...while they weld the bumper back on this trailer. Picked up a load in Bordentown, NJ that delivers Tuesday morning in Salem, MA. (Holidays are usally problems for truckers, everybody's closed) While doing a walk around on the trailer I noticed a little problem.

The driver that dropped off this trailer forgot to mention that he hit something with the rear bumper, at high speed. It was held on by about 4"-5" of weld. Kinda like a giant hangnail.

We're already parked because of the holiday, so it's not a big deal. Still kind of frustrating though.

I finally got my truck back! They had to replace all 6 injectors. Got a load out to Whittier, CA to run sea trials.

Rebekah is going to be a big sister!!

(that means I get to be an uncle again)


Some bad news though... it looks like the lightning storm the other day zapped my GPS. I've run extensive tests and it's sending out the right data sentences, but is't not aquiring a new signal lock.

My microsurgery on my phone was unsucessful. I still have to take it apart and set it down very carefully to charge it.

CRST couldn't figure out why my engine was misfireing. So we took it to the Freightliner dealer. Freightliner couldn't figure it out, so they sent it to Detroit Diesel.

I just dropped my truck off at OKC Freightliner. They might be able to get to it tonight.

My co-driver has 6 pairs of shoes in the truck. Whatever.

We tried to get a picture of my niece Rebekah sitting in the drivers seat when I was home last week. She was afraid of the truck, this is as close as mom could get her.

I installed my radios on a clear piece of plexiglas. This makes them easy removeable. The box on the top right tunes my new High Sierra Sidekick antenna. The blank spot on the left is reserved for a Kenwood TS-480HX control head.

The wire loom isn't really that bright. It actually looks pretty cool!

This is my antenna farm.

Hit the road again the other day. Didn't get too far when I realized my engine had issues. Now I'm in CRST's Oklahoma City terminal for repairs to the fuel system. Aarrrggg...

I'm having some computer issues too. I think I left a very important cable at home. Makes it hard to get online. Several crashes on this computer too. I think I figured out what the problem is. My ham radio & the serial-USB adapter are mounted next to each other in the back of my truck. Enough RF leakage traveled along the USB cable when the radio transmitted my position to cause the computer to shut off. A few wraps around a ferrite bead fixed it.

I've got some cool pics to post, but I'm running on battery power right now. They may have to wait.

Micro Car Destruction - Watch more free videos

Just said hi to John (I think that was his name) who drives for CFI. He was chaseing me down the Kansas Turnpike while his wife was back home tracking me on the internet. He came up and said hi when I stopped at a service plaza to grab some toll $$ He thinks the camera is cool! It's nice to meet people who like watching the camera.

Does this make me a rock star?

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
- Albert Einstein

Dropping a load in Kansas City, KS, picking one up in Topeka, KS & relaying it to Liberty, MO. After that we are going home!

I just found out my 'Secure Parking Request' has been approved. That means I can take the truck home. Gotta pimp my ride!

I guess this code has caused problems for other bloggers who posted it. It seems to be the 'unlock code' that allows HD-DVDs & Blu-Ray DVDs to be copied.

09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

Let's see what happens....

Not much lately to post about, not much time to post it either. We've been running all over the country making money. My 401k gets fatter with every mile these wheels roll!

Little 'problem' with 5306 though... We took what we needed for hometime and left it in evacuation mode in Missoula when the tranny blew up. It took almost three weeks to get fixed and in the meantime we got a new truck. We made a trip to Missoula to retrive our gear and got what we could before the Freightliner dealer closed. They would reopen at 0630 the next morning, but staying that long would have made our load late. Being the kind of guy I am, I left the rest of the stuff in Missoula so we could deliver the load on time, trusting that we would return soon.

This is where the problem starts. Another dispatcher at CRST reassigned the truck to some other drivers. When Jethro & Goober got there they must have thought they won the lottery. Their dispatcher wasn't smart enough to think that all that stuff they found in the truck might have belonged to the drivers who were in the truck when it broke down and had to leave what they couldn't take with them.

My dispatcher is still working on getting my inverter, some tools (good luck), microwave, XM radio & some other stuff back to me. The $300 in books were probably thrown in the trash! I doubt Jethro is the reading type.

Time to hand out a few awards here...

The freeway pattern through every city is different. Some good, some not so good. Here's my opinion of the rundown:

Most Attractive Landscaping Award: Fenix, AZ. Using xeriscape techniques like gravel bedding & well groomed native plants the City of Pheonix has a neat, clean, natural looking freeway system.

Worst Traffic Award: Portland, OR. 90 minutes to go 10 miles, need I say more. Worse than NYC.

Easy Rider Award: Albercracky, NM. Albuquerque is a drivers dream! The freeways are clean, wide, well marked, smooth & well lit at night. Did I mention smooth?

Which Way Do I Go? (AKA WTF?) Award: St Louis, MO. There are WAY too many freeways coming together in this city. Add that to a not too well thought out plan for joining them and you have a first time drivers nightmare!

DO NOT miss your turn award: Chicago, IL. Chicago has a hotline for truck drivers to call for routing because of the low bridges. Not so much a problem on the freeways. If you miss your turn on a surface street you might have to call 911 to get the police to stop traffic so you can turn around. It really is THAT bad.

Paint Shaker Award: Oklahoma City, OK. I hope you have everything in your truck well secured.

Well Developed Award: Dallas/Ft Worth area. The Dallas/Ft Worth Disasterplex has such a thorough complex of limited-access roads that you spend very little time fighting traffic on surface streets.

There Is No Way In Heck I'm Going To Make That Turn Award: Philadelphia, PA If you've ever driven through Philly in anything larger than a Honda, you know what I'm talking about!

Don't Even Try Award: New York City, NY I would love to tour New York City in a car. I've been there twice in a truck. If you really, really tried, could you make it worse for a truck driver?

A friend of mine posted this video: Chocolate Rain on his blog: The Busy Pixel just for me. I think he knows me too well!