Rumble in Gary, IN

Yesterday was just a WEIRD day. The truck has gone wonky. The headlight socket was fried & melted. Got that fixed. It stopped working again and I can't look at it because the mechanic at the TA put it in so tight I can't get it out. The A/C (which was fixed just a couple of weeks ago) is acting up again. Daytime I get cool, not cold, air out of it. But the bunk A/C still works good. But let me not forget to mention...twice I was driving down the road and the A/C just turned off completely for a moment...then came back on. This truck has gotten a mind of her own it seems.

Anyway, I got the headlight (temp) fix at the T/A. While the truck was in the bay being fixed I watched the incoming storm rolling in and the view was amazing. I managed to take some really amazing pics of it with my cell phone.

 

(^this one is my favorite)

What an awesome sight it was! And then the rain poured! But not for long! After they finished with the "repair" I drove back over to the J where I could could get a shower with my points there. Got a dandy parking spot and got myself together to go take a shower and get some food. As I was walking in I had the living crap scared out of me when there was a lightening strike very close by! I probably jumped 3 feet and my heart skipped a beat. It caused the electricity in the J to flick off for a moment and all their electronics were going crazy. Their cc network was down, fuel pumps were offline and the cash registers were slow coming back up. I did finally manage to get a shower slip pretty quick though. Then I kept hoping the whole time I was in it that there wasn't another power loss while I was all soaped up....which there wasn't thank goodness. Apparently that one strike was it. 

Tomorrow morning I'll go get rid of this load and head for the yard so they can figure out why this old girl is giving me so much attitude.

Stay safe!

I am now on week 7 of driving with Don Hummer Trucking. So far it's been pretty okay. I got lucky enough to have a driver manager who was once a driver himself (pretty rare bird there). I hate having to contact after hours on-call though. Always grouchy and if I'm lucky who ever is manning the communications will actually get back to me within 2 hours...again...if I'm lucky. I had to wait all night for an answer once. But over all I really don't have anything to complain about. If I tell them there's a problem then they try to get it fixed...they don't ignore it. Although I did drive for almost a month with a coolant leak that no one could find. The truck finally decided she'd had enough and gave some smoke signals to point them in the right direction. They've also been excellent and getting me home when I request to be home (which is a big plus there knowing how so many other companies are not so good at that).

I've definitely gotten to drive some areas I never did last year. I was in Connecticut yesterday morning, then on to Jersey and now I'm on my way to Minnesota. I can't remember the last time I was ever in Minnesota. Tonight I'm in Fremont, IN...about half way to my receiver. I do like nice long runs. A day with no dealing with shippers/receivers and just driving is nice for a change.

Not to end on a sad note...but I will miss the great Robin Williams. I was at home when the news came in and it just stopped me in my tracks. Such a shock to find out he had ended his own life. Who can imagine that someone that brought so much laughter and joy to so many people could hide their pain so well? He had so much weight on his shoulders that very few even knew about. Battling alcohol, drugs and depression for so many years. And then to find out he was in the early stages of Parkinson's. I can only hope that he has gone on to find some peace in his soul that he couldn't find here with us. So let's end with this short clip of Robin Wiliams joking about truck drivers. The audio sucks so make sure you're in a very quiet place when you try to watch it.