfast, I decided it was way too hot for me to wash the truck wo I went across the street and had the fells at Danny Truck Wash perform the dreaded feet. They done a great job washing the truck and making sure it was clean.
We are just sitting around, watching the Nascar race and waiting for another load. It's pretty darned warm here today. The thermometer says 108. We were asked if we could run one up to Vegas out of here. We like going up there so we accepted the load and it should be ready sometime this afternoon.
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 Rock Tavern NY at about 0345 on Thursday morning and just about the time I got real comfortable in bed, the phone rang and dispatch asked if we could pull a load to Boston. I explained the challenges of Boston in our truck (ie:too high), and turned down the load. Then zzzzzzzzzzzz.
We regained consciousness at about 0900 and got up to get ready for the day. The is a diner just up the road from the terminal that we have been wanting to try, so off we went for breakfast. As we say in the south...good cracker. I would not have guessed that the food would be that good. The service was great as well.
I would just like to take a minute off subject here. I don't know about you, but I know that I tend to associate anyone in New York state to be the same as New York City dwellers. What a mistake. We sat in the diner eating breakfast yesterday and as always inadvertently happens in a crowded room, we heard a lot of conversation from others in the restaurant. I was reminded, through what I overheard, that people, rural, red blooded, God fearing, gun toting American people are the same all over the country. We love our Country, our soldiers and veterans, and our God. Sometimes I forget that people are people and no matter where they, we, live, we all love freedom and the American way. My point here is that people in New York have the same concerns about what the dirt bags in D.C. are doing to our country as do the people in Arizona or Florida, or Illinois, or Montana. Just a little reminder, to me more than anything.
After breakfast we went across the street for a bit of fuel for the generator. While fueling the generator a fella walked up and just stared at the truck. Considering where we were, I wasn't sure whether he liked or hated the theme. See above reminder. Jeffrey Long Sr., after just staring, reading, and shaking his head, asked if I had a marker for him to use to sign the truck. He is a very proud veteran and a patriot of the first degree.
From there we headed back to the terminal to wait for a dispatch. The call came at about 1400. We were asked to take an empty trailer to Buffalo, NY and from there we would pull a load to Columbus OH. We opted to accept the assignment and get moving.
I located a road worthy empty trailer, hooked to it with the tractor, performed the required pre-trip inspection, caught up our log books and began our trek to the north west side of the north east...Buffalo, NY. We traveled what will be when completed I-86(NY17), to I-81 to Syracuse NY and the I-90 to Buffalo. Our terminal is just off I-90 in Buffalo and is very easy to find.
Again, we were given thumbs up, waves, etc on our way to Buffalo. This is the only picture I was able to snap during the trip but is a prime example of how folks, including kids love the 9/12 Truck.
We arrived in Buffalo at about 2030, dropped the empty trailer and went directly to bed for some rest before we had to leave for Columbus OH. That load was to be ready by 2300.
The message came at about 2215 that the load was ready. Before we could get up and ready to go, there was a knock on the door. It was the terminal manager with our paperwork for the load. We took the paperwork, hooked the loaded trailer, Tina performed her pre-trip inspection and her log book and off whe went towards Columbus. She traveled I-90 to Cleveland OH then I-71 south to Columbus. She said it was a very uneventful trip to Columbus. At that time of night there is actually more wildlife than traffic. The wildlife seems, for the most part, to be more well behaved than the traffic as well, but I digress.
Tina got to the yard in Columbus at about 0415, dropped the loaded trailer, and went to bed. We woke up this morning to a Qualcomm message asking us if we wanted to go to Phoenix AZ, Salt Lake City UT, San Diego CA, or Union City CA. We opted for the Phoenix load. The load is to be ready at about 1800 this evening.
After answering the message, we got up, showered and got ourselves ready for the day. The President is in town today just across the street at the Rickenbacker airport. We are literally just across the street. Police everywhere, fire engines, ambulances, emergency vehicles helicopters, etc. Time to leave the area for a bit. We headed over to the Waflay Hoosay(that Frenchy French for Waffle House) for breakfast and a little relaxation out of the truck. I know, it's Waffle House, but it is STILL out of the truck.
After breakfast we came back to the terminal. The excitement across the street seems to have dispersed and all is back to normal. I just can't believe how the Messiah can come to town in the morning and everyone is back to work and the economy is thriving by the afternoon. Oh, wait, you mean we still have unemployment. Oh man, sorry. Hmmm, I suppose he isn't the real Messiah after all. But I already knew that. I woke up a long time ago, how 'bout you?
We will be traveling across I-70 to St Louis and then I-44 to Oklahoma City, OK. From there we will access I-40 and run that to Flagstaff AZ and I-17 south to Phoenix AZ. We will fuel before leaving the terminal here in Columbus OH and then probably again in Oklahoma City or Amarillo TX.
I'll update here as the trip progresses. Check back often and let us know if and when you see us on the road. You can also make comments here if you so desire.
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
WOW! I had no idea how terribly infected my laptop was until Ron, at JR Computer Outlet in Cincinnati, OH, called and told me he needed to replace the hard drive and thought that we might as well replace our current operating system, XP pro, with Windows 7. Well, the new hard drive is great but I must say, so far I despise Windows 7. I imagine though, after I get used to using it, it will be okay. I just really liked the XP operating system. I was told that this would be a far more stable system though so we shall see.
Aside of that, we had planned 2 weeks off from the 14th to the 28th of May. We visited some family and attended a graduation for a nephew in Illinois on the 21st and headed home on the 23rd. We had some routine doctors appointments the week of the 23rd and unfortunately, those appointments led to more appointments into the 1st of June, the 2nd of June and then again on the 10th of June. It doesn't take much for 2 weeks to turn into a month. The good news...We were both, after a treatment or 2, found to be healthy and fit for the road.
The 912 Truck also went through a slight transformation during our time off. I bought and installed a set of rear fenders on the truck. Those fenders were bought from Tony at Talladega County Fiberglass, near Talledega AL.I had the fenders wrapped with the scroll colored vinyl and added the Gadsden Flag to the rear of the fenders. I also added, on the curved edges of the fenders "In God We Trust" and "Home of The FREE Because of the Brave". We also added Vinyl to the toolbox doors on the rear of the truck. On the right door I used a quote from Edmund Burke..."All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". On the middle door we placed the logo for the Bring home the Politicians website. On the left door is now the New Hampshire official motto "Live Free or Die". New pics will be up soon.
We also attended a couple of political rallies with the truck during our time off. One of the rallies or meet ups was a Candidate Forum for our local U.S. Congressional District FL 5, Republican candidates. This is one of those races where there is a real choice to make. We have an "establishment" candidate, crowned by the outgoing Ginny Brown-Waite. That candidate, Sheriff Nugent of Hernando County, made it very clear that he would bring to the floor, business as usual,the same old good ole boy politics. He made it clear that his having been "connected" for so many years will help him to get things moving in the "right direction".
The other candidate, the only real choice for conservative voters in the 5th District of Florida, the Candidate that will go to Washington D.C. and "take the THE Party message to the Congressional floor" is Jason Sager. This guy understands what his constituents are saying. He understands because he feels the same as do we. He knows that the State has outgrown it place in the Constitution, He understands that government spending is out of control. He believes in States rights, the Second Amendment...as written. He is an IRS abolitionist. HE truly understands his voters, the founders, and the Constitution. Jason Sager is the only logical, meaningful, choice for Restoration of the Constitution in Florida's 5th U.S. Congressional District.
There were a lot of folks there in support of Mr Sager. We had some of them, most of them, sign the truck and were able to get some pictures of those folks as well. Note the "Red Shirts" in the photographs above. They are all part of Jason's Red Shirt Brigade. This event was sponsored by Citrus County's R.E.C.. I will soon post videos of both 10 minute speeches from this forum and you can decide for yourself who should represent the 5th Congressional district in Florida. Jason Sager or Sheriff Rich Nugent.
We also attended a fund raiser for Jason Sager for Congress, in Florida's 5th district, on the evening of the 11th. The fundraiser was held at Deep South family Style BBQ in Brooksvile, FL. Tina and I attended the Fundraiser and we drove the 9/12 Truck. Again, a great meet up and many supporters came out to meet and greet the candidate, Mr Jason Sager. More pictures will be posted soon of the folks signing the truck.
From there, we were off to work. We were offered a load to Las Vegas for Saturday morning leaving from Orlando. The load was to be ready by 0200 but wasn't actually ready until 0615. After hooking to the loaded trailer and performing our pre-trip inspection, we headed North on the Florida Turnpike to I-75 north and ran that to I-10 west and stopped in Midway Fl for a splash of fuel.
After leaving there we ran I-10 to Mobile Al and accessed U.S. 98 to Hattiesburg MS. then ran 49 to Jackson MS where we took I-20 west to Dallas then U.S.287 north to Amarillo TX.. Form there it was I-40 west to Kingman AZ and 93 north to 168 to 95 and back to 93.
Before we arrived in Vegas we were contacted by dispatch and asked to run a short trip to Salt Lake City UT on Monday Morning, then a Columbus OH out of Salt Lake City on Monday night/Tuesday Morning. That brings us to Columbus OH, where we now sit, after getting here early this morning and going to Louisville KY to pick a load up and come back here. We now sit, waiting on a load to Rock Tavern NY. The load is to be ready at about 1600 this afternoon.
I have no idea to where we will go from Rock Tavern but freight seems to be moving and I'm sure that we will get a dispatch to somewhere shrotly after our arrival at the terminal.
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
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
Just before we got to Rock Tavern last night, at about 2230 or so, I received a text message from the driver with whom we were to switch trailers and he had just left Boston MA. He was about 3.5-4 hours away.
We decided we would take advantage of the down time and catch a short nap. The wrap on the door came, from the other driver, at about 0200. He was already unhooked from the trailer and was waiting for me to unhook from mine.
I jumped up, got dressed and hurriedly unhooked, re-hooked performed my pre-trip inspection. I caught up my logbook and we were headed for Columbus, OH. We are currently in western Pennsylvania on I-80 and it is snowing, raining, sleeting nasty combination of weather. Again, every time we come this way, the weather is nasty. Granted, it isn't sticking to the roads but man, what's the deal. It was 70 degrees here yesterday, on the way up and now it is just about 35 degrees or so.
We should be back in Columbus OH by about 1230 or so. I have no idea where they will want us to go next but we readily await their dispatch.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
Well, we finally made it to Dallas about 0530 on Wednesday morning. We had received notice that our load back to Columbus was ready, even before we arrived in Dallas. That notice came at ab out 0440.
We dropped the loaded trailer, fueled the truck and hooked to the trailer going back to Columbus. After a pre-trip inspection of the truck and trailer, as required by D.O.T., we were off and running. We left Dallas at about 0615.
We, rather uneventfully, arrived back in Columbus OH this morning at about 0030, dropped the trailer and went to bed. A 38 hour turn from Columbus OH to Dallas and back to Columbus, with a 2 hour flat tire delay, is a pretty quick turn by any standards. I know there are plenty of folks who'll say no big deal, and it isn't, it's just a pretty quick turn, but anyway...
We got up this morning and headed to our favorite greasy spoon restaurant, just down the street from the terminal, only to find out it had been closed up, out of business. What the??? Oh well. We decided on Wafflay Hoosay, that's frenchy french for Waffle House for those of you who aren't quite refined as I. So while we were having breakfast, Frank called and said he didn't have much out of Columbus today but here's what I do have, he said," Philly, I said not looking for a cheese steak He said Portland, OR, I said too liberal for us there, he said Rock Tavern NY and right back to Columbus, that's all I got. We took Rock Tavern.
After breakfast, we headed over to the local big box grocery store and done some shopping for groceries and Tina's craft supplies. We then headed back to the terminal for some R&R before the load was to be ready about 1500. We no sooner got back there and the message came that the load was ready and needed to leave right away.
We just went through Youngstown and we are about 360 miles or so South East f Rock Tavern. We are supposed to meet another driver there, with a load from Boston, that is to go back to Columbus and he will take ours on to Boston.
This is beautiful country up here but the weather seems to always be nasty. It seems that every time we come up this way it is either raining or snowing.
I guess we are about 6 hours or so from our Rock Tavern destination. We just got a message from dispatch telling us that the other driver would be there about 2 hours or so later than us. Looks like we'll get another nap before returning.
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
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 Salt Lake City at about 1200 noon and dropped our trailer, hooked to the load headed for Columbus, performed the pretrip inspection and off we went to Columbus. We had to stop in North Platte, NE for fuel and that would be our last stop.
The weather across I-80 was very windy all the way to Davenport IA. The more wind all the way to Columbus. I'm not sure why but it doesn't matter where we are going, which direction we are traveling, we have a head wind. That is to say, we are always headed into the wind, the wind is at our face rather than a tail wind. That is really bad for fuel mileage. I had pumped an extra 40 gallons in North Platte because Of the wind and man was that a good forethought. We had 17 gallons of fuel left when we got to Columbus.
Before we got to Columbus, we took a call from dispatch asking which load we wanted out of there. We were offered a Miami, to leave immediately upon our arrival to Columbus or they had a Vegas, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, or Kansas City to leave early the next morning(Sunday). We chose the Las Vegas for the length of the trip, the ease of return, and the route and weather.
Anyway, we got there at about 1730 and dropped our trailer, fueled the truck in advance of our trailer readiness this morning and went for dinner at the local greasy spoon restaurant.
After dinner, knowing our load would be ready before daylight, we went to bed as soon as we finished dinner.
The message came at about 0630 this morning that our load was ready. Again, we jumped up, made ourselves ready and presentable for the day and went to dispatch to retrieve our paperwork. After hooking to the load we, as usual and as required, we performed the pretrip inspection and headed for the departure gate where security resides.
I decided to stay up long enough to get my weekly dose of church and tot refill my redemption and faith cups, from Cowboy Church on XM 13. I then promptly headed back to bed.
After review of our log books I seen that if we were to stretch out Tina's driving time and if I stayed out of the seat another 2 hours I could gain a restart on my logbook so we decided we'd stop in Troy Illinois and make my sister buy lunch. I love spending her and her husband's money. Especially if I can make myself and her husband think that it is actually his money and not hers. Anyway, we had a good lunch and a great visit. We had lunch at Red Robin in Glen Carbon IL. A pretty darned good burger I guess. The fact that it was free to me made it even better.
We are now off and running again, I will get my restart and have a full 70 hours available for the next 8 days. We should be in Vegas by about 1945 tomorrow evening. I have no idea what our assignment will be out of Vegas at this point but I do know that we will be starting to work our way towards Orlando for Friday morning.
We are taking next week, from the 19th through the 27th of March, off work for some routine doctors appointments and check ups. We are certainly looking forward to a week of sleeping in a bed that isn't bouncing down the highway at 60+ miles per hour.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW
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
Shortly after my last post, and making plans to work on and wash the truck, we took a phone call from dispatch asking us to run a load from LAX to Phoenix then on to Albuquerque. From there, Monday evening, we would be moved with an empty trailer to El Paso, Tx and then load to Dallas. Though it wasn't what we had in mind for a load, we accepted it to get moving. The load was to be ready by 1500 EDT.
We got notification that the load was ready at about 1400. We hooked the loaded trailer, performed a pre-trip inspection and we were off to Phoenix.
All was well, we got out of California, into Arizona on I-10 East and we were at the 55 mile post when I noticed the sound of the cooling fan being engaged but no indication the engine was warm enough for that to be the case. I kept a close eye on the temperature and it never raised. The fan continued to stay engaged and yet no sign of excessive engine heat. Without warning, more than already given, there was a swift loud rattling noise, and loud squeal, and it all stopped as quickly as it started. Even the fan quit running. I knew we had thrown a belt off the alternator, which also drives the water pump/fan The voltmeter light, and the check engine lights came on immediately. Before I could get stopped the engine temp light came on and the temp gauge rose to about 220 deg.
After getting stopped, I got out and tilted the hood. Man, was it was way worse than I had actually expected...and I always expect the worse and then anything less is always a blessing, but I digress.
The fan clutch bearings failed. The fan Clutch and hub is that part which with air pressure, controlled by engine temperature, engages the fan to cool then engine and when the engine is a running temperature again, the air pressure shuts off and thus the fan clutch dis-engages. When the bearings in the fan clutch hub failed, the fan sailed, at a very high rate of rotation,into the radiator. That broke nearly every blade off the fan, broke the fan shroud, and made several gouges into the radiator causing at least 2 tubes in the radiator to leak. Well, this is where trucking get to be fun, well, interesting at least. This was at 2030, that's 8:30 EDT. We called dispatch to tell them we had a breakdown and couldn't make it to phoenix then we called our shop folks in Columbus OH to let them know that we needed a tow to the Kenworth dealer in Phoenix.
Dispatch re-dispatched a truck to our location to rescue our load and take it to phoenix,and the shop called a tow truck out of Phoenix. The rescue truck got to us at about 2145 and hooked our trailer and headed for Phoenix. The tow truck finally got to us at about 2300. An Arizona highway patrol officer also arrived on the scene shortly after the tow truck. The officer walked up and asked what happened and without missing a beat I told the officer I was out of hours and had to be towed the rest of the way to Phoenix. He got a pretty good laugh, thanked me for being a conscientious driver and calling a tow truck when I was out of hours and we continued a great conversation.
The officer walked over and was reading the truck, commented on principle #9 and then the poem on the doors and wanted to know how many shotguns and rifles we had in the truck. I explained I didn't have any, because our company forbids firearms in the truck. They would rather their drivers be assaulted and or killed over a load of freight. We talked for about an hour about how America would be a safer place if everyone who wanted could carry a weapon after proper vetting, we talked about our current political climate, the current administration, and the unsustainable trajectory of our indebtedness to foreign entities.
After much work, some necessary, some not so much, the tow truck driver had us hooked to his tow truck and we were off. We started at the 59.5 mile marker and the tow truck driver had to stop at the rest area somewhere around the 85 mile post. It was a very quick stop and we were off again. This tow truck driver was unbelievable. He did everything but drive the tow truck. The first time we took off he immediately grabbed his phone and started texting. The he made a phone call. This was all being done at, according to the gps system mounted on the dash, 85 mph. After leaving the rest area, he seemed to have a very runny nose. He again began texting, then lit a cigarette, programmed the gps and made a phone call, again all at 80+ mph while driving with his elbows.
Fortunately, for us that is, his tow truck started making a whining noise. HE asked if I could hear the noise and I told him they could hear it in Phoenix and that it sounded like the input shaft bearing in the transmission was going bad. He kept mashing on it, 80+ miles per hour, passing another truck, smoking his cigarette, texting his boss and driving with his elbow. Before he got around the truck he was passing a loud grinding noise ensued and the transmission popped out of gear. He coasted to the side of the road and called his boss. Tina and I removed ourselves from his truck and headed back to ours where we'd be a bit more comfortable.
About 30 minutes later he came back to let us know that he had another tow truck coming for us and a low boy tractor trailer coming for him. So about an hour or so passes and the other 2 tow vehicle arrive. The low boy winches the broke down tow truck onto his trailer and off he goes. The second tow truck driver gets us hooked up to his tow truck at about 0430 and off we go. We were at the 96 mile marker when the second tow truck picked us up so we only had about 40 miles or so to go to the Kenworth dealer in Phoenix. That was a very long 40 miles.
We heard all about his night out drinking before he was called to come get us, we heard about how the other tow truck driver, the first one, made him mad, we heard about an old man that works at the tow company and chases younger women, we watched him text his boss, call his boss and tell us how he is in control of the old man that likes to chase younger women, and finally we heard about how, apparently he is such a "company" and that he gets the best tow truck. He is the only one besides the boss that gets to drive the truck that he normally drives. Amazingly though, that truck too, is in the shop for repairs.
We got to where we were going to park the truck at about 0530 and went to bed until the dealer opened at 0900 EDT. We got up at about 0845, drove the truck about 100 yards to the dealer driveway and got checked into service for repairs. WE were hungry so we went over to the local waffle house for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the shop and awaited complete diagnosis. While we sere standing around waiting, the leasing manager complimented us on the theme of our truck and we had a fantastic conversation about what is happening in America. I told him about the West Valley Tea Party Patriots and how to find them on the web and he was going to look them up and see about joining the group. Mission accomplished again. It seems that even a breakdown can be a blessing. About an hour later the bad news came. Really though, not any worse than I had figured. Radiator repair, fan shroud repair, new fan, and a new fan hub and clutch assembly.
I also asked them to replace the air filter, the crankcase filter, check fluid levels in the differentials, the transmission and the front hub assemblies, replace the water filter and run the overhead while it was in the shop. We had just had a D.O.T. inspection done on Friday and had to replace a brake chamber on the right front rear axle so I knew anything to do with D.O.T. standards was okay and I do the filter and lubes myself. We should be set for a while when we get the truck back at this point.
It is now Tuesday evening, Tina and I went to Claim Jumper to treat ourselves to a great dinner and now we are resting. The truck is to be ready tomorrow afternoon and though we don't know where we will be headed, we are quite sure we will have a memorable experience. That's just truckin'.
Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; My version of that is this...In all things be thankful. Though sometimes very tough, I try. Sometimes not immediately, but almost always it does happen. I heard a sermon once that you have reached a great level of maturity in the Lord when the first thing that comes to mind when something happens, good or bad, is Praise God or to give thanks in one way or another. I pray to someday reach that level. Tina is certainly a guiding light.
In God I Trust Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow ADW