More breakdowns

This has been a trying last couple of days, oh my!  I had the door to truck #24 break.  The guys at our scrap yard in Sweetwater broke it.  Not sure how & I'm not all that concerned about it.  I spent about 5 hours at the repair shop in Abilene, TX getting it fixed.  I wasn't really thrilled about that.  It was interesting seeing my door tore all apart at the shop.  They found a plastic fork, part of a magazine and some coins in there.  I guess after 8 years, some interesting things can fall into our doors!


The inside of the door on truck 24

I've been running solid going on 9 days now, no days off.  So, I've been a little tired lately.  It's important for me to get at least 6 hours of sleep.  You guys should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep.  Your bodies are growing like crazy so it's important to get lots of quality sleep.  Running at night and dealing with breakdowns that keep me out later than usual really cuts into my sleeping or home time.  It's been hard to get on here & blog lately! 
On Monday morning at about 5:45 AM I had a small fire in truck #24.  My air conditioner has been out for about 2 weeks.  I have left it alone since it's been cool at night.  I had my guess that the compressor was no good and I was right.  It caught on fire!!  I pulled the hood open and put it out with my fire extinguisher.  All 18-wheelers going down the road are required to carry fire extinguishers.  I'm sure happy I had mine!! 


Engine view of the Air Conditioner compressor.  We cut the belt on it to bypass and tied a tension pulley up to get it going again.



Front of the Air Conditioning Compressor.  The 3 bolts on the front.  That's what caught on fire.  It's black & crispy!

The repair man came out and we did some field repairs to get it to the shop.  The repair man went rapid-fire on my starter and burned it up.  So the starter had to be replaced as well.  I've been driving truck #9 in the meantime.  It's a day-cab.  The trailer is like mine, but it has a flat bottom instead of a round bottom.  That means I can only haul scrap iron in it and not shredder material.  I've been delivering to the mill in Midlothian, TX and it takes a LOT longer to get unloaded some nights.  As you can see, things have been very hectic for me lately!!

Slag pot of hot molten steel lighting up the night!  These guys really brighten up the night at the steel mill.

 So, outside of trucking - How about them Rangers!!!!  3-2 lead in the World Series!!  Now, that's one television program I wouldn't be upset if you guys stayed up late to watch!!  I know those games are played late which is a bummer.  But how exciting!! 

Also, a very large piece of history has played out since the last blog.  On October 20, Muammar Gaddafi was captured and eventually passed away over the weekend.  He siezed power in Lybia - a arabic country in Africa, back in 1969.  He was a dictator tied to several terrorist activities.  This will be something you guys will be able to look back on when you are older. 

So, I have an assignment and I'm very late on it.  I PROMISE I will get it to you.  Free time hasn't been something that I have had a lot of lately but I WILL get it to you. 

Halloween is coming up!  Are you guys doing anything for it?  I'm not really big on halloween but there are some pretty funny pumpkin carvings out there!!  I hope you guys are having a great week!  --Mr. Walker

Funny pumpkins