Husband/Wife Team to start with Covenant

Here we sit at the "WHITEHOUSE"
(that's Covenant headquarters for those that do not know)
When last we had a tire blow out on a trailer, the tire tech noticed a serious difference in tread depth wear on our front steers. So as we were passing by corporate, we decided to stop in and have them give the front steers a look over. And sure enough, we were in dire need of new tires and an allignment. But of course, once inside... getting out? Well, that is another story. Remember the song Hotel California by the Eagles? LOL. That pretty much sums it up.

 

We are FINALLY rolling after we jumped through the last rigmarole hoop. Had a load, lost a load and then we played "Where's the trailer?" It's over there! No, it's in the inspection bay! Oh, we gave it to someone else! (mechanics gather to giggle) Ok, can we get another empty trailer? Here's your new empty trailer... Oh sorry, that's the number to the trailer that we just gave away.
(12 hours later...) Well, guess you can bobtail to the shipper.
Oh, we can bobtail to the shipper?

Well I challenge you there double yellow!! ..... with the ol rigmarole hoop rings! Once, we finished with the have a load/lose a load, we then played "Where's the trailer?", the 5 department D&P show gets you to the new RED Flag/Sit til 2, where you say "not sure why, but I will." And the finally... can't pick up till almost midnight.
In summary....Saturday, pulled into Birmingham Way to have the dangerous looking front steers checked....
....Wednesday,finally on our way with a load.
A positive take... We are rolling with all new tires on the truck. Our allignment is back in check and we DID learn quite a bit from our special log class and from talking with our fellow drivers.

You know, you keep referring to yourself as "lazy". Now, from my outside looking in opinion, you are the last one I would call lazy!!

 

Yes Indeed. We were there. Dagnabbit, We missed you!

Glad you were able to get your repairs done and get on your way.
Well, we have some crazy news to share. After listening to a VERY ear piercing air leak sound, (thought it was fixed while in Chatt) we decided that sleep tonight would not be possible, so Breakdown sent us to the TA off I-20 in Dallas to have it diagnosed and possibly A Quick Repair?? Well, didn't quite go down like that...We parked in line with a lot of other trucks and went inside to set up an appointment to get it diagnosed. We were inside say about 5-10 minutes? While inside another driver didn't do his GOAL and backed right into the front of the truck. CRUNCH! We didn't notice the damage until we drove over to empty out the trash. That is when Ron noticed the bumper was hanging down a bit more than normal and then he saw the rest of the grill damage. I jumped out and sure enough there it was. We knew it must have been the fella parked right in front of us. He just didn't say anything. I don't think he would have if we had not confronted him. I pulled up in front of his truck and we called the onsight officer, IRC and breakdown. What an ordeal! Now, back to Hutchins. I am sure we are going to lose our load to CA. This was to be the load to get us to our first REFER load.
I am truly disheartened.

 

Came SO CLOSE to transitioning, but can not pull a reefer unit without a truck.
(SOooo funny!, I spelled reefer with the two E's on my last post and edited it because when I looked it up, the only thing to come up was marijuana references, so I went with refer ) And YES, the other driver did admit fault once we confronted him. Initially, he started the evade dance, but his body language screamed "I'm a storyteller!" (really not hard to spot one) Now we sit at Hutchins while the other guy's company insurance evaluates the repairs needed. It appears that it may be a Freightliner body repair. Not sure yet.
But wouldn't you know? Right when we got here, received a notice for a "RANDOM" drug screening.
Hope my vitamin regimen is not a problem.

We still do not know where that DREADFUL air leak sound is coming from. We are hoping it will be corrected this time. The new compressor is running great, but it is not a good idea to Consistantly lose air. The truck has about 230,000 miles and is running well. Overall, it is looking like about a 3-4 day repair for the body work and air leak. That is my guess. Hope I am wrong. especially after the sit in Chattanooga.

Boy I know you are looking forward to Tim coming back. Tell him we said hello. And if we do finally make it to Pomona, we'll say it in person.

 

Hey there Rocks! Good to see your post.
I was hoping all was going well for you.
We are in Texas...waiting. We did get to talk to a bunch of very nice drivers while at Hutchins. Asked a lot of questions about reefer. ONE more thing learned. But still MUCH to learn. OK back to bed.
until next time...

 

Update on the Reefer Division...
We came out the gate rolling and happy to say we have not stopped.
With refrigerated units, there is a lot of waiting TO GET TO the Loading and Unloading, but once you bump the dock, it is pretty quick. And our new dispatch manager is right on top of things. She is keeping us preplanned and moving. We are getting acclimated to each other pretty quick.There is ONE more tank to check and fill. There is also a light on the corner of the reefer unit, so while driving, we can keep an eye on it. And each time we stop, we check to see that the temp is set where it should be. We have gotten comfortable sleeping with the rumble and vibration of the reefer unit right behind the cab's sleeper. (some have told me that they have trouble sleeping with the sound) We still have much to learn, but as with anything, we ask questions. (Sometimes trial and error...Not my favorite way to learn)
So, until next time...