I hate this - had a great weekend off. The wife and I went sightseeing in Harpers Ferry, WV for the day on Saturday. That evening, we stayed a friends house from high school catching up on things.

Today, I'm on the way from Bruceton Mills, WV to Hanover, MD. The truck was running great - until I get to within a mile of the I-68/I-70 junction. It started making a weird noise and running rough (not running on all cylinders).

So, now I'm sitting on the shoulder, waiting to hear from the shop. I'm sure they'll be towing me another tractor down so I can take this delivery while they tow this one back to the yard. Nothing like sitting on the shoulder when traffic is too lazy/stupid to move over to the left lane while going past me, even though there's hardly any traffic at all.

 

Well - got my replacement truck. It's an older International (it has a foot-operated dimmer).

When the tow truck arrived with the replacement, he suggested we try to get my truck to the truckstop in Hancock to make it easier and safer to swap the tractors out. I made it maybe 3/4 mile and it gave up completely. I barely was able to make it to the shoulder before it died completely. It was pumping out so much smoke, you couldn't see anything in that little valley and water was pouring out of the exhaust.

After that, we brought the tow truck and replacement to the truckstop to unhook it so we wouldn't have to fight turning them around on the shoulder. When I got back, the fire department and police were at my truck. Apparently someone thought it was on fire. That helped out a lot though, since they blocked off a lane of traffic so we could get everything done.

I tried to start the truck just to unhook from the trailer - not good - it made 1 revolution and froze solid. Tried a couple more times and still no go.

So, now I'm parked in Hancock for the night. I'll deliver this load tomorrow morning. I hope they can get me back to the yard in the next day or 2 so I can grab the rest of my crap out of it.

 

What a bummer Mal. You always tough it out, but fleet trucks suck, and there is no end to it.
Hope things work out and glad you grabbed your 'puter.
You have all the best stories.

 

Hancock isn't too bad.......for camping down by the canal and river.