I delivered a fire truck down at Ft Stewart, GA on Wednesday. They needed me to pick up a military truck at Camp Lejeune on Thursday so I dead-headed up there so I could make the pick up on time.
I arrived at Camp Lejeune at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, right on schedule. There were some really bad storms, including tornadoes, hammering the area so they called off the move for the day and we made plans to load it this morning, Friday. There is no truck stop around there so I got a cheap room for the night.
This morning I was on the base bright and early, ready to get the truck loaded and get rolling. The guys who were there to break down the show tent in which the truck was parked were, well, not as motivated as I was. I had to get a little testy with the foreman before things finally got going.
Once they had one end of the tent opened up I was able to drive the truck out and load it on my trailer. Piece of cake. Despite the delays I was loaded and rolling by 8:30 and had plenty of time to get the truck up to Quantico Marin Base this afternoon.
Well, that was until I rolled up to a stop light in Kinston, NC and the low air pressure warning alarm started making a lot of noise. Yep, sure enough, one glance at the air gauges showed me that the air pressure was almost down to the point of tripping the emergency brakes. As I was in traffic that would not be a good thing.
When the light changed I made my turn and found a wide spot on the shoulder of the road. I pulled onto the shoulder just as the emergency brakes popped. That was cutting it close.
I inspected the rig expecting to find a major air leak somewhere. Despite my careful inspection I could find no such leak. That was both good and bad. It was good that there weren't any broken air lines. It was bad because that left the air compressor itself and the most likely suspect.
I placed a call to our shop and he was able to locate a repair shop only a couple of miles away from me. Great. They called me a couple of minutes later to find out exactly where I was parked and said they would send a guy "right out there".
90 minutes later the guy shows up, pretty much does everything I had already done, decides it is most likely the compressor (I am pretty sure that is what I said over the phone), and that he can't fix it on the side of the road (duh).
He used the compressor on his service truck to fill my rig's air tanks. That would allow my brakes to release and give me enough air to have working brakes for a couple of miles or so. That would be enough to make it to their repair shop.
It was. barely.
I killed all afternoon hanging around there until they finally pulled the old compressor, made some calls and located a new one some 40 miles away, sent their parts runner after it, and installed it on my engine. The day was shot.
I called my contact at Quantico and he said he could meet me to take delivery of the truck on Saturday afternoon after his kid's soccer match. I said that'll work, and it was very nice of him to agree to do it on his day off.
It has been a very trying couple of days. I am now parked at a truck stop for the night. I had a nice steak dinner and now plan to do absolutely nothing but kick back, smoke a pipe, and relax. Tomorrow is another day.
I arrived at Camp Lejeune at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, right on schedule. There were some really bad storms, including tornadoes, hammering the area so they called off the move for the day and we made plans to load it this morning, Friday. There is no truck stop around there so I got a cheap room for the night.
This morning I was on the base bright and early, ready to get the truck loaded and get rolling. The guys who were there to break down the show tent in which the truck was parked were, well, not as motivated as I was. I had to get a little testy with the foreman before things finally got going.
Once they had one end of the tent opened up I was able to drive the truck out and load it on my trailer. Piece of cake. Despite the delays I was loaded and rolling by 8:30 and had plenty of time to get the truck up to Quantico Marin Base this afternoon.
Well, that was until I rolled up to a stop light in Kinston, NC and the low air pressure warning alarm started making a lot of noise. Yep, sure enough, one glance at the air gauges showed me that the air pressure was almost down to the point of tripping the emergency brakes. As I was in traffic that would not be a good thing.
When the light changed I made my turn and found a wide spot on the shoulder of the road. I pulled onto the shoulder just as the emergency brakes popped. That was cutting it close.
I inspected the rig expecting to find a major air leak somewhere. Despite my careful inspection I could find no such leak. That was both good and bad. It was good that there weren't any broken air lines. It was bad because that left the air compressor itself and the most likely suspect.
I placed a call to our shop and he was able to locate a repair shop only a couple of miles away from me. Great. They called me a couple of minutes later to find out exactly where I was parked and said they would send a guy "right out there".
90 minutes later the guy shows up, pretty much does everything I had already done, decides it is most likely the compressor (I am pretty sure that is what I said over the phone), and that he can't fix it on the side of the road (duh).
He used the compressor on his service truck to fill my rig's air tanks. That would allow my brakes to release and give me enough air to have working brakes for a couple of miles or so. That would be enough to make it to their repair shop.
It was. barely.
I killed all afternoon hanging around there until they finally pulled the old compressor, made some calls and located a new one some 40 miles away, sent their parts runner after it, and installed it on my engine. The day was shot.
I called my contact at Quantico and he said he could meet me to take delivery of the truck on Saturday afternoon after his kid's soccer match. I said that'll work, and it was very nice of him to agree to do it on his day off.
It has been a very trying couple of days. I am now parked at a truck stop for the night. I had a nice steak dinner and now plan to do absolutely nothing but kick back, smoke a pipe, and relax. Tomorrow is another day.
