Trucking

In case your not checking out Life on the Road, you need to see the pictures of the new International Truck the LoneStar.

I-90 out of Seattle isn’t my favorite road during the winter. From Seattle I go east to Minnesota to Ohio to South Carolina. To get there I had to throw chains on once over Snoqualmie pass.

I almost threw chains on over Lookout Pass in Montana, but about half the trucks were and half weren’t. Plus the signs only said, “Chains Advised” not Required. The road had some snow, but no ice, so it wasn’t too bad.

Except for the extreme cold and a few icy spots, I’m enjoying the drive.  There isn’t too much traffic up here. None of the cities in Idaho or Montana have a rush hour and I’ve seen three Bald Eagles flying near the road in the last two days.

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I have a load finally, I pick up some trade show stuff at Mandalay Bay here in Vegas and take it to Redmond, WA for a Monday delivery. Then tentatively, load in Portland and back to Vegas. This doesn’t load until tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) and I have three full days to go about 1200 miles. It’s been so long since I’ve driven, I may need the extra time!

Since tomorrow is a full day at work for Cindy, plus class tomorrow night, I may start packing tonight, then finish on Friday morning. As long as I get out of here by noon, I should be okay, with time to spare.

I’ll see if all this repair work, a new EGR cooler, clutch and a new turbo has actually fixed anything or just lined the pockets of the repair shop. Clutch was warranty (thank goodness!), but the rest wasn’t. Warranty stops at 250,000 miles. I’ve got 285,000. Figures.

Just passing through El Paso, TX on Sunday Morning. We will be unloading in Carson, CA tomorrow and reloading in Compton, CA and going to Las Vegas for delivery. We will have a little time to shop, wash clothes and cook up some meals before jumping back in the truck and heading to Minnesota. Lots of my family will be at the Wedding on Friday and then a big get together (more casual ) on Saturday.

The truck will be going in the shop while in Minnesota as their Volvo Truck dealership has a great service department. Don’t know if they treat us and our truck so great because its NOT Las Vegas Volvo or because that is where we bought it. Its been 2 years since we purchased it and I believe its only been back once.

I love the 75 mile an hour speed limit in New Mexico and Arizona. California will be very long and slow at 55 miles per hour which Wayne stretches to 62 and has not been pulled over yet. I stay at 60 but it seems like your going 20. All the cars are passing going 70 which doesn’t help.

Picked up our new truck on Monday, finished our delivery in Wisconsin and Minneapolis then back to Sauk Rapids to fix a paint ding and a few minor things. The last truck was an “autoshift”, technically not an automatic but close. This truck is also a 10-speed autoshift but no clutch. It’s a little strange getting started and not having to press the clutch in when stopping. There’s a few things I’m not thrilled about it. But it works. It is nice in stop and go traffic like rush hour.

We didn’t realize how much stuff we had in the old truck until we had to empty it. The inside is basically the same with a few shelf changes. We have actual doors on the shelves instead of nets.

We also had them put on a new Proheat Generator. The fairings on this truck lift out of the way, so it’s a lot easier access for changing oil and maintenence.

Overall, it’s a really nice ride. 465hp Volvo motor, power windows and locks. AM / FM / Weather / CD / Tape player with six CD changer. I gave up my in-dash XM radio and haven’t decided what to do about getting another. I like the factory radio but I don’t want a bunch of wires hanging out of my XM. A built-in refrigerator, space for microwave and TV with workstation (table that makes into a bunk). Winter package with heated seats, fuel tanks, fuel filters and block heater. Shore power on the truck and the Proheat comes with shore power also. And Larger fuel tanks then the last truck.

The truck’s in the body shop right now, but more pictures will follow.

UPDATE: Here the new truck pictures.

Still in Vegas waiting for the truck to be fixed. This is the first time I’ve ever been really late for any reason. After taking a week off to have this fixed the first time, where they didn’t find anything wrong. Now we have a load and now they find what they should have found last time. We will make it up, but it makes us look bad. We can team everything up to Thanksgiving to make up the money. But our rep is damaged thanks to the idiots in Vegas.

What’s wrong with the truck transmission that they didn’t find last time? Three gears are trashed, the crankshaft is bad and bearings were missing from wherever bearing belong. And the clutch is bad. Why didn’t they notice all that, or even a part of that last time when they had the trans out and in front of them? The guy “forgot” to look at the clutch the last time when he had it out. Makes me wonder if they did anything at all. Service places drive me up a wall. Hopefully this will be the last major thing for awhile and we can get rolling.

Still in Vegas waiting for the truck to be fixed. This is the first time I’ve ever been really late for any reason. After taking a week off to have this fixed the first time, where they didn’t find anything wrong. Now we have a load and now they find what they should have found last time. We will make it up, but it makes us look bad. We can team everything up to Thanksgiving to make up the money. But our rep is damaged thanks to the idiots in Vegas.

What’s wrong with the truck transmission that they didn’t find last time? Three gears are trashed, the crankshaft is bad and bearings were missing from wherever bearing belong. And the clutch is bad. Why didn’t they notice all that, or even a part of that last time when they had the trans out and in front of them? The guy “forgot” to look at the clutch the last time when he had it out. Makes me wonder if they did anything at all. Service places drive me up a wall. Hopefully this will be the last major thing for awhile and we can get rolling.