Sleeping Under the Stars?

I stopped at a Welcome Center just inside the Indiana state line returning from Illinois on I-74. It was time for my ten hour break. When I woke up in the morning I saw a couple that had laid a mattress down on the parking lot and was sleeping there. I would be afraid that someone would run over me if I did that. Before I had left the rest area attendants told them they had to sleep in their car, not on the parking lot.

Somebody Smells Good!

I was standing in line along with two other truck drivers waiting for the Subway employee to make my sub when he made the comment that someone smelt good. One of the other truck drivers told the guy that he was not supposed to be making comments like that. The guy said that he was sorry, but someone did smell good.

I was keeping my mouth shut because I have to use skin cream every time I shower and the most recent lotion that I had bought had sea kelp in it that made it smell. I am assuming that is the smell that the Subway employee was smelling when he made the comment.

At least my skin does not itch. It is a small price to pay to be comfortable.

55/65 MPH Speed Limit

I remember during the oil crisis of the 70s when the national speed limit was set to 55 MPH to conserve fuel consumption by motor vehicles. I also remember when we could only get so many gallons of gas when we pulled up to the fuel pumps.

Oil became more abundant and the national speed limit of 55 MPH was lifted. States were allowed to set their own speed limits once again. I remember before the oil crisis that some states had speed limits set to 80 or 85 MPH in rural areas on the interstate. Now you don’t see any speed limit above 80 MPH in any state.

Some states have determined that 65 MPH is the maximum speed limit for most motor vehicles while limiting trucks and vehicles pulling trailers and recreational vehicles to 55 MPH.

Talk about messing up Eisenhower’s national interstate system. The whole idea was to allow freedom to travel without having to stop at stop signs and red lights in order to get from point A to point B in the least amount of time.

What do you think we have now? We may not have to stop for stop signs and red lights or slow down for speed limits through town, but we do have to slow down and even some times stop on the interstate for construction and/or heavy commercial trucks, trailers, etc.

The left lane was intended for passing only. So what do you think happens when the majority of the traffic is limited to 55 MPH while the rest of the traffic can move along at 65 or 75 MPH? Is that person traveling at the higher rate of speed going to keep weaving in and out of traffic in order to keep moving along at the higher speed? That is what would happen if the person moving at the higher speed comes upon a vehicle forced to drive at 55 MPH.

This raises the issue of the recent attention given to vehicles riding in the left lane. You know, the signs that have been posted within the last year or so that you are only to use the left lane to pass. This means that you could get a ticket if you are caught staying in the left lane. Some states are actually issuing tickets to those left lane travelers.

My question is, will they get a ticket for weaving in and out of traffic if they only use the left lane to pass? Logically this is what would happen in some states due to the differences in the speed limit for different types of motor vehicles. Why make it difficult? Why not just post the same speed limit for all motor vehicles? Why make it different? Then we would have less traffic problems on the interstate, less congestion, and more freedom of movement. I think we would have less crashes as well.

I cannot stop typing this until I bring up another issue that torques my jaw. Ohio allows for the same 65 MPH speed limit on the Ohio Turnpike for trucks, trailers, and all motor vehicles. If they can allow this on the Ohio Turnpike, then why can they now allow it on the rest of their interstate system?

Sign, Sign, Every Where a Sign...

On my way back into Ohio from Pennsylvania on I-80 recently I almost pulled the truck over and parked it in the break down lane. Ohio has been replacing the signs along the interstate and the process has an identical sign with new posts right in front of the old ones. I thought I was seeing double. I was not tired, but was worried my eyes were messing with me. I finally realized it was actually a new sign in front of an old one. Even though this worried me, I thought about the 50 year old signs in New England that you cannot even read any more, and wondered why they were not replacing them.

More recently, while traveling back into Indiana from Illinois on I-70, I found myself in another delima, a sign that said it was 75 miles to Indianapolis while one mile down the road a sign said it was 76 miles to Indianapolis. I know that one mile does not make a difference, but hey, is it one mile or two? I mean if the first sign said it was 75 miles and the second sign, a mile down the road said it was 76 miles, isn't that two miles? I mean I was getting closer to Indianapolis as I was traveling east on I-70, or was I not getting closer? The signs made me wonder.

Here is a picture of the signs so you can help me figure it out.

Maintenance Woes

I had agreed to work memorial day weekend so I could get the following weekend off. We had tried to get a camp site for memorial day weekend but had waited too long to make the reservation and the sites were all booked up. It was much better camping the following weekend anyway, it was not as crowded as I am sure it was on memorial day weekend. My wife and I really enjoyed our three night camping trip at the Dayton KOA, Tall Timbers campground.

Last week, during my memorial day work weekend I got a load to take to Florida. It was a two stop load, one stop was near Casselberry and the other stop was near Ocala. I had done my trip planning and had allowed myself plenty of cushion so I would not be stressed in making the deliveries on time.

I parked my truck at the Walmart near our home to spend some time at home with my wife before heading out on Sunday evening. My plan was to get started around 7 PM. The point of departure to make the first delivery on time was 4 AM Monday morning, Memorial Day.

My wife dropped me off as usual and as she drove away I proceeded to start the truck and it would not turn over. I checked the battery power and all was good there. I checked what I could with wiring, making sure the gear was in neutral, the clutch was pushed in to the floor and nothing worked. What was wrong? Well I called emergency maintenance and they had me bang on the starter to see if the bendix was stuck. That did not help. So they sent a wrecker service out to help me get it started. It took about an hour for the wrecker service to show up and all they would do was pull start me and then tell me that I needed to go to one of the Scheider approved maintenance shops to have the starter checked out and not to turn off the engine until I got to a maintenance shop.

Well, the pull starting was a trip. If you ever pull started a car to get it started, the process is similar. First the wrecker service had to fill the air lines with sufficient air to release the parking brakes. The air lines normally fill up from the compressor once the engine starts. Once this was done, he towed me backwards about 30 feet and then pulled me forward about the same distance, having me pop the clutch into fourth gear. The engine started and I set the cruise to keep the idle up so it would not die.

The maintenance guy driving the wrecker was a little upset that I had not left enough room to be pull started, but I told him that I never had a problem getting out of the tight spots as long at the engine started. How was I to know that I was not going to get the engine started?

He also told me the idea was not to kill the wrecker guy when he was pulling the truck backwards. I kind of giggled at the comment but realized that he was really being serious.

I finally got on the road about 9 PM. I was getting along quite wonderfully, considering that I had the little setback with the starter. Schneider Emergency Maintenance advised me to stop while going through Atlanta to get my starter checked, which sounded like a good plan.

I got close to mile marker 138 in Kentucky on I-75 When my air brake alarm came on. I was losing air in my right indicator and I was worried my spring brakes were going to kick on and stop the truck. I was in a construction zone with no emergency pull offs and was praying to God that I would be able to get past the construction zone before I had to stop the truck. Well, fortunately I was able to pull over after the construction zone into a breakdown lane. I got out, looked over the air lines and could not tell where the problem was at. I put out my triangles, which is required by law and then called Schneider Emergency Maintenance again.

The only place that I could get the truck fixed was to drive back up to Florence, Kentucky, mile marker 181, to a TA truck stop, and that was if the truck would move. I was not sure if the spring brakes were going to hold the truck from moving. Schneider Emergency Maintenance had me try to move the truck and it did move, so I pulled in my triangles and proceeded to head on down I-75 to the next exit, which was about two miles away, and then head back north to the TA. I was not happy to be back tracking, but it was the closest maintenance facility.

The mechanics at the TA found the problem to be associated with an air line that popped off the back side of a controller over the passenger steer tire near the engine. During the process of looking for the problem, they had to turn off the engine. To my surprise, the engine started, not once, but several times while they were working on it. Then I was questioning the need to have the starter checked and they told me that I should still have it checked because it may have a bad spot where it will not start the engine if it stops in the bad spot.

Off I go, still before the 4 AM departure time to make the delivery on time.

Now it is time to stop in Atlanta, at the Schneider Operation Center to get the start checked. I pull in around Noon and check in at the Estimator's counter. The Estimator is the individual who takes your maintenance requests and determines whether to send you through the express bay or to schedule your truck for maintenance. Well he determines that the tractor needed to be scheduled for maintenance since they only had one mechanic on duty since it was memorial day. He scheduled it for 6 PM and told me to get a hotel room and provided me a phone number to call back and check on the tractor.

I advised him that I had to have the tires on the trailer checked since the maintenance men at the TA truck stop said I had a couple of bad tires and pointed them out to me. I was advised to go through the express bay to have them checked.

Express really is not express when you stop and think about it, especially if there are other trucks in line waiting for maintenance ahead of you. I was the third truck in line and it took me three hours to get through the express bay and have only one of the two tires replaced. According to the mechanic the other tire could still pass DOT inspection.

By the time I got to the hotel room, checked in, and into bed it was around 5 PM. I went to sleep and was waken up by some noise around 7:30 PM. I decided to call and check on the truck since I was awake and I was told to call back in the morning.

This did not set well with me since my delivery in Casselberry was at 7 AM the following morning. I proceeded to find out if I could get my tractor out and have it looked at later as long as I could get it started.

After quite a few calls to different Schneider points of contact I was frustrated that nobody could make the decision to allow me to do this. I finally got one individual in the Emergency Maintenance section to agree to post a message to my satellite QualComm to allow me to do this.

I called the maintenance shop back at the Atlanta Operating Center and advised them that I would be coming back to get my tractor in order to make my delivery. I took my shower, got all cleaned up, and then proceeded back via hotel shuttle to the operating center.

When I got there, my tractor was on the maintenance floor waiting to be worked on. I found the mechanic who was taking a dinner break and advised him that I was going to take the tractor in order to make my delivery.

I had to keep the tractor running through all of the deliveries in Florida and then back to Ohio where I turned it in for maintenance at the Columbus Operating Center in Hilliard, Ohio.

I was given a loaner tractor to drive until my tractor was fixed. I am told it is fixed now and I can pick it up, so I will be picking it up on Thursday.

I made my deliveries on time, kept my boss happy, and am now a little more Schneider savvy. I will never go to an operating center for maintenance again on a holiday weekend.