1 boom truck to Carthage NC

... spending the night at Shamrock TX

... now I'm a crane operator ? ...

Shortly after 6 AM, 8 AM Eastern, I call east coast dispatch and let them know the issue with the outrigger on my truck. It is now touching the ground.

BB and I had looked at things last night and not found how to run it so I was a little hesitant to play with the lever's. We thought about all the things that could happen.

When I talk to dispatch, one of their 1st questions was do I want to be taken off the trip. Surprisingly, no. So they contacted the drop and they called me back within the hour.

I was caught off guard, they wanted me to just re-set the outrigger and go. So out to the truck I go, they start asking me questions about the dash. Opps ... I had forgotten my glasses in my rush out the door.

So I tell him I will call him back. We also have to wait for the truck to build up air pressure before we can do anything.

When everything is ready, the person at the drop starts walking me through step by step. He is not aware of the switch I had turned on last night, but has me turn it on again. Then there is a 2nd switch to turn on, PTO. I did not do that. Also, the clutch has to be in when turning it on.

NOW the hydraulics are running. He then has me turn on a switch that we had played with last night but didn't know which setting we needed. Here is the part that put my mind at ease. With the switch one direction, only the lift levers will work. Switched the other way, only out rigger levers will work. So I can't move the lift with the outrigger levers.

I guess right on which lever to use, up comes the outrigger. Just like it should. End of call. BB and I then have breakfast and the outrigger has not dropped. I call dispatch back and they want to make sure I stay on this truck. I must have really sounded like I wanted to bail, I hadn't. BB and I had just talked about all the options.

When checking out, I talked to the front desk about the homeless. Sounds like the city does have a place for them a few blocks away on the other side of the freeway but it is so bad that a lot of people would rather sleep on the street. When we did leave, the area where the homeless had been covering the sidewalk is now clear. No trash, nothing.

We did have to add another half gallon of oil this AM. And I put more tape on the wiper stub. Good news, the truck had started last night when BB and I were trying to figure out the outriggers and again twice this AM. I had also had to re-start it at the inspection station.

We finally pull out at 8 AM local, not too bad when we thought we had a good chance of being pulled from the trip.

1st stop is in Moriarty at a TA. Always a zoo, even on a Saturday AM. I get in one line and someone trying to leave via the entrance is waving for me to get out of his way. I shouldn't have, but I did move ... and then realized I was on the blind side of someone's truck so I moved again. It was a while before trucks moved enough so that I was sure of my place in line. The area I had been blocking? Was pretty much blocked by others once I got out of the way for the rest of my time there.

Another fuel pump that won't read my cards, so we have to go inside, as did the person ahead of me and the person behind me. Only about half the fuel islands at this place are working which is part of the problem. Luckily they have a yard person trying to keep people out of the closed lanes. People like to park there ... then someone else pulls in behind them expecting to be able to fuel there.

2nd stop was somewhere west of Santa Rosa at a rest area. In NM, the allow food trucks, or A food truck at each rest area. Too early for us to eat. This place was only an hour from our last stop but I wanted to check on the outrigger every hour to make sure it was holding. I held all day. Not sure what happened yesterday.

3rd stop was in Glen Rio for food at the Russel Truck Stop, now a TA. We didn't want to take too much time so we got Subway. I got something new and was not impressed. BB got a sandwich from Subway and them some green chili from the truckstop deli.

We ate in the truck, it's used and it is running. I don't plan on shutting it off more than once ... when I shut down for the night.

4th stop is the rest area in Amarillo. The new Bucee's is going up across the street. And a new Road Range is almost open at the next exit. Plus a few new one9's across the area.

We had thought we would be shutting down in Amarillo but I have just enough hours to get to Shamrock. So we push on. I really want to be rid of this truck on Tuesday.

We get to Shamrock with 15 minutes to spare, for my day ... that was it.

5th stop is the Sleep Inn in Shamrock. When we check in, the desk tells us that a Chic-fil-A truck is in town so we walk down to get food. But they are out of ... salad, grilled chicken, brownies, cookies. When we talked to the front desk later they said there had been long lines this AM when the trucks opened. It is Saturday in a small town.

Only 387 miles today because of the late start and my limited hours.

I counted 74 transporter units today, all no-tow. I likely missed that many also because a lot of people do not properly mark them. And we likely saw that many more on flat beds.

Load board (weekend)

US - 228

IA - 22/21

MN - 3

WI - 15

Tomorrow, rolling by daylight. Hoping for a 500+ mile day and ... NO issues.

(but the money is good, hotels have been cheep)