On the Road with Henry Albert

I have found two tire sealants that interest me. The reason for this search, is the flat that I had last week on one of my wide base singles. The two products that seem to fit my needs are, TireSmart and Ride-On tire sealants. Both of these products make similar claims ( sealing punctures up to one quarter inch, hydrodynamic balancing and non corrosive). Have any of you had any experience with either of these products? If you have, I would find your input very useful in making my decision making process.

Thanks, Henry

Hello everyone, I am happy to report that the flu bug and me have parted ways. I stopped and took my thirty four hour restart in Toomsuba Mississippi and the Cascadia’s sleeper became my recovery room. I must say that the extra insulation Freightliner installed made for a quiet and peaceful place to recuperate. After I took some NyQuil all I did is sleep, get up eat. I repeated this cycle twice and then got up and showered off. It sure feels good to be alive again. It is Sunday now and I am back home and I decided to spend the night in the truck because my family just got over a different virus. So now I am washing my clothes at the laundramat and getting my bills ready for my wife in the morning. Then its back to Laredo Texas.

I just did my pre trip and pulled out of the truck stop in Katy Texas and going up the on ramp I got a flat tire on one of my wide base single drive tires. So now I am sick and have a flat tire. Things can only get better from here I suppose. I hope that you are having a better day than I am. Henry

Hello everyone, I may not be posting much for the next couple of days because I have caught a cold at the truck show. I am trying to rest as much as possible when I am not driving. It is miserable being sick on the road because I cannot do much about it. The good news is that I do not usually stay sick for very long. What do you do to fight a cold or flu while on the road? Well , at least I have the confortable Cascadia to recover in because it is as close to home as you can get.  

Henry

The truck show is over for another year.  I enjoyed meeting some new drivers and catching up with  old friends. While greeting folks in the Freightliner dispay, I had the opportunity to speak with some fellow owner opeators. Some of these folks are having difficulty due to the economic downturn in our economy. We all know that there are more trucks that need loaded at this time, vs. freight. I was able to spend some time and share my own experiences with these hard working people.  It is important to support one another during these rough times. Sometimes it helps to talk with others who have already experienced the ups and downs and daily challenges of the trucking business.  I feel fortunate to have had  the right mentors at necessary times throughout my life.  Therefore, it is my pleasure to help others and give back whenever possible.

  While at the Freightliner booth, I  enjoyed sharing information about the Cascadia. My suggestion was for drivers to climb in the truck and close the door. I wanted them to experience the quietness for themselves. It was fun seeing the “wow” impression on their face when all the noise from the show disappeared.  Many drivers agreed,  there is something very special about this truck that separates it from the rest. After this little exercise, drivers wanted to know more about the truck. The experience also converted more than a few traditional ( large car drivers)  after they witnessed  the quietness and features inside the” Cascadia”.

A   highlight of the show  was “The Cascadia Innovation Truck”, which Freightliner featured in the show. I kept telling the engineers that  I was going to take the parts off their” work of art” for my Cascadia. Of course I didn’t receive any parts, however, I was offered  a ride after the show was over. I think we might have given a few people outside whiplash as we drove around the fairgrounds, ha ha! This truck is the future because of the way it cuts through the air in a stealth like fashion. 

“The boyz at the Chrome Shop Mafia “sure did a fine job of customizing the Cascadia. They really showed how easy it is to make a truck that saves you money and looks cool at the same time.

At the truck show, I always enjoy  catching up on the latest technology being offered. The area that interested me the most is the SCR after treatments that will be out in 2010 model year. This technology is amazing. When I was a young child, it would have been unimaginable to have an engine operate this cleanly. The folks at Detroit Diesel sure  spent a lot of time perfecting this system. From what I saw at the booth, I feel good about the air that we will be leaving our children.     

 Well, like all good things, the show came to an end way to soon.  It was great to spend some time with my fellow Slice Of Trucker Life Drivers, Kurt Grote and Dick McCorkle. We often talk to each other, but seldom in person. I wish to thank the folks at Freightliner for having me out to the show in Louisville.  I had a great time… Well, it’s time to get back to the real world . Until till next time, be safe out there.

It is time to go to Louisville for the show. My family and I gave the Cascadia a good scrub down today. I have two Freightliner corporate employees riding along to get first hand  impressions of the Cascadia. We will be traveling out I-40 From Statesville North Carolina. I wish that my load weighed more like 46,000 instead of 25,000 that’s on the trailer now. It would have been fun showing them how well the DD-15 Flattens out Black Mountain. The rest of the route will be I-640 to I-75 and then I-64 towards Louisville. If you happen to see us enroute give us a shout, it would be great to hear from you.

See you there, Henry

I can’t believe that it’s time to go to Louisville Kentucky for the grand daddy of all truck shows, the Mid America Truck Show. This is the time of year when I get to do my spring cleaning of my truck. I have been off work since Friday the thirteenth and will leave for MATS.on Wednesday the Eighteenth. It sure was nice to spend some quality time with my family. I am looking forward to the drive to Louisville. I will be taking two Freightliner employees along with me. They are looking forward to the riding Cascadia. This a great oppertunity for them to experience the Cascadia in real world situations. MATS. is a reunion for me each year and I always enjoy catching up wilt old freinds  For those of you attending the show stop by the freightliner display. I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

 Hope to see you there, Henry

Yesterday, I had the unfortunate chance to test out the Cascadia’s road handling capability when a U-Haul trailer came unhitched from a SUV. The feel of the rack and pinion steering was incredible as I weaved and dodged this potential disaster. The spring rates that Freightliner chose for the Cascadia are perfect because the truck remained poised even as I made some pretty aggressive maneuver’s to avoid this malady. The good news is that nobody was hurt in this incident.

I would like to take time to congratulate one of my fellow Slice Of Trucker Life drivers. “Kurt Grote”,  was nominated as one of ten drivers for the “Oklahoma Truck Driver of the Year Award”. Kurt did not end up getting the award, but just being nominated put him in some exclusive company. In the short amount of time  I have known Kurt, you can rest assured that he will try even harder for next year. Kurt Grote is never satisfied with just doing enough to get by. He always looks for ways to improve his skills as a driver, and  businessman. It is a privilege to be working with Kurt and Dick.  I have been able to learn alot from these two “award winning drivers”. If you get a chance, click on Kurt’s blog site and congratulate him on his nomination .

I have been getting some requests for a comparison between the Cascadia, Century, and the Columbia. It should help to set the stage for my opinions by giving a little history of the trucks I have driven. The first truck that I drove was a 1975 Dodge D series. Shortly after that I landed in a 1974 International low cab forward. This truck was an oven in the summer and a freezer in the winter . The radio in this truck was useless unless I was on break with the engine turned off. Another thing about these older trucks was the fact neither of them had air dryers. I remember that in the winter you needed to drain the air tanks multiple times during the day or the system would freeze up. The next trucks on the list are responsible for my bad back. These jewels of the highway were GMC Brigadier’s. Two of them were single axles and the other was a   tandem axle walking beam suspension. Another fine feature of the tandem axle GMC was a Viking spring ride seat. This truck was capable of finding bumps in the road that were not visible to the human eye. The next truck was a whole lot nicer. It was a 1982 Freightliner cabover ,48 inch sleeper and for spring reyco suspension. This truck had it all Cummins Big Cam engine 10 speed transmission power steering air conditioning and a AM- FM radio that you could actually hear . Then I switched jobs to a different carrier. This was a private carrier and they rented trucks as we needed them. I enjoyed the opportunity to drive a lot of different truck nameplates for a few years. The only brands that I did not get to try during this period were Autocar, Western Star and Marmon. The carrier finally decided to get our own truck. This truck was a 1994 Freightliner FLD 120 48″ sleeper, 360/400 HP 1450 foot pound Series 60 Detroit 9 speed Eaton, with air ride cab and rear suspension. Now it was finally time for me to buy my first truck of my own and start Albert Transport.  The decision to start out with a Freightliner FLD 120/70″ mid roof was a no brainer. The rest of the specs. on this truck were the same as the last truck that I was driving. This truck really helped me as I started working for myself. It was reliable, light weight, and was very good on fuel. In short this was everything that I needed in my first truck. Next on the list brings us to my 2001 Freightliner Century Class S/T which I still own and operate. The Century has given me years of reliable service. When I first started driving the Century Class it seemed incredibly quiet. This truck now has over 820,000 miles on it and the only real rattles are the cabinet doors in the sleeper. When I adjust the latches the noise disappears. I really like the ergonomics on the Century and found them to be similar to those in the new Cascadia. The handling is a little different for me because my Century Class is a mid roof and my Cascadia is a full condo. The differences in roof height make it difficult for me to make a fair comparison on all out handling characteristics. There is one thing that really stands out in respect to handling and that’sthe rack and pinion steering. The rack and pinion steering system gives me a precision feel of the road . Freightliner has dialed in the perfect amount of boost assist to the steering. The Cascadia has a lot more room in the cab . I really like this part because I am 6′5″ tall and this was the first vehicle of any kind that enabled me to use the sun visors and see past the end of the hood. The doors on the Cascadia close like they came from a fine luxury automobile. The most incredible part of the Cascadia to me is how quiet it is. When my wife calls me in the truck she needs to ask if I am running down the road or parked because it is so well insulated. The insulation also helps during my rest breaks. When I sleep I do not like to listen to my truck, so I always shut off the engine during rest periods. With the Cascadia, I have a parked HVAC system that is operated by battery power. The Cascadia is insulated so well that I have forgotten to turn on the heat and still slept comfortably. The only real rattle that I have found in the Cascadia was the batteries in my flash light. This truck is so quiet, that if there is a rattle, it is coming from something that I put in the cab. The Columbia and Century Class are both fine trucks. The Cascadia just puts the bar to a level that is out of reach for other trucks.