I need a hat, a chain for my wallet & a can of snuff.

Whizzer said:
^^^^ That sucks!!
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Yeah it does. They can see that I paid for and passed the testing. I’ve got the receipt as well as the test results document that I had to take to get the fingerprinting done. I have the receipt from the fingerprinting location as well as the confirmation email that shows that I was fingerprinted and that they were submitted for the investigation. There was nothing more that I could do. It’s not like I don’t have the money to do this all over again. I just wanted them to make this right or explain to me how what I did wasn’t enough.
 
Whizzer said:
Also curious were delivering in Laramie. Is there some sort of production plant there? Seems like it is pretty remote for a major manufacturing facility.
Safe trip out west. Always liking to read your exploits as you travel the U.S. of A.
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I’ve never been to the Laramie location. Looking at the satellite view of the location makes me think it’s simply a distribution facility. They probably repackage what I’ll deliver and sell it locally.
 
I did find this in Laramie: https://tkicustomhighwayequipment.com/

They would use different petroleum products such a motor oil and hydraulic fluid. It i about the only industry found near Laramie and of any size that might need such quantities, unless, of course, there is a company that repackages it as you suggested might be the case.
 
Whizzer said:
I did find this in Laramie: https://tkicustomhighwayequipment.com/

They would use different petroleum products such a motor oil and hydraulic fluid. It i about the only industry found near Laramie and of any size that might need such quantities, unless, of course, there is a company that repackages it as you suggested might be the case.
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The place I’m going is a completely enclosed facility. I’ll be driving into the building to offload. I’ve not been to this location before. I’ll find out what they do when I get there tomorrow morning.
 
Dropping down out of the mountains into Laramie.

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I've been reading fiction by C.J. Bell, a Wyoming native. His stories are based on a Wyoming game warden and his adventures, or misadventures. He speaks in terms of distance occasionally and it is really something to see the pictures placed by DPK, especially like the one coming over the grade to Laramie. Brings the Bell's writing to a more understandable level of the Wyoming terrain.
I was in Wyoming in 1984 or '85, when a friend and I took advantage of the airline fare war. We flew from Newark to Jackson Hole and return for $180.00. Stayed at Togwotee Lodge and went snowmobiling for a week in February of that year. I simply do not recall how flat the landscape was but since we landed in Jackson Hole and went right into the mountainous terrain, never had that opportunity.

Great pictures and keep giving us you travelogue, DPK. I for one, appreciate it. 👍👍👍
 
Offloading now. Just another distribution center. Heading to Chicago when I leave here. Should arrive early afternoon tomorrow.

I thought this is an interesting look at the travels ahead. This pic is the elevation change of my trip from Laramie, WY to the city of Chicago. Currently at an elevation of 7116’. The pic reads left to right.

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So…… Yesterday and last night I had problems with the bunk heater not working. It would start but not heat. Not a problem as I just let the truck idle for heat. The bunk heater uses diesel fuel for its heat source. I came to find out that those heaters are not installed with the necessary equipment to operate at elevations over 5000’. I’m guessing the fuel mixture needs to be altered for the reduced oxygen level? Hopefully it will self correct tonight at the lower elevation.
 
That definitely shows the vastness of the west. Flat and sparse of trees. How the wind and snow must blow across those open spaces. Not sure I'd want to live in that area. Did live in a house on top of a small hill and the wind blew constantly. Drove my Bride crazy as she couldn't hang out wash and the dust from the dirt road in front made it hard to keep the inside clean. It didn't help the farmer's cows kept breaking through the fence in the middle of the night and come rubbing against the bedroom screening or leaving the remains of their most recent meal in the side yard.

Eventually moved into town and the constant sounds of traffic flow and kids playing baseball, soccer and football in the open field between our house and the state fish hatchery were the tradeoff. Then the house we bought had an old coal furnace converted to oil and it was dirty so the house was still hard to keep clean. Until we converted to natural gas and, WOW! what a difference. Cleaner, faster, warmer, nothing but big plusses! Finally got what we had been trying to achieve for so many years and then, we moved to North Carolina but this time got a house with electric heat, rural and on a paved street. We thought we hit the big time!!!
 
Back in Chicago. Going to do a restart here to refresh my driving clock.

Next up….. I’m loading in Chicago on Monday morning. A four compartment load that I’ll deliver in Manchester, NH on Wednesday morning at another oil distribution center.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Back in Chicago. Going to do a restart here to refresh my driving clock.

Next up….. I’m loading in Chicago on Monday morning. A four compartment load that I’ll deliver in Manchester, NH on Wednesday morning at another oil distribution center.
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Here is a question for you. If you had to choose between living in Chicago or Laramie which one would be your choice? :D
 
So….. here in Manchester for my delivery…. My appointment was at 0600. I arrived here yesterday, late afternoon, and spent the night. Checked in this morning only to find out the guy that offloads called off this morning. Waiting for someone to show up that knows what to do here. They’ve got some guy that they have been training but he’s not comfortable with taking the lead. More $’s for me but sitting gets old.

Turns out, there’s an airport adjacent to this location. Awesome sleeping/not sleeping at the end of a runway. Fortunately you have just enough time to doze off before the next jet takes off. That blue dot is me. The north/south runway is apparently the preferred runway last night and today.

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More of the sausage recipe…..

Totes stacked floor to ceiling here. This is only a small section, viewable from my location in this building, that stretches more than a football field in length. There are at least five more rows of equal length that sit beyond this one pictured.

I’m carrying three products. They are offloaded into tanks that are also located in this building. There are times when I deliver that they offload into totes. As you’d imagine, that takes additional time to complete the offload process.

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My Bride and I ran into a situation similar to that one year when we went get work done on our motorhome and the place was by O'Hare Airfield in Chicago. Planes taking off and landing constantly which was annoying although the traffic did slow after eight p.m. We had to park within a cyclone security fence overnight so they could begin work early the following day. It was kind of scary because of the security fence butat the same time it was interesting and fun for awhile watching the planes take off and land. We slept, somewhat, but kept waking up to the roar of planes taking off and using reverse thrusters to slow upon landing. All in all a very interesting experience but not one either of us would care to repeat.
 
Whizzer said:
Is that a recap or did the tire just separate like that?
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It's not sperated. Just flat. You may be seeing the mud or the shadow on that pic. Original tire with a little over 98,000 on it. They get far more miles than that. Hardly worn.

Good thing is I'm at the shipper. I just pulled in. Must have happened just before. The tire was still up when I checked in. Was flat when I walked back out of the guard shack. Thought I heard air when I pulled in. Didn't see any issues. Many sounds around this plant location. Figured it was coming from elsewhere. I was wrong.
 
Tire replaced. Took about 20 minutes for him to fix. All with hand tools. Always amazes me how they can do that. Shout out to those roadside service techs. They put their life on the line every day to keep America moving. When you see them roadside, pull the heck over to give them space as you go by at those highway speeds and above. Make it so they can get home to their families at the end of their day. That's a dangerous job with this distracted world we live in.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Tire replaced. Took about 20 minutes for him to fix. All with hand tools. Always amazes me how they can do that. Shout out to those roadside service techs. They put their life on the line every day to keep America moving. When you see them roadside, pull the heck over to give them space as you go by at those highway speeds and above. Make it so they can get home to their families at the end of their day. That's a dangerous job with this distracted world we live in.
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Yep, it is always nice when they know what they are doing. :D
 
Service day..... Having my bunk heater issues diagnosed today. I'm not sure if it can be addressed at our terminal or if it will have to be removed and sent out for service. Or..... Replaced. Getting closer to not needing it untill next fall but I need it repaired none the less.

Also I've got a stone chip in my windshield that's now deciding to expand east/west. They may wait to schedule replacement for a future date since it's on the passenger side. My luck is that if they don't do it soon, I'll fail a roadside inspection.
 
Hazmat update.....

Went back to my local DMV on Good Friday. Checked in with the guy that was working on my case for me. No luck. The powers that be said I had to restart the process from the beginning. I had to pay for and take the test again. I passed the test and received the paperwork to have my fingerprints taken and summited for investigation. I've got an appointment for Friday morning to complete that process. Really though, what's to say this doesn't happen again? The people that I talk too say this has never happened before. Leave it to me to be the first.

My main thing with all of this is that they have all of the records showing I did everything that I was supposed to do. There's nothing I could have done differently to complete the process on my end yet they are forcing me to start all over at my expense. I simply don't think that is right on their end but I'm just a number so it doesn't mean a thing to them. Oh well, whaddya gonna do?
 
A comedy of errors yesterday/today. They didn't finish changing the windshield in my truck so it had to remain in the shop overnight. They have me another truck to use for my delivery this morning. During my pre-trip inspection I found an issue with the hitch rendering it useless. Had to wait for yet another truck assignment. I got some older international. Finally got it hooked and parked it for the evening. Then I had to get a car so I could get dinner and to a hotel for the evening. I got back to the shop this morning and headed off for my delivery. Backed into my offloading spot only to be told that they don't have room for the product. So here I sit. Waiting to see if they can make room. They may not even be able to take delivery of this load until tomorrow. The good thing is, I get paid hourly until this trailer gets offloaded. No matter how long that is. The bad thing is, I'm not in my truck and don't have any of my stuff. I'm trying to get them to let me bobtail back to the shop and swap trucks. Waiting for word.
 
That, is something to put on Saturday Night Live or would have been an excellent skit for the Honeymooners or Amos and Andy. A perfect example of a cluster f&&k or FUBAR. You gotta wonder sometimes if dispatchers and mechanics get together and plan these situations to see if the chauffeur keeps his cool. Maybe with prompting from a script writer. No matter how the scenario was contrived, be it from unforeseen circumstances or manipulation by incompetence, or shear carelessness, it is a great story to lengthen and elaborate!!
 
From what we have learned, she is not only a record maker in discus, but is pretty darn intelligent to add to her resume. It isn't as easy as people might think to do what she does and become a record holder. Best wishes to her in any endeavor she might choose for her future. I know her Mom and Dad and siblings must be really proud.
 
When a super single goes flat like that, do they diagnose it? Or is it just an automatic toss incase the sidewall/cords are damaged?

I always worry about the failue modes of SS's. With no redundant tire to take the weight, the other tandem suddenly gets way overloaded and overheated. Especially on a trailer - at which point, if the driver doesn't know a trailer tandem is flat, you're asking for a nice 120" x 18" piece of rubber to hit another car.

I always look carefully at trailer tires, especially the back axle. I know ya'll can't see it and I know most don't have TPMS. Unless you'e watching the suspension load gauge, you'd never know there's a limp axle until something flies off.

On our way to Phoenix, saw a live bottom trailer that the inner dual on the back axle/left side was completely decapped, only the sidewalls left. Driver was too busy on his phone/headset to pay any attention to me waving out the window. I was confused why a live bottom would be out in the middle of BFE New Mexico more than why the driver paid no attention to surroundings.
 
Loading south of Detroit.....
Magnethead said:
When a super single goes flat like that, do they diagnose it? Or is it just an automatic toss incase the sidewall/cords are damaged?

I always worry about the failue modes of SS's. With no redundant tire to take the weight, the other tandem suddenly gets way overloaded and overheated. Especially on a trailer - at which point, if the driver doesn't know a trailer tandem is flat, you're asking for a nice 120" x 18" piece of rubber to hit another car.

I always look carefully at trailer tires, especially the back axle. I know ya'll can't see it and I know most don't have TPMS. Unless you'e watching the suspension load gauge, you'd never know there's a limp axle until something flies off.

On our way to Phoenix, saw a live bottom trailer that the inner dual on the back axle/left side was completely decapped, only the sidewalls left. Driver was too busy on his phone/headset to pay any attention to me waving out the window. I was confused why a live bottom would be out in the middle of BFE New Mexico more than why the driver paid no attention to surroundings.
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When we're on the road and have a row replaced, I'm guessing it's an automatic toss. As far as our company is concerned. I don't know what roadside service does with the tire. When our service is done inhouse, I'd venture to guess that they diagnosis it.

I've not had a super single fail under load on the tractor. I have had one go on the trailer but I knew it right away. With the window down I heard it. The rim was a loss too after it contacted the road surface.

I do have TPMS on my tractor. Both PSI and temp. On a tanker I can see the tires on the front axle because of how narrow the tank is. I can only see the sidewalls of the rest axel as well as the mud flaps. I keep a close eye on them during travel and obviously during pre and post trips. I've seen many bad tires on pre trips that I've had replaced. Only a couple with tread speration that I've seen post trip that I've had replaced.
 
Nitro Dude said:
At least most of the real bad weather should be over.
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You sure would think so but I hit snow/ice in Minnesota this morning followed immediately by a rain and lightning storm. The craziest thing I've ever seen. Weather was just changing over from snow to rain when I started seeing lightning.

Pretty much the higher elevations and north states/Canada still have snow in their future this spring.
 
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