Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

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Air dryer element regular replacement (article) http://www.truckinginfo.com/article...-need-to-pay-attention-to-your-air-dryer.aspx

Bendix advanced air brake troubleshooting guide (pdf) http://www.bendix.com/media/documents/products_1/compressorsgovernors_1/troubleshootingguide.pdf

 

Decisions, decisions! Head home or somewhere nearby for a beer??

Derate warning came on this morning until I called Indy shop, then went off, of course. Came back on after I fueled and took pit stop in Oak Grove.

Stayed on, too, all the way back from KY. Driver cannot start regen, takes mechanic with computer. Why?? I ask you!

Left truck with cute little red tag...

 

We are 'required' to keep the blue regen switch in the auto position at all times. Apparently we have no such thing as a by-driver-manual-regen, either. I don't understand it. Above my pay grade. Will have to buttonhole Reed the Mechanic and find out what's going on with this.

Happily haven't had to deal with a derated truck. Have had 2 now that flagged for regen needed.

Indy was not much help, either. Friendly and polite enough, just not really helpful. Stay tuned...

 

One Beer Solution

Stopped in on way home last night at new Moose Club, now located east of town up from White River bridge and across highway from McCormick's Creek State Park. Had been in town, catty corner from courthouse and town square. Club's 'members only' but an old gal 'sponsored' me as a guest visitor. Signed in. Had to hand her $$ for a beer and SHE handed it to bartender.

As bartender announced beers I sorta cringed until she mentioned Guinness...

Me: "Guinness??!! How much?"

Bartender: "$2.50."

Wow, that's a very good price and a great beer. Who knew? Pete from the Muffler Shop told me they voted for non-smoking. Apparently happened a while back. 'Course, hafta drink entire beer or leave it; doesn't matter much, I guess. But I drive right past on way home...

Maybe I'll join. Costs $55 or something like.

 

Recupe Day (aka Day Off)

Brianne had vegetable beef and vegetable tortellini soups at Josh and Brianne's Main Street Coffee in Spencer. Had the tortellini this morning and the vegetable beef to go. Veg beef didn't make it home, either. Really good.

Apparently I'm taking care of my neighbor's critters this weekend while he visits his kids (living with ex-wife, who just moved Florida to Tennessee). His new wife and son have been in Brazil this past month or so.

I'm in the car (finished off the tortellini here) writing next to McDonald's and there pulls up the Prairie-run outfit's Evansville-run truck, looking like the rest, dirtied from road slime, making the right turn from southbound to cross our little one-mile east-west bottleneck of a town on its way... hustle, hustle.

Every 15 seconds or less, another truck pulls across the intersection in front of me heading either direction, east or west, Bloomington (east) or Terre Haute (west) or Vincennes/Evansville (south) or turns north on Hwy 231 on way to I-70 or Indy via SR 67 and turn off at the Junction 6 miles up the road, while others come south on 231 like the Evansville-run truck.

Our two-lane bottleneck main drag is a non-alimentary (non-food) feeder route to all that pass through and the town hasn't had the good sense to clear out enough land in town for real truck parking and capitalize on it. What a lack of imagination! Not to mention all the 2K torpedo traffic that doesn't stop, either.

Oh, yeah. If you know just how, you can pull behind Wendy's or, like Estes, pull along side the Dairy Queen. It's usually the LTL guys or drivers who happen to live local who have truck-length parking figured out.

Whistle stop without the stop. Just whistle at all the traffic go by...

 

Truck Traffic--Cheap Thrills

Somehow all these trucks just never seem to bore me. Twins Trucking's got a crusher somewhere south and has at least 3 trucks I've seen this morning shuttling crushed vehicles up to Indy in open flats. Around here gondolas are more typical for that work.

You get all the famous names and then a lot more not so famous. The notorious. The good. The not so good. Pretty and shiny. Ugly and poorly-maintained. Common carriers and not so common carriers.

American Sniper's playing this weekend at the completely-renovated Tivoli Theatre. $5. As I approach the window, the old gal will physically react to me and my insistence on my 'senior discount.' She'll say, "All right, there you are, that'll be $5." All the tickets are $5 but we go through this schtick every time. Dunno why. I'm deadpan and she has a slight smile.

Where can all these cars and trucks be going and all through a town of 2,500? Suddenly there's a break of mostly cars. Happens. I've moved over to the lot next to Babb's Supervalue Foods and can read the DOT number off Walt's and the other trucks going by. Cloverdale Ag-Center, J.L. Foster Farms, a South Central straight truck, school buses from Spencer-Owen, KR Denth Trucking, a Ryder rental and more cars.

All these tires and wheels roll, push and pull for unknown destinations.

Another Twins Trucking, makes 4 I've seen this morning. Mashed fenders and hoods, windshields. Another KRD (Denth), different signage on door, same outfit. England Furniture pulled out from behind the furniture store, made his delivery, found a spot by Riddle Tractor to idle for a bit.

Second Troyer Foods/Polar Express this morning, probably both out of Bloomington facility on west side.

Problem's that even turning the direction of traffic, takes the furniture truck a while to make the turn. Got 2 narrow lanes to cross and a wide center (turning/emergency) lane to swing wide enough. He waited patiently until an opening finally presented itself and made his move.

Bus man's holiday. Truck driver runs into town on day off and watches the trucks go by... and by. And by.

 

Chicken Census Pops Up by 10!!

Nothing boring about your week, Wayne, as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who reads this thread is interested in all aspects of trucking, I figure, just as you said. Or should be. And not just my experience, either. Of course, I go down to Spencer and watch the trucks go by. That's me. But I like that you post your weeks; and, from what I hear, this year has been a lot busier than last, when there were slow patches. Hasn't been slow since I've been here.

Looks like they've done some additional hiring since I started, too. A fellow was asking if I knew where the receiver was on our closest stop and I didn't. Haven't been there. I've had 2 reefer loads now, and Receiver Ben (John also) has been helpful. Definitely more complex than the van loads. Not a big deal. The learning curve for a part-timer is longer and slower than full-time; and as you suggested earlier, this was a busy week. Wasn't surprised to have Terminal Boss ask (by email) if there was any chance I'd do KY Thursday. Worked well for both of us. Today was a really nice day to have off!

Drove over to Paragon around lunch to look at a compressor. Great price. But do I really need a thousand-dollar two-cylinder, two-tank gas-powered compressor? Even if he's asking only $350 and has been hardly used?? Dunno. Thinking about it. Continued on to Martinsville Rural King.

Both Bloomington and Martinsville stores have live chicks now. And...

There's a chirping tonight from the other side of the wall past the furnace and that chirping wasn't there yesterday or this morning. Guy on CraigsList had 15 Golden Comet chicks to sell, only 10 left this afternoon. I bought all 10, $30. More cheap thrills. Cute little buggers, born February 4th and shipped out same day from Mt. Healthy in Ohio. Guy bought 50, more than he needed to get better price and basically selling at nearly his cost. How cool!

http://www.mthealthy.com/page/1033240

When I ran USPS mail Columbus (IN)-Cincy, went to downtown Cincy facility (whereas Bloomington-Cincy went to the DC (Distribution Center) in Sharonville, north of Cincy) and in the dead of winter Mt. Healthy would ship chirpers just like these. Always wondered about that, if they survived. The guy gave me the box they shipped in to bring home. Small world. These chirpers look vigorous and healthy. Better than Rural King's maybe and Rural King's are pretty good, I think. Rural King typically does not have Golden Comets...

It's all good.