Bob Sleasman's Blog, May, 2008

Bob's Blog

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May 21-31, 2008. We have been doing well. We haven't been sitting much; the loads have been pretty steady. The truck has been running well, including the APU.

We took one load that emptied out near Akron, OH. We decided to take the truck to TSI; they had ordered a new harness for the shore power on our APU a while ago. When we got there we told them about the problems we had at Atlantic Detroit Diesel. I told the tech that they changed out the control panel in the sleeper. The tech looked at it and came back. He said the control panel was never changed. We told him it was changed, but they used the old key pad, the tech said that it is impossible to change the control panel without changing the key pad, because it in all just one unit. Another lie by ADD, the tech at TSI did put a new control panel in for us, but they were sent the wrong harness for the shore power.

It was near Memorial Day weekend when we left TSI so we decided to deadhead home. We spent the weekend home and had a nice cookout on Saturday, and relaxed the next two days.

Donna has wanted the living room floor redone; she wants to have a laminated wood floor put in. We decided that she would go out as a solo, and I would lay the floor. We had to be back home in a week anyway, because we were going to fly out to California for Amanda’s high school graduation.

Donna left the day after Memorial Day; I called my brother David and invited him to help me lay the floor. We went and picked the flooring up on Tuesday, we had it laid by late Thursday afternoon. We have never tried to lay a laminated floor in our lives and were surprised at how easy it was. One mistake was made. I got my shop vac out, when I turned it on the suck up some of the sawdust I found out in a hurry that the filter element was not in place. The sawdust sucked up and then blew out all over the room; it was not a pretty sight, or a good thing.

Donna came home on the 31st. She loved the floor; I managed to clean up most of the spewed sawdust by the way. Now she wants me to do the bedroom.

I sold my motorcycle, I wasn't using it much, and Dyche’s brother was looking for a Sportster, a deal was made. Dyche is an owner operator leased on with Interstate Distributors. He happened to be in the area, so we loaded the bike on the back of his KW W900L, and off he went. I need to add that I injured my back while loading the bike on the back of his tractor. I spent the three days before our flight going to the chiropractor, which helped me greatly. Blog Author Top of Page Bottom of Page

May 1-20, 2008. We get a call late in the day from Detroit Diesel. They said that the truck was ready, so off we go to pick it up. When we got there they told us they had to replace the control panel, they said it took them 8 hours to find out the panel was bad. I asked them why it took so long, again they had no answer. I then asked them about the HVAC unit. The service writer said it checked out ok, now the tech who worked on the unit was there, he jumped in and said he never looked at the HVAC unit, and that they don't have the gauges to check the R22 level. He also said nobody in the shop was R22 qualified. The original reason I brought the truck in was because of the HVAC unit. Well let’s just say we had a few words, the service writer and I, mostly I.

After all was said and done, the work on the HVAC unit was farmed out to Northway Transport, who happens to be a Carrier dealer who we do a lot of business with. They are not yet fully qualified as a Comfort-Pro service center, but will be soon. They were very busy; spring is a busy time for all reefer dealers. They were able to get us in Monday May 5th.

We brought the truck over to Northway on Monday; by early afternoon we got a call that it was ready. The Freon was low; they recharged the system and it was working just fine.

The only bright side to the APU ordeal is that all the work was covered under warranty. The time off has also helped my back also.

We were back in service, and had a load picking up in New Hampshire on the 7th going to Minnesota.

We are again doing well, traveling the roads where our loads lead us. This life we have chosen is not for everyone. We, as well as our fellow expediters, dance to a different beat.

I am changing the way I do my blogging. I will not be posting every day. I will also be expanding my blog to include more personal thoughts and feelings on a number of topics, some popular, some not, as well as expediting blogs.

I have to say congratulations to Phil Madsen, he has been chosen as the new Editor of Expedite Now magazine. I know you will do a great job Phil. I think I can speak for the majority of the expediting community in wishing you much success in your new position. Blog Author Top of Page Bottom of Page