Our load out of Columbus OH was finally ready at about 1745 Friday night. By the time the the paperwork was ready, we got fueled, hooked to the loaded trailer, and performed our pre-trip inspection, it was nearly 1900 when we drove out the gate at the terminal.

We hit some pretty nasty weather around Indianapolis IN. Heavy rain, lightning and high winds mostly. The rain and winds lasted until we got to Effingham IL and then it cleared up pretty nicely.

It was very warm in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, around 100-103 most of the day yesterday. This was a relatively uneventful trip. We did have several folks waiving and taking pictures of the truck but other than that, just a run of the mill drive across America.

We arrived in Phoenix at about 0330 this morning and had a great nights sleep. We got up about 0930 and got ready for the day. We dropped our trailer at the terminal, headed of over to the closest truck stop for some breakfast. After breakfast, I decided it was way too hot for me to wash the truck wo I went across the street and had the fells at Danny Truck Wash perform the dreaded feet. They done a great job washing the truck and making sure it was clean.

We are just sitting around, watching the Nascar race and waiting for another load. It's pretty darned warm here today. The thermometer says 108. We were asked if we could run one up to Vegas out of here. We like going up there so we accepted the load and it should be ready sometime this afternoon.


In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year.
When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.

A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.

All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.



In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Our load was ready about 1730 Friday evening out of Columbus. We were to go to Kansas City and take a load that would be waiting there to Phoenix. Before we were able to make it to Kansas City, we received a message asking if we would be willing to go to Eagan MN, South Minneapolis area with an empty trailer and pull a load right back to Kansas City.

I suppose it was about an hour and a half later, we pulled into the Kansas City terminal and dropped and secured our trailer, deposited the paperwork in the night depository, and located an empty trailer to pull to Eagan MN. We hooked the empty, performed the pre-trip and headed for Eagan MN.

We made it to Eagan at about 1330, dropped the empty, hooked to the loaded trailer and headed back to Kansas City, MO. We arrived back in Kansas City at about 2115. I handed the paperwork off to the driver that would be pulling the load the rest of the way to Dallas, unhooked and re-hooked to our Phoenix load.

After performing our pre-trip inspection on the Phoenix trailer, We went to the fuel stop up the road, filled up with fuel, checked the truck and trailer over again, and headed for Phoenix.

We traveled U.S. 54 to Tucumcari, NM where we jumped onto I-40 west and ran that all the way to Flagstaff AZ and accessed I-17 south right into Phoenix. We made it to Phoenix at about 1930, dropped the trailer and went to bed, directly to bed, we did not pass go nor did we collect $200.00.

It was actually a bit warm in phoenix last night so we started the generator and turned the A/c on. Just about 2 hours or so into a great nap, the generator decided to quit running. I thought I could sleep without the a/c so I just went back to bed and tried to forget it. No such luck. The longer I lay there, the hotter it got.

I was able to get the generator running in about 30 minutes or so. It was overheating because of road grime built up on the radiator. I cleaned the radiator off a bit, and left the door open on the front for more air flow, and it seemed to be okay. Man was that good. I was tired and wanted to go back to bed. Which I did.

Tina got up this morning and turned on the water heater for a shower and then took off for a walk. I stay in bed a bit longer, until the generator quit running again, that is. It seems that the water heater being turned on had loaded the generator a bit more, causing the engine to run a bit warmer and the radiator fan couldn't move enough air to keep it cool. I knew what I had to do. I got my lazy rear end out of bed, got cleaned up, dressed and off to work. You see, driving isn't the only job you have when you are a truck owner/driver. You have to be a mechanic as well.

When I got outside I found the door for the front of the generator hanging, broken loose from its mounts. I removed the door and then the cover for the generator and set it aside. After removing all the pieces from around the radiator that would come off, I proceeded to spray the radiator down with a degreaser and let it soak for a bit. I decided as long as I was working on the generator, I might as well do a service as well. I removed the K&N Air Filter sprayed on the special cleaning agent and let it set for a bit too. I changed the oil and fuel filters and topped off the oil level. I also sprayed the rest of the generator down with degreaser and sprayed the area off with water. I repeated the degreasing of the radiator to be sure it was good and clean.

After a thorough cleaning and inspection of all wear parts and topping off the coolant reservoir I started work on reattaching the door to the cover. I had to drill out the broken rivets and install new rivets in their place. As Murphy's Law commands, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Both batteries for my cordless drill were dead. I keep them plugged in for emergency use but it seems that they have overcharged and are bad now. I was able to get enough juice out of them to drill 9 rivets out but that is all. They are completely dead now. Good ole Black and Decker junk.

I re-riveted the door to the cover and re-installed it to the generator. All is well now it seems.

I also changed the FS 2500 bypass oil filter on the truck engine. I love this filter. It only takes about 30 minutes from start to finish to change and keeps the oil amazingly clean. I run oil samples with every filter change to make sure the oil is still good and clean.

After completing the work on the truck, we headed over to the truck wash in the area. They also make a killer burger. I had them wash the truck while we had dinner and now, here we sit, watching television.

We don't know at this point to where we will be headed but I'm sure that after we get to sleep real good the phone will ring with our orders. We shall see.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Shortly after my last post, and making plans to work on and wash the truck, we took a phone call from dispatch asking us to run a load from LAX to Phoenix then on to Albuquerque. From there, Monday evening, we would be moved with an empty trailer to El Paso, Tx and then load to Dallas. Though it wasn't what we had in mind for a load, we accepted it to get moving. The load was to be ready by 1500 EDT.

We got notification that the load was ready at about 1400. We hooked the loaded trailer, performed a pre-trip inspection and we were off to Phoenix.

All was well, we got out of California, into Arizona on I-10 East and we were at the 55 mile post when I noticed the sound of the cooling fan being engaged but no indication the engine was warm enough for that to be the case. I kept a close eye on the temperature and it never raised. The fan continued to stay engaged and yet no sign of excessive engine heat. Without warning, more than already given, there was a swift loud rattling noise, and loud squeal, and it all stopped as quickly as it started. Even the fan quit running. I knew we had thrown a belt off the alternator, which also drives the water pump/fan The voltmeter light, and the check engine lights came on immediately. Before I could get stopped the engine temp light came on and the temp gauge rose to about 220 deg.

After getting stopped, I got out and tilted the hood. Man, was it was way worse than I had actually expected...and I always expect the worse and then anything less is always a blessing, but I digress.

The fan clutch bearings failed. The fan Clutch and hub is that part which with air pressure, controlled by engine temperature, engages the fan to cool then engine and when the engine is a running temperature again, the air pressure shuts off and thus the fan clutch dis-engages. When the bearings in the fan clutch hub failed, the fan sailed, at a very high rate of rotation,into the radiator. That broke nearly every blade off the fan, broke the fan shroud, and made several gouges into the radiator causing at least 2 tubes in the radiator to leak.

Well, this is where trucking get to be fun, well, interesting at least. This was at 2030, that's 8:30 EDT. We called dispatch to tell them we had a breakdown and couldn't make it to phoenix then we called our shop folks in Columbus OH to let them know that we needed a tow to the Kenworth dealer in Phoenix.

Dispatch re-dispatched a truck to our location to rescue our load and take it to phoenix,and the shop called a tow truck out of Phoenix. The rescue truck got to us at about 2145 and hooked our trailer and headed for Phoenix. The tow truck finally got to us at about 2300. An Arizona highway patrol officer also arrived on the scene shortly after the tow truck. The officer walked up and asked what happened and without missing a beat I told the officer I was out of hours and had to be towed the rest of the way to Phoenix. He got a pretty good laugh, thanked me for being a conscientious driver and calling a tow truck when I was out of hours and we continued a great conversation.

The officer walked over and was reading the truck, commented on principle #9 and then the poem on the doors and wanted to know how many shotguns and rifles we had in the truck. I explained I didn't have any, because our company forbids firearms in the truck. They would rather their drivers be assaulted and or killed over a load of freight. We talked for about an hour about how America would be a safer place if everyone who wanted could carry a weapon after proper vetting, we talked about our current political climate, the current administration, and the unsustainable trajectory of our indebtedness to foreign entities.

After much work, some necessary, some not so much, the tow truck driver had us hooked to his tow truck and we were off. We started at the 59.5 mile marker and the tow truck driver had to stop at the rest area somewhere around the 85 mile post. It was a very quick stop and we were off again. This tow truck driver was unbelievable. He did everything but drive the tow truck. The first time we took off he immediately grabbed his phone and started texting. The he made a phone call. This was all being done at, according to the gps system mounted on the dash, 85 mph. After leaving the rest area, he seemed to have a very runny nose. He again began texting, then lit a cigarette, programmed the gps and made a phone call, again all at 80+ mph while driving with his elbows.

Fortunately, for us that is, his tow truck started making a whining noise. HE asked if I could hear the noise and I told him they could hear it in Phoenix and that it sounded like the input shaft bearing in the transmission was going bad. He kept mashing on it, 80+ miles per hour, passing another truck, smoking his cigarette, texting his boss and driving with his elbow. Before he got around the truck he was passing a loud grinding noise ensued and the transmission popped out of gear. He coasted to the side of the road and called his boss. Tina and I removed ourselves from his truck and headed back to ours where we'd be a bit more comfortable.

About 30 minutes later he came back to let us know that he had another tow truck coming for us and a low boy tractor trailer coming for him. So about an hour or so passes and the other 2 tow vehicle arrive. The low boy winches the broke down tow truck onto his trailer and off he goes. The second tow truck driver gets us hooked up to his tow truck at about 0430 and off we go. We were at the 96 mile marker when the second tow truck picked us up so we only had about 40 miles or so to go to the Kenworth dealer in Phoenix. That was a very long 40 miles.

We heard all about his night out drinking before he was called to come get us, we heard about how the other tow truck driver, the first one, made him mad, we heard about an old man that works at the tow company and chases younger women, we watched him text his boss, call his boss and tell us how he is in control of the old man that likes to chase younger women, and finally we heard about how, apparently he is such a "company" and that he gets the best tow truck. He is the only one besides the boss that gets to drive the truck that he normally drives. Amazingly though, that truck too, is in the shop for repairs.

We got to where we were going to park the truck at about 0530 and went to bed until the dealer opened at 0900 EDT. We got up at about 0845, drove the truck about 100 yards to the dealer driveway and got checked into service for repairs. WE were hungry so we went over to the local waffle house for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the shop and awaited complete diagnosis. While we sere standing around waiting, the leasing manager complimented us on the theme of our truck and we had a fantastic conversation about what is happening in America. I told him about the West Valley Tea Party Patriots and how to find them on the web and he was going to look them up and see about joining the group. Mission accomplished again. It seems that even a breakdown can be a blessing. About an hour later the bad news came. Really though, not any worse than I had figured. Radiator repair, fan shroud repair, new fan, and a new fan hub and clutch assembly.

I also asked them to replace the air filter, the crankcase filter, check fluid levels in the differentials, the transmission and the front hub assemblies, replace the water filter and run the overhead while it was in the shop. We had just had a D.O.T. inspection done on Friday and had to replace a brake chamber on the right front rear axle so I knew anything to do with D.O.T. standards was okay and I do the filter and lubes myself. We should be set for a while when we get the truck back at this point.

It is now Tuesday evening, Tina and I went to Claim Jumper to treat ourselves to a great dinner and now we are resting. The truck is to be ready tomorrow afternoon and though we don't know where we will be headed, we are quite sure we will have a memorable experience. That's just truckin'.

Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; My version of that is this...In all things be thankful. Though sometimes very tough, I try. Sometimes not immediately, but almost always it does happen. I heard a sermon once that you have reached a great level of maturity in the Lord when the first thing that comes to mind when something happens, good or bad, is Praise God or to give thanks in one way or another. I pray to someday reach that level. Tina is certainly a guiding light.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

We got to Dallas at about 6 o'clock pm. We dropped our trailer and checked on our outgoing load. Not ready yet, but would be by 8pm. We decided that we would have dinner in the truck and just relax a bit. Tina fixed dinner and I answered a few emails. Our load was ready at 8 o'clock, as promised, and off we headed for Columbus, OH.

We traveled I-30 to Little Rock, AR and then I-40 to Nashville then I-65 to Louisville and I-71 into Columbus. Before we got to Columbus, again, dispatch contacted us and they wanted us to run a load to Rock Tavern NY, hand it off to a truck going to Windsor Lock CT, and for us to grab an empty trailer and head back to Columbus. They would have a load for us, going to Phoenix AZ, Tuesday morning if we would do the Rock Tavern relay so we said we'd be happy to do that for them.

Our load for Rock Tavern was ready about an hour or so before we got to Columbus and it has to run straight through to Rock Tavern. We had hoped to be have enough time to get a hot, restaurant meal in Columbus, but since the load was ready, that wouldn't happen. We got to Columbus at 2 o'clock, dropped our DFW load and hooked to the loaded trailer and headed to Rock Tavern NY. We have fuel available at the Columbus terminal,but there was a long line and we decided to go on up the road and fuel elsewhere. We got to Hubbard OH and bought about 100 gallons of fuel, to get us the rest of the way to Rock Tavern NY and all the way back to Columbus OH. We arrived in Rock Tavern at about 1230, the other truck wasn't there to make the change, and since we aren't allowed to leave loaded trailers unattended due to the increase in freight thefts in the industry, we laid down and got a short nap until he arrived. The nap was actually very short, about 20 minutes or so.

We handed off the loaded trailer and hooked to an empty and headed back to Columbus. I made it as far as Scranton PA, about 100 miles or so, before I had to go to bed. Since we were empty, and our load to Phoenix wouldn't be ready until Tuesday morning, there was no hurry to get back to Columbus. I parked at a truck stop in Scranton and we slept until about 830 am or so. We got up, showered and went inside for a nice, relaxed, hot breakfast. We left Scranton at about 1000 am and continued on back to Columbus.

When we turned south, on I-71, I looked at the fuel gauge and the little red warning lite was flashing. I recalculated the fuel mileage, figured how many miles we had driven and decided to go on to Columbus. The closer we got, the more worried we both were that we wouldn't make it all the way. I proceeded on, passed a few fuel stops, against the wishes of Tina, and worried our way into Columbus. Now, any of you guys that might read this, know with all you are worth, if you run out of fuel, or gas, with your wife sitting there telling you that you need to stop, you're never gonna live it down. I got to the exit to our terminal, I exited, and got stuck, on an uphill exit, at a red lite. Sitting there sweating, looking out the corner of my eye, at Tina, looking out the corner of her eye at me. She had a scowl on her face that could burn me alive if she knew I was looking back at her. You guys know the look. The light turned green, we took off, and drove the last 3 miles to the terminal.

I pulled in the yard, with much relief, went and dropped the empty trailer and headed for the fuel island. I pumped 264.5 gallons of fuel in a set of 300 gallon tanks. Now, it sounds like, by that statement, that we had 35.5 gallons left. Right? Not so much. In a set of truck fuel tanks, only about 90% of the fuel is "usable" fuel. The pickup tubes at the bottom of the tank are off the bottom just a bit, to keep it from picking up all the trash, water, etc that is on the bottom of the tanks. That being said, I actually had about 5.5 gallons of fuel left. Trust me when I say, that wasn't a skillful calculation of fuel mileage but rather a very generous blessing from God. I didn't let Tina know it was luck though. I was sure to tell her, while humbly praising God, how skillfully the calculations were made.

After fueling, we went for dinner, and then to Walmart, to pick up some much needed food for the truck. After our shopping was done, it was back to the terminal for a good nights sleep.

Our load was late again this morning. It wasn't ready until about 0715. We got up, hooked the load and we are now headed to Phoenix. We will be traveling I-70 west, into St Louis Mo and then I-44 to Oklahoma City OK. When we get to Oklahoma City, we will travel I-40 west to Flagstaff AZ. In Flagstaff we will take I-17 south into Phoenix AZ. We will have to fuel somewhere along the way, but I will be letting Tina make the decision as to where. Currently, we are coming into Indianapolis In and it is about 1100 am.

Tina and I have decided that we think that Ohio has the most 912 Project fans in the country. Every time we come here, we get more folks taking pictures form their cars, giving us thumbs up as the pass, riding beside us reading the truck, walking up to the truck in parking lots etc., than we do anywhere else in the country. The reaction is amazing everywhere we go, but Ohio takes the prize for being the most enthusiastic.

We had contact from a few 912 candidates the other day and we are planning to meet a few of them in Phoenix, if we have some time, when we get there.

I have several new pictures to post but am unable to post them until I get my other computer back from the shop. The computer is fixed but, to retrieve it, I have to get to Florida. I will get them posted here as soon as I am able to get it back. It has all my camera software installed and I don't want to install the software here. This computer has a Vista operating system on it and I think it sucks. I know very little about computers except to tell you that the XP system on the other computer is far more user friendly than this one.

Finally, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.


In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

We arrived in Atlanta at about 1430 yesterday afternoon and I had some preventative maintenance to do on the truck. Before we got there, we were given a dispatch back to Dallas and then on to Columbus OH.

I had to change the engine oil bypass filter and do a grease job on the chassis and components. I also had a broken bolt in the left rear mudflap as a result of something off the road hitting the flap and breaking the bolt. I got all my tools and supplies laid out and arranged, I also plugged my battery charger in for my battery operated grease gun. I had remembered running the battery down during the last grease job so I wanted it to be fully charged. While the battery was charging, I proceeded to remove the FS2500 bypass filter canister, remove the old filter and "O" ring and installed a new "O" ring. I also wiped the inside of the filter canister out and installed the new filter into the canister and then the canister onto the filter head. After torquing the canister bolt to the recommended 40ft/lbs, I started the engine and checked for leaks. All was well, so I shut off the engine and checked the oil level, again, all was well. That is one of many things I like about the FS2500 bypass filter as opposed to some of the others, it only takes 1 1/2 qts to replenish lost oil from filter change. I won't top it off until the sump is a full gallon low. I'll get an oil sample for analysis when we stop for fuel later, while the engine is at full operating temperature.

While I was working on the filter change, another driver came over and wanted to talk about the truck. His name was Dave and he is a Vietnam Vet...God Bless Him. I thanked him for his service and we had a good talk about our mission with the truck.
We talked about the theft of our nation by the power hungry politicians, the shredding and subsequent burning of our constitution, again by the power drunk politicians in both parties, and the coming voter revolution in November 2010, by the power holding citizens, WE THE PEOPLE.

While we talked, another driver drove up and wanted to take some pictures of the truck so he had a ball with his camera while Dave and I talked. I didn't have either of them sign the truck though because it is so filthy right now that the signatures won't stay on anyway. I think I am going to start having the folks sign a sheet of paper, send that to the sign maker and have him make a vinyl signature to place on the truck. The fading of the signatures with indelible ink sharpies continues to progress and there is just no way to stop the natural fade. I think this is our best solution.

After Dave and I finished talking, he headed back to his truck for a nap before he had to leave for San Francisco, CA. I finished the truck grease job, replaced the broken bolt in the mud flap, and cleaned up and put away my tools and supplies.

Tina had ordered a pizza for supper so we ate and I took a shower. While I was working on the truck, Tina took a call from dispatch, and the terminal in Atlanta had added a load to Phoenix AZ and they wanted to know if we would take that rather than DFW then Columbus. We agreed and that was to be ready at about 1100PM.

The load was finally ready about 1230 this morning and we left Atlanta at 0100. We headed West on I-20 and will continue on that interstate to the Van Horn TX area where we will access I-10 west and run that all the way to Phoenix, AZ. We had to fuel in Shreveport LA a bit ago and had some really good feedback on the truck there as well. Really though, it seems as if things have cooled down a bit since 9/12. Not sure if that is just a mis-perception on my part, after our vacation, or if it is a real calming down, knowing that we win in November next year. I think, personally, that we can't afford to cool down, we must stay vigilant and keep the heat on these dirt bag politicians.

We are currently near Longview, TX and should be in Phoenix by about 0730 or 0800 tomorrow. We don't have anymore planned stops except driver changes at the proper intervals. Stay tuned though, you just never know what might happen on the road.

In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.


In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW