Bangor

Picked up the load out of Newark, NJ around 8pm Monday night and had to drive through the night so I could make a 6:30am delivery on Tuesday. Stopped in Milford, CT to get fuel a little before midnight. Found out that when I inadvertently bump into the pump lever and turn off the fueling, I got problems. The fuel island was very narrow at this truck stop, and while trying to clean my mirrors I backed up close to the pump and pushed in the lever turning off the pump with only 49 gallons going into the tanks.

Well this wasn't enough since I needed another 80 gallons to finish filling up. They have this little rule with comdata cards that you can't fuel twice within 2 hours. So I had to call dispatch to have them call comdata to over ride my mistake so I could get the rest of my fuel. Ended up taking 45 minutes on a normal 15 minute fuel stop.

I got into Bangor, ME right at when I needed to, but had to drive non stop from Connecticut to Bangor, a trip of around 6 hours. I got unloaded and they gave me a load of rolled paper out of Skowhegan, ME going back down to Hagerstown, MD. This is pretty much all they make in Maine is paper, lot of trees. This gave me time to take a 10 hour break, but being in the middle of the day, I never got to sleep. Doesn't matter how tired I am, I can't sleep in the day time. I got the load and headed south, rains starting up. I was going to stop along the way and take another break, but my truck started acting up.

I was about 5000 miles overdue for my truck service since I couldn't get by a shop. With these trucks if you go too long after needing service your fuel filter is going to start plugging up...well surprise. A stopped up fuel filter and a heavy load don't go together, especially in hills. I was dragging down to 20 mph going up the hills. Anyway, I got into our terminal in New Kingstown, PA at 6am and had to give up the load and try to get into the shop. So here I sit.

Here are a few pictures along the way just south of Bangor.