ACCIDENT:::FIRE!!!...all in one month????

First I need to say before you read too much, and, before Randy rolls his eyes too much...we are OK and doing well...

Now...for the story....
I guess that opening kind of ruins it huh?

Well, long story short we have had our first accident AND our first truck fire (ish).

The short of the accident...we were taking a nap in our bunk, when all of the sudden it seemed like the sky was falling! Our truck giggled and banged. I threw my clothes on and jumped out of the truck...likitty split! Because we have seen WAY too many hit and runs in truck stops. Sure enough a guy backed into us and crushed part of our front...in between the hood and the door. Well, by then Randy was dressed and I thought it best that he talked to the guy (for OH so many reasons, number one we haven't had this truck very long!) Meanwhile I started taking pictures like crazy. Now here is the funny part. The guy didn't get out of the truck right away. He didn't even know that he hit us! Well in his Randy way he explained it to the guy and he got out and looked at our truck, his truck and said "well I guess I did." They swapped information...and we went back to sleep. So you think that would be it do ya???? Well...not so much...

...we did all the steps needed for the company and it was seeming to take quite some time to get our truck repaired (and it still isn't, 1 month later!) Well, come to find out this guy left the truck stop we were at and filed a police report on US!!! He is saying that someone else hit us, and then we saw him, got his info, and took off....that he couldn't have hit us because he had a spotter! Unfortunately for him, what he doesn't know is we are on electronic logs. If our truck MOVES it is recorded. SOOOOO there is no way that we moved that truck and took off on him...it would be in our logs! Bummer for him. Isn't filing a false police report against the law? I wish no ill will towards him...heck I don't even care really...we just want our truck fixed.

Secondly...FIRE!

For those of you who don't know ANYTHING about trucking I would like a moment to discuss Jake brakes. You know when your going down a mountain pass and a semi will kick in a really LOUD rumblingish sound? This is an engine brake. When we are driving down steep grades with all that weight it is good to use these brakes because it helps keep our regular brakes cool and usable. If the regular brakes get too hot...they may catch on FIRE, or you might "loose" them. Randy could post a clearer definition of all this if you asked him...I'm just giving ya the TL version! So anyways... Jake brakes are GREAT!

Well, we were on a I-80 pass in Utah called Parley's Canyon. It was late. Randy was sleeping. It was REALLY dark. I noticed that my cruise control AND my jake brakes were not working. No worries I thought to myself...I will practice winter driving skills and figure out what is up with these other issues when Randy gets up. (Very bad to use Jakes in winter driving conditions, will explain some other time)
Well, I like to do the passes with the CB on, in case there is a run away truck, or someones brakes are smoking, or whatever. Next thing I know I hear our company's name coming over the CB saying we're smoking bad!!! I pull over IMMEDIATELY!!!! And sure enough we are smoking pretty bad. I jump back into the truck and wake up Randy, and we go look at it. No fire. But they were pretty HOT. SO we let them cool...and continued on our way. With no additional problems...until Randy was driving in Cali the next day!!!! He was also on I-80 coming into California. BIG LONG drops...and Randy had the brakes smoking so bad that when he stopped he used the fire extinguisher on 'em!!!

They never ACTUALLY caught on fire. But it makes a better headline to say FIRE vs. ALMOST FIRE.

Oh, and what was the mechanical issue that made our jakes and cruise control go out? A little spring in the clutch that holds up the clutch petal when not in use!!!!