Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

Anyone know what those guys on I90 pulling two 53's make? That has to be over a 100k a year. Talked to Tony about getting ez pass and it's not possible from what I heard. In MA the cash toll is always on the left it seems and in other places it can be anywhere. That may be the worst thing about going northeast. Going around a turn surrounded by traffic and not knowing which lane you need to get into to pay cash. Those toll lanes are where I'm most carefull. Just a fender bender waiting to screw up my driving record.

 

Well, I had to open my big mouth. 15 minutes after that last post...Karma landed on me with both feet...going up US 97 out of Biggs Jct, after the zig-zag at WA14, I was trailer truckin ' up the hill empty, passing Large-cars like they were standing still..and I noticed smoke coming out from under my truck. The harder I gassed it, the more rolled out. I managed to get to the top and there was a big 'scenic view' area, so I pulled over. Open the hood and low and behold, the oil supply line for the turbo was pouring oil. Called GP to warn them of a potential problem on me picking up my backhaul, then called Fleetnet. Within an hour there was a service truck there...but, they don't stock those old Series 60 parts any more, so he made some phone calls. It was going to be days before they could get one, and we were in the middle of nowhere....my mood darkened a bit...but this guy had some 'shade tree' training...fired up his torch and brazed the line. It took 3 tries before he found all the leaks, but he got them. It cost Poly 3.5 hours labor + all the 'service call' charge and etc. charges road service companies get now a days...but it wasn't leaking. It has a 30/30 warranty (30 miles or 30 minutes) but I wasn't on a wrecker, and wasn't sitting days for a fix...plus he looked at the coolant line that I saw leaking, he could see it weeping, and said the only thing keeping it from pouring was massive amounts of rust and corrosion, and perhaps the inside of the line came apart a bit and plugged it...but he didn't want to touch it for fear it would start leaking bad again.

Now, my normal grumpy self would have gotten down in the dumps...the new and improved me took the positive road. Instead of 'the glass half full' or 'the glass half empty' the old me would have just complained about someone drinking out of my glass...but the new me looked to be more positive...had this happened hours before...I would have been between Bend and Biggs on the more rustic part of US 97...where pull off areas and cell phone coverage is a whole lot harder to find.

What do we do with the receipt from the road service...I know Jerry said in orientation that we were suppose to make sure we got one, but I don't remember what he said to do with it.

On another positive note. While waiting for a service truck... A WA state trooper paid me a visit, and made sure I wasn't stranded w/o food and water...and stayed and chatted a bit until the service guy got there. This trooper was one of the friendliest law enforcement officers I've ever met...and since he didn't give me a ticket for all the oil my truck dumped...I'd tip my hat to him...if I wore a hat.

 

Need him to fill out work order form we have. I forgot b4 and just filled it out myself. Never heard anything about it.

 

Deliver in sumner in morning. Got my bachaul picking up in kent wa going to billings mt for monday am. I was told to roll back to up north from there. That's a hell of a deadhead 860 miles. Put myself on tues up north board. Hope I didn't screw myself by doing that as I will have 8 hrs left of driving time when I make it there.

 

I decided to take a little longer route to Dallas since my truck isn't that reliable right now...instead of going the scenic route through Provo and Green River to I-40, I chose to run over to Cheyenne and down through Amarillo. The bad part of this is with 5/8 tank of fuel I'm grossing 79,500 and so close on each set of axles there isn't room to adjust, so a full fill up isn't going to happen and the last fuel stop is Bennett, CO...just 60 miles before the Limon scale. Plus this thing is dropping about a gallon of coolant in 600 miles.

 

Could also consider the I-70 option through Kansas if fuel is a problem as we have a stop in Colby, KS and a little less to worry about with scales that way if I remember correctly but there is some back running through that way as well but not too bad. About an extra 50 miles from that of your current way.

 

Also, you could call the driver supervisors to get approval for fuel in Amarillo. The circumstances warrant it.

 

I still consider my timing of my outbound trips my strong suit. Once I was confident this truck wasn't going to blow out the patched oil line, I called outbound and got set up. Since I am toasting my logbook getting back to Dallas from the other side of Spokane within 70 actual hours...I'm going to be able to squeeze another 34 in before heading out Monday. Carl offered several OR loads, a bunch of south TX loads, a N. Vernon and a Findley...it was a toss up between N. Vernon and Findley...I chose Findley since it delivers Wednesday morning instead of Wednesday evening. I've been out since my brief 'pick up my stuff' visit to home after orientation, so I'm gonna' do 1 more out-n-back load then go home and be back on the road just before the holiday. Since I'm, as many have called me, a 'FNG'...I'll work Thanksgiving in case some of the senior drivers want to be home to be with their family.

I hope the shop has all the repairs done on my truck...as long as I'm going to have to move my stuff, I may as well move back in my regular unit...although I'll miss having an actual APU.

 

I was the FNG in the Army once. And once was enough!!

 

Any news on what when on in drivers meeting as I'm sitting in billings wsiting to dlv on monday. Then deadhead all the way to up north.