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...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
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Trip 44b - Used IH - Refer ... from Wilmington, NC 6/17/04 - as the other guy was cleaning out his truck I started doing my inspection ... "Just had this truck serviced last week ..." he said as I opened the hood ... maybe, but we are supposed to check the fluids every stop. 1 PM ... that gives me 7 hours left today instead of the 2 I thought I was going to have, but either way I won't be back until Saturday morning. ....OP-p-p-s ... in all the excitement I forgot to have the driver sign for his truck ... too late now, guess I'll have to fax a copy for him to sign if they need it ... not like he can say he didn't get the truck, seeing I'm now driving his ... The only thing dispatch and the driver had told me was wrong with this truck was the seat and suggested I bring a pillow, which luckily I had done. At first I was only going to bring my 'travel pillow' then I decided I'd been grab something a little stiffer and took an old 'throw pillow' the kind used in the corner of couches ... good thing I did, even with this good stiff pillow, I had to bend it the correct way and get it exactly the right spot ... the guy I picked it up from had been using a note book or two to sit on ... I 'almost' .... asked dispatch to pay me the higher rate and I'd cover the fuel ... I didn't ... on the plus side, the guy left me with a full tank of fuel ... on the down side, this is an automatic and will not get the 10-12 miles to the gallon that I've gotten with the stick shifts. My new goal is to make it out of NC and VA and spend the night in Charleston, WV ... then with a good day Friday, I should only have 4-5 hours left Saturday AM. Now that I know there is a new I-74, I take it and save 15-30 minutes ... it must be a fairly new stretch ... only one gas station on the 15 miles of highway. Don't remember exactly where the state lines are but I think it's the VA scales where yesterday I saw a flatbed carrying three vans getting the full inspection ... today the truck ahead of me gets flagged in. Different scale layout, the scale house is on the Southbound side and they run both scales from there ... if you get flagged in Northbound, you have to walk in a tunnel under the freeway to get to the office. Then, at the WV border you start to climb ... 5, maybe 7 miles ... had wondered how well this thing did on the hills, but that was not going to be my main concern. The old temp gauge started to climb, if there had been somewhere to stop, I would have ... but sitting on the outside shoulder of this size of hill did not appeal to me (and I didn't have a camera to get any good shots) ... the temp held for a couple miles at 110, then hit 111 for the last mile ... but I made it. Thought about stopping to let it cool but knew for most of these hills for every mile up, there is a mile down and it ... should ... cool down on its own. That was the biggest 'hill' and I didn't have any more problems after that ... on that first hill it climbed at about 45 mph, on the rest for the day it would drop to about 40 mph ... could be why it ran cooler ??? When I picked it up, the guy said the air worked, I tried it a few times and it seemed the 2-60 air worked just as well so I didn't use it for very long ... also after my FL trip where the truck finally died because the battery was so dead, I don't run a lot of extra's ... no air, no fan, no radio, waited until sundown to run the lights ... except when it was raining ... which was most of the last couple of hours. Started at 6 AM so my 14 hours wouldn't be up until 8 PM ... thought the mid-day swap would eat all the extra hours but it didn't, had to watch my driving hours to make sure I took my three non-driving hours ... As I got closer to Charleston I started to see the motel signs, including on for Motel 6 ... that was a welcome site as the coupon mag's I was carrying didn't have any places that interested me. Cost me $39, and was right next door to a Bob Evan's and a block away from a steak house. At Bob Evan's I talked my waiter into letting me order off the 'senior menu' ... smaller portion and cheaper ... chicken and broccoli Alfredo, I had planned on asking her to hold the broccoli, but forgot by the time I got her to let me order off the senior menu ... That meal was s-o-o-o-o good ... that I ate all my broccoli (don't think that has ever happened before in my lifetime) ... and left some of my garlic toast ??? I too often get to places right as they are closing but if I'm not going to be done by the time they close I'll go somewhere else. I get here tonight about an hour before close and am half watching the clock to be out by 10 ... about two minutes to 10 a group of four walk in and the staff is as polite as if they had been the first customers of the day ... not sure I would have been. As they are seating them, I'm walking up to pay and make a comment about people showing up right before closing ... He acknowledges my comment but says nothing negative ... I try again to the guy who has now locked the door ... again, he says nothing negative. 6/17/04 - 8 PM shut down means 6 AM start, which means 5:30 wake up ... guess the clerk didn't hear the ":30" part of the request and the call came at 5 AM ... which I didn't realize until I was checking out and saw their clock and their wake up call list, oh well. Like all good drivers, I do a complete inspection at the start of each day (as other drivers hop in and drive away) ... lights, blinkers ... do my log book and ... click ... click-click ... it doesn't start. Some of these trucks won't start if the fluids are low so I went an bought a couple of quarts of oil from the Truck stop across the street and got some water in my drinking bottles from the clerk at the motel ... neither was down to the add mark, but I wasn't taking any chances ... guess I need to remember not to check out before my truck is running ... ... Still wouldn't start so I leave a message with dispatch so they can call me back when they check the 'emergency line' for the first time in the AM. Shortly I had my call back and they first suggested I 'call anyone' just to get going but after questioning they agreed I should call the 'call center for the corporate mantance department' for this customer. The call center picks up on the first couple of rings ... I've been through this before so I know what info they need ... customer name, unit number, etc ... oh yeah, by now my phone is almost dead ... the lighter in the truck was sort of corroded over and when I tried to use it, it bumped my phone to 'full charge' with out charging it so I quickly unplugged it ... so I am now using the pay phone at the motel to make my calls, but I still leave my phone on for incoming calls. A few minutes later, the call center calls to let me know the name of the people coming out to get me going and how soon they'd be there ... so I stretch out in the truck and close my eyes ... in a little longer than they had said, someone was there and his first question was "Leave the lights on, did you?" ... no, hadn't done that ... had walked past my truck three times last night in the dark going to / from the motel and restaurant, and remember turning them on this AM after checking my blinkers ... so "No." I wasn't watching him real close but he got in the truck and then got out and started opening the hood ... so I asked him if he had tried to start the truck, yes, he had ... I hadn't heard that 'click-click' from earlier, so I asked "with the starter button?" ... "Oh, it has one of those?" Then when he tried again we heard the 'click-click' and he preceded to jump start it ... started right away ... but to make a point I had him turn on the blinkers, then the lights and the then the fan ... and we watched the amps drop. The truck was charging, but not enough to keep up with everything. A quick call to dispatch with an update and I was on my way ... with nothing running and this mornings jump start, it is finally back up to 14 amps. Heading out the last two times to NC, I had avoided the 'suggested' route, as was not all interstate ... this time I was going shortest / suggested route ... about a mile before I get to my turn off ... I remember, I've been this way before ... and it's ugly ... narrow, two lanes and lots of traffic. Same this trip, the first 40 miles are in WV, all two lane with hills and curves ... of that 40 miles, I think 35+ were marked as no passing zones ... then we got behind a farmer who had to stop every time he got to a mailbox and wait for an opening in the oncoming traffic so he could go around the box ... after a mile or two he pulled into someone's driveway to let us past ... this kind of of tree covered road might make for good pictures, but isn't much help when you are trying to make time ... Southside, WV ... population 25,178 ??? (that's what one web site said) ... the city would have to be the size of a county, but the post office is the size of an outhouse and is in some farmers yard about 20 feet off the highway.... I suppose it could be a 'remote post office' ... As you get to the WV / OH border the road becomes 4 lane ... and as I crossed the bridge into OH there was a patrol sitting between those lanes of traffic ... Opps, that's right, Slow-hio ... I was doing under 60 and he didn't seem to take any interest in me ... but a 1/4 mile later there was lights flashing in my rearview's ... first time on this job, he followed me to the shoulder. "Hi" ... "Got any goodies in there? (in the refer)" ... 'no, transporting an empty' ... "We are going to do a random DOT check, you've been through this before right?" ... 'no, never have' ... "Well this will be a little learning experience for you." The first thing he wants to check is the air brakes, pump them until the light and / or buzzer comes on ... it never does ... "You know that is an 'Out Of Service Violation' if we can't get that to work ..." we try again ... nothing. He precedes to check my blinkers, lights - high and low, wipers, horn walks around looking at the truck ... the ONLY thing I had been worried about was the two outside tires on the rear, still not sure they had enough tread to be legal but he doesn't site me for them (the rest of the tires were fairly new). Back at the cab he asks for my licence, DOT card, DOT #, plate number and wants a registration card ... I start digging throw the piles of paper in the truck and find an insurance card that has enough data on it to use ... after he leaves, I keep going through the pile and find what he was looking for, but decide to wait in my truck. He comes back with a nice green form saying I'm OOS / out of service and that I am supposed to have my DOT# on the side of my truck, not in the front window (but doesn't ask / tell me to move it) ... We try the brake once more, fails again ... he has asked me a few times what we / I am going to do about this ... (what are my choices?) ... he finally offers to have me follow him to the next exit, next town a mile up the road where I can park at the fair grounds until it's fixed ... I follow until I see the fairgrounds and then loose him ... I wish, but that could cost a whole lot of money ... By the time we get to the fairgrounds, he pulls another vehicle over ... now I see why he suggested this lot ... I can see the OH highway patrol office from here, and assume they can see me too ... I know the routine ... find a pay phone, call dispatch, call the maintaince call center (got the same guy again) ... and wait. The guy who comes sends a while looking for the problem and when he finds it, doesn't have the parts with so another wait ... gives me time to go to the Shake Shoppe for a burger and lemonade ... and to wait in an air-conditioned building. 2 - 1/2 hours later I'm on the road ... 'GE Capital' I think is who I'm calling on these trucks ... and that's what I call good customer service ... they answer the phone on the first couple of rings, call back with what's going to happen and when ... and call back to make sure everything happened and you are back running ... (and the call center in is in the US so you can understand them ... my home state even). Stop for fuel at the same remote location as last time though here ... but they have a new crew, and like most places now a days ... someone writing down plate and DOT #'s ... Out of the 150 miles of US-35 in Ohio about 60 miles are still two lane, and most of that looks like it should be four lane in a year or so ... but with my five hours of down time today getting home early Saturday is not going to happen ... my original plan was to spend the night in Beloit, WI ... but being almost out of hours and not wanting to spend the night in Chicago, I decide to spend the night in Lafayette, IN again ... same price, same motel ... different food. Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel sounded good, but they looked full when I drove past. An hour later after checking in to the motel and doing my paperwork there was still a half hour wait ... I have nothing but time, but I still don't like to wait for food, so I walk across the highway ... this time to DQ for a malt, burger and onion rings. The malt hit the spot, but the onion rings were ... fast food onion rings ... 6/19/04 - The one good thing about the 14 hour day yesterday, I CAN'T get up and leave at 4 AM ... have to wait until 6 AM. Last night I remembered to make sure the truck was fully charged ... shut everything off the last few miles and then let the truck run while I checked in ... Yesterday I checked all the lights and blinkers first ... today I start the truck first ... I turn the key and let the gauges cycle ... as the new 'low air' warning beeps the amp drop with each beep ... I quickly start the truck ... it starts! ... then I do the rest of my pre-trip and check out of the motel. I'm guessing Chicago traffic was a lot better at 7 AM on a Saturday than it would have been at 7 PM on a Friday. I don't think I slowed below the speed limit except at the tolls ... even in the construction zones the traffic was doing their usual speed limit plus 20. 3 PM ... home again ... safe at last ... |