Our adventure begins...

[tootie04]

Well, we finally did it...we bought OUR truck!! We go and pick her up tomorrow at the Kenworth dealer here in Tulsa. Our salesman was GREAT and worked a few wonders for us. His name is Frank and he is top notch.

Our new girl is a 2000 freightliner Classic XL. She is a one owner truck and was NEVER a company truck. She has 200,000 on her engine and tranmission rebuild. She has an N14 Cummins 550 HP in her. She is a 13 speed. She has new everything and the paperwork and phone numbers to the places where the work was done and i checked it all aout. The previous owner is really cool too and he took really good care of her.

We have to keep her for at least 2 years then we can get a newer truck or keep her. Depends on how attached DH becomes to her. He HATES changing trucks!! The Arrow truck is about empty and is going back to Arrow tomorrow morning.

Anyway our adventure begings tomorrow afternoon we head off to OKC to pick up a trailer for Diamond Transporation and then head up to Racine WI to lease her on. Orientation is for 2.5 days and we should be under a load by Friday.

Diamond is an all O/O company and they do alot of machinery hauling. They have been around many years and are really nice people. I will post more about them after orientation.

I will post pics of the "new" girl when we get her home.

Thanks for all the really good advise yo all have given (especially GMAN ) You guy and gals are a great group!!

I will post more in a few days.

tootie

[RostyC]

Good for you! Who are you leasing on to?

[doug33]

congrats and BOL on the new truck Tootie.

[Kintama]

Good for you! Who are you leasing on to?

Diamond is an all O/O company and they do alot of machinery hauling. They have been around many years and are really nice people. I will post more about them after orientation.

[marcel27208]

would like to know how u do at Diamond, been looking them over!!

[tootie04]

would like to know how u do at Diamond, been looking them over!!

I will keep you informed...We should be there Wed. morning a 8am

We are picking up a trailer for them so we are getting PAID to go up there. We didnt think we would get anything for going up so this was a nice surprise!!

tootie

[GMAN]

That is great news, Tootie. I am glad things worked out the way you wanted.

[tootie04]

We didnt get to pick up the truck yesterday....some paperwork glitch. I hope we get it straight today. We cant get to WI for tomorrow so we will be at Diamond on Monday.

It is supposed to be 66 here today!! So maybe we can get some work done around the house.

tootie

[Mack2]

Just a couple of questions if you don't mind.

What color is it?

And why the heck is it a she?

[possum squat]

And why the heck is it a she?

We always assumed desperate or delusional sailors started this tradition. After all, they're out to sea for months with nary a woman in sight. However, it turns out "ship as she" may have had more to do with linguistics than a longing for female companionship.

While we don't normally use kid's sites as sources (due mostly to pride), we found a shipshape explanation at BoatFriendlyKids.com. Many romance languages assign a gender to many words. In these languages, the word "ship" is always feminine.

A CNN article offers a few other theories, including that the ancient Greeks may have come up with the custom. Dr. Ronald Hope, a former director of the U.K.'s Maritime Society, seems to think so. But others think the tradition began when goddesses were carved on the bows.

Regardless of how the tradition came to be, the practice is apparently over now. The shipping industry newspaper, Lloyd's List, now officially refers to ships as "it." So much for the romance of the open sea.

Here's some more

LONDON, England -- Ships are to lose their sex, to the consternation of sailors and historians alike.

The world shipping industry's newspaper, Lloyd's List, has decided that from now on ships will lose their femininity and will be referred to as "it," not "she."

"We see it as a reflection of the modern business of shipping," Julian Bray, the paper's editor, told the Financial Times on Wednesday.

"Ultimately they are commodities...not things that have characters."

It is not known how the habit of treating ships as feminine began though it is a custom used mainly in English dominated countries.

Some believe it originates from the time ships would be dedicated to a goddess whose figure was carved on the bow.

Although women were considered to bring bad luck at sea, mariners always use the pronoun "she" when referring to their ships.

Whether its proper name is masculine, or whether it is a man o'war, a battleship, or a nuclear submarine, a ship is always referred to as "she."

One explanation is that a ship was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother. Vessels are also know to have "sister" ships.

The U.S. Naval Historical Center Web site says it is customary to classify things as feminine "especially those things which are dear to us."

Author Dr. Ronald Hope says the tradition of referring to sailing vessels as "she" dates back to the days of Ancient Greece.

Hope, 80, a former director of the UK-based Maritime Society, told CNN: "Ships have been 'she' since Greek times.

"Even as recently as the 19th century most of the sea shanties referred to then as 'she' and I recall in my youth ships owners always telling stories about why a ship was like a woman. "It's a shame that it is being changed. Ships are mostly very individual and 'it' seems a bit impersonal."

Peter Goodwin, curator of HMS Victory at Portsmouth, on England's south coast, said: "It's a terrible idea.

"No ship is exactly the same and all of them have their own characteristics. You ask any sailor and they will tell you that you care for a ship, you tend to their needs and sometimes they play you up. But they are never an 'it'."

Pieter van der Merwe, general editor at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, told the FT: "Culture is a question of continuing tradition and one should preserve those inexplicable quirks.

"It's not just a sentimental thing; you lose a level of understanding unless you understand the language of the time you're talking of."

That's all from the source, of course.
Duly acknowledged as such.

[possum squat]

now... you kin give yer truck a sex change iffen ya want.....jest be sure to post the all details in the Truck Maintenance Forum where evryone can see...

[tootie04]

All the trucks we have driven have been "she" one reason is their unpredictable personalities!! ( this truck is having PMS right now and is currently in the shop) Something with the trasmission....it was rebuilt but it does not want to go into the two gears farthest to the right in the hogh and low side. I am just glad it was caught BEFORE it left the dealer lot!!

She is a dark purple or plum color with silver fenders. She will have to do for 2 years....

I really like the space in the classic over the KW!! But I like the look of the W900 better!!

Hopefully we will be on the road Friday...headed to the FROZEN tundra!! :?

tootie

[tootie04]

Well the verdict on the transmission is...shift forks. It needs shift forks so she should be ready tonight or in the morning. we are going to leave tomorrow afternoon.

It is such a GREAT feeling to know you are in your OWN truck. DH has wanted this for so long and now the dream has came true. He is chomping at the bit to leave....he cant sit still for to long he goes stir crazy!!

Will update tomorrow.

tootie

Ya know tootie, sometimes those "SHE" trucks are a little reluctant to get into those high gears. Have you tried a box of wine?

[tootie04]

Ya know tootie, sometimes those "SHE" trucks are a little reluctant to get into those high gears. Have you tried a box of wine?

No wine , but two new forks in the tranny and she is like new.
We brought her home just a few min ago. DH says she is much better now.

We leave in the morning for Hutchinson KS to pick up a trailer for Diamond and then off to Racine. We should be in Racine sunday afternoon. 8)

tootie

[KD7MIR]

anyword on those pics? I want to see the new truck inside and out!

[tootie04]

No pics yet...I am going to take them today. I guess load them on photobucket and then post here??

We picked up the trailer in Hutchinson last evening and we are on our way to racine now.

We spent our first night in the truck last night. We shut the truck down and got under lots of blankets. DH and I and two minpins....we stayed warm!! When we woke up at 5AM I could see my breath in the truck!! I think it was about 10 degrees outside this morning!! DH started the truck and it didnt take long to warm up.

We have been so used to the 07 truck that we didnt think to treat the fuel. Do you need to treat the fuel in the 2000 trucks?? We put some in to be safe but that stuff is EXPENSIVE.

We cant get the sat radio to work....keeps searching for signal. We have the mouse out on a little piece of metal on the mirror. I am thinking maybe we need the mushroom antenna. The little mouse worked fine on the KW but it was a mid roof, this truck is a condo.

Well that is all for now...drive safe everyone!!

tootie

[Kintama]

Get the mushroom for the Sat. radio. The little ones have a hard time trying to get signal in a condo.

[tootie04]

Here are some pics.....I hope...






tootie

[FourHeartsTrucking]

How do you like the Freightliner pulling your flatbed?