STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21408: Fontana Facetiousness

Let’s see, where was I? Oh yea, Feb, 13th. After finishing with the Detroit Diesel Shop in Sacremento, I drove the 50 odd miles back to our Terminal in Lathrop via the Flying J in Lodi, CA for dinner and a nice stroll for the MMM. They deserved it after being tied to a fence post on a short tether for over 3 hours. I geeked around until about midnight, then began preparations to retire for the evening. I left my truck idling and took the MMM for their pre-”nappytime” stroll. Upon our return, I saw smoke coming from the engine compartment of my truck. This can’t be good! I ran to the truck with the MMM in tow, shut off the truck, and grabbed my fire-extinguisher. I dropped the leashes and opened the hood. There was no fire thank goodness, but there was a lot of smoke. My first thought was that the Detroit Shop had somehow screwed up my truck. After a couple of anxious moments, while the smoke was dissipating, I saw that it was coming from the area of the AC Compressor. Then I saw that the Serpentine Belt was broken too. This told me that the AC Compressor had seized, a relatively minor and not uncommon problem. After this bit of excitement, I ’rounded up’ the MMM. They hadn’t wandered too far. Good Doggies! I checked with the shop, again (this is getting old, fast). I was told that it would be tomorrow AM before anything could be done. At least it wasn’t a major Detroit Engine type of problem. With no Serpentine Belt, I couldn’t idle my truck, so I bundled up as best I could and went to bed. It wasn’t that cold anyway, about 40 degrees for a low.
On the 14th, I was ‘up with the chickens’. I was at the Service Desk with “Red Tag” in hand before they could pour their coffee. As soon as they saw me they said “What now?” They said that they would put the first available mechanic ‘on it’. I removed the MMM to the “hound hoosegow”, and went into the driver’s lounge to ’spruce up a bit’. It took about 3 hours to purge the AC system, R&R the AC Compressor and the Serpentine Belt, and re-charge the AC system. Finally, about 1000, I had a Pre-Plan, and was ready to roll. The “plan” picked up in San Jose, CA and delivered in Las Vegas, NV (59 miles empty and 530 miles loaded). I arrived in San Jose at 1145, hooked to the trailer and left at 1230. I drove to Bakersfield, CA. I had dinner at Bill Lee’s (the #2 combination platter for a change). I forgot that it was Valentines Day. The Restaurant was quite crowded, so I went to the bar to eat. It was a lot quicker. After dinner, I drove to Primm, NV where I stopped for the night. I didn’t quite have enough hours to drive all the way in to Las Vegas. I logged 11.5 hours using 11 to drive 548 miles. I’m pleased to report that nothing else happened to my truck. By the way, Happy Valentines Day.
On the 15th, I left Primm at 0945 and drove the 40 miles to the Consignee. I did the drop/hook delivery, then drove to the TA truckstop for fuel. Shortly thereafter, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up in Las Vegas, NV and delivered in Torrance, CA (12 miles empty and 286 miles loaded). I was told to take my empty trailer at our ‘drop yard’ in Henderson, NV then ‘bobtail’ to the Shipper. At 1530, with all of the above done, I left Vegas and drove to our Terminal in Fontana, CA. I took the MMM for a walk, then drove to the Consignee in Torrance. I arrived at 2215. I drove 383 miles in 7.75 hours. My truck did not breakdown.
On the 16th, after a ‘live’ unload, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up in Oxnard, CA and delivered in Sparks, NV (72 miles empty and 499 miles loaded). I accepted it and departed for Oxnard at 1245. I arrived at 1400, did the drop/hook pick-up and left at 1500. I drove to Kettleman City, CA. I took a short MMM break then drove to our Terminal in Lathrop, CA where I stopped for the night. Seems like i’ve been here recently. I drove 399 miles in 8 hours. My truck was free of maintenance problems.
On the 17th, I left Lathrop at 0830, after fueling, and checking the weather forcast for Donner Summit. All indications were that there would be no problem until late in the afternoon. Shortly after making the transition onto I-80 east I saw an electronic message board that said “Snowing over summit, carry chains”. I pressed on. When I got to Auburn, there was a sign that said “All trucks stop for ‘chain check’ at Applegate. I proceeded to the Applegate exit. There, I encountered a Cal Trans worker. When I stopped, he said: “Tell me you have chains.” I said that I didn’t have chains, and asked if it was really bad ‘on top’ and if I should turn around. He said: “The road is open, tell me you have chains.” I said; “OK, I have chains” (wink, wink) and went on my way. I arrived at the Consignee in Sparks at 1245. I did the drop delivery (they were out of Swift empties) and drove to Sierra Sid’s (TA) truckstop, about 2 blocks away, for lunch. After lunch, I drove to our Terminal to wait for a load. Freight was abysmal, and as it turned out, my workday ended here. I spent the rest of the day at the Alamo (Petro) truckstop about 100 feet from our Terminal. I ‘geeked’ for the rest of the day mainly backing up music files. The only files I have remaining are “N” through “Z” (Rock). That’s about 1150 songs. I can put it on one ‘data’ DVD. I drove 200 miles in 4 hours. No maintenance malfunctions occured with my truck today. By the time I arrived at the Petro, the ‘chain law’ was in effect over Donner Summit.
On Saturday, the 18th, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up in Sparks, NV and delivered in Phoenix, AZ (0 miles empty and 749 miles loaded). I accepted it, and settled in to wait for the 1530 pick-up time. At 1545, I was hooked up and ready to go. I drove to Hawthorne, NV near Walker Lake. I had a snack here, then, at 1830, I departed and drove to the Wild, Wild West Casino in Las Vegas where I stopped for the night. I drove 449 miles in 7.75 hours. My truck was free from maintenance problems.
On the 19th, I left the WWW around ‘noonish’. I drove to Kingman, AZ where I stopped for lunch. At 1700, I left Kingman and drove to our terminal in Phoenix for fuel and an MMM walk. I then drove to the Consignee (about 3 miles away) and went ot bed. I worked 6 hours today, using 5.5 of them to drive 310 miles. My truck had no mechanical problems.
On Monday, the 20th, I delivered the load from Sparks at 0715. It was a drop/hook delivery. After that, I drove back to our terminal and had breakfast from the Swift Cafe. They could take a lesson from Denny’s regarding food preparation and presentation. The Planner offered me a Pre-Plan which picked up in Tolleson, AZ and delivered in San Bernardino, CA (7 miles empty and 386 miles loaded). It had 1 extra drop in Victorville, CA. After ‘live’ loading, I left Tolleson at 1145 and drove to the Ehrenburg, AZ on the AZ/CA border. I took a 1/2 hour break here, then drove to the first Consignee in Victorville and went to bed. I drove 355 hours in 6.75 hours. I encountered no technical difficulties with my truck.
On the 21st, my workday began at 0500. At 0600, after completing the partial unload, I left Victorville and drove to the final Consignee in San Bernardino. I arrived at 0700. After checking in, I took the MMM for a good walk. After finishing the unload, I left “San Burdue” at 0830 and drove to our Fontana terminal. I had 2 cases of damaged product from the first Consignee to be turned in here.
1630: Freight here is horrible. Seems like that’s the case almost everywhere i’ve been lately. After waiting for 8 hours, I just recieved a Pre-Plan. It picks up tomorrow afternoon here in Fontana and delivers a.s.a.p. in Grantsville, UT (0 miles empty and 645 miles loaded). I’ll finally be able to get my picture taken for the new “seniority board”. About 2 months ago, I was messaged that I needed to get through the Salt Lake City terminal to have my picture taken. I replied that they should just find a recent picture of Brad Pitt and use that. That spawned numerous chuckles, although for the life of me, I can’t understand why. ;>} Oh well, since this BLOG is now current, it looks like i’ll be able to finish backing up my music files, and perhaps even make a couple of compilation CD’s as well. I already have one, “Vowel Movements”, (songs whose title begins with a vowel) ‘in the can’ waiting to be ‘burned’. I drove 56 miles in 1.25 hours out of a total of 2.5 worked. By the way, I had no problems with my truck today.