GETTING A NEW TRUCK ONE PART AT A TIME

I don't know about you, but it seems lately, that I have been writing a lot about things going out on the truck. We get one thing fixed and then the next day something else goes out. Now granted, the truck is over 3 years old, and creeping up on 500,000 miles, so it's to be expected that something will need fixing from time to time. The latest thorn in our side was a leak in a coolant hose above the fuel tank on the passenger side. We noticed it one day a few weeks back, and Craig tightened the clamp, and that seemed to do the trick, until yesterday at our second stop where Craig noticed it again. No amount of tightening of the clamp would slow it down, so Craig had no option but to turn into MacGyver.

In any man's bag of tricks, you always have your "go to" items, and for Craig, those items are duct tape and vise grips. With a leaking problem, vise grips it was, so he restricted the flow of the coolant until we could get to a truck stop to get it fixed. After going empty in Portland at 12pm, we headed first to the TA truck stop in Troutdale about 4 miles away. Boy, what a mistake that was!There was not a parking spot to be found to drop the trailer and get the truck fixed, so we quickly went to Plan B and headed south to Aurora and the TA truck stop there. What a difference 30 miles can make. We dropped the trailer and headed to the service bay to check in and get in line behind everyone else that seemed to have a problem. A couple of hours later, we had the leak fixed and were happily back under our trailer.

This morning we are relaxing, as we don't have a load until 3pm this afternoon, where we will pick up dairy products and delivery them into Spokane tomorrow morning. As I sit in my passenger seat, I'm enjoying some great people watching, when I look up from my typing and see this: I couldn't help but wonder, watching this father/son bonding time, if there just wasn't a future truck driver in the making right there before my eyes. I watched as they drove off, Dad driving and the son securely fastened into his child safety seat, and hoped that they will cherish the memories they are making on the road as much as Craig and I are. Safe travel my friends.