The past week has been pretty low-key. We thought we had a load coming out of Boeing going to Georgia the same day we delivered to Ft. Lewis. We were okay with it when they said it would be delayed a day so we could spend the evening watching the election coverage on tv - but no excitement there. The next day, it was delayed again. Same story the next day. Meanwhile, we missed a couple loads coming out of the submarine base since Jorge has not gotten his passport yet and that was a requirement to get inside to pick it up. His 'to do' list over Christmas is growing but that is going to be at the top of the list when we get to Vegas for our time off. We didn't do much while in Washington except try to get caught up on paperwork and run some errands.
Finally, after sitting for nearly a week, we finally get a load on Monday. Off we went about 100 miles north to get it. We arrived at the shipper early and they were not ready for us yet so we were going to get out of the way and park on the side of the building when Jorge noticed the truck didn't want to shift into reverse. Being an automatic transmission, there's not alot we can do to force it into gear. Finally something clicked, and it went into gear. We backed up out of the way, but that's as far as we went. Now it was stuck in reverse and after Jorge shut the truck off, it wouldn't start. We had no option but to cancel this trip and call a tow truck. Back to Seattle it took us where we had just driven thru on our way to get the load. The forty-five minute drive back was costly. Including the $100 they charged us for tax, it came to nearly $1200 to take the truck and trailer to the shop. Of course the mechanic was gone for the day already and we spent the night in their parking lot waiting for him. By the time the truck had been towed, it was now starting on it's own. When the mechanic finally looked at it, he couldn't find anything wrong with it. We had thought maybe the transmission, or the clutch, or who knows what. Now that the mechanic was looking at it - none of that. He took it for a test drive, updated some software on the tranmission that hadn't been done since the truck was built (I didn't even know there WAS software for the transmission!), and declared the truck good to go.
On a wing and a prayer, we took off to pick up another load. This time a couple hours east of Seattle, we're getting a load in Wapato, Washington that we'll take to Manchester, New Hampshire this week. We have alot of deserted country to pass thru on this trip and I'm praying the truck runs well between here and there. We'll be on our way soon... on the road again!
Finally, after sitting for nearly a week, we finally get a load on Monday. Off we went about 100 miles north to get it. We arrived at the shipper early and they were not ready for us yet so we were going to get out of the way and park on the side of the building when Jorge noticed the truck didn't want to shift into reverse. Being an automatic transmission, there's not alot we can do to force it into gear. Finally something clicked, and it went into gear. We backed up out of the way, but that's as far as we went. Now it was stuck in reverse and after Jorge shut the truck off, it wouldn't start. We had no option but to cancel this trip and call a tow truck. Back to Seattle it took us where we had just driven thru on our way to get the load. The forty-five minute drive back was costly. Including the $100 they charged us for tax, it came to nearly $1200 to take the truck and trailer to the shop. Of course the mechanic was gone for the day already and we spent the night in their parking lot waiting for him. By the time the truck had been towed, it was now starting on it's own. When the mechanic finally looked at it, he couldn't find anything wrong with it. We had thought maybe the transmission, or the clutch, or who knows what. Now that the mechanic was looking at it - none of that. He took it for a test drive, updated some software on the tranmission that hadn't been done since the truck was built (I didn't even know there WAS software for the transmission!), and declared the truck good to go.
On a wing and a prayer, we took off to pick up another load. This time a couple hours east of Seattle, we're getting a load in Wapato, Washington that we'll take to Manchester, New Hampshire this week. We have alot of deserted country to pass thru on this trip and I'm praying the truck runs well between here and there. We'll be on our way soon... on the road again!