COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

I'm back!!!

Well, it was an eventful week. First, Starcommander, your explanation about the water sounds a little far fetched but if it's cold outside and you got a load of water and they want you to idle the truck.... who the heck is going to argue with that??? (heat...no heat...hmmmm)

OK, so last Saturday I made the trip up to Chatt. to pick up Redcoat. Sorry but I didn't get a chance to sightsee. I just drove up there, picked him up and we drove right back. By the time we got home and got everything out of the truck, we weren't inclined to do much of anything but chill out.

Sunday was race day so we went to the store to get some food and beer and planned on watching the race on the TV outside since it was a nice day outside. So another relaxing day before we had to make the trip to Mississippi.

Monday we got up early so we could get to my mom's house in time for her doctor's appointment. Redcoat stayed at the house so he could fix a few things that needed fixin' and Mom and I headed out for Tupelo. Unfortunately, something went wrong with my truck and I ended up calling my uncle to call my cousin to come fetch my mom to get her to her appointment while I messed around with the truck to find out what was wrong. I was doing fine zipping down 45 bypass headed toward the hospital when out of the blue my truck just kind of shut off. Actually it was still running (sort of) in that I had power steering and brakes but the gas engine just shut off and I had a light on the dash with a message in the info center telling me "Pull over safely now." Well my truck was still rolling pretty quick so I managed to coast all the way to the Front Street exit, down the block to the light where I coasted into a parking lot and shut it down. I think the hybrid battery is what was allowing me to coast that far even though when I pushed on the gas peddle, nothing happened.

After I got my mom's ride all squared away I called Redcoat to tell him we were stranded and he asked me if I had tried to start it again. (???!!!!) DOH!! Why didn't I think of that???? So I turned the key and it started right up, no warning lights, no nothing. Well, cool! We're back in business! But we decided that it would probably be best to take it to the dealer to let them have a look to see why it just shut down on me like that. So after my cousin came to pick up my mom, I headed back down 45 to Barnes Crossing Mall to the Mercury dealership to let them have a look.

Now this happened on an 08, Mariner Hybrid with 45K miles on it. I bet y'all are wonderin' what it was.....

Well, come to find out that the transmission pump what cools the fluid was the problem. The power to it was messed up and when it quit working, the transmission fluid got hot and when that happened, the sensor shut down the gas engine. Turning the truck off reset everything so that's why it started right back up.

The service man told me that Ford was aware of this problem happening with the fluid pump but since it wasn't a safety item, they didn't have a recall on it. (!!!!) So I guess your vehicle dying right in the middle of a high speed interstate is not a saftey issue. They said the pump needed replaced to fix it (the right way) and that the work would cost almost $500.

I don't think so, Tim.

So I had them repair the power switch instead and that only cost me $145 but the didn't know how long it would last. Turns out it lasted five days because it died on me three times on Friday while I was trying to go up a steep driveway at work. Redcoat thinks that since it was such a steep incline that maybe the transmission fluid was low so I'm going to the dealership here in Huntsville on Monday to have them check it.

So that was my adventure on Monday. After I finished at the dealership, I went down to the hospital to relieve my cousin while my mom finished up her LAST chemo treatment.

Tuesday we went down to DMV in Mississippi so Redcoat could switch his Texas license to a Mississippi license in preparation for testing for his hazmat. Unfortunately he had forgotten his glasses here in Huntsville so that was a wasted trip.

Wednesday was my mom's LAST radiation treatment. We celebrated by going down to Home Depot to buy her a zero-turn lawn mower so she could get a grip on the three acres of yard she has to mow every other week. We also took Redcoat down to get a new pair of glasses so he could pass the vision test -- which he did -- so he is now the proud owner of a brand new Mississippi license. Next time he goes through Mississippi and he can get to a DMV he'll sit for his hazmat test to get that squared away.

We drove back to Huntsville Wednesday night and I went back to work Thursday while Redcoat took care of honeydo items. Friday was another day of work for me and today we were busy getting Redcoat packed to go back out on the road. His teammate went out solo while Redcoat was off and had gone to South Carolina. He had gotten jammed up with getting some kind on number for a shipper and ended up only getting 31 hours driving in three days. This morning he was in Atlanta and he set off for Huntsville to pick up Redcoat as they had a load headed to Missouri. After studying a map, I've learned that there is no easy way to get from Atlanta to Huntsville without having to drive on little bitty back roads. So it took him a while to get here but since he arrived around dinner time we all went out to eat and when I left them, they were headed west on 72 going to I-65 to head north into the night.

So that catches everybody up on how our week went. We managed to get a few things done but didn't get much sightseeing in. When we were out and about today, I went up the hill on 431 to the lookout area but the trees down the hill have grown so tall that you can't get a good view of Huntsville anymore so that was kind of a disappointment. I get a better view from some of the houses on the mountainside where I'm working than the view from that vantage point.

So Team Redcoat is on their way to somewhere in Mizzou with a load of shoes. Back on the road and rollin' again.

Stay tuned.

 

You ain't gonna make it. Not unless your wife works and you don't have very many major bills. Somewhere back in this thread I posted all of Redcoat's earnings for several weeks. Depending on how they run, his checks average anywhere from $300 to $700 a week take home pay. And then out of that he runs through upwards of $175 a week for food. So that doesn't leave much for our finances which is why I'm busting my butt trying to sell pictures and studying to be a medical transcriptionist.

Before he went on home time this past week, his check was $342. I left him $242 to live on and only took $100 for our bills. The week before his check was $488. I left him $188 to live on and took $300. The week before that his check was $651 and I took $500. The week before that his check was $477 and I took $300. Do you see the trend? There is none. You never know how much you're going to make from week to week. I could get $500 one week and $100 the next. I hope your wife is able to do some creative accounting with your household finances because she'll sure need to.

Sorry to sound so dismal but you sure don't want to go to work for Covenant thinking that you'll be able to earn a decent living. Things were better last year but since October, the company has cut back on EVERYthing and the drivers are paying the price with their hides.

The most you'll be doing is subsisting while you gain EXPERIENCE.