Or my alternate title “That’s going to leave a mark”

I know I am posting this on April 1st and I just wish it was an April Fools joke. ..it is not.

As I have mentioned before,  this year had been pretty brutal in the Trucking industry.  Volume and rates have been awful.   We have spent a lot of time at home and have used the down time to do a lot of repairs and maintenance on the truck.  We have been fighting a steering issue that we just could not pin down.  Spent money on new springs and bushings,  replaced some u bolts and did a three axle alignment.   Did not fix it.  Finally replaced the entire steering box and it solved the problem.   It turns out most problems can be solved if you throw enough money at it.  Got the truck out of the shop last Thursday.  We posted the truck but with Easter that Sunday we were being very picky.   We refused to go out over a holiday weekend for cheap.  Nothing good popped up so we had an awesome weekend with the kids and grandkids.

Monday morning I found a great paying load from Oklahoma City to Renton Washington.  It was paying more than loads from Atlanta to Seattle and it was picking up on Tuesday.  We booked it and then I found a load from Nashville to Tulsa as a bonus.   So off we went.   So nice to be back on the truck together.   I was happy,  Anne was happy and the dogs were really happy.   We stayed that way almost all day.

Tuesday night at about 10:30 pm we were rolling through Cheyenne Wyoming when it went from raining to 3 inches of snow and near white out conditions in a couple of miles.   I was driving and slowed way down looking for a place to pull over when the truck just started sliding sideways.  We hit the jersey barrier at about a 15 degree angle and bounced back onto the middle of the freeway were we proceeded to jack knife.  Because of the sudden snowstorm,  unbeknownst to me,  Anne had gotten up and was sitting on the edge of the bed to look out at the road.   So she went flying.   She is very sore from a number of bruises but she is fine….physically

We have had better days.   There were a bunch of accidents but the tow truck got to us first.  The State Trooper said “Wow, that came out of nowhere,  welcome to Springtime in Wyoming”  The good news is mechanically the truck is fine,  just body damage.  Also the freight was fine because we were going slow when it happened.

We spent the night in a hotel then I rented a car in the morning and we headed down to Fort Collins to stay with my son and his fiance.

The big issue was how to deliver the load?   It was an expedited load to Paccar (Kenworth) that was to deliver Thursday morning.  The other problem  is the broker had arranged for another driver to grab our trailer in Renton and make the delivery since at Paccar, only Peterbilt or Kenworth trucks are allowed on the property.   I guess they don’t want their employees to see a sweet Volvo.

It took us another day but we rented a truck, headed back to Cheyenne and grabbed our trailer and we were off.  Delivery is today and we just rolled through Spokane.  Also Paccar has relented and have given us approval to make the delivery ourselves.

Anne has been an emotional basket case.   We hit a small snowstorm last night near Sheridan WY that would have never phased us before and she kinda lost it.   Way better today.   Part of it is lack of sleep and pain, she has a few big bruises and is moving pretty slowly.

We are making this delivery and then we’ll spend the weekend at my parents before getting a load on Monday back to Denver so we can return the rental truck.   It is WAY too expensive to keep using.   We are then going to go home until the truck is fixed and I will fly back to Denver to pick it up.

We are ok, the truck will be fixed and in a couple of weeks we can start making money again.