Trips 35 and 36 - Warsaw, Dillon, Greenwood, Daleville

Monday, March 27, 2006

Dispatch had me lined up to take a truck from Forest, VA to Warsaw, NC with, as usual, no info on what would happen once I got to Warsaw. A quick Google on Warsaw showed that it was a small town with not much to expect with public transportation. So I left knowing dispatch would run into trouble trying to figure out how to get me out of there. But they don't ever worry about that until you are almost there.

I picked up the truck at Forestry Equipment about 7:45 AM. They've really tightened up their security on what it takes to pick up a truck since they lost one about a month ago. The truck was a new IHC 4300, 6-sp, no radio or A/C (the usual for Forestry Equipment). It was a nice looking truck, though, already decked out with the decals for Lewis Tree Service - an employee owned company. Even had the American flag on each side. I felt very patriotic as I headed out to Warsaw.

The trip to Warsaw was relatively uneventful. About the time I was by-passing Raleigh, NC, the phone rang and it was dispatch asking if I'd be willing to pick up a truck in Aberdeen, NC ( where, last fall, I picked up a junker that had to be left for repair), take it to Ashville, NC, where I'd pick one up for Tallahasee, FL. I said OK as long as they would bring me straight back from Tallahassee. I needed to be home Wednesday evening. I asked how they were getting me from Warsaw to Aberdeen, but as I already knew, they didn't have a clue. Said they'd get back with me as I approached Warsaw.

Dispatch had failed to provide directions to the drop-off, but I had done a Mapquest and had a good idea of where it was. Turned out it was very rural, with lots of farms. Mapquest had placed the address about a mile on down the road from where it actually turned out to be. I stopped at a farm house to ask directions, but couldn't raise anyone even though the dog was guarding the porch and the clothes were on the line. So I decided to turn around and see if I had already passed it. This time I did find the location, which was a house sitting in the middle of a hayfield.

Turned out the area manager for Lewis Tree had his home and office there, and he was very helpful in attending to my travel needs. Dispatch still couldn't figure out where I needed to go to pick up a rental car. After about 30 minutes of discussion, it was discovered that Lewis Tree actually needed the truck in Dillon, SC, so we worked out a deal that if I drove it on down there, about 100 miles more, their foreman would drive me to Sumter, SC where I could pick up a company chase car. During that time, dispatch had also developed a backup plan to have me pick up a truck in Greenwood, SC, about 90 miles west of Columbus and have me bring it back to Daleville, VA, near my home. They didn't like the idea of sending me straight back from Tallahassee. So all agreed to this plan and I took the truck on to Dillon.

I delivered the truck to a dusty parking lot and met the foreman. He was a young fellow, totally hassled with all the work he had to get done and not enough time to drive me the 75 miles to Sumter, but that was the deal and he did. We dodged the cars and trucks on I-95 doing between 80 and 90 MPH, and arrived at Sumter in less than an hour, where I picked up the well used chase car and drove to Lexington, SC, about 90 miles, for the night. Had trouble, there, finding lodging, but finally discovered a Comfort Inn for $49, which I was quite pleased with.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Dispatch had not provided directions, or even truck identification info, for the truck I was to pick up at the Public Works offices at Greenwood, SC. I headed out from my hotel using the scenic way up rt. 378 about 7:15 AM. I almost had my first accident in driveaway work when I pulled out in front of a pickup truck making a right hand turn from the center lane in a traffic circle in Saluda, SC. Got lots of yelling, questioning my heritage, and I was on my way on to Greenwood. With pure blind luck, I drove right to the Public Works office and found what I figured was the truck staged in the employee parking lot. Dispatch still didn't have truck ID info, so I went in and found someone who agreed it was the truck to be picked up, but couldn't verify where it was supposed to go. So I went ahead and pre-tripped it, and hooked up the trusty chase car. The truck was an IHC 4300, with automatic, no radio. It was during the hook-up of the chase car that I made a mistake that didn't cause me a problem, but will for the next guy driving the car (more on that as the story develops).

I managed to take the scenic downtown route through Greenwood as I tried to find rt. 72, which would take me to I-26. Narrow streets, and plenty of traffic, but I got through it OK. It also provided a slow warm-up time for the truck, which by the time I exited Greenwood was displaying the proverbial check engine light intermittently. I drove for 100 or so miles, making sure all gauges looked good, etc. I had checked all the fluids during pre-trip, so felt they should still be OK. I finally decided to call dispatch, just to let them know what was going on, knowing they would tell me to call the company tech guy who would tell me to keep on driving but keep an eye on the gauges and fluid levels, which he did, and I did. I stopped around Charlotte to verify the fluid levels, get some lunch, then drove it on home. Coming up Fancy Gap Mt., which is about an 8 mile climb, the heat gauge started creaping up to over 200, which I've found to be unusual for these IHC 4300's, but as soon as I crossed the top, it came back down and I kept driving. Made it to Daleville about 4:00 PM.

It was during the unhooking of the chase car that I looked in and noticed the emergency brake was still pulled up - I HAD FORGOTTEN to release it before pulling off in Greenwood. I hated that because I'm so cautious when hooking up the chase car to try to make sure everything is right, not in gear, all that stuff. But, somehow, I managed to leave it engaged and it was now gone. Don't know if I blew any smoke, nothing else seemed damaged. It still had brakes, but no emergency brake. I felt dumb, but did screw up my courage to let dispatch know. They were more anxious to make sure I faxed in my paperwork, and take the car back over to Daleville for someone to pick it up the next morning, than they were concerned about the emergency brake.

So, another two trips completed, got back early this week, which suits me fine. Dispatch did call to see if I could do a one day trip from Forest to Shelby, NC, which I could have done, but they found the truck wasn't going to be ready in time to work for me. Looks like I'm off the rest of the week, except my wife did line me up for bus duty at her school tomorrow, but I can handle that.