Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Emptied in Bethpage Tuesday then reloaded 30 miles over on Long Island 1530 going to Richmond which delivered yesterday. Took 3.5 hrs to get from Long Island to the NJ. NYPD had the lanes blocked off for the lower level GWB and Manhattan so everyone was diverting to the upper level. No loads to Ohio so sent home early. Home til Tuesday then to Groveport since dragged a reefer home.

 

My week so far:

Turned in a shop ticket for my truck last Friday. Could hear some kind of air leak coming from under the cab.

Took 3 days of hometime.

Got a preload while on hometime. Pick up at Lumber Liquidators in Sandston, three stops to deliver in Michigan. Pick up Tuesday, deliver Thursday.

Returned to work Tuesday. Discovered truck was still not fixed. It was in a bay, and waiting on a part. ETA for part was 11:00am. Repair wouldn't take long once they had part in hand. Convinced HQ to have one of the locals pick up the pre-loaded trailer from Lumber Liquidators and bring it back to the yard. Went back home.

Tried to raise the shop on the phone starting around 2:30pm. Tried several times. No luck.

Circa 3:30pm, decided to drive back to work, taking it on faith that the truck would be repaired.

You see where this is going.

Arrived at work, truck still not repaired. Part did not arrive. No ETA other than "tomorrow morning." Told DM they would have to take me off the three-stop Michigan load, because I had no confidence that my truck would be repaired in time for me to make on-time delivery.

Repairs were completed late afternoon Wednesday.

Rolled in to work Thursday, got a load to Lancaster Leaf, which is 4.5 hours from the yard. Also got a preload for afterwards: Hook dry van, return to Richmond, get a live load, and deliver it in Connecticut Saturday morning.

Mission accomplished. Currently at the TA in Willington, where it looks like I will be spending the night.

 

Did not get a load assignment yesterday, as expected. Got one this morning, requiring me to pick up a pre-loaded trailer tomorrow.

Looks like I get to watch football today. Geaux Saints.

 

In other news, things are looking pretty terrible in North Carolina. I-40 is washed out in the North Carolina mountains just east of the Tennessee state line. Road is estimated to be closed for at least a year. Lots of other bits of I-40 in North Carolina are closed for a day or three due to flooding.

Y'all stay safe out there.

 

Reportedly there’s a couple of bridges on I 26 that are also washed out

 

Several bridges washed out in TN and NC on I 26 north of Asheville

 

So I hear!

 

The hits just keep on coming.

Tooling down the New Jersey Turnpike with a load of coffee filters, heading for Windsor, VA, when suddenly a loud **BANG** arose from underneath my truck. Next thing I know, I am fighting for control of the vehicle as the truck shakes and shudders. I just barely manage to get it over to the shoulder amid a cloud of burnt rubber. Was not fully on the shoulder, a small portion of the back end of the trailer was out in the roadway. This caused me a great deal of agita, as those can jockeys hurtling down the Turnpike weren't missing my trailer by much.

Some inspection revealed: The elbow joint pipe connecting my exhaust stack with the exhaust manifold was missing. (I later found it on the shoulder 50 feet behind the truck.) The levelling arm on my suspension had snapped off the bracket. And my drives were completely locked. I had initially thought that the trailer brakes had locked up due to a lack of air, like maybe my gladhands had popped off or something. But when I got out of the truck, I saw that the skid marks were clearly from the drives on the tractor.

Called Breakdown about it and this was when I discovered that, if you break down on the NJTP, you gotta call the Turnpike Authority and they will send out a tow truck or repair truck as needed. Guy they sent out did a little poking around and determined that two of the hoses connecting to my brake chamber had popped off because the valve had literally broken in half. He thought that maybe I'd run over something, but I don't recall anything in the road. On the other hand, the brake valve was what the shop on the yard just replaced when my truck was in the shop last week.

He was able to fix the brake valve, and I was able to travel to the TA in Bordentown, where they are unable to fix me until tomorrow, because they don't have the parts and can't get them until tomorrow.

The exhaust from the truck is now coming out from below the cab, and I found myself getting dizzy while sitting in it. Being dead from carbon monoxide poisoning would certainly delay the delivery of this load, so I opted to pitch up in the hotel next door.

 

Being dead certainly adds a degree of difficulty to the task of on time delivery.

 

Two days later, still here in Bordentown. I talked to their shop manager yesterday and he said the parts should be arriving between noon and 1:00pm. Long about 2:00pm, I went in to check. He made a phone call to the local parts dealer he'd ordered the parts from to find out when they could expect the parts. Dude on the other end of the phone said "Next week."

I indicated that, as lovely as Bordentown might be, I couldn't just hang out here a week waiting for parts. He was also kinda flummoxed, because he'd been expecting them to arrive already. After further conversation, he ordered the parts again and told the dealer to overnight 'em.

As of right this moment, the dealer has not yet gotten the parts, but is expecting them "today" because they paid extra for next-day shipping. Of course, "today" can be any time between now and midnight, so I expect to be here at least one more night.