CRETE - A Year in Review

hope the two drivers were ok....

 

Hey guys/gals,

I've been incommunicado on here for a while, mainly because I've been busy. This is a good thing

I saw that US Express truck on the eastbound side of I-80 near Walcott after the last storm. That's the storm where, when it blew in, I was on my way from La Crosse, WI to La Vista, NE with a 6,220 pound load of empty soda cans. I believe it was about 2 weeks ago, would have to check to be sure. I was running with another Crete O/O who had picked up an identical load, same shipper, same receiver, both loads were due first thing the following morning. About 4pm we came into Des Moines from the north and caught I-80 West toward Omaha. We were running maybe 40mph or so. That little stretch there where 35 and 80 run together, he was crossing an overpass about 1/4 mile ahead of me when a gust of wind sent him sideways. He got to almost 90 degrees, pointed north on the westbound side, and started toward a grassy embankment. When his steers hit the grass, they caught traction and his tractor turned hard left, now facing west again. His trailer swing around behind him, beyond straight, until his trailer tires were sliding down the embankment. That yanked his drives to the right until they caught the grass, and he caught traction again. He gassed on it and dragged it all straight and on the pavement again somehow. Somehow or another, he managed to keep it upright and not go down the embankment. I think the Hand of God played a part, as well as large doses of skill and pure luck. The only damage was that his trailer tires took out a mile marker, and dug up the grass on that embankment.

I got slowed down to about 25-30 before I crossed the same overpass, and a gust of wind hit me. I don't know what my trailer did - I didn't have time to check my mirrors before everything was straight again, but my drives kicked out about a foot or two to the left before I caught traction again and straightened out. You know how it feels when you lean back in a chair so it's on 2 legs, and you lean too far back, and almost fall over backwards but catch yourself just at the last instant? That's how I felt at that moment.

We pulled in at the Love's (used to be a Flying J) on the west side of Des Moines and shut em down. The other driver got a cup of coffee and changed his drawers, and we both told dispatch we were probably going to be late. We were. But we got there. When we shut down, I was checking the Iowa DOT website with my phone to see the road conditions. The listing for I-80 between Des Moines and Omaha had phrases like "ice and whiteout conditions making travel dangerous and nearly impossible", so I feel justified in my decision to stay parked until mid-day the following day, especially given the weight of my load.

That's the load that got me to Omaha to put my truck on the dyno at the Detroit Diesel dealer there. They ran it on the dyno, and took samples of oil and coolant. All is well with my engine, and it now has the 2 year/200,000 mile extended warranty. I also got my free brake job at the Omaha terminal while I was there - it was definitely time, as my drive axle brakes were 1/64" away from being too thin to be legal by that time.

Since then, I've been wherever it was cold, windy, and icy. Oklahoma City got about a foot of snow overnight, just before I arrived at the start of morning rush hour on my way to Goddard, KS. After a car did a 540 (that's a 360 and a 180 all at once) about 20 feet in front of me (it had passed, went to change lanes to get back in front of me, and apparently the driver had learned how to change lanes by watching the car chase scene from The Bourne Identity), I decided to shut down for a while at the Flying J by the I-35/I-44 junction on the northeast side of town. Dispatch rescheduled for 0700 the following day, so later on I went up to Braman, OK to spend the night. Now, this is where things get interesting. In Tonkawa, some idiot filled up my truck and didn't think to add any anti-gel. 20 miles further up, in Braman, it got down to around -15 that night. Next morning, the roads were fine and my truck ran fine - until I hit 35mph on the onramp. Spit/sputter/cough/stumble. 35mph max speed. I pulled in at the service plaza in KS on I-35 there, and my fuel filter looked like the inside of a freezer that needed defrosting, as seen through a slightly green-tinted glass pane. I poured 2 gallons of Power Service 911 stuff in the tanks, saving a little bit for the filter itself. I actually tried to change the filter there - but when I opened the drain on the bottom of the filter unit, nothing came out, even though it was full to the top. Apparently the drain was full of ice or wax or gel. After delivering in Goddard, I went over to the truckstop a mile east of that customer. It had warmed up to almost 0, and the fuel around the drain valve had turned back to liquid, so I was able to change my fuel filter. This was all on a Thursday, I believe Feb 10.

Let this be a lesson, especially if you have a truck with a zero-idle technology such as the NITE system or an APU. USE THE FUEL ADDITIVE! This lesson only cost me about $45 (2 gallons of the stuff to un-gel the fuel, plus a fuel filter). It could have been worse!

Anyway, I then got a load offer to deadhead up to McPherson and get a light load of insulation going to a mobile home manufacturer in Rockwell, NC. 1197 loaded miles - YES! 1200 miles is the max to get $0.96/mile loaded - 1201 miles, it drops to $0.87/mile. 1197 loaded miles is right up my alley. Only problem was, it was set to deliver 26 hours after the pickup time. It was actually supposed to have been picked up Wednesday morning, which would have made it a great trip. Since the customer was closed on weekends, I had to deliver it Monday morning. I slept in their parking lot Sunday night and was the first truck in on Monday

I just got home, after T-Calling a load in the new Lenoir City terminal last night. There were no empty trailers that weren't locked/tagged out of service, so I had to wait until this morning to get one. Before I took off, I went inside for a snack from the vending machines and a trip to the little boy's room. Who should I meet in the driver's lounge but our very own supersnackbar!

It's been a pleasure chatting with you, SSB. Hope we can do it again sometime. If you want to know more about the purchase program, hit up my thread over in the O/O forum. Anything I don't cover there, feel free to message me for my phone number and you can call me anytime the sun is up (I'm generally a solar-powered driver).

 

You should have seen the puzzled look on redbeards face before he knew who I was when I started asking specific questions from info he posted here... Geez, if I were smarter, could have played 'psychic' and really freaked him out. But I couldn't help it...I had to introduce myself.

I have to retract some of the nice things I said about the Lenoir City shop... I had a bunch of time on the last load. I haven't been running as hard this month as I did last month. Left home on Wednesday, only turned 1250 in 3 days...my last load for last week ended in York, PA at a place that use to be known as the York Mixing Center...it's now a Unilever warehouse. At 1700 on a Friday in February...no empty's. Now expecting the worst I was shocked by a 900 mile run to somewhere in WI for Monday off of the New Kingstown yard, but once I accepted it, it gave me the 'unable to commit' message. Then an apology from Op's saying that the load had been pplaned on another truck, then a 2nd load appeared(now I know business is getting better, 2 loads, that late on a February Friday). Another load off the New Kingstown yard to Scottsboro, AL for Monday...A whopper of a run 732 miles, but could have been worse. Anyway, enroute I decided to hit the Lenoir City shop. My truck was overdue for an 'A' service, I had a 'tickey' air leak coming from either the air compressor or the governor(same 'tickey' air leak you usually hear from a bad air dryer, but it was definitely coming from the driver side of the engine), my center support bearing was mis-aligned(also called a carrier bearing-the center drive shaft bearing), I have a drive tire that has some chunks missing from my battle with a customers icy driveway, I needed windshield wipers desperately, my drivers door latch is real sticky no matter how much I clean and lube it, my APU was kinda close to being due for service, and I still have that bad vibration in the front end when I'm under moderate-heavy breaking.

Well, I got to the shop late in the day on Saturday, not expecting them to be able to start on it...and I was right. 1st thing Sunday morning, it went in. By 2 pm, it was out...but....they did the 'A' service, checked the front end again(found nothing again), straightened my center support bearing, new wipers...and that's it. No new tire, still have a tickey air compressor(which has started to leak intermittently when you shut the engine off), my APU not serviced and my front end still shakes. They said that the only thing they could find wrong with the front end was an out of adjustment break on the left side...when I asked them if they replaced the adjuster they replied 'why'...duh---if it's out of adjustment on an auto-slack adjuster, it ain't working, so it's defective...replace it! But they didn't, so now I have a brake to adjust and it shakes when I brake. I told my wife that if I am ever killed in a wreck because of this problem...5 seconds after the final shovel of dirt is on my grave...sue the SOB's...all the work orders are on the computer...and she hears all the joy I am having with this truck...repeatedly. So it's well documented...and the best news for all you Cretins - if something happens, she'd make a good boss

Once I got done with Scottsboro, I went up to Cherokee, AL to pick up a load for Houston that delivers Wednesday 2 am... Again, not great miles, but it's Feb, and I'm still ahead of last year, so I'm not too unhappy...yet! And it's been almost 2 weeks since I've seen snow....YES!!!!!!

When I was home I realized I must live under a primary flight path for the Canadian Geese that flock to FL...it was a non-stop 'quack' or 'honk'(or what ever you call a gooses noise) as flock after flock were ''V'd'' up and headed north. I guess Punksutawney Phil was right, for some of us at least.

 

C.R.E.T.E = Cranky rejected evicted truckers everywhere

 

Didn't you post this same thing a week ago??

 

We ignored him then as well.

 

Can't Remember Everything Today Either. Could Retire Easily Then Expire. Choicest Riders Ever To Exist. Can't Really Expect This Effective. Can't Respect Even Those Experts.
Come-on Really Easy To Eat. Counter Revolutionary Experts Training Ediots.
Common ####### Expecting To Excel.
####, I just can't think of a good, catchy phrase for C.R.E.T.E.

 

They blanked out RE TAR DS, but allowed ####?