STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21728: Floundering in Fontana

Time for another update on my most recent “goings-about”.

Tuesday, January 2nd:
After I had a satisfactory conclusion to my maintenance problem this AM, I recieved and accepted a PrePlan which picked up in Salt Lake City, UT and delivered in Henderson, NV. The only real problem with the load is that it doesn’t deliver until tomorrow night at 1900. At 1400, I left SLC and drove to The MMM’s favorite Rest Area on I-15 at mm-88 in Utah. It provides a venue for them to romp unencumbered by their leashes. I also made (and consumed) a couple of sandwiches. I then drove to the WWW in Vegas where i’ll hang out until the tomorrow PM delivery.

Wednesday:
Today, I ran a few errands, but mostly just loitered around the WWW. Sometime during the day, I recieved and accepted a load which picks up in Saint George, UT and delivers in Prewitt, NM. It doesn’t pick up until tomorrow morning though. At 1800, I left Vegas and drove to the consignee in Henderson. I did the drop/hook delivery, then drove back to Vegas for fuel and dinner. At 2100, I drove to Mesquite, NV where I stopped for the night. There is a Flying J truckstop in Saint George, but it is small and by this time of night is usually full.

Thursday:
I left Mesquite at 0900 and drove to the shipper in St. George. This was a ‘live’ load and took a few hours. At 1300, I left St. George and drove to Jacob Lake, AZ. The route today took me through som beautiful country in southern Utah and northern Arizona near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. (UT-9, UT-59, AZ-389, and alternate US-89 if you want to track it on a map). Sorry, no pictures. Maybe next time.  Jacob Lake is in the Kaibab National Forest. There is a nice bit of forest for the MMM to explore here. After a pleasant 45 minutes here, I drove to Winslow, AZ. I had dinner and walked the MMM. The weather was actually pleasant, at least for this time of year. At 2000, I drove to Prewitt, NM. I spent the night here at a ‘wide spot’ in the road near the consignee.

Friday:
The consignee had some sort of computer ‘glitch’ and I had to wait until my scheduled appointment time of 1145 before being unloaded. Normally this customer is a 24/7 drop. After being unloaded, I went back to my ‘wide spot’ to wait for a PrerPlan. An hour or so later I recieved and accepted a plan which picked up in Prewitt, NM (at the same customer to which I just delivered) and delivered in Fullerton, CA. I picked up the load about 1400 and drove to the Pilot truckstop in Jamestown, NM about 30 miles from the shipper and 20 miles east of Gallup, NM on I-40. I had dinner here and walked the MMM. About 1600, I drove to Flagstaff, AZ. I took a short break here, the drove to Lake Havasu City, AZ. Another quick break here for the MMM, then I finished out my day (early morning) by driving to Ludlow, CA.

Saturday:
I left Ludlow at 1100, the earliest I could legally, and drove to our terminal in Fontana. This load isn’t scheduled to deliver until Monday night. I asked to ’swap’ it for a load with an earlier delivery. At first, I was told that there weren’t any local deliveries available that delivered prior to my scheduled time, but was told to check back later in the day to see what developed. I spent the afternoon installing my XM radio. I had it working spotatically by attaching the antenna to the mount for my sun visor (the only place I could find in the cab that was magnetic).

I was ‘racking my feeble brain’ trying to figure out how to mount it outside my truck. There is nothing magnetic outside the cab either. Sometime last night between Flagstaff and Lake Havasu City, it dawned on me that the reason it was sporatic was that the antenna was mounted upside down. I detached it from sun visor and placed it right side up on top of the dashboard and it worked just fine for the rest of the trip. Anyway, I took part of an old CB radio mount, drilled a couple of holes, made and extra bend, and mounted it to the same sun visor mount as before. A little “loom” and some clamps, and I have a “professional” install. This Kenworth is designed much better than the Freightliner in that there are many exposed machine screws on which to attach clamps. On the Freightliner, everything was hidden by ‘mouldings’.
About 1700, I checked back in with Dispatch. This time I had better luck. They exchanged my load for one that delivers in Riverside tonight at 2200, and PrePlanned me on another that picks up in Oxnard tomorrow night and delivers ASAP in Phoenix on Monday. I accepted both. I made the delivery, then drove back to Fontana for the night. 

Sunday:
I just lounged around and “geeked” all day. I called the Shipper about 1100 to see if the load was ready, but couldn’t get an answer from them. They said I should call the Dispatchers. The dispatchers in Fontana said that it was the Planners in Phoenix who could give me the answer. I just gave up and settled in to wait. About 1700, I fueled and left Fontana. I drove to the shipper in Oxnard and did the drop/hook pickup. I finished about 1000 and drove to Palm Springs, where I stopped for the night.

Life Day 21722: Stagnant in Salt Lake

Wednesday, Dec 27th, 2006:
I picked up the load to North Las Vegas at 1000. I drove to Kingman, AZ and had lunch there. I left at 1530 and drove to the WWW in Las Vegas. I would not have had time to get to my storage space and unload the “junk” before they closed at 1800, so I loaded up the Jeep. I then drove to the consignee and did the drop/hook delivery and spent the night at the Flying J not too far away.

Thursday:
I accepted a PrePlan which picked up at our drop yard in North Las Vegas and delivered in Reno, NV ASAP. I then drove back to the WWW. I drove the Jeep to my storage shed and unloaded. I went to pick up my mail, then went to Fry’s Electronics to spend my Christmas present (a gift card) from Don, Lou & Dawn. I bought a pair of JVC (HA-NC100-J/C) headphones. THANKS!! Then back to the truck at the WWW, and to the drop yard in NLV to get the load. I finally left the area at 1300. I drove to Hawthorne, NV. I had dinner and walk the MMM. I then drove to the consignee in Reno and did the drop delivery. They had no empty trailers available. I was running low on fuel, so instead of spending the night at the nearby truckstop, I drove to our terminal in Sparks and spent the night there. Being unfamiliar with this new truck, I didn’t want to take any chances. The “low fuel” warning light was sporatically illuminating.

Friday:
I awoke to find a puddle under the front of my truck (ref: New Year, Same Old Stuff). I recieved and accepted a pair of “stacked PrePlans”. The first picked up in Reno and delivered in San Leandro, CA. The second picked up in Stockton, CA and delivered in Salt Lake City. after the repairs to my truck, I was still able to pick up the San Leandro load on-time. I drove to our Terminal in Lathrop, Ca. I took a good break here, then drove to the Consignee and spent the night.

Saturday:
I left San Leandro at 1100 after doing the drop/hook delivery. I drove to the second shipper in Stockton, did the drop/hook pick-up. At 1300, I drove to the Petro truckstop in Sparks. Naturally, the Cummins shop was closed for the weekend. After lunch and a good MMM outing, I drove to Winnemucca, NV. Boy was it cold there. When I took the MMM for their walk it was -5 degrees. Needless to say it was a short walk (mainly due to yours truly’s instinctual aversion to temperatures below 50 degrees). I then drove to Wells, NV where I stopped for the night.

Sunday, New Years Eve:
I left Wells at 1000 and drove directly to the consignee in Salt Lake City. there was no one around, so I was instructed to drop the trailer with the Bills of Lading secured in the registration box of the trailer. I did so, picked up an empty, and drove to our terminal for fuel. I was disappointed that there was no one there that I knew well enough so I could gloat over my new truck. After that I settled in to wait for a load. About 1630, I drove to one of my old haunts for dinner. It’s a bar called the Million Dollar Saloon. They have good food there, plus being a bar, I can smoke as well. I discovered that they were having a buffet at 1800, but I was famished. I ordered a New York Strip and Shrimp. It came with a baked potato and vegetable, and a roll. It was good, and only cost $10.50. About 1900, I made a pass through the buffet. I had a few green beans, some mashed potatoes, some stuffing, and a litte each of turkey, ham, and roast beef. All were good as well. This was FREE. Can’t beat that price anywhere. I stayed until about 2100, then drove to the Sapp Brothers truckstop and spent the night. I declined a PrePlan to Spokane, WA. I don’t have tire chains yet, and Oregon and Washington both have mandatory chain laws this time of year. I went to bed after wishing the MMM “Happy New Year” and giving them a “treat”. It was just short of midnight, but they didn’t know or care.

New Years Day:
I awoke with another PrePlan on my QualCom. This one was to Foster City, CA. I declined it too for the same reason listed above. About 1000, I recieved yet another Plan. This one delivered in casper, WY. While I was pondering whether I could accept the load and still get my truck repaired tomorrow, our local dispatch messaged me and asked if I was going to accept the load or not because they had driver that “wanted to run”. That clinched it, I turned down that load was well and re-set my PTA for noon tomorrow. I’ll have a fresh 70 hours by then and hopefully a truck that will run more than a few miles without the “check engine” illuminating. Besides, it was going to Wyoming. I spent the rest of the day vegging, geeking, and running a few errands including a visit to “Wally World”.

New Year, Same Old Stuff

I was in hopes that all the “demons” were left with my old truck. This appears to not be the case. When doing my safety inspection on Friday, the 29th, I noticed a ‘puddle’ under my truck. It turned out to be engine coolant. I investigated and it seemed to be coming from the water pump. Great 3299 miles on the truck, and problems already. I contacted the shop and they comfirmed my diagnosis. They referred me to the local Cummins shop for the repair. I was put into the shop immediately after checking in. They too found the water pump to be leaking from the “weep hole” and began the work. The technician found that there was no petcock to drain the coolant from the truck, so in the process of installing one, he “lost” some of the coolant. The truck was ready by about 1500, with no charge. Naturally, it was under warranty. I went to pick up my load, and started out for San Leandro, CA. On the first steep hill I had to pull, the check engine light came on, with a fault code for “low engine coolant”. It went off after I topped the hill. At this point, I had three options. 1) Return to Sparks, NV dropping the load and waiting until Jan 2nd when the Cummins shop opens again and having them do the repair properly. 2) Continue and get the repair done at the next Cummins shop I come to after the holidays. 3) Top off the coolant myself (at my expense) and let the Cummins get by with their “slipshod” maintenance. I absolutely refuse to opt for #3. I chose #2; at least I can run a few miles. Currently, i’m in Salt Lake City. I’ve had 15 different “check engine” light occurrances for the same problem. I will get the truck into the Cummins shop first thing in the AM (Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007). THEY WILL TOP OFF THE COOLANT LEVEL AND CHECK THE COOLING SYSTEM TO SEE IF THE SPARKS SHOP SCREWED UP ANYTHING ELSE. I’ve also come to the conclusion that only Kenworth or Cummins shops will work on this truck. This way, I can document everything. Swift shops, i’ve discovered, know very little about the T-2000. I’ll not let them “experiment” on my truck.
I hope that this little episode is a fluke, and does not portend the future. One “lemon” was enough.
Update:
I took my truck to the Cummins in Salt Lake City the first thing Tuesday morning, the 2nd. They put me right into the shop. They checked everything and serviced the coolant. It took a little over an hour. They said that the technician in Sparks just failed to properly service the system after the water pump change and that it should be O.K. now. We’ll see.