CRETE - A Year in Review

Oh...Note to self - Whenever Freightliner of Chattanooga tells me they can order a part and have it in x days, the actual time it will take to get the part is (2x + 2) days. Ever heard of having to backorder an air dryer?

Good news is, I'm finally back on the road after 9 days at home. Most of that was due to illness, though the last 2 days was thanks to the molasses-slow parts delivery at Freightliner of Chattanooga (I didn't have the work done there this time, but the shop owned by the towing company my brother-in-law works for gets their Freightliner parts from there). Oh, anyone considering buying a used truck and leasing to Crete - make sure you have a local shop, preferably not at a Freightliner (or Peterbilt, or International, or Volvo) dealer, where you can trust the mechanics, get good service, and won't get nailed to the wall on labor rates. I've just found it makes a TON of difference.

I'm thinking of starting a thread for my own Crete O/O posts, or a blog on an external site - I don't want to clutter up this thread with my stuff.

 

In the vein of delivering on time...
Everyone be sure to set your clocks back tonight (Saturday night).

 

In the best laid plans dept:
Was really proud that I made it to a Pilot tonight with exactly 4 minutes to spare on my 11 hr clock before getting an HOS violation on my electronic logs. Planning on doing some laundry, etc., while doing a reset on Sunday. Unfortunately, the Pilot I picked doesn't have a laundry... :-\

 

No problem. The same time change will allow me to squeak in a reset that I couldn't have gotten in before delivery otherwise! )

 

Last post for me this evening...
I've admired ET's TV desk he made several months ago. Which got me to thinking about wanting to watch live TV, but not wanting cram another single purpose "thing" (a TV) into my sleeper.

I finally figured out how to watch live broadcast (not satellite dish) digital TV on my laptop. That may not sound like much to all you computer savvy types, but it's been a real triumph for me. I even rigged it up to receive through my CB rabbit ears.

Windows 7 Home Premium has all the necessary software included. All the hardware that is needed is a chewing gum pack sized converter gizmo from Best Buy.

I won't bore everyone with how to do it, unless there's general interest in it. I can say that the reception is excellent and the picture is every bit as sharp as a TV set. (The sound is crummy, but that's my laptop's tinny speakers' fault.)

Lots of channels are available as long as you're in a major metropolitan area. Unfortunately, the Pilot I choose to reset at, the one that doesn't have a laundry, is also not in a major metropolitan area...

It might be a long weekend. :-\

 

Yeah, I doubt I'd be able to make it as detailed as it would have to be in order to be comparable to what you do (for example, I don't know how much I pay for a gallon of fuel until I get my statement the following week - unless I call Crete's fuel desk every time I buy fuel, but that'd get old very quickly).

I think I may go ahead and start one in the next week or so, anyway. Maybe just do it monthly, the way jdrentzjr does his - he posts the cover letter/summary from the monthly P/L statement his accountant prepares for him every month. I use the same accountant, and get the same statements.

 

I think starting your own thread is an excellent idea. Will give everyone the perspective from buying a used truck. And don't forget the details of your plights in the first three months and what Crete did concrning those plights.

 

Hey Evertruckerr, psst it should be Longbow not Longbedwhoops