Do you like my new perfume?

It's the latest thing called Eau de Wet Ashtray...........I had to leave my truck at the International dealer again last weekend because 1) the starter is going out and 2) the exhaust leak hadn't been repaired the last couple of times I wrote it up. Both are ongoing issues with the 2008 ProStars according to the service writer at the NLR dealer. I know James has had to have his starter replaced and he still has the exhaust problems. It's really weird how the starter is going out on these. Normally you get a clicking noise when you turn the key if it's failing but on these you turn the key and NOTHING, no noise, no click. Wouldn't have known what it was if James hadn't already dealt with it.





Anyway, they promised me my truck would be ready to go on Sunday but when we called in to check on it we were told that it would be Tuesday because they didn't get the fittings along with the piece needed to repair the oversized muffler that is supposed to make the fuel burn cleaner than the older trucks. I can go into more depth explaining it (only because James just explained it to me, ha-ha!) but it would bore you to tears. The important thing to know is that it doesn't work right!!!!!!!





So since we thought it would be repaired by Tuesday afternoon, I asked dispatch to assign me to an empty truck for the trip to TN. Only packed 1 change of clothes and because James was picking up at the same place and time just thought I would sleep in his truck for the one night away. No problem, right? Wrong!!!!!! The empty truck reeked of cigarette smoke and there was a thin layer of ash all over everything. I don't think the previous driver ever cracked a window and he (or she) certainly never dusted anything off. I went through 1 container of clorox wipes and a 1/2 container of Lysol wipes trying to get everything at least clean enough to touch without ending up with gray hands. Febreze didn't help and the can of Lysol disinfectant might as well have been pure water. I ended up getting a scented candle and burning it just to try to mask the odor (didn't help much).





Tuesday afternoon I'm looking forward to getting back into my nice, clean, quiet truck and then found out that it's still not repaired, the parts had been delayed so I had to drive the piece of crap freightliner to Laredo and back. I forgot to mention that the smelly truck also sounded like a freight train while sitting in the cab and had no power steering. I got a bonus arm workout this week (trying to put a positive spin on things here) at least.





Needless to say it's been kind of a miserable week between smelling like an ashtray, sleeping on the top bunk in James' truck, trying to drive as fast as possible in a 65 mph truck in order to miss the ice storms, having a trailer that we kept having to add oil to a couple of the hubs that were leaking, and missing several of my workouts (an important stress reliever).



Last night (Friday) was a hassle. First, we had to go pick up my truck at the dealer (approx. 1 hr). Got in and started it up only to find out that they hadn't refilled the coolant reservoir. Umm, that's kind-of important, esp. since they had left it idling unattended for an hour earlier in the day. Then, I had to call dispatch and get swapped back into the proper truck (15 minutes). Empty out yucky truck (cb, log, cleaning supplies, etc. (15-20 minutes). Drive to Bald Knob (1 hr), circle the parking lots of all 3 fuel stops looking for an elusive parking spot (5-10 minutes). Wait on James to walk back to the fuel stop where our pickup is actually parked (5 min), unload what we're taking home (5 min.), stopped at Wal-Mart for frozen waffles and gas (what a combination, huh? 30 min.), then finally made it to the house about 12:30 last night. Didn't get in bed until around 1:15 a.m. Very, very, long day, although part of the delay was my fault--I wanted to get a workout in and stopped at Mt. Vernon to get a much needed haircut. Okay, enough whining, lol.