Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Whoa!! Weather Map!!

Maybe we're in for it after all. Weather map looks very, very ugly--just delayed arrival. Prediction for 6-9 inches before tomorrow disappeared off Accuweather but look at that weather map will you! The line of snow starts just above here and covers all across upper Mid-West.

Big green, red and yellow (rain) below the snow moving through, too.

Spencer Sav-A-Lot had 8-ounce package of Elk Stew Meat for $3.99 Friday (today's Sunday); had it thawing in refrig Friday night; diced it up Saturday morning. Went into the whoopee turbo convection oven for 10 minutes, then into crock pot. Added bay leaf, sliced carrots, onions, couple thin-sliced garlic cloves and a can of chicken broth (recipe on package calls for beef, didn't have and didn't matter).

Spent afternoon working on doghouse/chicken coop-to-be. Pried the siding off the front, added new vertical 32-inch high 'studs' (was framed up something like 22" on center, insulation's 14-inch), added insulation and wrapped the inside with tarp material so they don't scratch up the insulation. Have some left to do, new entry, roost, like to get it higher up off ground (for my convenience).

Came in 7 pm, washed up, tried the elk stew.

Wow!! Awesome!! Just awesome!!

 

White Stuff

Tomorrow's KY, depart 0900...

The snow is arriving, suddenly and in a hurry, large and clumpy. Did about 4,000 feet (4 up-and-down trips) on the hilly trail out back yesterday. Probably do that again before too much more comes down.

Well, there's the Spencer Y this afternoon... my supply of chicken crumbles (feed) is low. Maybe can pick up after tomorrow's run. Dunno. Might be a long-ish day with snow.

 

Tomorrow's run'll be KY again.

We're gonna spend some time on air pressure governors, which on the Bulldog (Mack) Pinnacle (3-axle sleeper) is located just left of the driver up, way up on the firewall, where it freezes up in cold weather...

Now how would I know that? I ask you!


//Server at Pilot Subway, Haubstadt, IN gave me employee 50% discount on my $5.79 sub. How cool! I'll take it. Points paid the rest. Like, no charge.

 

65 MPH Truck Speed Limit

Until tonight, told over 10 seconds at 65 mph would be noticed and flagged...

Ring, Ring, Ring.

Boss: Ugh...

Me: I'm about 2 hours out, have 2:02 available. This truck runs 62 on cruise. If I put my foot to the floor it'll run 65...

Boss: Don't speed...

Me: Speed limit's 65.

Boss: Go 65.

Me: Thank you!!

Click, Click.

Made it with a little to spare after post trip.

 

2 on, 3 off (Days)

'Only' $860, eh? I suppose after that tranny, $860 for brake shoes feels light. Did you do the work yourself or have that mechanic-friend? Last time I did shoes, think it cost me $12 from O'Reilly on my F150 (since sold). Got their cheapest, softest shoe and could hardly believe how well they braked and how long they lasted. Sometimes cheapo is better. Tranny still feel okay, tsavory?

Haven't heard much from Blu. Wayne called; has this 2nd sense; knows when I'm going towards Pennyrile Parkway. Fritzy phone/headset connection dropped call repeatedly. My phone's fault. But we at least did the hi-hello. Said he was disappearing into a steakhouse for a while.

Today's KY run wraps the beginning of my week, can start thinking about what all I'd like to get done over the next few days. 2 days on, 3 days off. Saturday's a maybe day, depending on how busy things are and Sunday should be off again. Not bad. Long days, though. 14 yesterday and 13 today.

That's 27 hours right there. Throw in Saturday and could easily pass 40 hours. Of course, the day count footprint is smaller than a 5-day work week. But hours are about the same.

Some of the other drivers are run pretty hard. In fact, Pabst only had 1-1/2 left and had to stay the night in KY, despite that he lives in Bloomington now. Not enough hours to get home. Ouch!! He's actually from Milwaukee, transferred after his unit closed there. Wants to get his 5 years in.

The green Volvo pulled one on me. Let him go ahead of me; said he had 5 pallets. Oh, he had 5 pallets 3x. Well, he had 15 or so, not 5. I like the guy, 75-years-old coming up in July... but it's a character thing.

Won't happen again.

 

Getting Started on the Air Pressure Governor

As truck drivers go, I'm not much of a mechanic and like to say that I can do anything in a day that a 'real' mechanic can do in an hour--unless it takes 'real' mechanic-type knowledge or tools. Field replaceables. Yeah, I can do that. Maybe. When things do come up, though, I'm quite interested and want to learn more. Monday was a good example.

Everything seemed fine until I got about 300 feet out onto the street, where the truck lost power and I noticed my air pressure at 90 pounds, a good 35-40 pounds low. Truck slowed, could make only 15 mph and that was about it. Sometimes trucks hiccup and then come back. Not this time.

I put on my 4-ways and kept moving (not much else to do at that point). Then I noticed my air up around 150 pounds--way, way up--well over where the governor should have cut out. By this time I had gotten about a mile down the road to a safe spot to pull over and then saw my air dropped below 60 pounds and could hear the audible (alarm) although no warning light.

Lets take a look at this as a learning experience starting with a talk about the all-important air compressor that does so much for us truckers.

[video=youtube_share;JZM2NFExZsA]http://youtu.be/JZM2NFExZsA[/video]

 

No Truck-Potato, He

Whatever you think about the Bendix video, does kinda make you want to go to a truck show, doesn't it? So that's why my buddy Tim with Landstar takes the time. I wondered. Why, why, would he take time off from $5500 week gross to go see some shiny trucks at a show when he has a working truck that needs his fat butt in the seat making money??

I ask you!!

tsavory's there, too, no doubt. You know, when he's not swapping another tranny in or rebuilding his turbo. Nothing to it, right??

Okay, now I'm getting an idea. Maybe I'll go to the next show. The other thing, note how chiseled and buff the presenter is. Tellya, he's not a truck-potato doing 14-18 hour days for weeks and weeks on end, bouncing down the road at the front end of 80K alongside swarms of 2K torpedo wheelers aiming to commit suicide to their entire family as they pull in front of you.

No, he got a good night's sleep at home, went to the gym before work, yada, yada. Did you see the other truckers at the last truck stop?

Right. You're more like them than him. Maybe got your debit card in one hand and counting endless change out that you've saved up for some small purchase so it takes 15 minutes for the rest of us to wait for your dumb butt--I've got places to be. Get some help over here!!

Oh, I digress...