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Lower 48, United States
Long Haul Truck Drivers and the World That Surrounds Us.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Great Randy Mix-Up

The last few days or so, a friend of mine has been calling; at least that's what the caller I'D says. He always calls when I am driving, so I never pick-up.

Today I tried calling him back; I say tried because his cell has been giving him problems, along with his cellular provider. He has been thinking of switching services.

So, I make the call. No answer. I leave a message.

I have also been getting calls from a woman named Amy. Since she is using a number I do not recognize, I have let it go to voicemail. She has always mentioned my first name and requested some health info for "the" insurance. Since she did not sound like any kind of a company representative, I have never called her back.

Anyway, a few minutes later my friend calls back, I answered this time. A woman says "Hello Randy." I say hello and ask who this is. She tells me that is really sad. I say I am sorry for not knowing her, could she please refresh my memory? She replies that that this is Amy, and we that we had had a son together. Boy was I surprised (not as surprised as Terri when I told her the story); especially since I had never dated a woman named Amy. I told her that their must be some mistake, and she wanted to know how I could do this to our son. I replied that I had never met her before, and asked if she had recently purchased a new cell phone. She replied yes. I explained about my friend having trouble with his phone and provider, and that he must have finally switched providers.

She asks for my last name, I give it to her. She says, " Your not Randy Dunlop the third?" Nope.

Poor girl, now she is really confused. She actually believed that her dead beat ex had gone to all the trouble of tracking down her new phone number to make contact with her, so that he could start paying the last 5 years of child support.

She finally apologized, and hung up. Boy did Terri and I get a laugh on that one.

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Christmas Tree Load

Yesterday we went down to Sheridan, Or to pick-up a load of Christmas Trees bound for Florida. When we finally picked up the load, we had to stay for the night at the farm because of the fog. The next morning we got underway.

We headed out I-84. Got just past Pendleton to a hill known as Cabbage,Terri was driving. Very steep for truckers, very long. At the top is a rest stop called Dead Mans Pass. We pulled in. As we were pulling up to a parking space, the truck started to make weird noises as we were turning the wheel. Suddenly the steering wheel vibrated and kicked back. We stopped the truck. Upon inspection, the power steering reservoir had overflowed, and there were now two six inch wide puddles on the ground.

We notified Over The Road Maintinance. They advised us to continue onto Ontario, OR (about 150 miles) to the Kenworth dealership there. We replied that as long as it was a straight line, we would be happy to. If there was any turning involved at all, we would have a problem. They replied to us, that they would send someone.

About 15 minutes later we got a call from a local tow service that he was coming to get us and our trailer, but it would be a while. He needed help, and his other crews were all at a wreck.




Friday, November 9, 2007

First Load

So today we got it, our first load. It went back to Portland. They gave us a loaner truck until ours is ready. The loaner is a 2006 Kenworth. Fairly nice, but neither one of us like how it handles.

We made the trip quickly with no problems.