Back After Taking the Summer Off

August 15 finally rolled around, a date where my wife had returned to work, I'd had the mandatory bus driver's meeting, and was finally available to do another road gig after taking the summer off. It turned out to be filled with several turns and twists, a characteristic I've found to involve many, if not all, driveaway trips.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I told dispatch I would be available for a trip following the morning bus driver's meeting. I was assigned a truck that was staged at the local T/A truckstop, that had been brought from New Orleans and was on the way to Bethlehem, PA. It was a small 2003 Ford F550 utility with boom truck, and since it had made it from New Orleans, I was optimistic that it could go on to Bethlehem. I'm still not fond of nursing used, or new for that matter, trucks. I drove by the truckstop Tuesday morning on the way to the bus meeting, saw where it was sitting, and initially thought it looked like a doable job. That was to change.

After the meeting, I came by home to check the progress on the new shingle roof I was having put on my home (another reason to hit the road) and to get the fax from the office. I headed over to pick up the truck around 1:30 PM. Upon arriving, I noticed that the left front tire was down about half way. Further pre-trip inspection showed that it would start, but the windshield had a crack going almost the full length across, the oil dipstick was missing, low on water, one lug missing off the right rear, etc. I told dispatch about the dipstick and they agreed that I needed to find a Ford dealer and get a replacement, so I drove to Magic City Ford and picked one up. So, about 3:30 PM, I had the new dipstick in place, oil checked OK, so I tried to start it. This time, it didn't catch and it only gave me one chance. Starter would not kick in after that.

I borrowed a set of jumper cables from a trucker and attempted to jump it from my old 94 Saturn. Still would not start, and for some reason, my Saturn overheaded while attempting this. By this time, my frustration level was getting fairly high on this truck, and my enthusiasm for taking it up I-81 was waning rapidly. I called the company tech support, and he agreed I'd tried enough and to go ahead and make a service call. This consisted of walking into the truckstop and ordering a service truck. Unfortunately, they had several orders ahead of me and said it would be several hours before they could get to it. By this time, it was approaching 5:00 PM, later than I cared to start on the trip if I waited for service, so I decided to go home for the evening and give it a try the next day.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I'd scheduled road service to stop by at 7:30 AM. They showed up shortly after that. The mechanic tried jumping it, hot wiring the starting, and several other things, but still no go. Around 9:00 AM dispatch agreed for me to line up a wrecker and tow it to the Ford dealer. I was glad to get rid of it and so disgusted with it that I didn't even get a picture of it for my files (I try to get a picture of each of my rides. I have all but two now, although this one really didn't qualify as a ride since it wouldn't start).

I drove by the closest towing outfit, just across the street, and lined up a wrecker. In the meantime, dispatch had sent the paperwork for me to pick up a new Altec truck in Daleville, VA, just a few miles away, and deliver it to a wind farm being constructed on a mountain just outside of Mahanoy City, PA, which is just off exit 131 I-81. I was much happier with the idea of taking a new truck than messing any longer with this one.

I arrived at Altec around 10:00 AM and went to their holding lot. It was chock full of new rigs - everything from small boom trucks to giant boom trucks, to giant crane trucks. The paperwork said the one I was to pick up was a Peterbuilt, the first Peterbuilt for me, which turned out to be one of the large crane trucks. This one was a 10-speed high/low, which once again would give me the challenge of trying to figure out how to mesh the gears correctly. I still plan to learn how to do this better, but my experiences on this trip wouldn't lead you to believe I'm making much progress.

I had the truck pre-tripped and ready to roll by about 11:00 AM. I called dispatch to tell them I had the truck and was heading out to fuel up and hit the road to Mahanoy City. She said the wrecker had shown up for the other truck, cleaned the battery terminals, and had it started. Didn't suggest that I go back and pick it up, and I didn't offer. I figured the service mechanic should have figured out cleaning the battery terminals. I had checked, but obviously not closely enough. Oh well, I don't claim to be a mechanic.

Took forever to fuel up at the local Pilot station. Lots of trucks backed up. This Peterbuilt had dual saddle tanks which caused me to set a new one-stop fueling record of $263. But I like that because you only need to fuel once. 50 gallon fuel tanks go empty rapidly. Dual 67 gallon tanks last all day and they really add the points to my frequent flyer miles.

So I headed up I-81, with no more problems, not even at weigh stations, which are a guarantee in VA. WV, MD, and PA weigh stations seem to stay mostly closed.

I wasn't going to be able to get to the prescribed destination before too late so I decided to spend the evening in the toddling town of Frackville, PA at the Econo Lodge. Good room with no internet connection, and half decent pizza from down the street, and a hole-in-the-wall bar, which gave me something to do while waiting on my pizza to go. Paperwork done, then down for the count.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dispatch had been unclear about what I was going to do once I got to the wind farm to deliver the truck. The last they had said was that I needed to find a way to the bus station (always a bad idea) in Hazelton and another driver would pick me up. Last evening, I got a call from the other driver and he said he'd come up on the mountain and pick me up. That was a bit of a relief, but at the time I still didn't know where I'd be going.

After getting advice on directions from the bartender and the hotel clerk, each suggesting differing routes to the wind farm, I decided to go to the next I-81 exit, go through the old town of Mahanoy City, and take 339 to the top of the mountain. All went well until I made the right onto 339 in the middle of the city. I was immediately greeted by a low hanging railroad bridge with a sign saying 11' 3". I knew that didn't look good for a 13' high truck. So I called my contact at the wind farm and he directed me in from the north. So I had to go about 10 more miles up I-81 to Hazelton and come in that way.

I successfully delivered (another happy Spirit Miller customer) around 8:30 AM and awaited my pickup, which was about another 45 minutes. They arrived in one of the SM chase cars, most of which are totally destroyed Kia's, but still run OK. These are small Kia's, and there were 3 other rather large drivers in it, all with their luggage. I mashed my way in, and they told me I'd be accompanying them to Camp Hill, PA, just outside of Harrisburg, to do a quick 115 mile delivery of some Ford F550 (bad vibes, but no problems) Verizon small boom trucks to Plain, NY Altec plant. So off we went.

This was a real hoot riding with these two female drivers and the husband of one. They were all well road worn, but smelled clean as best as I could tell. All smoked liked chimneys, but had lots of funny tales to tell and we had quite a ride to Camp Hill.

We found our trucks fairly quickly - one wasn't identified correctly. Just before I finished pre-tripping my truck, I got a call from dispatch asking if I'd be interested in taking a truck from Forest, VA to Calgary, AB, Canada. Wow! Would I! That would take me up through Montana and very near the place we are buying in Choteau. But, unfortunately, it would be next week and I already had too much stuff conflicting to get it lined up. Besides, I've already bought plane tickets to fly out on September 6. So I very disgruntledly turned it down. Don't know if I'll ever get over that.

This is the first trip I've had to travel with others, but I immediately discovered why I like driving alone. 75 to 80 MPH up I-81 was more than I was comfortable doing. It was a quick trip to Plains.

We made our delivery around 1:30 PM. Dispatch said to just go to the Scranton airport, pick up a rental and head on home. So I was about done already for my first time out this summer. I'd really planned to stay out at least one more day, but no argument from me when they suggest heading home.

So, over to the airport, a quick Hertz rental pickup, and I was up on I-81 headed south. As soon as I got on I-81, my phone rang. It was one of the drivers saying he was supposed to ride with me to Frederick, MD for his next pick-up. So I had to turn around, pick him up, and make the extra 75 miles or so to Frederick.

We arrived Frederick about 6:00 PM, and naturally, his truck had not been set out. So I had to take him to a hotel to wait until they could square it away the next day. He's used to being on the road weeks at a time, so it didn't bother him that much.

I made it home at 10:15 PM, and was, as always, glad to have that first trip back under my belt. I was actually not as worn out as usual and about ready to go, still getting eaten up by missing the Calgary trip. Oh well, maybe next time.

Currently looks like, with my Montana trip scheduled for September 6, it will be several weeks before I can go back out. We'll see.