STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21467: Stationary in Salt Lake City

April 21, 2006 on 11:02 am | In On The Road, Travelblogue |

Rather than bore the readers of this BLOG with a daily dose of the doldrums and ennui of everyday life “on the road”, I am henceforth going to just hit the highlights and/or lowlights of my travels between postings in a ‘narrative’ rather than a ‘diary’ format. Hopefully it will be more interesting and appealing.
I made myself available for Dispatch on Monday the 10th. I accepted a load from North Las Vegas, NV to Ft. Worth, TX. I’ve run this particular load before and it is a nice way to begin one’s work week. There are two practical routes to take from the Las Vegas area to the DFW area. The first is to take US-95 south to NV-163 east to AZ-68 to Kingman, AZ, then take I-40 east to Amarillo, TX then US-287 south to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. It is boring and mountainous through Arizona & New Mexico with little to break the monotony. The second route is the same to Kingman, then US-93 south to US-60 east into Phoenix, then I-10 east through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to I-20 east to the DFW area. It is about 90 miles farther and equally as tedious, but it offers more Interstate driving. I opted for the second route this time. The main reason for chosing this route was that almost as soon as I departed Las Vegas, the maintenance “demons” that “possess” my truck began to once again rear their ugly heads. It is still, despite what the ‘experts’ try to tell me, running about 10 degrees hotter than normal and my truck is now using coolant excessively (6 gallons in a week, at $13.99 per gallon). Also, my air conditioning is working only intermittantly. On this route, I have 2 Swift Terminals between me and my destination (Phoenix and El Paso) rather than only 1 (Albuquerque) on the first route. A better chance for HELP if I breakdown.
I made it to Ft. Worth on the 12th. I spent most of yesterday without air conditioning, but it seems to be working fine today (those rascally demons). After I delivered the load, I drove to the Lancaster, TX terminal and put my truck in the shop (again) for the above mentioned complaints. I only had to wait about 3 hours before I was brought into the shop (a new record). The mechanic diagnosed that my A/C just needed a good ’service’. He did a pressure check on the cooling system and determined that the radiator was leaking. Brilliant deduction Sherlock. I could see the indications of a leak every time I opened the hood to add coolant. To sum it all up, they serviced the A/C and ordered the radiator. I had to be held over until the next day because they didn’t have enough time to change the radiator on their shift (it takes about 5 hours) since the shop closes at midnight. The MMM spent the evening in the canine calaboose again.
The next morning, I was brought back into the shop as soon as they opened at 0600. It was a good day weather wise, so I didn’t incarcerate the MMM, but let them bask in the sun.

While the MMM were basking, I was fuming. The night shift last night had ordered the wrong radiator for my truck. Therefore, the day shift had to re-order the correct one. Delay, delay, delay. At about 1100, the proper radiator FINALLY arrived, just in time for LUNCH. Delay, delay, delay.

Fortunately, someone there had a ‘functioning brain-stem’ because they had pulled the old radiator while waiting for the new to arrive. I was finally ready to roll by about 1500. I accepted a load from the Lancaster terminal to Atlanta, GA. Not a bad run. Straight across I-20 through Texas, Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama and into Georgia. Because of the late start and early “wake up call”, I only drove for about 6.5 hours to Pearl, MS (with a dinner stop in Shreveport, LA) before calling it a day.
GOOD FRIDAY, BAD SATURDAY:
The next day, Good Friday, I “passed over” (get it) the rest of Mississippi, Alabama, and made the delivery in Atlanta. It was a good day for a drive. I had already accepted a Pre-Plan for a load which picked up in La Grange, GA and delivered in Ogden, UT. Another good load (over 1800 miles). There were no empty Swift trailers available at this customer, so I was sent to another customer in Morrow, GA about 6 miles away. There were none available here either. At this point, I “dug in my heels”. I messaged my home Terminal that I was not going to waste my valuable (almost $3.00 per gallon) fuel chasing empty trailers. Someone needs to get on the telephone, call the customers in the area, and when they locate one that has Swift empties available, then send me there. A while later, I recieved directions to a customer in Opelika, AL and was assured that there were Swift empties available there. Unfortunately, my 14-hour driving window was about to ’slam shut”. I had barely enough hours remaining to drive the 70 odd miles to La Grange, GA, which I did. Saturday, AM I drove the rest of the way to Opelika, and indeed did find an empty Swift trailer as promised. I then drove the 27 miles back to the customer in La Grange to pick up my load. Then things went into the toilet. When I gave the Shipper my pick-up number, he said that the load was not even supposed to pick up until after 0400 the next morning, and the product was not even manufactured yet. GREAT!! I drove to a small truckstop and contacted my Terminal for instructions. After a while, I was told that there was no other freight available in the area and that my best bet was to wait it out there. I just LOVE week-ends when i’m on the road. I settled in for the vigil. At noon, my A/C fritzed again, and my truck still seems to be running a little hotter than normal. About 2030, I called the customer. They said that the product was ready, but that they had no Swift trailer on which to load it. The load was supposed to be a ‘pre-load’ trailer. I said that I would bring my empty and they could ‘live’ load it. They said that was a good idea and gave me a door over the phone. When I arrived about 5 minutes later, they were waiting for me. It took about 2 hours to load me, but by then, their main-frame was down for routine maintenance, and they couldn’t print my bills. The shipping clerk said that it was usually only ‘down’ for about an hour or so. Nothing however, was ‘usual’ about this day (Bad Saturday). Just before my 14-hour window once again slammed shut, I checked with the clerk to see if he could print my bills. At least, I could then leave the customer and start off from the truckstop in the AM. No such luck. I told him about my situation regarding the hours of service, and he told me to find an out of the way place and sleep, then in the AM, I could sign the bills and be on my way.
Sunday morning, I hit the road about 0830 after signing my bills.

Before we left the customer, we took a long break. Their property had a pond. It was really nice.

As soon as the MMM saw the “duckies”, they hit the water running. This was the first time that I have ever seen them swim. Usually, they go into water until it hits their chest, then just wade and splash around. Walter, of all people (I mean doggies), was the first one in.

After their swim, I let them run around to ‘drip dry’.
The most practical route was I-85 north to Atlanta, then I-24 west through Nashville to it’s junction with I-57 north in Illinois, then I-64 west to I-70 west to Kansas City, MO, then I-29 north to Hwy-2 west to the junction with I-80 in Lincoln, NE, then I-80 west through Nebraska, Wyoming, and into Utah to the junction with I-84 west, to I-15 north to Ogden.
I was thankful to be driving in the “northern tier”. With my A/C not working the cooler weather made the trip bearable once I got into Missouri.
I arrived in Ogden on the 19th, dropped my trailer, then headed to the Terminal in Salt Lake City to get my truck re-repaired (I just made up that word). The shop was busy, so I didn’t get into the shop until about noon the next day. I don’t know why I bother with other Swift shops. The guys in the Salt Lake shop are the best. I don’t just say this because I worked there for a time (between 1993 and 1996). To make a long story short, they changed the Thermostats to solve the “running hot” problem, and the Binary switch to solve the A/C problem. The mechanic also noticed that the wheel seal on my left rear drive axle was leaking. Since repairing this would also naturally involve changing the brake shoes, I told him to just go ahead and change the brake shoes on all the drive axles. They could have gone a few thousand more miles, but since I was already “down”, I figured it was best to change them now rather than have more down time later. As he was finishing up around 2300, I noticed a “puddle” under my truck near the transmission. The mechanic checked it out and discovered that the lines to the transmission cooler were leaking. This is the same transmission cooler that the shop in Lancaster, TX changed a couple of months ago. Like I said, why do I bother with other Swift shops. They were closing, so they said they would leave a note for the morning crew and get me in first thing in the AM to change the lines.
While my truck was in the shop, I went into the office to have my picture re-taken for the Driver Recognition (Seniority) Board. They somehow managed to lose the first one.

The picture on the left is the one they will use. The pictures are organized by seniority beginning in the upper left of the first panel. Since i’m #5, mine will be in the center of the group of pictures in the left panel of the board. The center panel begins with #10 in the upper left, and the right panel begins with #16 in the upper left. I went to dinner with #1 (Evan). I also saw and visited with #3 (Ikani), #6 (Ed), #10 (Paul), and #17 (Leland) while I was hanging around waiting for my truck.

I tied the MMM to a couple of trees on the lawn. They recieved a lot of attention and ‘treats’.

Spring has sprung at the Terminal. It is located on the northwest side of Salt Lake City near the Airport.
On Friday morning they came for my truck at 0530. They replaced the defective hydraulic lines and I was ready to go at 0900. Freight was slow, but early in the afternoon I accepted a load to Toledo, OR. Like me, you probably ask: “Where the #@*& is Toledo, OR.” It is on the west coast of Oregon just off US-101 south of Portland parallel with Salem.