Thursday, April 19, 2012

Here we go again...

I just finished up writing about how March was a disaster mileage wise for us with break downs and all. Well guess what…yep, truck is back in the shop. We had our best week ever last week with 8370 miles and then this. We were on our way from LA California to Columbus OH and as we were heading through Tulsa OK on I-44 the truck up and died. Luckily Irene was able to get it to the shoulder of the road and out of the way. We instantly smelled a strong odor of diesel fuel and I knew that was not good. Upon opening the hood I could see the engine was saturated with diesel and it appeared to be coming from the fuel pump. After several hours of tow trucks and relaying the trailer at a secure location and then getting to the International dealer we learned that the fuel pump had cracked and they would have to order the part…Uggggg! I want to scream. I called our Joplin terminal and spoke with truck assignment and it looks as though we will be getting a 2013 Peterbuilt…YES! But it will take a few days so I guess we have to take the good with the bad. We really like our 2012 International but it has had to many issues and it is time to move on. If it was just our truck it would be one thing, but everyone we talk to with the Internationals are having problems and our company has even decided to stop purchasing them along with the Freightliners…nothing but Peterbuilts, Kenworths and Vovlos from this point on is what we have been told.Okay…enough complaining.

We did have our best week last week since we started driving. We finally had a chance to run from southern California all the way north in it and that was interesting. About a month ago I remember saying to Irene that every time we are in California we never get to go all the way up through it. The farthest north we have ever gone is Sacramento. You know how they say be careful what you wish for? Well we dropped our trailer in Calexico at our drop yard on the Mexican border. We then found out there was a loaded trailer there waiting for us that was bound for Argona, Washington. We headed north through Cali and I was more than excited to get this opportunity to see new landscape. Well I should have looked at the map when I made my wish…it is damn near 800 miles to the Oregon border from Calexico…I felt like a little kid whining to Irene time after time…”when are we going to get there” how freaking long is this state? When we finally reached the Oregon border I said to Irene “I never want to do that again…way to long in one state”. Well we reached our drop in Washington and upon checking in with receiving, the gentleman said to me…”I think we have a load for you going back down to Calexico”…whatcha talkin bout Willis” is what I wanted to say but in a nice professional manner I said “oh that’s wonderful”…NOT! Nevertheless, that afternoon we were back on our way to Calexico…oh joy!

There were some good things along the way though. We did get to see Portland Oregon at night on the way up. It was beautiful! The mountains in California and Oregon were also a sight to see. I did get to see my 1st Elk ever in the wild that was along I-5 in Oregon. In addition, about 20 minutes later I saw a second one…so I can take that off my bucket list now…lol. We had a chance to travel past Mt. Shasta as well as Lake Shasta in California, and that was one long climb up and the ride down was not any shorter. Very beautiful area of California but what I found more interesting was our fuel stop…it was in a town called Weed, California…okay I maybe almost 50, but seriously who named this town? Are we talking “Weed” as in I have Glaucoma and I need to buy a bag…or “Weed” as in I need to buy some roundup weed killer? Oh well I wasn’t about to ask. My fuel stop went off without a hitch. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I walked into the Pilot truck stop, but everyone seems to look normal. No homemade brownies for sale, no paraphernalia to buy…okay, we were good…lol! It was a very nice area and the people were all very nice…you know me, I just couldn’t resist the urge to poke a little fun and write about this.

Overall the trip was great and I didn’t even whine to Irene as we headed back south through Cali…it’s amazing what a little “weed” can do for a guy…HA! HA! Couldn’t resist, again…(I am just kidding)So now we sit in a hotel patiently waiting for our new truck…I hope. We are more than ready to get back on the road…stay tuned!

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