Good Night From II

Cabazon, picking up a live load headed to Sumner.

After the weirdness to start the new year, with the breakdown west of Rawlins on I-80, getting towed with the trailer to Rawlins, then tractor towed to Casper, then sit in a hotel for five days, then finally get a rental car and recover a truck in Grand Junction, CO...

... put the new tractor in the shop in Denver. No idle, no bunk heater for more than five minutes, and cracked windshield. Denver did the windshield, but said the other items had to be done at a Freightliner dealership.

My DM put in a special request to get me to Phoenix to pick up a new truck. Got a can load going to Montebello, CA with a t-call in Phoenix (a bit out of the way). I drove from Golden south on I-25, not wanting to deal with the passes with an approaching ice storm. Got hit pretty good with ice building up on the front of the mirrors down until after the pass getting into New Mexico.

We got to Flagstaff and then were advised to come directly to Jurupa Valley instead of Phoenix because no trucks available in Phoenix?

Got to JV late Friday and tried to t-call the load. No go, have to do the live delivery on Monday. No trucks available.

Saturday morning I went again to enquire about available trucks and managed to snag a '15 T-680 and spent four hours cleaning it and transferring our things. Then I went to the shop with the old truck and they were reluctant to take it, wondering why Denver didn't deal with it. I explained I already lost 7 days work this month from a breakdown and wasn't about to spend more time waiting for the Freightliner dealership. Finally they took it in and I was free and clear to take some home time.

Seems like there's a real shortage of trucks. My last upgraded trainee still hasn't received a truck after waiting a month in JV.

 

Lepton that's weird they supposedly had trucks everywhere around Christmas. Greer had a whole line. I'm in Columbus right now and they have several.
Well my brake problem is going to take rest of the day. Going to a hotel. Haven't slept in 38 hours and counting. And the guys at the shop counter are rude as Hades. Keep saying another 3 to 4 hours and won't tell me what they are doing and keep acting like I'm an annoyance and I have only asked them 2 times how long, even explained I haven't slept. Oh well. Off to the hotel.

 

think i saw you lipton...if that was you,you sat right next to me saturday in the terminal. you was on phone then left and talked to a guy on the front row. then you was coming into the driveway as i was at the gate leaving. didnt want to bother you since you were on the phone. so was this you?

 

I might have seen you at the Columbus terminal, Marvelfan. I've been here too. Their truck shortage seems to be changing by the minute. One second they have no trucks. Next second they have one and gave me the keys to go look at. 2011 Freightliner Cascadia. I didn't really want it. It has one less nose mirror than I'm used to, can't over-ride the idle shut-off, and no apparent way for me to lower the airbags. Bit of a downgrade from my 2014 T680. It is just as roomy it looks like though or it could just be new look.

I guess, on the plus side, it turns 4 next month. My DL has been assuring me that he'll set me up with something a bit nicer soon. I'm also staying on the GLR account.

 

Paw Paw, MI.

I slept in this morning because it was still snowing.
A couple hours after sending a Mac 22 the snow stopped and the roads cleared up pretty nicely. I went and got my mt and headed for Battle Creek to pick up my load.
Even losing half a day I still have plenty of time to deliver it within the window.

 

The good looking one? Yeah...

 

Doesn't this beat all? Get to Cabazon to pick up a JIT load of water headed to Canada with a t-call in Sumner. At check in were told the load "wasn't docked" and we should call our dispatch. Sent Mac-13 to *CSR and called DM. Took a nap. Woke up and realized there hadn't been ANY communication, no 2 hour message to reply for detention pay, nothing. Called DM and found out the CSR had pulled the load off us but nobody told us.

Went to the Shell truck stop across the freeway, didn't want to hassle with the Morongo. Chilling and waiting for a new dispatch. The bubble map I saw on Saturday showed a HUGE red bubble in the LA area so I'm not hopeful. The good news is we're hooked to an empty, so that puts us a leg up. The bad news is my trainee booked less than 2 1/2 hours BTW today and he's waaayyyyy behind schedule for 200 hours.

 

Got a load from Moreno Valley to Maryland. Nice long run without being JIT, so I can allow my trainee maximum time behind the wheel. Let's see if he's up to the challenge.

 

Patience is a virtue, and it looks like yours paid off.

 

Kymi, try this to override the no idle. #1. Start the truck #2 Turn on the cruise control #3 hit the set button on the cruise control.
When you hit the set button, the idle should come up to about 650-700 RPM and the truck will idle until you shut it off.

If the truck is already running you have to turn the cruise on, then off, then back on again and then hit the set button.

This is how the Cascadia I'm in works at any rate. Hope it works for you as well.

On mine the airbag switch is under the interlock and 5th wheel slide switches just to the right of where the Qualcom is mounted. Right above the heater mode control knob.