I headed towards Minneapolis, MN without my regular truck. It was still in the shop (I'm starting to wonder if they are rebuilding the engine!).
I arrived at the receiver before the appointment time. After the trailer was unloaded, I turned around and made haste (as fast as a governed truck could go) back to the warehouse in Milwaukee, WI.
On the way back, I witnessed a hawk float (more like a controlled fall) down from a tree and pounce on some poor meal ticket by the side of the freeway. Awesome on how cunning birds of prey are.
My destination (and back) involves a full 11-hours of driving time. That means if I run into a traffic jam, I won't make it back to home. Today, everything went smooth and arrived back at the warehouse just as my time expired. Mr. J. wanted me to go pick my truck up (it was finally ready), however, I mentioned to him that I was out-of-hours. He indicated indirectly that no one would know about my "extended" driving time to which I responded "Yeah but what if something happens....?" (the inference being I would be the one totally at fault and who would pay the penalty in full for whatever--God forbid--might happen.) He backed off....
So, I'll be in the same temporary truck as I've been in for the last several days. It's a Freightliner Century Class S/T and is quieter than the Freightliner Columbia (that I regularly use). The engine brake (jake brake) has a little more oomph as well. The engine itself seems to be just a bit more powerful than the one I have (I'll have to check that out some more). The Columbia does have brighter headlights than the Century. Oh yes, the storage space in the Century is slightly better than the Columbia. Frankly, they need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to storage space for vehicles. Hopefully, my regular truck will be in the yard when I return tomorrow evening. Frankly, it's disappointing that no one called up the repair shop to see if the truck was ready. That way they could have shuttled another truck over there and returned my truck in the afternoon. Someone is not on the ball!
Tomorrow, I make the same trip all over again (I actually was supposed to go to Fargo, ND tomorrow--not sure what happened there). Hmm...should be the same mileage as well. Should be interesting to see if my mileage is exactly what it is today.
miles driven = 682
PostScript: The Blue Angels were awesome! We all (family) watched them from one of the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan near Veteran's Park in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon.
8:06:35 PM
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