sorry brother, I missed yours and a couple of other posts when I was on here last. Yea it's been a long time since we spoke. Hope all is good with you and yours. maybe I'll see you out here on the road some day!

yes ma'am I did and I am on my 2nd load now. Talked with GFI a few days back. In fact we talked several times as we both had crappy cell signals and had to keep calling one another back. I have (or will in a minute) update, been a little lazy about it latey ops:

Yeah she and several others are no longer there. Mr. "D" has taken over her office and responsibilities. Damn shame that you haven't gotten things straightened out yet. Have you even got the "green light" to go back to work?

California :sad:

Been a little lazy about updating so get ready to read a long boring post! :wink:

01/12-18/08
Wow how time flies. I can not believe I neglected my journal for so long. I wish I had a good excuse, but frankly I don’t other than just being too lazy to update it. So with that said let me bring this sucker up to date.

I had planned on making my drop on Sunday evening as the customer receives 24/7. Well as I was rolling through Ohio, the roads started getting real slick. Traffic slowed down to about 40-45mph and there were a couple of 4wheelers that slide off the road and into the median. Well that was enough for me to say the heck with it and shut her down. No sense in risking my life, truck, or the lives of others on the road just to deliver early.

The next morning I got up and crept my way to the plant. I got unloaded without a hitch and as soon as I called in my empty status, the dispatcher said he was working on something and to call him back in a couple of hours. So I bounced over to the TA truck stop there in Claysville, PA where I met up with another Davis driver I have known since I started here. He was getting ready to run up to Towanda for a “gravy” load that would take him to Bozeman, MT for about 4 grand. We sat down and had a bite to eat and some good conversation.

When I got back to the truck, I called the dispatcher back and fully expected the usual “call me back in an hour” game. But instead was greeted with a load that went from Wheatland, PA to Santa Fe Springs, CA for $1.50 mile + 0.40 mile FSC. The customer was only about 100 miles away so the deadhead was short. The only bummer to the deal was that it had a strict appointment time of 4pm the following day. After studying the atlas, I figure that if I held up in Youngstown, OH I was only 24 miles from the customer and fuel was 0.30 cheaper than in PA.

Once I got there I decided to take advantage of the time and do some things on the truck. First was to re-wire my CB antenna cables. Who ever had this truck before me tried to take 2 single cables and splice them together at the back of the radio. Needless to say, it was a chicken $h%t job and because of it, I could barely get out about ¼ mile. This would normally be a easy job but nothing is ever easy for me. You see, unlike a lot of trucks, this one has the cables running through the mirror brackets and into the door and then out near the hinge. So I had to cut one end of the cable and run it through all this and then solder it back on. The drivers door was a piece of cake as I cut the old cable and duct tape the new cable to it, then it was just a matter of pulling the old out as the new followed. The passenger side was not as easy and I ended up having to remove the entire interior door panel. I did manage to get it done, but it took a lot longer and more of a headache than I cared for. By now I was dirty, hungry and tired so after a hot shower and a meal, I put myself down for the night.

The next morning I decided to continue my little projects by installing some “cross-fires” on my trailer that I picked up in Walcott as well as some new wiper blades. After that I cleaned the interior of the truck and thought about running over to the streaking beacon to get her washed but decided against spending the money. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing and watching TV.
About 3pm on Friday I made my way over to the customer. When I got there and checked in, the loaders were not too happy. It was now 3:30pm and the driver with the 2pm appointment was still in the bay strapping his load and the 3pm guy was sitting outside and then there was me, the last load for they got home. They finally had enough and told the driver that he must move it outside so they could load the 2 trucks that were waiting.

By the time I got into the bay and loaded, it was dark, not to mention cold, outside and that always make it more fun to tarp. When I finally got done it was too late (by my standards) to go anywhere so I headed back to the Youngstown TA for a hot shower.

Early the next morning I got rolling and as I was going through Missouri, I decided to give “broncrider” a call. Well it turned out that he and I were about 50 miles apart and heading right towards one another so we decided to meet up at a Pilot for some lunch. After a short lunch and some good conversation I hit the road again.

I mentioned before how I was not very impressed with how this truck pulled the hills or how the engine brake worked. I also noticed a decline in my fuel mileage even though I have been keeping it at 65mph or less. So I decided that the first chance I get, I am taking into a Detroit shop and have them throw it on the dyno and check it out to see what the problem could be. As I am rolling through New Mexico, I see the sign for a repair shop that specializes in Detroit’s. I write the number down and give the guy a call. I tell him what the problem is and he says to bring it in. Only problem is he won’t be able to see me today and they are closed on Sunday. I tell him that it won’t work as I am under a load and expected to be in LA on Monday morning. So he apologizes and gives me the number to a Freightliner dealership in Albuquerque. I give them a call and they said bring it in but it won’t be until this evening before they can see me. Well that beats Monday so I stopped in.

Well As I am sitting here waiting, they tell apologize and tell me that they area little behind and it won’t be until 6am tomorrow (Sunday) before they can bring me in. Wonderful!!!!! I wanted to give Davis a heads up so I called them and let them know what was going on just in case I might be a little late delivering this load, depending on what the shop finds.

So here I sit, bored out of my mind at the Freightliner dealership in Albuquerque, NM. Hoping and praying that what ever they find, if anything, is not too damn costly.

Hey DD.Hope all is well for you. Started my new job with the vending machine company.The man is going to train me and in the next couple of years he is going to retire.Am going to learn everything about the vending machine world.This man has been doing it for 26 years and is a millionaire from doing it.He has 3 routes and 6 people.Pretty small outfit. Everything looks good so far.

that's great, congrats!!! Maybe someday I'll be coming to you as a 'partner" when your business is too big for you to handle alone :wink:

was nice chatting with you the other day....but your truck is a deep purple..lol

hope everything is ok and its just a normal driplot....i mean detriot thing with the seetings in the ecm

have fun in cali...fuel in wy is $3.07...i even saw it at $2.97 in lake station

im really hoping this is a trend that will continue

Any news on the truck yet....

tootie