Welcome To The Family, Ima Made no Arasuji

Over The Road?  Yes.  Cross country?  Not really.

(Otaku says "The Story Up To Now") Where have I been?  Where have you been?  It's likely you haven't gone very far from where you stood visiting FTF on June 25th.  I, on the other hand have moved about 35,000 miles.  But its kind of like your commute.  You can drive the same route for 10+ years, drive tens of thousands of miles, but at the end of the day you haven't gone far on the map.  Scale up a little.  Aside from 2 extraordinary exceptions, I didn't take Sheila outside this box for most of July and August.

Besides that, on July 16th I got a call I've been dreading since I first got Sheila 1774 that freezing cold day in Philly exactly 6 months before.
"2013 models are moving in, you're at the top of the reassignment list."
There were 2 distinct reasons 1774 was better suited for somebody else from the get go.  Obviously with a full condo she was meant for a team operation, and with the outside equipment boxes- a flatbed one at that.  I've maybe seen 3 other Columbia's in my 6 months on the job with the exact same configuration. Its a pretty atypical set up being used by a driver who needs a run of the mill unit.  The next day was spent in Appleton, where I got the keys at the desk and was introduced to 5063.   Sheila 2.0-


2013 International ProStar+
Diesel MaxxForce 13
4-Cycle Straight 6
10.5L
475 HP @ 1,900 RPM
1,700 lb-ft @ 1,000 RPM

...with Jake brakes that couldn't slow down an empty Radio Flyer with square wheels.  New noise reg compliance vs. public safety?  Welcome to America.  Complaining citizens are king.  Good thing maintenance doesn't cost me a dime.
Still an "Upgrade" I guess.

Fix'd

The biggest beef I have with her, and half the reason I was dreading a new ride, was a lack of a Tripac APU.  No longer would I have a limitless 1000W AC power supply at my disposal with an HVAC unit that could heat or cool a football stadium.  I knew back in November at training that they were already phased out from new purchases because of maintenance costs.  Luckily for me I already had experience with the new trend, given John's truck I trained in was a 2012 Cascadia.  The new system in both Freighliner and International units use extended battery packs that last longer than a standard truck battery, thus being able to power an HVAC unit to keep the cab cool. Not nearly as effectively but it does last as long as advertised.  When the power runs out on the Cascadia an alarm goes off and you have to idle to recharge it.  Luckily for me the ProStar's have an auto-start feature.  When the battery gets below a certain threshold the engine starts itself, then when its charged, it shuts off automatically.  Luckily a combination of noise reduction and better insulation than the Columbia's means sometimes it doesn't even wake me up, and certainly doesn't keep me awake.

Though there is no factory installed power inverter, I need to get one installed at HQ.  Unfortunately there has been one reason or another I haven't been able to get it done, but this time out its finally going to happen.  One of the reasons for this is that apparently my FM is no longer with the company and nobody bothered to tell me I got reassigned.  When you take my microwaves' power source away, now I live on cereal, yogurt, pop tarts, apples, nectarines, and bananas.  I'm really looking forward my chicken strips, hot dogs, and soup again.