Pittsfield Township, MI

DATELINE: HOME (Temporarily), 8:00 p.m. EDT

Miles Today: 126

Well today was certainly unique. Not in that it involved a LOT of sitting and waiting around, but WHY I had to do a lot of sitting and waiting around.

First, I got up at 6:00 and went inside to go stand and look at a wall. When I came back to my truck, I found a flat steer tire. So I had to call the Breakdown Department so they could get someone out to replace it. That took about 3 hours.

Finally rolling, I got up the entrance ramp and a few hundred yards down the turnpike, just getting up to speed, when I heard and felt a loud BANG. I immediately pulled over to the shoulder to investigate. Nothing was obviously wrong, except I found a hunk of metal sitting on top of the catwalk behind my cab. I called in to Breakdown again, waited on hold for a goodly while, then got talked into just continuing on because my truck would roll.

So I did continue on to my delivery in Livonia, MI. Once I got there and backed into the dock, I had a chance to climb under my truck (I didn't really want to on the shoulder of the OH turnpike) and take a good look. Based on the shape of the hunk of metal I had found on the catwalk, I looked at the brake drums on the drive axles. Yup, one was gone. And when it broke and flew off it slashed the tire on that wheel. So more repairing was in order.

I called in to Breakdown AGAIN while my trailer was being unloaded and was put on hold. And eventually got cut off. So I called back in and got put back on hold. The unloading went fairly quickly, though, and I had to leave before Breakdown came on the line. Since we generally get sent to TAs for repairs when one is nearby, I anticipated the same and just drove over to the one in Dexter. Once there I called in to Breakdown yet again. This time, my period on hold was not very long, and I got the OK to put the TA shop on the case.

Yada yada, 4-1/2 hours later my truck was all better. I was down to only 2-1/2 hours left in my 14-hour window for the day, so it was likely I wouldn't get an assignment to pick up a load today. I was right on that count...my next pickup will be tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 8:00 in Novi, MI. I'll then take that load to Dry Ridge, KY for a 5:00 p.m. delivery. Check back tomorrow to see what happens after that.

Thanks for looking in today. Send me some comments and questions, bitte, and keep on truckin'.