My new adventure with Gordon Trucking

This past few weeks out have been, to say the least, a rollercoaster ride!!! Jan 1st...have to rent a car in order to get to Sikeston,MO to pick up a POS loaner truck as Cummins have had mine since Dec 23rd....wait 2 days for a 300 mile load...toodle around midwest for a week get stuck in St Robert,MO for 2 days thanks to first storm before getting something decent....nice long run west and back to midwest, no problems....pick up load in Russellville,AR TONS of problems trying to get STEERS to scale out (at one point had them at 14,000....yes 14,000) upon which the multi national hugely large conglomerate food processor swears blind there absolutely nothing CAN or WILL do to fix it. Decide, that as there are no scales to worry about between there and Pontoon Beach to move it. Change back into my own truck @ P Beach.....freeze my ever loving knackers off as it is running cold with sub zero temps....(but APU is fine so I decide to go with it....) recover a load in Rochelle,IL going to Chicago (Vienna beef...)...head to my next pick up in Bensenville, not a lovely big blob of meat with blood running down the channels of the trailer floor that I missed (dark!!) after finishing unload, head to Monee to get trailer washed out, takes forever back to Bensenville and an almost ridiculously impossible back which was solved by the guy in the truck next to me dropping his trailer so I could get in to find that my trailer is too wet....so on with the 80f heat to dry the darned thing out run out of time and spend the night in the snow and wind swept lot....drop my load at Edwardsville and before picking up a load going to Vernal,UT and get my heat problem checked to find that it was simply a valve that Cummins closed when they were working on the truck!!! So, I was freezing my things off for 2 days for no reason....lovely...what a d***k I am!!!!!

Great run that took me through the Flaming Gorge in Utah...anyone else here done that run on UT44??? Stunning.....although very tight.....8% grades with 10, yes 10 switchbacks on the downslope... Anyway, get that done and head for next p/u to Clackamas out of SLC.....simple?? nope.......after getting trailer washed out realise that the Reefer unit refuses to start so off to Thermo King we go.....lose another half day and head off next morning....wow a day (relatively) without incident...except getting pulled into an ID scale to be told that I was some 2,000lbs over gross.....presented my scale ticket and he let me go "If you had not had a scale ticket you would have got an overweight fine!!" moral- SCALE BABY,SCALE!!!!! Stop overnight @ Boise terminal (I always like to stop there...) and realise that my cooler has decided that it would quite like to stop working....melted plug...lovely...phew...

Leave following morning and lots of lovely Oregon freezing fog that you cant see over the hood.....struggle through that to just before Cabbage (Meacham I believe??) and chain law in effect.....wait that out for 4 hours and go alnog my merry way again...

Drop my load@Clack terminal and they ask me to take one from there to Safeway just up the road....OSD problems this time ARRRGGHHHHHHH!!!! OK....so next load...lovely 2,300 mile total from Warden,WA to Walmart Olney,IL....then APU goes out in Pasco,WA so motelling it all the way back to Oak Grove,MO when I suddenly get a yellow flashing DPFwithin a minute it changes to red and lose power.....check into the TA shop and OTR wants them to change fuel filters and add anti-gel as they think it has gelled which is preventing me from regen.....ok then!!! surprise surprise it didn't work so they eventually recovered my load and here I sit this morning waiting on a wrecker.....and due home tomorrow....

 

That's the way it looks...yes I have been using that.....I have used different stuff only because I had none of the other. If they want to use crap that messes up their equipment then that is I guess their prerogative....however I think even though it may cost me I will use Howe's from now on....I really don't care to have to mess with all this again!!!

 

I have taken to buying a case of Howes whenever the price is reasonable. That way, I'll have the good stuff in the fuel and a tax write-off next year.

 

Gordon pays for howes... just pay for it and send a macro 11 to otr for a po# for the amount. Be sure to include milage. 2 large bottles at a time.

 

Man.. I hate being the new guy and not knowing all those little things like... when you drop at this customer you don't need to grab an empty and go to a truck stop because we will reload you out of the same place in the morning. Oh.. and you can sleep there all night....

 

How do you bring an EMPTY reefer expecting it to be a LOADED and not notice would I suppose be my question....that is a screw up of momentous proportions, I would imagine that driver to be clearing out his truck soon,no??? Have to be an exceptionally good reason behind that!!!!

 

So my DPF filter apparently needs cleaning Freightliner have sent it to Cummins (which begs the question why did they not send me to Cummins first..) Hopefully out if here today (hopefully.....) and home tomorrow....

 

I am delivering in houston..picking up in Louisiana and on my way to socal... yes .. the southern route.. it does exist...no chain laws to worry about.. but it is a little brisk down here....
I forgot how rude houston drivers were but I received an immediate refresher course...