CDL in hand... Now What ? Decision time, that's what...

Very cool. Good luck and have fun!

 

Here is the load of particle board I got today in Bennettsville, SC.




That stuff is dense - this load is 44,000 pounds. I think the tarping turned out nicely:




Currently in Ripley, WV off I-77 at a new Loves (not in the 2012 Truck Stop guide). About 7 hours drive time remains to the destination in Elkhart, IN.


The fan in the cab HVAC system no longer works as of startup this morning.

The aircon compressor still works, and a little air does blow when the truck in in motion, but something is definitely wrong. Checked the circuit breaker with a meter - not the problem. My trainer's truck did the same thing while I was in it. Eventually the fan would only run when the engine was shut off with the key off.

The truck is due for a service interval in a couple thousand miles anyway so maybe it's time for the shop after this load is delivered. Sure would rather take it to Appleton than Gary...

 

The company gives us a turn by turn route that we are expected to follow. They use a software program that takes factors such as distance into account, for fuel savings. A lot of times the route specifies two lane highways. This can be good or bad depending on the condition of the roads. The good part is the scenery. But going slowly through small towns and stopping for lights can really slow you down.

I do have a RM 510 GPS that comes in quite handy for finding truck stops, rest areas, etc. It also gives the speed limit and tells what lane to be in for turns and exits. So the bottom line is I use the GPS as a backup to the company route.

 

Left WV at about 4am and made it to the consignee at the appointed 12:45 time. Untarped in the parking lot, then brought the truck into the warehouse for unloading. Smooth.

By the way, in reference to the previous post, today's route had a good deal of non-interstate highway travel. Mostly US-33 through Ohio and Indiana. There were some small (and not so small) towns to go through, thus traffic lights and lower speed limits, but the different scenery was nice. Interestingly enough, the GPS route and the company route were fairly close, both using US-33 as the main path and "shortest route."

Called maintenance about the electronic gremlins in the truck (in addition to the the HVAC blower fan being kaput, the low fuel warning light and buzzer keep sounding off and also the sleeper HVAC controls on the dashboard are behaving weirdly). They talked to my fleet manager and the decision was made for me to pick up my next load (steel coil in New Carlisle, IN) and then call maintenance to have them give me a suitable en route repair facility to fix the blower only, so that I will have aircon. In the words of my FM, "Even though you are close to Gary, I would hate to have you go there. Sometimes drivers get stuck there for days [while their truck is being serviced...]"

Then after this load is delivered (Friday morning, Murphreesboro, TN), he is going to try and route me through the Ellenwood terminal in Georgia to have the routine maintenance (oil change, etc.) performed and look at the other minor issues. Perhaps I'll do a 34 hour reset at that point since I am bumping up against my 70 hour limit.

Sounds like a plan. Perhaps it will become reality...

I am now at a Pilot in South Bend, IN, 15 mins from the shipper, where the appointment time is 06:45 tomorrow morning.