Trips 23 - 26 - A Full Week of Excitement

Trip 23 - Forest, VA to Almost New Orleans
Monday, February 6

I had taken several relatively short trips and was ready to head out on a longer one. Dispatch had called me last Thursday to see if I could take a truck immediately to somewhere in FL (failed to get the exact location), but with Super Bowl weekend coming up I had other commitments and said no. They asked that I call back on Friday and they'd line me up with something for the following week. So I did, and it was New Orleans, which I was relatively excited about. I've still got that voyer thing going and want to see what New Orleans and area look like. I've been near it several times, but haven't seen the real thing since storms.

So Monday, went to Forest, VA to pick up a nice new boom/chipper truck. Took a little longer to pick up this time, since they are no longer staging their trucks in their bull pen since one is now missing. Got on the road by about 8:30 AM. I'd only driven about 40 miles to near Roanoke (time enough for the Check Engine light to come on and go out once), when dispatch called. They had an "emergency" delivery to Baltimore, MD from Daleville, VA, only about 5 miles from where I was, and could I take care of it for them. I said I'd much rather stick with the New Orleans trip, but that I'd do it if it was such an emergency. They wanted me to stage the truck I was in at the local TA Truckstop. I was thinking I'd get to come back from Baltimore and take that one on to New Orleans, but that didn't happen. I still wonder how they couldn't get someone else to do Baltimore but they quickly got someone else to do New Orleans. You think I might be an easy mark?

Trip 24 - Daleville, VA to Baltimore, MD
Still Monday, February 6

My son turned around from going to work and came by the truck stop to take me to Daleville. Picked up a new boom truck around 11:00 am and had an uneventful trip to Baltimore. That's a relatively good accomplishment given that almost all my trucks give me some sort of a problem and the traffic around Washington DC is always enough to spoil your week. The "emergency" became questionable when I delivered around 4:30 PM. No one was particularly interested in accepting the truck, but I did finally find someone nice enough to take it. I was in a cab and back to the BWI airport by 6:00 pm to pick up a rental car. Fought the traffic around DC, but luckily it didn't stop often. I had expected to stop over somewhere for the night, but I got on a roll and drove all the way home. So Blue Ridge, to Forest, to Daleville, to Baltimore, back home is a pretty good day's driving - something over 700 miles.

Trip 25 - Daleville, VA to West Palm Beach, FL
Tuesday, February 7

Dispatch had sort of acted like they owed me one when they took me out of the New Orleans trip, so they lined me up for West Palm Beach. That sounded good in a new boom truck from Daleville, VA. All the trucks, to this point this week, were IHC 4300's. All were 6-speeds, except the automatic I took to Baltimore.

Since I had gottem back from Baltimore late on Monday night, I did the paperwork for the Monday trips, which includes faxing some stuff and mailing all the forms and receipts, before I left for West Palm Beach. Since I wanted to get on the road, naturally faxing didn't work and other things ended up taking up a lot of time, but I finally left around 11:00 am. I had to return the rental car to the Roanoke airport and then take a taxi to Daleville. I was finally on the road around 1:00 pm.

It was a nice, relatively warm, day in VA and NC, and I made it to Hardeeville, SC, just above the GA border on I-95 by about 9:00 PM. Bedded down at a Sleep Inn (working on a free night with their stay twice, get a free night, deal). Up and on the road to FL by about 7:30 AM - always trying to stay legal. I made it through FL, which is a very long state when you start driving it, and arrived at West Palm Beach about 3:30 pm. Folks at the Altec facility there were extremely nice, getting me a fax and setting up a ride to the airport with a smile. I hope to visit them again sometime.

Before arriving at Altec, I had received a call from dispatch asking if I could fly to Baltimore (why has it become so popular all of a sudden?), take a cab to Frederick, MD, and pick up a truck there at the Altec plant for delivery to Lowes Motor Speedway (Charlotte) in Concorde, NC. Now that sounded interesting - a trip to the race track. Not really putting 2 and 2 together, I said yes, mainly because I was glad to be flying back closer to home, and the idea of going to the races sounded intriguing.

I had about a 4 hour wait at the airport, which gave me time to do the paperwork for both trips, and think about what was coming up. Admittedly, a beer into it, it occurred to me that I should check my documentation for the upcoming trip a little closer. The directions for once you arrived at the speedway said to follow the auction signs. Uh-Oh, auction signs. What do they mean, auction signs? Well, as I let my imagination roll, it occurred to me that auction might mean OLD TRUCK going to auction. But surely, Altec didn't have really bad old trucks going to auction, right?

Dispatch had wanted me to pick up that night after flying in, but I stuck to my guns and said it would be too late. I didn't want to pre-trip the truck in the dark. Is that a technique dispatch uses - get you to pick up in the middle of the night so you're stuck with whatever you get and have to deliver anyway? I've had this happen several times, and I'm beginning to totally avoid the night pickups.

Thursday, February 9

I had the $80 cabbie take me to the local Econo Lodge, and got a short nights sleep and over to Altec about 7:45 AM. I guess the week had gone well enough that it was time for it to tank.

And there it was. The orange of well worn Asplund. This thing was an I don't know what year GMC 7500 5-spd with 76k miles. I've found you can muliply mileage by about a factor of 10 on these trucks. The chipper bed was still loaded full with brush, garbage, metal objects, I think one or more dead bodies, and several lunches. The cab also held most of last year's breakfasts and lunches. The drivers side window was 1/3 down and wouldn't go up. Tires were iffy at best. Lights, mostly worked. The engine started on the cold morning OK, but had a miss. I called dispatch and told her I was disappointed, but would give it a try if I concluded it was roadworthy. I talked with one of their mechanics, who said the truck had been worked on and should be OK (yea, right). So I finally headed out onto I-70 about 9:00 AM.

Upon entering the interstate, the truck began jumping, hissing, popping, and misfiring. Couldn't get it above 45 MPH. I pulled off at the first exit, only a mile down the road thank goodness, called dispatch and said this is a no-go. Can't visit the speedway in this one. Luckily, dispatch didn't give me a hard time and just said to take it back to the pickup point, only about 3 miles or less away.

I was highly relieved to be rid of that one. There was a company chase car there for me to take to the BWI airport, got a rental car, and was on my way home shortly after noon. Another lucky trip around DC and I was home by 4:30 PM.

I was much relieved to have finished this week up. Got to add FL to the states I've visited doing driveaway. Dispatch had already called as I was on the loop around Washington to see if I could do a couple of round trips from Forest to Glen Allen, VA. Seems Forestry Equipment had specifically asked for me. I guess my good looks paid off since they are no longer staging their equipment in the bull pen. But I told dispatch it would be Monday at the earliest.

Dispatch has since called again, this time asking to take a new chassis from Forest to Jonetown, PA on Monday. Still not ready to get back, I hesitated. And for the first time, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse - $50 extra for taking it on Monday and put me in a rental car from Harrisburg back home. Wow, 50 big ones. Think of all the things I can do with that! So Monday, if snow doesn't close us down, I'm on the way to Jonestown.