Oh boy, where to start...this story proves that the best way of dealing with stressful situations is to be able to laugh at them and move on.

I'm out riding with a friend of mine trying to get a feel for what the trucking industry holds when i finally get there, and im learning alot of lessons thru other drivers mistakes instead of being put thru the embarrasment of learning the hard way on my own.

Anyway, we just got thru hauling a load to stuarts draft, va and headed up to winchester, va to pick up another load. This load didnt have to be picked up until the morning, so we said to heck with it, we can stay at the flying j north of winchester at I-81 Ex. 323. I was told to begin with that this particular flying j was a parking nightmare, but i wasnt expecting what i saw.

Unfortunately, we managed to get there about 10 minutes after the rookie werner driver. as this poor driver was backing in for about the 60th time, the trucks started piling up. it got so bad that the whole fuel island was blocked off, drivers were stuck and couldnt move and it was just a gridlock between drivers entering and leaving. Altogether, there was probably 30 to 40 trucks that couldnt get through, and the werner driver already had 6 other drivers trying to help him into the spot so we could move. We tuned the CB to CH 19 to see what was going on, and thats when we actually knew it was someone trying to back into their spot. I must say there are some funny guys on 19 when crap happens like this.

On top of everyone yelling and screaming over the cb telling said driver to move, there are still drivers on 81 with enough sense to stay out of the flying j, but they continue to use 19 for bear reports. One guy crackles over the radio "WE GOT A BEAR LOOKIN' SOUTHBOUND AT THE 323!" Normal enough, right? "A CORRECTION ON THAT SMOKEY REPORT- HES HEADED UP TO THE J TO SHOW THEM BOYS HOW TO PARK THEIR TRUCKS!" I thought he was just being a smart #####, but sure enough he pulled right in there, took a look around and left. Not really much he could do, anyway.

Anyway, it gets better. While there, we start having problems with the clutch (Its an Auto) on our freightliner columbia. My friend only says "somthing's wrong with the clutch" and then the stupid thing stalls out. Apparently the clutch brake was either broke or worn or something. I still really dont know.

When we tried to start it back up, it wouldnt. The air smelled like burned clutch. Wonderful.

the clutch brake wouldnt engage or something like that. After we determined we were broke down, we called over to the company, whose owner is pretty much a master mechanic for semis explains how to bypass some security deal so we could start the truck in gear. After much frustration we were able to run the wires from the corroded and rusted solenoid that took 2 hours to break the bolts on into the cab with a toggle switch. The idea was that if the truck ever stalled out at a red light or out in the booneys somewhere in utah, we wouldnt have to keep getting out of the truck, raising the hood, and short circuting a large wire at great risk to personal injury while the driver tried to get it started. So after messing with this thing for several hours, dealing with very cold temperatures, and grounding out my thumb to the starter solenoid (several times...) We finally were able to try it out.

It started perfectly.

I Give.

By the way, thanks to the werner driver who held everyone up- if it wasnt for him, we could have lost the clutch elsewhere. Were California bound here in a couple of days, and id rather lose the clutch in a flying j parking lot than somewhere halfway up vail pass.

73s and happy truckin'

Dave
KD8FQB

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KD8FQB