Stopped in Little Rock for new tires. Delivered in Fayetteville. Came to Kenworth to get front wheel recasted so my new steer will last more than 2000 miles. Got 2 new batteries, power to CB, new "brake pod". They found 2 airleaks behind my dashboard and Freightliner didn't have the Freightliner valves. Found out saturday morning.
Just emailed Ryan about it.
Don't want to talk about it.
Took a cab to a bar. Found out that Bush was behind 911 and invaded Iraq to get rich and if we drilled in Alaska they'd just sell it all to the Chinese anyway. The Fundamentalists hate us and will get WMD's and start WW4 with Israel and the only fix is political reform in the Middle East but it was all to make Bush and Cheney and Haliburton rich and we shouldn't have done it.
Yeah they're brainwashed but we're brainwashed even worse.......
I don't want to talk about it. Got enough problems with Christine without diagnosing mental illness.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Fleetwood, PA: That's right. She's Rejecting the Damned Transplant
...dammit.
It's monday. Friday night, I finally got Christine back, and drove all the way back to the Bethel Yard to pick up an empty trailer and report back for "duty". But when I tried to shut down for the night by engaging my Optimized Idle...
Optimized Idle is a computer program which turns the engine on and off as needed. It protects the batteries from going dead, and in temperature mode starts up to turn on the a/c or heat per the thermostat in my sleeper. I don't have a generator, and fuel is now over 4 bucks/gallon. To idle a truck all night is idiotic.
...well, the Optimized idle didn't work. I then looked closer, and saw that none of my panel lights were lighting in the start-up or "boot" sequence. The idle and lights all worked when I took it in. This could be very bad. I'm not a geek, but it looks to me like the ECM is just IGNORING all those sensors. Oil, coolant level, engine trouble, etc.
Plus, the LED tells me I have two active faults. I should have only one: the result of a Rube Goldberg repair. Could be ABS brakes, in which case I don't care. But it could be something else--and I do care.
THEN I noticed that I'm leaking air from somewhere whenever the engine is idling. LOTS of air.
I got it back before Penn closed. The tech hooked the laptop up and couldn't do anything. I waited overnight til saturday morning. They could call the expert and log onto Detroit Diesel's site then to make a better attempt. It didn't work.
So I got a hotel room (this one) and came back sunday to park overnight til monday. This morning I got in there at 0700. Waited all day. At 1500 the guy tells me that the engineer just got finished with the job he'd been on and was going home. They'll get me in tomorrow morning.
It's monday. Friday night, I finally got Christine back, and drove all the way back to the Bethel Yard to pick up an empty trailer and report back for "duty". But when I tried to shut down for the night by engaging my Optimized Idle...
Optimized Idle is a computer program which turns the engine on and off as needed. It protects the batteries from going dead, and in temperature mode starts up to turn on the a/c or heat per the thermostat in my sleeper. I don't have a generator, and fuel is now over 4 bucks/gallon. To idle a truck all night is idiotic.
...well, the Optimized idle didn't work. I then looked closer, and saw that none of my panel lights were lighting in the start-up or "boot" sequence. The idle and lights all worked when I took it in. This could be very bad. I'm not a geek, but it looks to me like the ECM is just IGNORING all those sensors. Oil, coolant level, engine trouble, etc.
Plus, the LED tells me I have two active faults. I should have only one: the result of a Rube Goldberg repair. Could be ABS brakes, in which case I don't care. But it could be something else--and I do care.
THEN I noticed that I'm leaking air from somewhere whenever the engine is idling. LOTS of air.
I got it back before Penn closed. The tech hooked the laptop up and couldn't do anything. I waited overnight til saturday morning. They could call the expert and log onto Detroit Diesel's site then to make a better attempt. It didn't work.
So I got a hotel room (this one) and came back sunday to park overnight til monday. This morning I got in there at 0700. Waited all day. At 1500 the guy tells me that the engineer just got finished with the job he'd been on and was going home. They'll get me in tomorrow morning.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Fleetwood, PA: Brain Surgery
I had to take myself out of service and bring Christine here over a problem no one else could solve. I'd been to Penn Diesel here for other insolubles--sent by USA as a company driver. As an owner/op, I now have to look out for myself, and I'm glad I waited awhile before making the move. I remembered Penn Diesel, and am experienced enough to take myself off the road, although my truck was still running.
Christine wouldn't hold cruise. For a trucker, that's worse than you might think. OTR truckers rely heavily on cruise control to maintain speeds. If you don't have it, your speed fluctuates, and messes up the guys behind you. Passing is a much bigger thing for trucks than for cars--it's hard to describe. Also, I drive 700 plus miles, and your foot cramps and stuff.
I might still have put it off, but Christine keeps running through reset sequences as I go up hills. Her needles all drop to zero, then all the trouble lights light, the alarms beep--she thinks she's been turned off and on. Then at 1300 and 1700 rpms, her speedometer does a devil's triangle thing, dropping 3-7 mph and wavering back.
These are shift-ranges.
AND, she's a hypochondriac: I get from 3-6 fault signals all the time. But my coolant, oil, oil pressure, voltage etc. are not really low.
I already knew that this is a memory issue, but the truck remained functional.
Well, the speedometer, increased frequency of resets, and cruise thing set alarms off in my head, so when I got near here I jumped on it. (Comes in handy running hot all the time--I was over 30 hours ahead of schedule, so had not trouble setting up a drop at our yard in Bethel, 30 miles away.)
Penn got me in fairly quickly, and found the biggest problem shortly thereafter. (Note to young people: These guys charge 105 bucks an hour, which is twice what some other places charge. But they're elite in expertise and diagnostic equipment, and they're fast. This is one time you get what you pay for. I can't afford leaving a shop without everything fixed.)
Turned ou that Christine needed a new ECM. A brain transplant. Her brain was down to brainstem, and was getting ready to shut me down on the raod somewhere. I was going to have to get towed--with a trailer--to someone less capable and competant than Penn Diesel. The tow bill could be 750-1000 bucks, I'd almost certainly be down for several days (losing gobs of gross pay), and get gouged for more than Penn Diesel is charging me.
They told me it would cost 2k plus labor, and asked me if I wanted to do it. HAHA! 2k now or over 5k in a few days or weeks? (Believe it or not, some drivers would drive out of there and look for a better deal. You just have to stick to the truth/reality.)
But that wasn't the cruise issue. These guys are pros. On the test drive, the senior tech found the problems still there. With all the false faults gone, their software quickly found the problem. It's a bad clutch-switch--Christine thinks her clutch is always engaged.
The swithc itself isn't bad, but the wires are corroded. This tough old Master Sargeant-like Tech in a matter of seconds deduced which of the three wires it was, and went to work tracing them.
You get what you pay for. Can't tell you how many times techs stand there scratching their heads and (after burning up a lot of chargeable hours) tell me they can't fix something. Or how many times they sent me down the raod with the problem not permanently fixed.
But now this was going to take awhile, so here I am in a hotel again, the next morning. This could cost my maintenance escrow account over 3 grand with the labor...ay over. But I don't whine about it: it was simply neccessary, and I don't cry about stuff I can't do anything about.
I won't need a new ECM for the forseeable future, I know that these guys will replace and PROTECT the wires so the problem won't come back, and now, finally, I should be able to run hard for longer than a few days. For a change.
...well, after I replace three tires. My right steer has serious cupping on the right side--so the problem causing it will need to be found, too. I told Ryan--my new dispatcher (he's efficient like Matt, and kids around more)--I need to get through Little Rock. Little Rock is where AEL, my leasing company, is. I have real pros there, too, who specialize in tires and alignments, I get a discount from AEL, and credits for the tires replaced.
See, as a Central Hauling driver, I'd just take it to the Cal-Ark yard where AEL is, and get the tires taken care of there. But as a USA driver, I have to go elsewhere--but AEL can send a truck out to fetch my old tires, and has that deal with this company. I go anywhere else and pay full labor, and get nothing back for the old tires. (And maybe get the work done wrong.)
But this time I can almost certainly get the job knocked out enroute, and still deliver early. Then I'll be all set--free to run-run-run.
I'm a butt-head. There is no address on my Corporate debit card. The bad address was on the paperwork accompanying it, and in my insane rage I somehow imprinted the address on the physical card, and refused to look at it. I kept hammering E-Trade to send me a new card, even after they had updated the address in their database. I made several customer service people miserable for nothing.
More lessons for young people. When someone's incompetance finally drives you insane and render you irrational, take a deep breath and count to ten. The card works to pay hotel bills and such, and I'd looked right at it at least three times. But my bitterness at E-Trade's ongoing gas-light campaign against me made me allergic to even looking at the thing, and noticing no address on it.
While at Penn Diesel, I met a FedEx driver named Tony. He was an immigrant from Tobago living in NYC. He told me about a type of CD available there paying from four to seven and one half percent per month. Not really a CD, technicly, since you can take the interest out!
Naturally, my hackles went up. I'd got into a big mess over a scam in Dominica. Got most--but not ALL--of my money back only after going through the US and their attorneys general. But a caribean island+too good to be true+a guy who seemed to be pushing it are terrifying.
However, I checked the website, and it's affiliated with Colonial Penn insurance, and the Corporation itself is American. The business card I photocopied was aged, and had phone/fax/email/etc. Tony gave me his cellphone number, I know he drives for FedEx, his personal details were all left at Penn Diesel for his own work...
So I emailed the woman on the card (who's in San Fernando, CA and is an agent with an asian name) asking for more details.
The 7.5% yield, per Tony, is based on a five year deal commitment. A one-year commitment yields 4.5%. Minimum deposit or investment is 2500 bucks.
Tony doesn't have my experience or knowlege, and couldn't answer all of my questions. Like, I don't think it's a CD--rather an annuity.
I'm cautiously optimistic. Tobago is a British province, and the Coporation is American and closely linked to Colonial Penn. The law can find Tony, and he can't hide in the British Empire.
If this thing is for real, I already have the money to retire or semi-retire. I wouldn't, of course. Tony suggested I start out with the 2500.00 minimum for only one year, to confirm it. He's literally saying: See if I don't start getting payments of 112.50/month.
That makes no difference. I'd go for the five years. If somehow they managed to construct an unbreakable scam, the time-period won't matter, so I'd go for the 7.5% instead.
I'm deliberately withholding information here, because I'm the pathfinder. I'll be the one to stick my neck out and map the waterholes and injuns. I'll tell you more if I don't get scalped.
Yeah--I know. "Can't be!" Well, we'll see.
Anyway, if it proves out, I'll put a big chunk into a five-year account. Tony says it doesn't compound--the interest remains constant on the initial deposit only. That's not a big problem, as I'd direct the proceeds elsewhere to grow further. I'll keep driving and compounding--I LIKE my job and it'd be pretty dumb to quit something that pays well and that you enjoy.
Tony also said that you can add to your account. Not sure about that--but I know I could set up other accounts, so no biggee.
If true, this is my freedom. Monthly income. I grow it and compound it while running hard and adding more for awhile, then buy some land, set myself up, get my music and art studio going, pay off my maintenance balance on this truck, and semi-retire.
I have beautiful music in my head. It's been there since my teens. I want to get it out there. I need to get it out there before I die, so at least I'll know I did it. And when my nieces and nephews, of no one else, hear it, they will know:
Uncle Rob was more than a trucker. There's some real talent in these genes.
Stand by.
Christine wouldn't hold cruise. For a trucker, that's worse than you might think. OTR truckers rely heavily on cruise control to maintain speeds. If you don't have it, your speed fluctuates, and messes up the guys behind you. Passing is a much bigger thing for trucks than for cars--it's hard to describe. Also, I drive 700 plus miles, and your foot cramps and stuff.
I might still have put it off, but Christine keeps running through reset sequences as I go up hills. Her needles all drop to zero, then all the trouble lights light, the alarms beep--she thinks she's been turned off and on. Then at 1300 and 1700 rpms, her speedometer does a devil's triangle thing, dropping 3-7 mph and wavering back.
These are shift-ranges.
AND, she's a hypochondriac: I get from 3-6 fault signals all the time. But my coolant, oil, oil pressure, voltage etc. are not really low.
I already knew that this is a memory issue, but the truck remained functional.
Well, the speedometer, increased frequency of resets, and cruise thing set alarms off in my head, so when I got near here I jumped on it. (Comes in handy running hot all the time--I was over 30 hours ahead of schedule, so had not trouble setting up a drop at our yard in Bethel, 30 miles away.)
Penn got me in fairly quickly, and found the biggest problem shortly thereafter. (Note to young people: These guys charge 105 bucks an hour, which is twice what some other places charge. But they're elite in expertise and diagnostic equipment, and they're fast. This is one time you get what you pay for. I can't afford leaving a shop without everything fixed.)
Turned ou that Christine needed a new ECM. A brain transplant. Her brain was down to brainstem, and was getting ready to shut me down on the raod somewhere. I was going to have to get towed--with a trailer--to someone less capable and competant than Penn Diesel. The tow bill could be 750-1000 bucks, I'd almost certainly be down for several days (losing gobs of gross pay), and get gouged for more than Penn Diesel is charging me.
They told me it would cost 2k plus labor, and asked me if I wanted to do it. HAHA! 2k now or over 5k in a few days or weeks? (Believe it or not, some drivers would drive out of there and look for a better deal. You just have to stick to the truth/reality.)
But that wasn't the cruise issue. These guys are pros. On the test drive, the senior tech found the problems still there. With all the false faults gone, their software quickly found the problem. It's a bad clutch-switch--Christine thinks her clutch is always engaged.
The swithc itself isn't bad, but the wires are corroded. This tough old Master Sargeant-like Tech in a matter of seconds deduced which of the three wires it was, and went to work tracing them.
You get what you pay for. Can't tell you how many times techs stand there scratching their heads and (after burning up a lot of chargeable hours) tell me they can't fix something. Or how many times they sent me down the raod with the problem not permanently fixed.
But now this was going to take awhile, so here I am in a hotel again, the next morning. This could cost my maintenance escrow account over 3 grand with the labor...ay over. But I don't whine about it: it was simply neccessary, and I don't cry about stuff I can't do anything about.
I won't need a new ECM for the forseeable future, I know that these guys will replace and PROTECT the wires so the problem won't come back, and now, finally, I should be able to run hard for longer than a few days. For a change.
...well, after I replace three tires. My right steer has serious cupping on the right side--so the problem causing it will need to be found, too. I told Ryan--my new dispatcher (he's efficient like Matt, and kids around more)--I need to get through Little Rock. Little Rock is where AEL, my leasing company, is. I have real pros there, too, who specialize in tires and alignments, I get a discount from AEL, and credits for the tires replaced.
See, as a Central Hauling driver, I'd just take it to the Cal-Ark yard where AEL is, and get the tires taken care of there. But as a USA driver, I have to go elsewhere--but AEL can send a truck out to fetch my old tires, and has that deal with this company. I go anywhere else and pay full labor, and get nothing back for the old tires. (And maybe get the work done wrong.)
But this time I can almost certainly get the job knocked out enroute, and still deliver early. Then I'll be all set--free to run-run-run.
I'm a butt-head. There is no address on my Corporate debit card. The bad address was on the paperwork accompanying it, and in my insane rage I somehow imprinted the address on the physical card, and refused to look at it. I kept hammering E-Trade to send me a new card, even after they had updated the address in their database. I made several customer service people miserable for nothing.
More lessons for young people. When someone's incompetance finally drives you insane and render you irrational, take a deep breath and count to ten. The card works to pay hotel bills and such, and I'd looked right at it at least three times. But my bitterness at E-Trade's ongoing gas-light campaign against me made me allergic to even looking at the thing, and noticing no address on it.
While at Penn Diesel, I met a FedEx driver named Tony. He was an immigrant from Tobago living in NYC. He told me about a type of CD available there paying from four to seven and one half percent per month. Not really a CD, technicly, since you can take the interest out!
Naturally, my hackles went up. I'd got into a big mess over a scam in Dominica. Got most--but not ALL--of my money back only after going through the US and their attorneys general. But a caribean island+too good to be true+a guy who seemed to be pushing it are terrifying.
However, I checked the website, and it's affiliated with Colonial Penn insurance, and the Corporation itself is American. The business card I photocopied was aged, and had phone/fax/email/etc. Tony gave me his cellphone number, I know he drives for FedEx, his personal details were all left at Penn Diesel for his own work...
So I emailed the woman on the card (who's in San Fernando, CA and is an agent with an asian name) asking for more details.
The 7.5% yield, per Tony, is based on a five year deal commitment. A one-year commitment yields 4.5%. Minimum deposit or investment is 2500 bucks.
Tony doesn't have my experience or knowlege, and couldn't answer all of my questions. Like, I don't think it's a CD--rather an annuity.
I'm cautiously optimistic. Tobago is a British province, and the Coporation is American and closely linked to Colonial Penn. The law can find Tony, and he can't hide in the British Empire.
If this thing is for real, I already have the money to retire or semi-retire. I wouldn't, of course. Tony suggested I start out with the 2500.00 minimum for only one year, to confirm it. He's literally saying: See if I don't start getting payments of 112.50/month.
That makes no difference. I'd go for the five years. If somehow they managed to construct an unbreakable scam, the time-period won't matter, so I'd go for the 7.5% instead.
I'm deliberately withholding information here, because I'm the pathfinder. I'll be the one to stick my neck out and map the waterholes and injuns. I'll tell you more if I don't get scalped.
Yeah--I know. "Can't be!" Well, we'll see.
Anyway, if it proves out, I'll put a big chunk into a five-year account. Tony says it doesn't compound--the interest remains constant on the initial deposit only. That's not a big problem, as I'd direct the proceeds elsewhere to grow further. I'll keep driving and compounding--I LIKE my job and it'd be pretty dumb to quit something that pays well and that you enjoy.
Tony also said that you can add to your account. Not sure about that--but I know I could set up other accounts, so no biggee.
If true, this is my freedom. Monthly income. I grow it and compound it while running hard and adding more for awhile, then buy some land, set myself up, get my music and art studio going, pay off my maintenance balance on this truck, and semi-retire.
I have beautiful music in my head. It's been there since my teens. I want to get it out there. I need to get it out there before I die, so at least I'll know I did it. And when my nieces and nephews, of no one else, hear it, they will know:
Uncle Rob was more than a trucker. There's some real talent in these genes.
Stand by.
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