OldTroubador's blog post - A Little of This, A Little of That

Happy Independence Day!!!


Where have I been lately? All kinds of places – some good, some not so good. Anyway, a few months ago, I burned up another computer. It took some time to save up the money to get a new one, so here I am, back again.
In case you have forgotten, I was able to meet a couple young ladies from here since I’ve been gone. I met Sorcha for supper one night. We had had a couple of false starts – once, other obligations wouldn’t let her meet me, the other time, the weather went bad on us and I barely made it into the truck stop. But this time, there were no glitches and I was there to greet her as she walked in the door. I had a grand time sitting across a table from her, talking and listening, hearing her laugh and seeing her smile light up the room. As always, time flew much too quickly. It seemed we had just met when it was time to walk her to her car, give her a final hug, and watch her drive away. Sorcha, the pleasure of your company is still with me, and I look forward to being able to share a table and some more laughter soon with an absolute sweetheart of a lady.
My next meet was with Free2BLady. Once again, it took a few tries before our schedules were able to mesh, but meeting Free was worth the wait. Actually, we had been missing each other for a few years, so finally meeting her seemed a minor miracle. Swapping stories while we ate, time passed very quickly and our food grew cold. But it was worth it as a delightful evening was had talking with another of the sweethearts of our community. Her charming manner and ready smile put me at ease and all too soon, it was again time to bid this fine lady adieu. Hopefully, my schedule will bring me back your way again soon.
I was also able to meet TexAngel for supper one night. This was another miracle, as I had to schedule my visit with her between all the visits to the hospital she and her family have been making. But luck smiled upon us and we were able to spend a wonderful evening together. Spending time with Angel is always such a joy, I am able to overlook her fondness for the Texas Rangers and Texas A&M.

FREEBIRD IV

The newest addition to the Freebird line has taken its rightful spot in the hallowed lineage. She is just as gutsy as the previous editions, with slightly better fuel mileage. She definitely has her quirks, and the folks at International have made a few errors in the design. But they have also made some large improvements over earlier models of the Pro-Star.
My biggest gripe is with the air horn. Instead of a lanyard located over the driver’s side window, there is a button on the steering wheel. If I had a dime for every time I rapped my knuckles on the door jamb looking to activate the horn, I’d have free coffee for life. And by the time I find the right button on the wheel, the offending party has usually gotten about five miles down the road. Also, if I am looking for another button in that quadrant of the steering wheel, I usually hit the horn by mistake – and usually in the middle of traffic. Not many folks appreciate that, at all.
The other big problem that I see is the privacy curtains. They are backed with a black felt. I didn’t realize this was a problem until a month or so ago. Yeah, when the summer sun shines in, those curtains absorb the heat and transfer it quite well to the cab of the truck. The rear A/C unit really can’t keep up with the cooling and sleeping during the day is rather difficult. I see some aluminized reflectors in my near future.
One of the smaller problems is the 120 volt electrical system; it runs off a 1300 watt inverter. The two Freightliners had 1500 watters and the Freebird I (2007 Int’l 9400) had a 2000 watt inverter. There are also only two double outlets. So if I ever re-install a quasi-kitchen in here, a lot of time will be spent swapping plugs and resetting breakers.
None of these problems are deal-breakers though, and are easily dealt with. And they are far outweighed by the positive things this truck brings to the party.

On the other hand, International has really improved the storage in their trucks. I ran a 2008 Pro-Star for a few months, and it was difficult at best to find a spot for everything. But now, I almost have more room than I know what to do with. There is substantially more floor space too, with an area set aside for a small refrigerator. There are two shelves with attached tie down straps for small appliances. The overhead consoles are two-tiered and can carry everything I need to have at hand up front. There is a closet for hanging clothes (mainly shirts and jackets) and two wall cabinets for canned foods, books, DVD’s, etc.
The Freebird is set at 65 mph – a 3 mph improvement over all the others. While this doesn’t seem like much, it does make a difference. More than a few times, I have been cutting the old e-log close getting to a truck stop for the night and having that extra little burst of speed has made all the difference. A little more speed also means that, when hill hopping, the engine is able to stay in the power band a little longer, carrying us up the hill with a little more authority and less likely to need to down shift.
The driver’s seat is comfortable, comfortable enough even for the 650-700 mile days. The gauges on the dash, and the switches and buttons, are intuitive (except for the air horn). One of the buttons even hides an Easter Egg – if held down for five seconds, all the lights on the tractor and trailer switch on and off in sequence for quite a while. This aids in pre- and post-trip inspections, as I only have to make one walk-around instead of walking back to the cab to turn off one set of lights and activate another. The stereo is easy to work with, and strong enough to overcome even the loudest Peterbilt roaring by. There are two cool features here too. First, the stereo is also a Bluetooth device (I know, the cars have had it for years, but this is a first for me). Secondly, there is a USB port on the stereo. This means I can download tunes to a memory stick and just plug that in, instead of having to keep an MP3 player charging.
I first stepped into Freebird IV on 21 October 2015. At the six month mark, 21 April, we had run a total of 74,917 miles. Two months later, that total was up to 95,189. And yesterday, 3 July, she turned over 100,000 miles as we rolled just south of Nashville. Pretty impressive numbers, as freight has been soft since the beginning of February. My weekly totals on paid miles is down by approximately 400-600/week from what they were in the fourth quarter of 2015/first quarter of 2016. But freight is starting to pick back up and hopefully our miles will as well.
This newest truck of mine definitely lives up to her name. She is built to fly low and fast into the valleys, hauling hard up the mountains. She loves to get out on the open road and just sail along; but she knows enough to take an easy tack in the towns and cities. She is rock solid, with sexy lines. And as we go driving into the second half of 2016, it will be me and the Freebird IV-ever.