Trip 17 and 18 - Forest to Shelby to Suitland, MD
Trip 17
12/20/05 - Tuesday
I received a call from dispatch asking if I'd be interested in taking a quick trip from Forest to Shelby, then pick up a truck there at Southco and take to Suitland, MD, which is on the eastern outskirts of Washington, DC. Initially, I said no since I had decided that I was going to stay in until after the first of the new year, but the trip sounded good enough, planned out enough by dispatch, and with their pleading I decided to take it.
I left early Tuesday morning. Since my personal vehicle will be left at the Forest Equipment bullpen for a couple of days, I like to drive the old Saturn I have. But, with the temperature less than 20 degrees, and it sitting for more than a week, the battery was too far gone for it to start. So, took my truck and headed to Forest a little after 7:00 am.
There were several trucks staged and ready to go, and I found mine on the first try. It was a typical configuration that I've driven on this trip before - an International 7300 with 6-speed, no radio. Since it was cold, I wondered if it would start, but no problems. I pre-tripped it, with nothing unusual, fueled up, and was on the road by around 8:15 am. Trip to Shelby went smoothly, and this time, upon delivery, didn't have any concerns with scratches or scrapes. Note that the bucket cover almost blew off (in the picture). We're instructed to check it, which I did at each stop, but it barely made it.
Trip 18
Since each trip has to have a complication, mine started at this point. A fellow at Forestry Equipment was kind enough to take me on the 2 mile ride over to Southco, where I was to pick up the next truck bound for Suitland, MD. Naturally, upon checking their bullpen, it was not there. After going inside and flagging down a few people, I found that they had not been told that anyone would be picking it up soon, so it was not scheduled to be finished until Thursday, but it was currently being worked on. I've found that sweet-talking people can really help, and after a bit of discussion, it was determined that the truck should be ready by 6:30 pm. It was currently 2:00 pm. So I had to kill some time by doing paperwork for the previous trip, eating at the Waffle House up the road, and reading the newspaper. Turned out that at 4:30 pm, the truck was ready and placed in the bull pen.
This truck was a new one for me, a Ford F750 automatic, radio. It basically drove like a car. While I was pre-tripping it, I met two guys from Mamo. They seemed real nice. None of us took the time to whine about our companies, which is the usual fare, and we traded a few findings about where to mount your plates. Each of us had a different idea. One had been stopped at a weigh station in Florida and told they wanted them on the front or in the windshield. The other said the company manual says to mount them on the back, which is what I usually do. So, it's still a mystery where the plates are supposed to go.
I got on the road about 5:00 pm towards Suitland via Charlotte and up I-85. I figured the traffic would be bad in Charlotte, but actually got through there quickly. But for some reason (still unkown) got in an awful jam around Concord, which added at least 30 minutes to the drive. I ended up calling it a day at Henderson, NC, exit 212 I-85. I stayed at a Sleep Inn. With their stay two nights, get one night free deal, I figured it would be worth the little extra price above the Days Inn. Unfortunately, upon checking out the next morning, I noticed that offer expired on 11/30, so that didn't do me any good, and at extra cost.
12/21/05 - Wednesday
OK, so I think each trip has something come up and was hoping the truck not being ready was it for this one. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I guess it's ending up that each day has a challenge to keep you going. Today's challenge was to be the truck wouldn't start. It was very cold, probably below 20 degrees, and it cranked and cranked, but no go. Since it was 7:30 am, I had to wait a while to reach dispatch to figure out what to do. In the meantime, I borrowed an extension cord from the motel and plugged it in, and continued to try to start it every few minutes.
At 8:00 am, I called dispatch and really didn't get much help from them. They just said to call the contact number I had - didn't even have a last name. Since this truck was to go to Sheehy Ford, I wanted their number, but dispatch didn't have it. I called the Ford 800 number, but since the vehicle was not owned, they said they couldn't help. It would be up to the dealership. However, they did give me the number for the dealership, so I started trying to reach someone there. After a while, I was able to reach the original contact, but he didn't really know what to do and instructed me to call back in about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I continued to try to start it.
This truck has the best batteries I've ever seen. I didn't want to crank them clear down, but they hung in there, and finally, it started. So, about 9:00 am, I was on the road again, a bit aggravated because I had wanted to get on to Washington and on the way home.
I'm still not sure why the truck didn't start. Some would speculate that the fuel jelled, but I haven't had trouble with the other trucks so far, and several have started in equal or more cold. So, for the experts, I'd like to know if you definitely need to put in an additive, or do you think something else was going on?
I made good time to DC, and arrived at the dealership around 1:30 pm. I lucked out with the traffic. I was caught in a jam for the last 20 miles, but it kept moving at a steady pace. The south-bound lanes of I-95 were a parking lot, with no movement, for over 15 miles.
Caught a ride to the nearby Metro, took the subway to Reagan National Airport, where I picked up a Hertz Mustang (no compacts available, but at the compact rate) and I was zooming out of Washington - for at least 3 miles. Then, the usual Washington traffic took over, and for the next 30 miles, an hour and a half, it was stop and go. I just simply don't see how they stand it.
Really pushed it the rest of the way, swerved through the 18 wheelers on I-81, and was back home by about 7:45 pm. Was a pretty good trip, with the usual number of challenges, and I'm definitely in for the holidays this time.
12/20/05 - Tuesday
I received a call from dispatch asking if I'd be interested in taking a quick trip from Forest to Shelby, then pick up a truck there at Southco and take to Suitland, MD, which is on the eastern outskirts of Washington, DC. Initially, I said no since I had decided that I was going to stay in until after the first of the new year, but the trip sounded good enough, planned out enough by dispatch, and with their pleading I decided to take it.
I left early Tuesday morning. Since my personal vehicle will be left at the Forest Equipment bullpen for a couple of days, I like to drive the old Saturn I have. But, with the temperature less than 20 degrees, and it sitting for more than a week, the battery was too far gone for it to start. So, took my truck and headed to Forest a little after 7:00 am.
There were several trucks staged and ready to go, and I found mine on the first try. It was a typical configuration that I've driven on this trip before - an International 7300 with 6-speed, no radio. Since it was cold, I wondered if it would start, but no problems. I pre-tripped it, with nothing unusual, fueled up, and was on the road by around 8:15 am. Trip to Shelby went smoothly, and this time, upon delivery, didn't have any concerns with scratches or scrapes. Note that the bucket cover almost blew off (in the picture). We're instructed to check it, which I did at each stop, but it barely made it.
Trip 18
Since each trip has to have a complication, mine started at this point. A fellow at Forestry Equipment was kind enough to take me on the 2 mile ride over to Southco, where I was to pick up the next truck bound for Suitland, MD. Naturally, upon checking their bullpen, it was not there. After going inside and flagging down a few people, I found that they had not been told that anyone would be picking it up soon, so it was not scheduled to be finished until Thursday, but it was currently being worked on. I've found that sweet-talking people can really help, and after a bit of discussion, it was determined that the truck should be ready by 6:30 pm. It was currently 2:00 pm. So I had to kill some time by doing paperwork for the previous trip, eating at the Waffle House up the road, and reading the newspaper. Turned out that at 4:30 pm, the truck was ready and placed in the bull pen.
This truck was a new one for me, a Ford F750 automatic, radio. It basically drove like a car. While I was pre-tripping it, I met two guys from Mamo. They seemed real nice. None of us took the time to whine about our companies, which is the usual fare, and we traded a few findings about where to mount your plates. Each of us had a different idea. One had been stopped at a weigh station in Florida and told they wanted them on the front or in the windshield. The other said the company manual says to mount them on the back, which is what I usually do. So, it's still a mystery where the plates are supposed to go.
I got on the road about 5:00 pm towards Suitland via Charlotte and up I-85. I figured the traffic would be bad in Charlotte, but actually got through there quickly. But for some reason (still unkown) got in an awful jam around Concord, which added at least 30 minutes to the drive. I ended up calling it a day at Henderson, NC, exit 212 I-85. I stayed at a Sleep Inn. With their stay two nights, get one night free deal, I figured it would be worth the little extra price above the Days Inn. Unfortunately, upon checking out the next morning, I noticed that offer expired on 11/30, so that didn't do me any good, and at extra cost.
12/21/05 - Wednesday
OK, so I think each trip has something come up and was hoping the truck not being ready was it for this one. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I guess it's ending up that each day has a challenge to keep you going. Today's challenge was to be the truck wouldn't start. It was very cold, probably below 20 degrees, and it cranked and cranked, but no go. Since it was 7:30 am, I had to wait a while to reach dispatch to figure out what to do. In the meantime, I borrowed an extension cord from the motel and plugged it in, and continued to try to start it every few minutes.
At 8:00 am, I called dispatch and really didn't get much help from them. They just said to call the contact number I had - didn't even have a last name. Since this truck was to go to Sheehy Ford, I wanted their number, but dispatch didn't have it. I called the Ford 800 number, but since the vehicle was not owned, they said they couldn't help. It would be up to the dealership. However, they did give me the number for the dealership, so I started trying to reach someone there. After a while, I was able to reach the original contact, but he didn't really know what to do and instructed me to call back in about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I continued to try to start it.
This truck has the best batteries I've ever seen. I didn't want to crank them clear down, but they hung in there, and finally, it started. So, about 9:00 am, I was on the road again, a bit aggravated because I had wanted to get on to Washington and on the way home.
I'm still not sure why the truck didn't start. Some would speculate that the fuel jelled, but I haven't had trouble with the other trucks so far, and several have started in equal or more cold. So, for the experts, I'd like to know if you definitely need to put in an additive, or do you think something else was going on?
I made good time to DC, and arrived at the dealership around 1:30 pm. I lucked out with the traffic. I was caught in a jam for the last 20 miles, but it kept moving at a steady pace. The south-bound lanes of I-95 were a parking lot, with no movement, for over 15 miles.
Caught a ride to the nearby Metro, took the subway to Reagan National Airport, where I picked up a Hertz Mustang (no compacts available, but at the compact rate) and I was zooming out of Washington - for at least 3 miles. Then, the usual Washington traffic took over, and for the next 30 miles, an hour and a half, it was stop and go. I just simply don't see how they stand it.
Really pushed it the rest of the way, swerved through the 18 wheelers on I-81, and was back home by about 7:45 pm. Was a pretty good trip, with the usual number of challenges, and I'm definitely in for the holidays this time.
posted by Harry | 4:30 PM
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