Watkins & Shepard - The Adventure Begins October 8th

True, but the Billings terminal yard is also, far and away, the creepiest place I've ever parked for the night.

 

La Mirada is nice. It's like a two story bunkhouse. There's a kitchen, vending machines, laundry, four or five showers, a room full of jigsaw puzzles and a bedroom with bunkbeds. It's like camp. The driver's lounge is in La Mirada (as lonedragon said) where the shop is, not in Santa Fe Springs (a few miles away) where the terminal itself is.

I know what you mean about getting stuck out in California. It's where I spent several weeks of November and December. It was a continuous loop of short trips (which would take two days because of how they picked up or delivered and didn't involve a lot of miles), sitting for a day, short trip, sit, etc. The roads in California are horribly maintained and the speed limit for trucks is 55 mph (but the speed limit for cars is 70, which is just a recipe for disaster in my opinion).

I like getting dispatched to New Mexico and Arizona, but I don't want to get stuck in California again.

 

When we first start with WS, we are given a phonelist that has all the terminal numbers on them. It also tells you whether the terminal has a driver's lounge, laundry, showers, rooms to sleep in, etc. I just wish it also listed each terminal's hours of operation also.

The Helena terminal has free laundry, which was a great surprise.

Other drivers have all chimed in (with more info than I would have been able to give). Did they answer your question?

 

I didn't end up doing a reset. I was waiting for my laundry to dry and re-added my work hours. I'd just messed up the math. I called the Columbus manager (this is Monday morning) and told him I'd be there in about half an hour. I drove there, they unloaded me right away and I drove straight up to Taylor. I delivered there (and my headlight was intermittently going out again) and figured I had about another hour of daylight, so I drove south again. I had a fuel stop in Ohio at the Love's off of I-280 (east of Toledo) which was right before I got off interstates and took smaller highways most of the way to Austintown. I drove there for the night.

And then I remembered something they had told us in orientation. How you could split up a fuel stop (like doing half of it the night before and the rest the next morning). For some reason, I'd completely forgotten about it. I put 50 gallons in that night (and had a very hot shower) and then filled the rest of the tank in the morning.

You'd think somebody as prissy as I am (and as fond of hot showers) would have remember that little trick long before now.

I delivered at the Austintown terminal on Tuesday morning. I turned in my trip envelope and hit the road. I had another load already, this one going from Massillon, Ohio to Winchester Virginia. It took about an hour and a half to get to the shipper. I dropped and hooked and was ready to go. I'm so glad I'm getting more efficient at some things. My phone's gps wasn't working in northeast Ohio for some reason, so I called the shipper and got very good directions from the highway to the facility.

My routing took me southeast at a diagonal on small highways (to eventually hit I-70 and take that east). I got lost and probably wasted about an hour trying to figure it out (no shoulder or anywhere to pull off and check the map, I just had to keep driving and hope I eventually found I-70, which I did. It just wasn't where I was expecting it to be).

My headlight was being dodgy again and when it started to get dark, I was in Maryland. My initial plan was to drive as far as I could (as long as there was daylight) to make the most of my 14-hour window and then find a truck stop and replace the headlight (because I hadn't bought bulbs the last time my light was acting weird). I forgot that there are pretty much no truck stops in Maryland. And very few rest areas.

I was taking I-68 east and didn't have enough hours left on my clock (and no daylight left) to make it to my delivery, so when I got to the junction of I68 and I-70 (which is right on the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland), I took I-70 west (north) and two miles down the road, there was rest area/welcome center. Yay! Lots of open parking at that point in the evening.

I parked there for the night and then got up early in the morning, figuring that if my headlight was working, I'd drive to the shipper then. If not, I'd wait until dawn. (I just didn't want to get a ticket for having a headlight out). The headlight was cooperating, so I drove an hour south to Virginia and did my drop and hook.

Then, I drove straight to a Flying J five miles north of there and bought two headlight bulbs.

I had been looking in truck stops for an H-11 and couldn't find any headlight bulbs that corresponded to that letter/number. When I got to the truck stop, I just took the bulb out and figured I'd go find a bulb that looked the most like that one. Then I found the H-11 bulbs at the Flying J this time. Yay! I guess they just didn't sell that brand at the places I'd been looking, but so glad to have found them, so yeah.... I bought two.

I replaced the bulb and it lit up just fine.... until I closed the hood of the truck. Then it when out. I opened hood back up and checked to make sure the bulb was hooked securely to the plug and that I'd put it in correctly. It looked fine. The bulb wouldn't come back on though (and yes, I made sure not to touch the glass part because it is a halogen bulb). Grrrr! I called the shop in Missoula and asked if it could be a problem with the wiring. They said yes and I'd have to have a shop look at it.

I sent some qualcomm messages to my dispatcher explaining the headlight problem and asking if I could deadhead to Conover. I was in northern Virginia, so it was going to be quite a ways. No response. I called him twice and left a voicemail the second time. I then called someone else I knew who worked at Conover and asked what to do. He told me to keep trying to contact the dispatcher and the NC fleet manager and if I didn't get a response after a while, to just sent a qualcomm message telling them I was deadheading to Conover. That's what I ended up doing. By this time, it was more than two hours since I'd replaced the bulb.

So I spent most of yesterday driving back to Conover. I got there a little after 5pm. One of the Blue Ridge guys look at the headlight. The headlight hadn't come back on since that morning, but of course, it came on just fine when I turned my lights on for him to see what was wrong. What gives!? He looked at the wiring and he said that I'd put the bulb in correctly, but he didn't see anything wrong. I told him I'd let him know if it went out again while before I left Conover. I also had him look at my wiper fluid hoses. The passenger side wiper had stopped spraying about a week ago (I had pretty much convinced myself there must be a separate reservoir for wiper fluid for that side and I just couldn't find it). The bracket holding the end of the hose to the wiper arm had slipped about six inches. He moved it back and it works fine now.

And so now I'm in Conover waiting on a load. I stocked up on food at Walmart, which is good. I was getting so sick of having peanut butter for dinner every night.

On the bright side (pun intended), I now know how to change a headlight bulb and I have a spare one in the truck for next time.

 

I got a load out of Conover within an hour of my last post. I drove back to the terminal, picked up my paperwork and hooked up to my trailer. I did my pre-trip and was ready to go.... but my truck wouldn't start.

The driver parked next to me came over and he said it sounded like the fuel pump wasn't kicking in. I had no idea what was wrong, but the starting sounds didn't sound right. I walked to the other side of the lot to find one of the Blue Ridge shop guys and asked him to come take a look at it. I went in to tell the dispatcher what was going on and why I hadn't left yet and he told me to keep him posted.

The error message just said "Check: Engine Fault" which could be any number of things. Another mechanic from the shop had to come out and bring the computer thing they use to diagnose stuff. They sprayed starter fluid in the air intake, which allowed them to start the engine (and let the main pump take over... something like that). They didn't have the part they needed to fix it and it would have taken at least a day or two to get it if they ordered it. They asked where I was headed and I said Detroit. They told me to call ahead to the Taylor terminal and ask them to order the part (and arrange to have it repaired there. A lady at the Taylor terminal handled all of that, including getting permission from Missoula to get the repair done there. Taylor doesn't have its own shop, there's a mobile mechanic service they use for all their work). They gave me a can of starter fluid so that I would be able to start the truck if it wouldn't fire up.

I went in and talked to the dispatcher, sent the necessary QualComm messages and away I went. I didn't have to use the starter fluid to start the truck any of the times I stopped. I got to my delivery around 4am and had the amazing fun of trying to park when it's raining so hard that you can't see anything in your mirrors. What should have been maybe a two minute parking job took about half an hour. They unloaded me and I pulled into their gravel side-lot to take my ten hour break. I drove to the Taylor terminal early in the afternoon. The mechanic was scheduled to come out around 3 (which is when I'd guesstimated that I'd be there). I had time to take a shower and finish my trip envelope.

I explained the problem, left him with a key and went to the driver's lounge. Some guy from the main office was supposed to call me and explain various benefits that I'm eligible for now that my probationary period is ending. He called at four. Didn't finish with all we needed to, so he arranged to call me again on Monday afternoon to finish up.

I went out to check on the truck and the mechanic was gone. He'd left his little trolley (that you use to work under the truck), but his truck was gone. I went back to the driver's lounge to wait. As it turns out, the problem was that the bolts that hold the fuel primer pump (or the piece in the way of it, not sure) were stripped. The mechanic thought it was a problem with his sockets, so he went to buy a new set. The bolts were too stripped for him to get off.

He had talked to the terminal manger at Taylor and the main office in Missoula. They decided that he should leave the part with me and they would find me a load going to Georgia. The idea being that I would deliver the load and then drive to the Dalton terminal and have the shop there complete the repair.

I drove to Cleveland early Saturday morning for a live load. Everything was fine until I was driving through Kentucky and the truck suddenly stopped accelerating. I wasn't going to make it up the hill I was on, so I pulled off onto the shoulder. I got as far to the edge as I could, but it only left about a foot of space between my truck and the closest lane of traffic. And it was pouring down rain, so visibility was poor. I put my flashers on and ran to put out my triangles.

I called the 24-hr breakdown number and he gave me the numbers of two local shops. The first one I called, the mechanic was able to head out straightaway, which was good. He came out in a pick-up truck and took a look. His shop was at the next exit, about four miles further south. We tried to drive the truck there (staying on the shoulder until I got up to speed was the plan) but it wouldn't rev above 1200 rpm, so I couldn't go any higher than fifth gear. I stopped on the shoulder and put out my triangles again while he drove back to the shop to get his wrecker.

He came back out and they got it all hooked up. Got back to the shop (which is right next to this little mom and pop truckstop) and he unhooked it and told me where to park it. For some reason, the truck was now idling at 1000 rpm. It was a little weird trying to park when the rpm wouldn't go any lower than 1000. Like parking in high reverse, essentially.

I got the truck parked and called the breakdown number again and let them know where I was and that the shop couldn't look at the truck until Monday. So I will be spending the weekend in a small town in southeast Kentucky. I asked the weekend dispatcher if there was another driver who could deliver the load (delivers just west of Atlanta, Georgia on Monday. It's a drop and hook and it has to be there before noon). She said she'd see if there was a driver available in the area. I'm waiting to hear back from her so that I can call the broker and let them know what's going on.

While I was sitting at the Taylor terminal, I called to make a payment for my CDL school loan. They had some special going this month where they will match any payment you make this month that's at least $500. Instead of paying the usual $250, I sent in $500. That, in addition to some other bill payments, pretty much cleaned out my bank account (a little short this month since I took 6 days off at Christmas). I figured I'd just be broke for a week. Really glad I stocked up on groceries when I was in Conover because otherwise I'd be screwed.

This is a cute little truckstop. They have free wifi, which is nice. I don't get a strong enough signal in my truck, but the cafe said they didn't mind if I sat in here with my laptop.

 

I'm definitely going to have to get some Rain-X. Another driver recommended it and I'd never heard of it. I don't think it would have helped me the other night. Even when I stuck my head out the window to look behind me, the rain was so heavy that I couldn't see the end of my trailer. I had to get out and look. A lot.

 

So I got towed to as shop on Saturday night. They couldn't get to my truck until today (Monday). They weren't able to finish fixing it today, so I asked WS for a hotel room. I slept in the truck on Saturday and Sunday night (it was parked in the lot of the truck stop where the shop is, so why not stay in the truck?) but they were going to try to get some work done on the truck overnight, so I couldn't stay in the truck tonight.

In addition to the fuel primer pump, they figured out that there was some kind of valve that blew, which is why I had to be towed.

Nice to have a real bath. The hotel also has laundry facilities, which is good. I was running out of clean clothes, so that's pretty important.

I had called the broker and had them move the delivery date to Tuesday. I had to call them again tonight and let them know that there would be a further delay. I left a message with Missoula (my dispatcher had already left for the day) letting them know that the load was going to be late again. I had asked them over the weekend if they wanted another driver to power the load, but they said there wasn't another driver in the area who was available.

So still waiting, but hopefully the truck will be fixed tomorrow. Been broken down for two days and counting.