Red Barchetta

And they turn purple when you click them

NYSE: NAV

When I started here a year ago, company trucks were predominantly red, some blue mixed in maybe 1 in 20.  Most were Freightliners.  The new ProStars for the Flatbed and Specialized division were silver.  O/O's had their share of diversity but they were in a small minority.  The incoming flow of new power units were a mix of Freightliner Cascadias and International ProStars.

A few months ago incoming went to full-on ProStars.  I guess they found something they liked.  My guess is it had something to do with Daimler's dozen-ish recalls on new model Cascadias in the last 2 years.  Several of which included the DEF system, which the ProStars don't have.  Looking around the highways it seems that a LOT of companies are making the same switch.  Unfortunately it looks like the factory in Escobedo ran out of red paint.  Recently HQ started making exceptions to our motto.

Game over, man.

 Serina 2.0

Not an O/O? You need simplicity.

My Nuvi 550 was running on maps from 2008 and had its list of debilitating wear and tear.  Thus I was hesitant to load on 2013 maps instead of just getting a new unit with lifetime maps. It's been a long time coming but my research wasn't done in time for my Christmas wish list.  Lucky for me I had about $50 saved up on loyalty fuel points having not spent a single one since July.  When the Garmins (some of them) went on sale at Pilot/Flying J and I happened to have an afternoon-overnight layover at the one in Hagerstown, Maryland I decided to conduct my research.  Just my luck their computers wired to the loyalty card network crapped out moments before I made my decision and didn't come back online for about 5 hours.  The manager was kind enough to set my pick aside for me in the meantime.  Nice to have a parking spot 100' from the door and 65° out anyway.

I got the last 465, the first in the Nuvi line designed for trucks and a combined savings of $95 off the retail price.

Basically a dashboard mounted iPad.
I'll pass.

<While the Rand McNally TND series truck units are off-the-wall feature-packed, highly favored, and an interface about as simple (sarcasm) as that of Curiosity Rover, There is one thing Garmin has that they don't.  Easy waypoints.  I have to follow my (text) routing from HQ for each assignment and the ones automatically generated by GPS units rarely match it.  Thus, I have to manually drop flags where I need to go.

I had a few doubts at first but they're just typical nit-picky things.  Like admiring the Nuvi series for using the simple UI unchanged since they launched in 2007, I'm a little critical of bugs that have been left in 6 years later.

Here I Go Again

01/16/2012  -  01/16/2013

A Long December

I was inspired by a truck I saw last December while out training with John who had a single length of rope lights on his dashboard at night.  Despite all the truck stops we stayed at, that was the only truck with Christmas lights I saw all season.

So this year, every night I was parked somewhere from Thanksgiving to Dec. 23rd when I came home, this is what you'd see.

Similarly, there was only one other truck I saw with lights this year.  I am disappoint.






The upgrades at my favorite terminal are moving along as weather permits, hopefully the new showers and cafe will be done on time in April.  I think other drivers are more concerned with the additional service bays and possibly (but unlikely) the expedition of maintenance work in the future.

Simplified explanation

Full Bath = Shower, bathtub, sink, toilet
3/4 Bath  = Shower, sink, toilet
1/2 Bath = Toilet, sink.
Gary's current units have only a shower and sink.  What does that make them?

Snow Shoe, PA

 Headed into some hell after embarking out west again after Christmas.  I was on a mission to keep 44k lbs of bananas at a steady 60°F all the way from Philly to Stevens Point, WI.  According to Sheila the outside temp never beat 34 and I ran into some seriously MEAN stuff in Indiana when the lake effect collided with the already slow moving snow storm I was driving through.  Near South Bend it went from just wet roads and flurries to near whiteout and 3"+ on the road in a handful of miles.  An hour later I was in Gary and it was evident they didn't see a damn flake since I left on the 21st. 

Hartford, WI

I enjoyed hanging out with Rollie and Dean for the afternoon with the time I had to burn on the way to SP.  It added a taste of reality and nostalgia to my very much digitized social life.

Wish I had a lapse in delivery times like this more often.

List of things you usually do NOT see in a 3/4 bath:  The first is obviously a bath tub.  Now the second on my list is input jacks for speakers in the shower head.  Welcome to Pilot #056 at 2825 Lane Street, Kannapolis, NC.

I don't pack my bags for a shower expecting to do A/V setup, so I didn't have any cables to utilize this anyway.  Maybe next time.

<And next time time I get a place of my own, you'll find this.

Leaving HQ a few days after Christmas.  One of many snowbanks around the yard  That truck is driving on the road BEHIND the pile, not stuck in it.