(You can click on the picture to go to our gallery where you can see the other pictures I took.)
This is now day 8 of the ordeal (sorry, I mean "adventure") of the trailer axle. I won't go into alot of detail about everything, but this has been one of the roughest weeks I've had here on the road. Since the 17th (a week ago), I've only travelled 847 miles. Most of time time has been spent waiting for repairs to be done in the various places where I kept breaking down. I admit, it got very depressing a few times, but with the help of other caring people I have survived to look forward to better things in the future. What Lenutt said in his latest blog (Click Here) really says a lot to me:
What is never really thought about is since the 1970's there is an idea that the only important person is yourself everyone else neither counts or is important enough to worry about. I believe they call that the "Me" generation and it gets worse every year. That type of attitude will get you in serious trouble in truck driving because like it or not this is a team effort. When I say team operation this involves shippers,driver mgrs, drivers, receivers, people you share the road with, and law enforcement. Every load you haul involves this team and if you are a non-working part then the whole thing goes to hell.
Amen, brother! The climax of my little saga was probably when the second weld broke as I was getting ready to deliver in Alapaha, Georgia. It happened as I was trying to get turned around on Hwy 82. I heard a loud "Bang!" and realized something bad had happened. Unfortunately my rig was blocking all but one lane of hwy 82 and I couldn't seem to back up out of the way. I looked at the axle and saw that the left side was completely wrecked. I called 911 to ask for a tow truck. Now here's where all the teamwork came together. First, a DOT officer showed up within minutes and he started directing traffic so vehicles could get around the truck without a major accident. Other officers arrived later. Then the wrecker arrived. As he looked at the situation, I realized I needed somewhere to put the trailer. Mr. Morris, the father of the customer who owns the furniture I was delivering, told me the name of the man who owned the property I was currently occupying and said that he might let me leave the trailer there until the repairs were done. I asked him, and without hesitating he said I could. The tow truck driver literally dragged the rig back onto the lot finally clearing the highway. I managed to find a welder who could come out and do the job properly, and the mechanics at the local truckstop said they could fix the rest of the problems. I had a lot of help from my dispatcher Paul, who was doing all he could to help me figure out solutions to the thorny problems that kept multiplying. The local guy I hired to help was very understanding, and he never complained even though I kept rescheduling the delivery due to the previous breakdowns. The customers were also very understanding about the delays. And lest I forget, my wife and several other people have been praying for me during this trip. I even owe a debt of gratitude to the guy at the truck rental place. I needed to rent a truck to move the shipment from my trailer to the storage unit, so I showed up at his place yesterday morning to get one. Unfortunately all the trucks he had were already reserved. Somehow, though, he managed to free one up. I got the idea that someone owed him a favor or something and that's how he did it. By the strangest coincidence, he was telling me that an Atlas Van Lines agent in Florida (probably the one I drive for) had literally saved all of his son's belongings when a hurricane came through Vero Beach. Whoever it was that helped him, I have to give them a big "thanks" too, because they may have helped me get a shuttle truck. My helper faithfully worked with me until 11 last night to get the furniture delivered. And now I sit here at the Pilot truck stop getting the rest of the repairs done. I should be able to make it to Savannah tomorrow some time. Ooops. I just found out the guy forgot to tell them the shocks needed to be replaced and they don't have any in stock. Oh well, maybe I can get 'em replaced in Savannah...
The shocks are a small thing actually. So many people helped me make these deliveries within the date spreads. Like Lenutt says, it's a real team effort...
