An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

Unless the pony motor won't start...I think they only have a couple fancy hydraulic trailers here...the rest are manual.

 

Holy crap...the new 'honor system' vending machines here in Arlington are pricey. Some stuff isn't bad, but some of the microwave meals are more expensive than a sit down restaurant back home. They almost need a financing department.

They have all new furniture here in the driver's lounge...fancy motorized footrests and reclining seats. The other stuff was getting pretty worn out.

It appears they're letting me get in a 34. My travel agent asked the other days which I wanted to do. I said my recaps look good thru the weekend so, if there is freight waiting for me I would run rather than me waiting on freight. But here I sit. Either way, as long as my next load finals before the end of the pay period I'm fine with it. It gave me a chance to do my laundry and I'll clean up the inside of the truck a little later.

Update - when I went in the shop to get some supplies, I inquired as to my APU service status...she said it hadn't been done, so it must have been overlooked a few weeks ago, so they're gonna squeeze me in today. Plus, I am picking up a 3 stop Genie load off the yard that finals in New Orleans, so I will get my 34 in then head south. Looks like I get all my wishes fulfilled with this visit to the mother ship.

 

Well, Karma heard me say I had a good day yesterday and made me pay for it in a way. This load is almost 43k lbs so I must scale. When I did my pretrip this morning, I had a tag light out. No biggie, I have to scale anyway, will get one and replace it. Scaled out and I was 560 lb over on the trailer which could have gotten thru most places but I wanted it legal, and since I am not going to any communist commonwealth states, I decided to spread my axles which will make it ride better and be totally legal. Since I have limited storage, I don't carry any kind of tire chalks(until now). I fought sliding them in the parking lot, but decided a curb was needed. They weren't completely closed from the last driver so I figured if I could break them loose sliding forward with a curb then they would hit the lube I sprayed on there and they would slide easier...or so I thought. I managed to break them loose, but they wouldn't slide back. So, I put my hammer down in front of the tires, then put my winch bar under the hammer handle to make a makeshift chalk. Needless to say my steel hammer handle is now bent and my winch bar looks like it rolled down some pavement after falling off the truck. I found an old piece of 4x4 wedge that someone just chucked in the grass, so I used it, and it worked. Got my tandems set to a 10' spread, but, like a rookie, I failed to take notice that my mudflaps were too low and I subsequently tore both off on the curb...so, I get out my tools and try to losen the bolts so I can redrill new holes and remount the mudflaps...7 of the 8 snapped off. So, now I go searching for my stash of spare bolts and find 2 the right size, 1 smaller, but usable, and I had the 1 remaining original bolt left. Get the mudflaps remounted then move to the tag light...which won't come out without a fight. I ended up taking the light out in pieces, and it isn't a clip in with a plug, it is hard wired into the back of the light. So I go get a replacement and get that wired in. After all this, it ended up putting me right smack dab in the middle of Seattle morning rush hour. When will I learn to keep my yap shut when things are going good???? Karma is a royal #####.

And my day keeps sucking. Made it to Post Falls (I am taking the scenic route because WY was a gong show this morning and they are calling for high wind and some snow from Cheyenne thru Denver on Saturday). Used the Love's app to start my pump like we're told to do, it said pump was ready, but it wouldn't turn on...cancelled my transaction and tried a different pump. Now it says card inactive. Called dispatch and now they're gonna have to issue me a new fuel card because they think my card was hacked...how, I don't know because I ALWAYS use the app unless there is a serious issue with cell service.

 

Thank God my face never appears then... you've heard the saying "he has a face for radio?"...I have a face for audio books.

 

Apparently my fuel card got hacked via the Love's app. And according to Arlington, I am not the only one. They cancelled my old card and sent me the number for my new card to add to the Flying Pilot app, and per Arlington's orders, I am only to fuel at Flying Pilot for now. Which sucks because I was already within 27 points from Gold on my Love's card as of the 8th...my dispatcher said I should get a new Love's points card activated, which also sucks because I have $360 in points on the old one.

With the delay yesterday morning with the equipment issues and yesterday afternoon getting my new fuel card all handled, I could only make it to the rest area at the 58 mm in Montana...then today I dealt with some intermittent snowy roads thru Livingston, but I made it all the way to Moorcroft, WY before shutting down. If the weather cooperates, I may be in N. Little Rock Sunday evening ready to unload 2 of the 3 stops on Monday. Considering all the stuff that went on yesterday, I consider that a victory.