Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Fort Collins, CO to Orlando, Fl

I DROVE OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS! What a trip! It was scary, but beautiful...

Before the Ft Collins load, I was driving through Colorado, and happened to see the odometer turn 200,000 at mile marker 325 on Interstate 70 in Deer Trail, Colorado at 3:45 a.m. on the 8th of November, 2007.

When we were in Commerce City, CO, we purchased two steer tires and had our 200,000 PM done. We wanted to get all 10 tires while at the T.A., but once again were told that we needed authorization to do so, unless we took the tractor to the yard to get the work done. "A control Issue" I believe. Oh, well, we ended up doing just that and now we have all 10 tires (ready for winter). We did find out however, that the wear on the tires (which was totally weird), was due to a bad alignment, which in turn, caused our shoulder problems as well. Go figure! Now we have to find a place to get a 3-axle alignment somewhere in the country so that we won't wear out the tires so quickly.


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This is a beer load from Budweiser in Ft. Collins, Colorado... All during the trip, (well, not actually all during), but after the second shift of my driving I noticed that the rattling and noises in the trailer and tractor were absolutely horrible! I didn't know what to think, but it was hard to sleep with all the noise.

It took us a day and a half to get from Colorado to Florida. Not bad, huh? We really are a great team when it comes to driving (actually when it comes to anything!) Mike is my perfect soul mate.

Anyway, back to the trip... when arriving at Budweiser, we found the source of all the noise during the trip. Whoever loaded the beer, didn't secure the kegs (which were loaded into the back of the trailer) about 4 pallets of 150 lb. kegs were crashing all over the place during the trip, to include bending one of our load locks enough to be able to use it like a "bow and arrow". It was a mess, and Budweiser wanted us to stack these kegs back on the pallets... I drive, I do not unload the freight. Mike has a bad back and I couldn't even lift the darn things! After a little discussion with the security manager, I finally got my freight unloaded. What a mess it was, kegs all over the place, pallets busted up from the falling kegs and my load lock was destroyed--all because someone didn't put the kegs behind the pallets of cases of beer. Why would someone put kegs in the back and not be secured anyway? What a dummy. We don't open the trailer so we can't put it back in order if we wanted to. Lesson to learn.... check your beer loads before you leave and if the kegs are in the back, request they be put in the middle somewhere... just a word of advise... Now, my next load...

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