When life gives you lemons...grrrrr!!

Yeah, yeah, make lemonade. Right. Easier said than done sometimes. We took the load to Laredo and got there on Sunday night. We didn't deliver until 11 AM on Monday, so we parked at the TA, had a good meal and a good nights sleep. We got up the next morning and I drove the mile to the consignee. This place, like most all places on the Mexican border has extremely tight docks. The first dock they told us to back into was too narrow to even get into. I ended up having to move over two slots to get one wide enough to squeeze in. And a tight squeeze it was! While I was working on backing in, the truck at one point acted like it was going to die. It was just a quick thing that was over as fast as it started. After we made the delivery and were driving to the Speedco to get the oil change, I mentioned it to John. We didn't really think too much about it because the truck had been and still seemed to be running perfectly fine.

We got over to the Speedco, got the oil changed, thought about getting a truck wash, but with the way the wind was blowing the sand around, we decided against it. We headed back to the truckstop, this time the Flying J hoping to get a better internet signal (didn't happen). We had put ourselves available on a 34 hour restart coming back into service the next day at 4 PM. We were getting low on hours and figured that Laredo would be a good spot to do a restart in. We had a good meal and got back to the truck. Dispatch called and wanted us to do a load that was picking up that night at midnight in Eagle Pass, about 130 miles to the north of Laredo. We told them we were doing a restart, but they really needed us to do the load because it was hazmat. We were number 7 on the board, so apparently none of the six trucks ahead of us had their hazmat endorsements. It was just a load of air bag modules, but they are classified as hazmat. After going back and forth with dispatch, we agreed to take the load which delivered in Smyrna, Tennessee. My thinking was that it would be nice to get out of Laredo where the heat was about 102 degrees and the wind was blowing the sand around which is nasty. We would do our restart in Tn. They set everything up and around 8 PM John headed out to Eagle Pass.

To get to Eagle Pass, you have to take highways. It was a nasty drive because it started storming and the wind was really blowing the dirt around. It rained, but not enough to help. It just made things worse. We got to the shipper an hour early. John pulled the truck up in front of the docks and set the brakes. He ran inside to see if they were ready for us or if they wanted us to park out of the way somewhere. Right before he came back to the truck, the truck died. I got such a bad feeling and immediately thought about the incident that morning at the consignee when the truck almost died. John came to the truck and said, good news, they're ready for us. I said, bad news, the truck died! We tried to restart it, but it wouldn't do anything. Didn't crank or anything. The check electric system light came on the dash. Our first thought was that if we sat there a little bit and let it cool off, maybe it would start. Nope, not happening. John pulled the battery cover off and looked at the connections and the new fuse harness that we just had put on two weeks ago. No sign of any problems.

I went into the sleeper to turn on the apu to get some ac running and that's when I noticed that the apu wasn't getting any power. We decided we better call our carrier and let them know that we probably weren't going to be able to take the load. They started calling around trying to find road service to come out and look at the truck and had no luck. There was not one single place that would answer their phone. There were no name brand shops within 120 miles. Nothing. This was such a bad feeling. Finally, one of the guys who worked at the shipper came over to check on us and we told him what was going on. He knew a couple of people who did road service. We called them and none of them were willing to work with an electrical problem. We realized that we weren't going to get any help until in the morning. The shipper then informed us that they were closing and that we would have to leave and go to a motel. The worker that checked on us said he would drive us to a motel. By now, it was about 3 AM. We packed a bag  and he drove us to a La Quinta Inn, which was the only place in town that would accept pets. We have a small Maltese dog that rides with us. I was exhausted, hot and frustrated!

He dropped us at the motel, we checked in and in my opinion got overcharged for a room. $119 for the night and we were only going to be there for a few hours! What are you going to do? We got in the room, turned on the ac, and nothing happened. I called the front desk and told them the ac wasn't working. She had us come back to the desk, and switched us to a different room. She apologized for the inconvenience, but we told her that was just the way our day was going. We got into the new room and thankfully, the ac worked! John fell asleep right away, but of course, I laid there awake until about 7 AM when I got up, took a shower, then gave the dog a bath. John got up, took a shower, and I called a taxi to take us back to the truck. We got to the truck and I thought maybe we would get lucky and the truck would start. Again, nope. I started going through the list of truck repair places and had no luck. I finally called the International dealer in San Antonio and they said it would be sometime next week before they could even look at it. Seriously?! He told me the only other International dealer would be in Laredo. Great! Back where we started. I called them and they said they could probably look at it the next day and they gave me the name of a towing company that would tow us there. I knew the tow bill was going to be outrageous. They charge you for the miles to you and the miles that you actually get towed. It ended up being $1055.

On the bright side, our tow truck driver was a really nice guy named Jesse. He was great at his job, and his ac worked in his tow truck. What more can you ask for? Maybe one thing, 2 seats for passengers? Unfortunately, his truck didn't have a sleeper and only one passenger seat. He had a 5 gallon bucket between the seats so I got two pillows out of the truck and sat on one and put one behind my back. 130 miles on a bucket. Actually it wasn't as bad of a ride as I had feared. But it's not one I want to do again. Jesse was a great tour guide on the drive back to Laredo. He pointed out the new oil wells that are being drilled. These natural gas deposits were recently found and are a booming business in this area. The pipeline workers are from other areas and are living in RV parks that are springing up in the area to accomodate the workers because there aren't any other places for them to live. Also on the drive, we drove through swarms of butterflys. Jesse said every year at this time they come out of the fields. Not sure how long that will last, but they were incredible. Makes a terrible mess to the windshield and front of the truck though. Jesse also pointed out George Strait's (country singer) ranch. We drove right past it, and if someone didn't point it out to you, you would never even notice it. It sits back pretty far off the road and you can mostly just see the roof from the road. Jesse is retiring on Friday. We congratulated him and wished him well. He got us and our truck safe and sound to the International shop in Laredo.

Once at the shop, we checked in, and were told that they would likely get to our truck the next day. We called a taxi and were taken to the Motel 6 North. We have a pool here. There is a Golden Corral next door. We walked about a mile yesterday down to the Walmart and got a few things. We spent about an hour at the pool and did our laundry. We are getting caught up on sleep and unfortunately, International did not look at our truck yesterday and when I called today, I was told that it would probably be around 2 today before they got to it. I still haven't heard from them, and won't be surprised if I don't hear anything until tomorrow. Our carrier has a nice load that they would like for us to that picks up on Friday afternoon, but of course we can't accept it not knowing how long our truck is going to be out of commission.
I had such high hopes for this year, but it isn't going at all like I had hoped. Thank goodness we only have two more truck payments and then the truck is paid for and is ours. We have most of the work done on it that we wanted to get done. We have one more big job to do, which is having the frame sanded and painted with undercoating. If we can just survive these bad times we've been going through lately, we'll be in good shape.

Oh yeah, one other silver lining to this mess. Our truck is broke down during the annual safety blitz. There is a 72 hour period each year that commercial trucks and buses are inspected by dot and other officials at a much higher rate than normal. During our ride in the tow truck, we witnessed several inspection sites in full swing. They were pulling in every single truck. Of course that was on a highway, so they could get every truck. On the interstates, it's hit and miss. I've heard some crazy stories about how many trucks are being put out of service for violations. The craziest story I read about is that in New Jersey, they are actually diverting trucks into a football stadium for inspection and there was up to a 6 hour delay for drivers. This seems to me like it should be illegal for our government to do such a thing, but what do I know? I'm just a lowly truck driver...

Heading back to.....Laredo!

Thankfully we are finally getting some steady miles. We completed the load from Laredo to Ohio. Then drove to Michigan and picked up and delivered that to Georgia. During that drive we received multiple load offers and accepted the longest one which was picking up in South Carolina and delivering in Laredo. We picked up on Saturday and deliver on Monday so we have an extra day on the load and we can get rested up while making some money. Once we get down to Laredo we are also going to need to get a pm (preventive maintenance) done on the truck. We almost exclusively use Speedco for that. They are fast and pretty good although John watches over them like a hawk to make sure they are doing their job properly. A simple oil change when done  improperly can really cause major damage to a motor.

Our very first experience getting a pm done in the first truck we drove was a good example. We went to a TA and they twisted off the oil plug. It was a Mercedes motor and from what I understand, the metal used on those is not as strong as most others. This was the second time that had happened on that particular oil pan and since it had already been tapped out, it wasn't possible to do it again. As an intermediate fix, they put a knob thing on it, looked like a water spigot. That held until we could get it to a shop to have a new oil pan installed which cost about $1600. Overpriced because it was a Mercedes motor. Of course the Ta blamed the prior company that did the oil change and that place said no, they didn't do it, it must have been the Ta. So the owner ended up having to pay out of pocket for the damage. That's the main reason we stick with one company to get the oil changes done. This way, if someone screws up, they can't point the finger at anyone else.

It's really sad how repair shops take advantage of truck drivers. It's one thing to need to get work done on your truck. It's another to know that you are depending on that shop to treat you fairly and to do the job properly. Our sons recently had a problem with their truck. Their check engine light kept going off and on. They took it to an International shop in South Carolina. That shop took all week to work on it and their diagnosis was a faulty fuel sensor. They changed it and I forget the exact amount of the charge but it was more than I thought it should be. They left the shop, took the next load offer and the check engine came on. They ended up taking it to the International shop in Ocala, Fl which is the one we seem to have the best luck with. That shop diagnosed it as a faulty oil temperature sensor. I believe it was around $400 this time for the repair. The good news is that they actually fixed the problem.

From what I have seen, when you take your truck in with a problem, the "mechanic" will hook it up to the computer and if that computer doesn't tell them what the problem is, they start guessing and you may end up paying out a lot of money on parts that weren't really bad. Sometimes if you get a young mechanic and he can't find the problem, he'll go and get an older more experienced mechanic and they usually know immediately what the problem is. Too bad there isn't more of the older ones available.

Ohio to Michigan to Georgia

Uneventful drive. Its a good thing!

Traveling Giraffe

We were traveling south of San Antonio when we were passed by this cute little giraffe. An unusual sight!

Del Rio to Laredo

Delivered our load in Del Rio, Tx. What should have been a very routine delivery turned into a complete nightmare! I was a little worried about the drive from El Paso to Del Rio, having never made that drive before. I could see looking at it on the map that the route was going to follow the US-Mexican Border. The drive would be done during the night hours and on US highways. The route was pretty desolate. I think I only passed through a couple of little towns during the last 200 miles. You could hardly even call them towns. There was very little other traffic and I just hoped and prayed that the truck didn't break down and leave us stranded in that remote location along the border. I hear too many stories about crime in those areas. We were literally close enough to the border to look out the passenger window and see the fence that separates the two countries. The other thing that worried me was all the deer that I was seeing along the side of the road. I usually never see deer in Texas and it's one of the reasons I like driving there. After having hit a deer in Upstate New York once, I now have a phobia of repeating that incident.

Fortunately, I made it safe and sound and three hours ahead of schedule. I parked the truck at a Stripes truckstop about a mile and a half from our delivery point and took a two hour nap. I woke up at 7 AM EST and headed to the delivery. I pulled out of the truck stop, turned left, went through a stop light, about a half mile down the road it curved to the right. As I rounded the curve, there right in front of me was the entrance into Mexico!! I panicked and saw a driveway to my right and I whipped the truck into the driveway. John came flying up into the cab wanting to know what was going on. I told him that I almost just drove us into Mexico. He had to guide me while I backed back out into the highway and headed back to the truckstop to see what was going on with my gps. She should know better than to try and cross the border. I studied google maps for a few minutes and saw an alternate route so off I went. It seemed like it was going to be okay. Up until the point that I came to a railroad crossing. We recently had an apu added to our truck and for some reason the installer positioned it so that it has very low clearance to the ground. We should have made him move it up while we were there, but for some reason we didn't and we have been dealing with it since. I could see by the way the railroad crossing was designed that it was going to be a tight fit for us to cross. Not only that, but once we crossed we needed to make a left turn onto a highway and there wasn't room for our truck to clear the tracks without being out in the highway. Normally in that situation, we would not cross the tracks until we could see the highway was clear, then cross and continue to make the turn without stopping. However, in our current situation, we had to cross the tracks slowly so John could watch from outside to make sure our apu cleared and didn't get hung up on the tracks. The apu cleared, I stopped the truck,John jumped back in and in that amount of time, a couple of cars came along which made me have to sit there before I could turn. Completely illegal to have part of the truck stopped across the tracks and I was not happy, but what else could I do? The cars went past and I tried to pull forward to make my turn. The truck wouldn't go forward!! Oh my God, now what? I put it in neutral, back into first and tried again. Nothing. It dawned on me that our dolly legs may be stuck on the tracks. We drive a straight truck with a single rear axle, so we have dolly legs that have to be lowered when we are getting loaded and unloaded. They also have a very low clearance to the ground and have caused us problems before. That's another story! I screamed at John that I thought our legs were stuck on the tracks. He jumps back out, runs to the back and sure enough, one of them was caught. I backed up, he spun it around and tilted it so that it was at a different angle and I was able to pull forward. I crossed the highway and stopped and he ran back over and jumped back in. At this point, I was ready to cry and to throw up. If a cop had come along at that time, I could have lost my license for stopping on the track, not to mention what a disaster it would have been if a train had decided to come along! Thinking that the worst was surely behind us, I moved forward and wouldn't you know, I had to go about a tenth of a mile and make a left turn....back across the stinking rr tracks! John jumped out, watched me cross and fortunately this time all truck parts cleared the tracks.
Made it to the consignee all in one piece and of course there's nobody there. I tried calling the number dispatch gave us and got a recording saying that the girl was on vacation till October. This is May. Who takes vacation from May to October? I send a message over the qc to dispatch and ask for another number to call, telling them what the voice mail message said. I get a message back saying that that message is from last year, that the girl never updated her message and she would indeed be there, but that she doesn't come in until 9. Obviously they knew this all along so my question is, why do they schedule appts for us at times when they know nobody is going to be there to load/unload us? Things like this are what have me considering changing carriers. It happens way too much and is completely unnecessary.

With all that drama behind us, I drove back to the truckstop, parked it, and collapsed into bed. The mental stress had drained me. All the negativity of the prior week just seemed to keep building and building and I felt like I was gonna snap. Shortly afterwards, dispatch calls with a load offer, a really good one picking up right in Del Rio and going 1640 miles to Detroit. I said yes, we would take it, then he informs me that he didn't have it booked yet, just needed to know if we would be interested first. He promised to call me back within 10 minutes one way or the other. 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that he did not get the load. Sorry. This trend has been going on all week and I really don't understand it. We've been with this carrier for over 2 years and this has never happened. I've also noticed that all the dispatchers who are calling are new to me. Very odd. About an hour or so later we got a load offer over the qc. This time the load was picking up in the same location that we had just delivered to and was delivering next day to Garland, Tx. It was only 400 miles. I refused it because that would have put us on the Dallas load board and that board is the kiss of death. We have gotten stuck so many times on that board that there was no way I was doing it at this time. In different circumstances I would take that load, but not with only 800 miles for the week.
It got quiet after that so I used the time to call the International dealership in Orlando and ask what the status was for the refund I was requesting on the defective ac repair they had done back in September. The service manager agreed to reimburse us for the new tube which was a little over $300. He is putting a check into the mail for us. Finally, something good happened!

A little bit later, dispatch called again with another potential load offer. This one was picking up that night in Laredo and going 1604 miles to Ohio. The down side is that it was 12 pieces and over 9000 lbs. A heavy load for us. He tried to discount the rate by 10 cents a mile and I told him no. I wanted our full rate. He went and talked to his supervisor and said could we split the difference and take a five cent a mile cut? I again said no. I want my full rate. Its a heavy load and our fuel mileage is going to suck. Away he goes, comes back and says fine, I'll send it over at your full rate. John was mad at me for taking it because he didn't think it would fit the truck. I told him the dispatcher said the pieces were stackable so they should fit but he wasn't convinced. We got to the shipper at 11 PM and it turned out to be one of the easiest pickups we've had. And as a bonus, it ended up being only 2 pieces and 1600 lbs. The rest of the freight never made it across the border from Mexico. I cleared it with dispatch that we were okay to roll with only the 2 pieces. They got on the phone with the customer and we got clearance to go. Woohoo! Finally, at long last, on our way out of Texas!

By the way,  as soon as we get through northern Indiana, we will be going back to the place that installed our apu and having them raise it up higher because we are done stressing over this thing. Now we also need to see if we can find a way to get more clearance on those dolly legs!

Moving Again. Just not out of Texas

Finally got a call this morning from dispatch wanting to know if we would be interested in a load picking up in El Paso going 413 miles to Del Rio Texas. Not the greatest load, but not the worst either. Picks up this afternoon, delivers at 8 AM in the morning. We said we would take it and this time they finally won the bid on the load so we are now at the shipper waiting for the freight. One thing about picking up loads in Texas border towns, you almost always have to wait on the freight. At least we do with the carrier we are with. We were told to be here at 3 PM and it's now 5 PM. The shipper said the driver called in and said he was on the bridge trying to get through customs. They were in the process of xraying his truck. Shipper says probably 30 minutes to another hour before he gets here. I told him we were in no hurry because we have plenty of extra time on this load, but the shipper said he has plans to go to the movies and got called in today on his day off just for this load, so he is actually in a hurry. That's a switch!
The reason I say this isn't the best load is because it delivers in Del Rio. I am unfamiliar with that area and have no idea what kind of freight comes out of there or if we will end up having to empty move somewhere else. I do know that we will be on the Laredo board after delivery. We will be about 185 miles north of Laredo. In the end, it just came down to us being bored sitting for so long in El Paso and needing a change of scenery. It feels good to be back on a load again. Hopefully it will work out for us and something else will come along pretty quickly tomorrow.
We've been making plans for the week of July 4th. We're going to take the week off and spend it at my parents house in Indiana. Hopefully we will get to visit with a lot of our family and friends. We've found over the last couple of years that in our line of work, it's pretty much useless to try and work through certain holidays. July 4th is one of them. So many car manufacturers have plant shut downs that week that everything comes to a crawl. Besides that, in our former regular jobs, we never got to be off together to celebrate holidays, so we have some lost time to make up. I'm hoping that our sons will be able to join us there. More quality time. One of the perks of this job is the ability to visit family when we want. It's nice to be able to drive to visit them and get paid to do it. Living in Florida when the rest of our families live in Indiana makes it hard to visit, but this job helps with that.
It was hard leaving the boys today. We've been with them now for almost a week. Felt like we were camping out together, just in a truckstop instead of a campground. This job is definitely more than a job, it's a lifestyle. Most people wouldn't like it, but fortunately, it works for us!