The Adventures Of Daniel B.

With granted permission from my friend Old School. I am going to be writing a journal about my day, every day. I will be very specific with my trip planning and what I did and when. I will also include how many hours I spent on-duty each day as well as how many hours I spent driving including my total mileage. I will include how much time I work each day thats not logged as On-Duty. I will specify my current load information as well as my gross weight.

Current load: Wausau, WI to Champaign, IL for a total of 380 miles. Gross weight - ~68,000.

This load was given to me to get me to a terminal for repairs. I was due for an oil change and I had a bad air leak. During this load my plan was to get my repairs all done, do laundry, stock up on food from the local grocery store, and take a 34 hour reset. Repairs got done in a day. I bought food yesterday but forgot to take out money from the ATM. So today I have to either use the Central Shuttle to drive there again or walk there. Since I have all day I will just walk, it's 2 miles there and back. Maybe thinking about riding my scooter there. So when I get that money I will do laundry.

I was planning on playing some games on my laptop today but my laptops ac adapter broke yesterday. It's not supplying power so for the next three weeks I don't have a laptop and will be bored as heII. I will also be doing these updates on my phone so forgive me if there's misspelled words. Ill try not to type defiantly instead of definitely.

I am doing no work today. So ill be on Sleeper Berth and Off Duty today. Tomorrow my load is a drop and hook. I'm dropping this trailer then picking up a preloaded at the same location. To avoid getting there and having to wait 6 hours for them to load my preloaded trailer, I'm going to be giving them a call tomorrow and as soon as my preloaded trailer is done that's when I'll come to deliver this load. I don't want to get screwed over by them and have my 14 dig into my drive time.

My hometime is scheduled on the 26th. Today is the 10th. Since ill be starting to drive tomorrow I will have 15 days until hometime. Having said that, my goal for those 15 days is 5,500 miles. Though honestly, the last week before hometime is usually a slow week simply because they are using short loads to get me home. But maybe it won't be like that this time.

So nothing really big today. Only thing I have to do today is hurry up and wait. I hate having to take a day off..

Today's breakfast consists of three eggs I cooked in the truck with two slices of whole grain wheat bread. Along with green tea that has lemon and ginseng in it. Also added two big leaves from my mint plant to my tea. So good!

When it comes to eating, I always say, just because you're a trucker doesn't mean you have to eat like one.

I know I am going to like this thread. With all the details you will be giving, you will be able to generate a lot of questions. So right off the bat, I have a couple of questions. You mentioned the bad air leak. Can you describe the leak and go into it a little more? Since this will be something that we newbies will all be facing sooner or later, I think it would be interesting to know things like where the the leak was and how fast it was leaking, how you found it, etc.

The other question is tell us about your scooter. How big is it and where do you keep it?

Your breakfast picture was a great touch. Pictures will add volumes to this journal. :-)

I know I am going to like this thread. With all the details you will be giving, you will be able to generate a lot of questions. So right off the bat, I have a couple of questions. You mentioned the bad air leak. Can you describe the leak and go into it a little more? Since this will be something that we newbies will all be facing sooner or later, I think it would be interesting to know things like where the the leak was and how fast it was leaking, how you found it, etc.

The other question is tell us about your scooter. How big is it and where do you keep it?

Your breakfast picture was a great touch. Pictures will add volumes to this journal. :-)

Well, it's actually pretty easy to find an air leak. There's always a hiss you'll hear. A bad air leak is even easier to detect because the hiss is louder and it effects your air pressure gauges. Whenever I parked, when I came back my air pressure would be significantly lower in both tanks. Whenever I would drive my air pressure gauges would not go beyond 105 psi. Sometimes they would reach 125 psi but they would get low again even when I wasn't using the brakes. My compressor struggled to raise my psi. Whenever I would be driving in a place where I needed to use my brakes often I would always be very low psi.

The leak came from my drivers side under the hood. The mechanic said it came from a loose joint on my air dryer. The hiss was loud! Whenever you hear a hiss, that's when you know you have an air leak. If you walk away from the truck for a little while you should not come back with your psi being much lower in both tanks. My leak was pretty bad and dangerous. I told dispatch to route me straight to a terminal for repairs.

My scooter is simply one of those Razor scooters. I prefer walking, but if I have to go somewhere nearby and I don't have the time to walk then I will use the scooter to get there much faster. For example, I was at a shipper and they were taking forever. So I took my scooter and went 1.5 miles to a Walmart for some things I needed. It didnt take long at all and it would have taken too much time if I walked so I used the scooter.

The scooter is foldable so it stores under my bed easily. Plus the brakes shoot out sparks which is a fun touch to it haha. I know it's silly for an adult to be on one of these but I'm a small person and I'm definitely not oversized for it yet. Besides, I really don't care what others think about it. If its beneficial to me then ill use it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/161143231610?lpid=82

That is the exact one I have. Except I didnt pay that much lol.

Thanks Daniel, I will really enjoy following this thread!

Woody

Makes a man home sick for the road.

I believe I will be enjoying this too. Daniel has a good head on his shoulders and will be really helping fellow drivers a great deal. Thanks Daniel.

Makes a man home sick for the road.

I believe I will be enjoying this too. Daniel has a good head on his shoulders and will be really helping fellow drivers a great deal. Thanks Daniel.

Good to hear from you Tracey! But don't thank me this whole thing was Old Schools idea.

Kathy has a drop/hook scheduled in Champagne at 2. You should try to catch her.

Kathy has a drop/hook scheduled in Champagne at 2. You should try to catch her.

Wow that can work! My preloaded is actually not picking up until the next day so it'll be another day of sitting at the truck stop nearby. Ill call her tomorrow morning!

Hey Daniel, sorry to hear your truck is giving you issues. Glad you got it located before it caused any bigger problems. But anything mechanical can break at any time....Just one of those things. And I just want to say thank you again for the time you spent with me in Little Rock. The pretrip stuff you covered has helped me glide right through it here in school. We hit trip planning and I have struggled. I was sitting in the motel room going through these exercises today pulling my hair out then all of a sudden I remembered your notebook you showed me and how you explained it. The lightbulb came on. Not really sure why I was having that much trouble, but I was. I guess I'll find out in the morning when they grade it. My math is right overall, just a few extra miles than what the company comes up with.