Friday, July 22, 2011

Got on the road this morning a little later than I had wanted to.  Considering when I went to bed, I did pretty good.  Had a great day on the road.  Gorgeous weather, sunny and in the 70s.  The truck ran great!!  Drove 730 miles today up to Williston, ND to a truck stop there.  Will be here for the weekend.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Started out early this morning.  Soon after I got on the road I realized that the overheating problem from yesterday was not caused by the weather.  It was only 70 degrees outside and I rapidly was on the verge of overheating again.  I drove 150 miles tenderly to the Peterbilt shop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  Got there at 8:30 am central time. They told me that there would be a few hours wait.  I could see that the bays were all full already.  I went out to the truck and took a nap.  Later on when I woke up I could see other trucks coming in and being taken right in and worked on.  I went in and asked how long before I was to be worked on.  All he said was "soon".  At 3:30 pm central time the night shift came in. I was then brought in and the truck worked on.  The temperature sensor was bad.  He had to take the alternator and water pump off to get to it.  Replaced it and took it for a test drive.  It was better but still not right.  The thermostat was bad too.  Had to take the alternator and water pump back off again to replace it.  Also when he came back from the first test drive I found that the pop off valve on the air compressor was leaking air and was faulty.  So that was replaced too. Finally got it all put back together and finished at midnight central time.  And for all this fun it cost ONLY $850.48.  I slept in their parking lot afterwords.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Drove in to Elizabethtown, KY this morning and loaded a bunch of PVC pipe. This stuff is not like the PVC pipe you are used to seeing.  This pipe is over an inch thick and heavy.  It is stacked high and makes the trailer a bit top heavy.  It is going to Williston, North Dakota.

Got on the road and did good until Chicago.  Lots of bumper to bumper traffic in Chicago.  Then up to Milwaukee. More bumper to bumper traffic.  Had a little trouble keeping the truck from overheating.  it was 100 degrees in Chicago.  Had to be careful, overheated three times. Finally made it to the Petro truck stop in Portage, Wisconsin for the night.  That is north of Madison.

Tuseday, July 19, 2011

Drove form Nashville up to Louisville, KY and delivered the pipe.  After that started heading toward the Lexington, KY area for my next load.  Got a little over half way there when my dispatcher called and said that she had a better load.  It loads tomorrow morning in Elizabethtown, KY.  That is south of Louisville.  Soooooo I turned around and went to the Petro truck stop in Glendale, KY for the night.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Drove over to the job site in Niceville. They are building several overpasses and these concrete panels are a few of many that are used as retaining walls for the overpass.  It is on US-85 next to the airport, if any of you know that area.

Then drove over to Panama City and picked up a load of steel pipe. They load it on the truck with an electromagnet, pretty cool.

And here is the finished product.  All ready to go.

Had a very nice day on the road.  Sunny and clear all the way.  As soon as I pulled into the TA truck stop in Nashville, TN the heavens opened up.  A huge thunderstorm.  Saw one of the tall buildings get struck by TWO bolts of lightening!!  That was really cool!!!   I deliver these tomorrow morning in Louisville, KY.