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Thursday, November 11, 2004

Thursday, November 11th (Veteran's Day)
Today was one of those hurry-up and wait days. Yesterday, while I was doing more of the same at the drop-yard, I had my clutch fixed (it was in the early stages of slipping) and a some lightbulbs replaced in the dash. The mechanic did a great job at adjusting the clutch. That baby is tight--no wiggle room at all. The challenge is now to get used to how improved the shifting experience is (I actually stalled it while pulling away from the garage yesterday since the play in the clutch is different now that it has been adjusted).

I ended up delivering the load that I relayed in to the drop-yard yesterday. Had a very leisurely morning.

As I was going to pick-up my next load in the afternoon, I managed to take a left turn (instead of a right turn) and thus had to figure out a way to turn the rig around. I spied a driveway where I thought I could turn it around no problem. Well, as I did my 180-degree turn-around, my trailer hit the driver-side faring (the end of the cab closest to the trailer). Crunch. A few "choice" and unprintable words then escaped my lips. Since I hadn't yet gotten used to the "new and improved" clutch (the foot and brain were still into the old clutching arrangement), I managed to lurch the tractor right into the trailer. What a bummer. It doesn't look to bad--it's just bent out-of-shape a bit. Maintenance told me to bring it into the shop next time I'm routed near it so that they can take a look at it. There goes any chance of earning a quarterly safety bonus for as much as one year. Sigh....

Now I'm backed into the dock and have been waiting for over one-hour to get loaded. The longer I'm here, the less likely I'll make my morning appointment tomorrow in Ohio. I sure hope that tomorrow will have more driving instead of waiting around!

miles driven = 134

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