Been a little busy...

I know I've been kind of MIA for a while... so I'll pick up here from where I left off last time I was on here...

Did my upgrade in Pittston as I reported back then, unfortuately there wasn't anything available there except a few lightweights... not really an issue for me, I didn't really mind being able to take a week or so off since I'd been out pretty much non-stop since orientation (my choice).

So I call down a week later... still nothing... well, almost nothing... I get told that there WAS an 09 Cascadia in the yard available, but was told in all honesty that it would have been a waste of my time to come down & look it over because it wasn't even suitable to a driver who looked at it as a loaner.

I called Springfield & even Salt Lake & got similar news... severe shortage of lease trucks available... again, I wasn't really all that concerned & enjoyed a bit of extra time off.... I have that luxury as I'm not the sole income at my house.

The following monday I get a call from my FM... he had a 2010 Pete turned in over the weekend (driver took a local job)... said the truck's been on his board for a year now & has been religiously over 7MPG (I've heard stories from some of the Pete drivers not being able to get decent mileage with the ISX Cummins)... he also said the guy that had it was a clean freak & fanatical about maintainence... truck's had zero issues other than being in the shop a couple times for issues with the Qualcomm.

ME: Ok, well, in that case, I'll take your word for it & come look her over.
FM: Great, how soon can you be here?
ME: Give me about a half-hour & I'll call you right back.
FM: No problem man, let me know.

I call back...
ME: I'll be there tomorrow.
FM: Seriously???
ME: Just got off the phone with US Airways... cheaper than getting my wife to drive me down even... I land at about 1:00... can you get me picked up at the airport?
FM: H*ll yes, give me a call when you land.

I always take what someone tells me with a grain of salt... but he wasn't lying... the guy that turned it in had it so clean when he got out of it you could have eaten off the floor & the detail shop hadn't even touched it yet... the only thing the detail shop ended up doing for it was give me a new bunk mattress.

While I'm sitting there checking the truck out the QC Tuesday fuel mileage message came in... 7.4 for the previous week... so, he wasn't kidding about the mileage either (& I've managed to get as high as 7.96 for a weekly average with it)

OK, so I have a couple issues with the Pete... the d*mn clutch pedal is stiff as a board compared to the Freightliner... & in order to roll the electric windows up or down you have to have the key in the "on" position... meaning you have to punch in the security code every time you want to roll the window up or down while you're sitting.

 

Yea, when I first got in it I thought there was something wrong with it... There happened to be a driver with a 2011 sitting next to me as I was checking it out so I asked him about it... he kind of chuckled a bit & said "yep, they're pretty stiff compared to the Freightliners." & told me to come over & try the one in his truck if I wanted to be sure.

Yep, his was the same way.

 

Apparently the image linked to in my OP isn't working reliably... try this if it isn't showing up there.

http://f500.us/images/043r.jpg

 

OK.... let's try this one....

 

Yea... it is a nice color.... all the way down while I was in the air I was thinking it'd be just my luck for it to be Barney Purple or Slime Green.