On the Road with Henry Albert

After driving the Cascadia for over sixty thousand miles I find myself still impressed . Normally rattles and squeaks start to reveal themselves by now . Believe me if it was going to rattle the roads in West Virgina and Michigan would have found any weakness in this area . The truck is still tracking strait as an arrow . Comparing this truck to the rest of the Freightliner line is much the same as comparing the Corvette to the rest of the Chevrolet line . The Cascadia takes comfort to a level that has never been reached in a semi truck before . The one thing that I really enjoy when driving or resting is how well the insulation package performs . If I needed to use a truck for a sound studio the Cascadia would be my first choice . I am looking forward to meeting many of you in the Freightliner display at the Mid America truck show . Be safe and see you there.

I found myself wondering how anyone found their destinations without GPS . The old fashioned road atlas and written directions are the devises that I employ to find my way to wherever I need to go . It seems to work out better when I talk to someone on location about the best way to enter shippers or receivers facilities . I have heard to many horror stories of GPS leading drivers through places that a semi truck has no business being . I would like to hear from some of you that use GPS on how this technology has performed . Maybe if I hear enough good stories , this tool will find it’s way into my truck .

Twice this week I was reminded that all of us were rookies at some time . Both of these events happened in  Western North Carolina . The stretch of I-40 that is commonly referred to as the gorge was the backdrop for this poor display of courtesy . The gorge is 18 miles of twisty highway that has a 50 mph and right hand restriction for large trucks . When I went through this week I got stuck behind someone who was either a rookie or very cautious . I could not believe how rude and obnoxious my fellow drivers had become . It would be much more productive , to offer words of encouragement . What happened instead was drivers pushing this driver to go faster . I could not take it after awhile and keyed up my CB radio . I told the driver not to go any faster than he felt comfortable . The last thing any of us should do is to push a driver beyond their comfort zone . I would much rather travel 35 MPH than sit and wait for an accident to be cleaned up . If anyone else were to be listening to these drivers it would not have left them with a positive view of our industry . 5 to 10 minutes of delay could not justify the rude remarks that where directed towards this driver .  The thing that inspired me to blog about this was the same event happened on my trip back through the gorge . Remember we were all rookies at one time or another so , let’s help each other out instead of tearing each other down !

I find it amusing when mechanics tell me, “they work on more Freightliners than any other trucks”. My response is always, “I would hope so… there are more Freightliners sold than any other brand”. Also, large numbers of Freightliners are sold to fleets. Therefore, many take abuse and are not cared for properly. Owner Operators often take better care of their trucks. They are the person directly paying the bills.. Being an owner operator, I do my best to keep my trucks clean, neat and well serviced. I have had less down-time and less maintenance issues than friends who have purchased other “brands”  during the same time period.  The Freightliners I’ve owned in the past have kept me on the road making money… not in the “shop”.

Before starting my business years ago, I put together a solid business plan.  The selection of a truck was most important in my decision making process. I researched and compared the many trucks that were on the market. I concluded that the Freightliner and Detroit engine combination was the best decision to meet the needs of my new business venture. The decision was based on reliability, efficiency and weight. The availability of parts and service played a roll, as well.  At the time, it appeared that most successful fleets were using the ”Freightliner”.  I have been well pleased with the performance of the Freightliner throughout my career..   In todays market, the introduction of the new “Cascadia”, would have made the decision a “NO BRAINER”.

I just found out that Laredo Texas will be my latest destination . The warmer weather should make a nice change . I just had the transmission program changed from a LHP to a LEP . This program should be much better suited to the torque curve of the Detroit diesel DD15 . My average MPG so far is 6.67 . I will let everyone how much this transmission program helps out .

Last week I was very busy . My laptop went down so I could not blog until today . I drove 3400 miles in the Cascadia , so there was little time to have my computer repaired . I felt great at the end of the week . Normally , I end up having a stiff shoulder when pushing it this hard . The rack and pinion steering , should get most of the credit for my shoulder feeling so good . I have found this steering system tracks incredibly strait with little input from the driver . It was nice to make it home on Saturday because it was my sons fifteenth birthday . I do not always make it home for such occasions , that made this weekend just a little more special .