Some More Experiences

Hello all my TT friends,

I'm trying to get caught up with everyone, but I have so much to catch up on, it might take a few more posts...

I did mention that I like to talk, right? So, here goes...

I've got a delivery to make on my way towards hometime in the North/Central Pennsylvania Allegheny Mountains, and I get to the top of a hill that has a truck pull out so that trucks can get into a low gear, and know that there is a very steep grade, and a 20 mph speed limit for the next 5 miles. Okay, but when I pulled over, I couldn't get the truck out of gear, it's like the clutch won't engage. So I call my maintenance/breakdown crew, and the guy says to me that it sounds like the clutch break went out and that I should be able to turn the engine off, shift, and turn the engine back on, and then I can shift on the road, without the clutch. Ummm, I can??? Really? In the mountains going up and down hills, I can learn to shift without the clutch? Oh, okay, no problem! Well, I turn the engine off and shift gears, and then I start thinking about some of the conversations on here, and I finally put two and two together and realize that, ohhhh... That is what you were talking about when you said that the only time that you need to double clutch was in school. I never could figure out what you all were talking about. I thought you meant that you could single clutch it, which I was guilty of a few times, but without the clutch at all??? It just never clicked that you could do that... Ok, so I know it can be done, I've just never done it. I'll give it a try. If I can't figure it out, I'll just have to drive in 5th gear the last 30 miles of mountain driving, I wasn't going to be in a much higher gear anyway, so what the heck??? So, I proceed down the hill, and get into a flat spot and discover that, hey I can shift without the clutch. It's kinda tricky and took some practice and getting used to, but by the time I got to the consignee , I had the basics down, and could do it for the most part, but to shift into reverse, you have to shut the engine off, put it in gear and start her back up. (I actually, did get it to go into reverse once without shutting it off, it was kinda like when you pop the clutch on a manual transmission in a car, but that was very difficult, and it was easier to just shut her off to shift). But I digress... So, of course it takes me a little extra time, but I got her backed into the dock, and got unloaded. Ok, so now what? I'm in the middle of the mountains, without a clutch, and not any tow or sevice stations within about 40 mountainous miles, and of course no signal, not even on the QualComm. So maintenance says, if I can limp it along, there is a garage about 40 miles away, but since it is a Friday afternoon, they won't be able to look at it till Saturday morning, and probably won't be able to fix it till sometime next week, when they can get the parts, but they have a place to park/shut down for the night until they can figure out how to get me home. No problem, it's better than waiting for a tow truck for 2 days. So I limp it along to the garage and get shut down for the night. First thing in the morning the garage takes a look at it, and decides that the clutch is shot, that it needs a new one, and that it is going to take a few days for them to get parts, and then to replace it. So, how am I going to get home? Dispatch says, they can have someone come out of route to get me, but it will take awhile, so I sujest that I just have my husband come pick me up. I'm only about 180 miles from home anyway. Dispatch says wow! Thanks! That really helps. Ok, No problem... Oh, yeah, but how am I going to get back to my truck after my hometime? Dispatch says that they'll have someone recover the truck, and I can start my new schedule out of my local yard when I come back from hometime. Ok, easy enough! But of course that was the weekend dispatch. The regular dispatch says, ummm no, I need you to recover the truck, so we'll have someone pick you up at your drop yard, and take you to the truck. Ok, but it's not like it's just a few miles off the 80, it's 2 hours up the mountain, and two hours back down, so it's an extra 4 hours out of someones route to "swing by and drop me off", so by the time I get to the yard, get into my rides truck, and get to my truck, get a comdata check to pay for the repairs, and get settled back into my truck, I've wasted a whole day of drive time. But my FM is extremely grateful and gives me some great runs up to New York, through Canada, and beyond. I used all of my hours before my next hometime, and made a pretty decent check. She made up for my patience and willingness to help, by giving me some great miles. Win-Win

I love trucking! What a great job.

Great Job, Julia !! And I commend you on how you went the extra mile to work with dispatch in this situation. And it does show that you get some special treatment for helping out... Keep up the good work, and keep us informed...