Orlando Load Cancelled and Reassigned for Saturday Morning

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

Left Atlanta @ 0100 This Morning

We arrived in Atlanta at about 1430 yesterday afternoon and I had some preventative maintenance to do on the truck. Before we got there, we were given a dispatch back to Dallas and then on to Columbus OH.

I had to change the engine oil bypass filter and do a grease job on the chassis and components. I also had a broken bolt in the left rear mudflap as a result of something off the road hitting the flap and breaking the bolt. I got all my tools and supplies laid out and arranged, I also plugged my battery charger in for my battery operated grease gun. I had remembered running the battery down during the last grease job so I wanted it to be fully charged. While the battery was charging, I proceeded to remove the FS2500 bypass filter canister, remove the old filter and "O" ring and installed a new "O" ring. I also wiped the inside of the filter canister out and installed the new filter into the canister and then the canister onto the filter head. After torquing the canister bolt to the recommended 40ft/lbs, I started the engine and checked for leaks. All was well, so I shut off the engine and checked the oil level, again, all was well. That is one of many things I like about the FS2500 bypass filter as opposed to some of the others, it only takes 1 1/2 qts to replenish lost oil from filter change. I won't top it off until the sump is a full gallon low. I'll get an oil sample for analysis when we stop for fuel later, while the engine is at full operating temperature.

While I was working on the filter change, another driver came over and wanted to talk about the truck. His name was Dave and he is a Vietnam Vet...God Bless Him. I thanked him for his service and we had a good talk about our mission with the truck.
We talked about the theft of our nation by the power hungry politicians, the shredding and subsequent burning of our constitution, again by the power drunk politicians in both parties, and the coming voter revolution in November 2010, by the power holding citizens, WE THE PEOPLE.

While we talked, another driver drove up and wanted to take some pictures of the truck so he had a ball with his camera while Dave and I talked. I didn't have either of them sign the truck though because it is so filthy right now that the signatures won't stay on anyway. I think I am going to start having the folks sign a sheet of paper, send that to the sign maker and have him make a vinyl signature to place on the truck. The fading of the signatures with indelible ink sharpies continues to progress and there is just no way to stop the natural fade. I think this is our best solution.

After Dave and I finished talking, he headed back to his truck for a nap before he had to leave for San Francisco, CA. I finished the truck grease job, replaced the broken bolt in the mud flap, and cleaned up and put away my tools and supplies.

Tina had ordered a pizza for supper so we ate and I took a shower. While I was working on the truck, Tina took a call from dispatch, and the terminal in Atlanta had added a load to Phoenix AZ and they wanted to know if we would take that rather than DFW then Columbus. We agreed and that was to be ready at about 1100PM.

The load was finally ready about 1230 this morning and we left Atlanta at 0100. We headed West on I-20 and will continue on that interstate to the Van Horn TX area where we will access I-10 west and run that all the way to Phoenix, AZ. We had to fuel in Shreveport LA a bit ago and had some really good feedback on the truck there as well. Really though, it seems as if things have cooled down a bit since 9/12. Not sure if that is just a mis-perception on my part, after our vacation, or if it is a real calming down, knowing that we win in November next year. I think, personally, that we can't afford to cool down, we must stay vigilant and keep the heat on these dirt bag politicians.

We are currently near Longview, TX and should be in Phoenix by about 0730 or 0800 tomorrow. We don't have anymore planned stops except driver changes at the proper intervals. Stay tuned though, you just never know what might happen on the road.

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