Stranded in Montana

Well, I will get to the stranded part here in a minute. I have a few days to make up for so you can catch up on what has been going on.

Last I posted we were leaving the Pilot in Knoxville,TN. J drove us from Knoxville up to Gary,IN and I took over there the next morning (Saturday) and drove up into Neenah,WI. I got in there around 0830, dropped the load and then went up to the Green Bay OC to pick up an empty trailer because Kimberly Clark didn't have any empties to give me when I dropped that load. Drove the 30 miles or so up there and ran into a few snow flurries, but nothing bad. Got fuel there and then headed up to Escanaba,MI to pick up our next load. Ran into more snow, but it was still flurries and nothing was sticking. Did you know that there is part of Michigan that is right above Wisconsin? I didn't realize that till I looked on the map when I was trying to figure out where Escanaba was at. Also, when you go north on US-41 out of Mariette,WI (I think that is the town) the road follows the shore line of Lake Michigan all the way up. It is a gorgeous drive up there. And that lake is HUGE! It is like looking at an ocean beach. You can't even tell it is a lake, it looks like an ocean because you can't see the other side. It is pretty impressive.

Anyway, I get up there, get the load picked up and figure out which way we are going to cross WI to get to I-94. Being that far north, there are no interstates so we had to take state routes and US Hwys to get down there. So J drove us out of there and got us just east of Fargo. (This was all on Saturday and Saturday night.) So Sunday morning, I wake up, drive us about 60 miles into Fargo. Stop at the Petro and get fuel, shower and head out again. It was darn cold!!! I drove all the way across North Dakota and got us into Miles City,MT around 1515 hours. J took over and started driving there. This is where the fun begins.....

So J is driving along and I am in the back sleeping. We are maybe 20 miles east of Butte,MT going over a pass and the transmission on the truck faults. It was trying to shift from 8th down to 7th because of the incline. It couldn't grab a gear and faulted out. J coasted to the side as quick as he could but it is hard to coast up a hill when you are at about 75,000 lbs and don't have a gear. You lose speed FAST! The tail end of the trailer was still out in the lane about a foot but there was nothing that we could do about that since the truck wouldn't move. Now the transmission has faulted before. Usually it happens when it is shifting from 5th to 6th, from low gears to high gears. When it has happened in the past, we could shut the truck down for about 5 minutes, let the computer re-set and then it would start back up and things would be fine. So this time, we let it sit, were able to get it restarted, but we couldn't put it in gear. When we would high idle it, you could hear metal on metal just grinding. J said it initially sounded like a bent flywheel. Well, we called Emergency Mainetenance. They said it may be the next morning before we were able to get anyone out there because of where we were. Luckily, about 20 minutes later we got a call from a tow company and about 45 minutes after that they were out there to tow us. They ended up towing us back east about 60 miles to Bozeman,MT because there is a Freightliner dealership here. Got to the hotel, which is a block from Freightliner, about 0230 this morning. 0700 comes and I call the dealership to tell them the truck is there and let them know what we think the problem is. Then I have to get up and walk down and take them the keys. It was a little chilly outside to say the least. So I come back, crawl back into bed and get some much needed rest. About noon, I call Freightliner to see what they had found out. Apparently the rear bearings on the transmission went out which caused the seals to fault, lost all transmission fluid, and that caused the transmission to lock down and 3rd gear on up have teeth broke off. Lots of metal in there. Not a good sign. We were told they had talked to Eaton Fuller and were going to e-mail them photos of the damage today and then wait to hear back from them whether it will be warranty or not. After they get that decision back from Eaton Fuller then they will decide whether to rebuild the tranny or put a whole new one in there.

SOOOOO..... It is now Monday night and we are at the Super 8 here in Bozeman,MT and it looks like we will be here until at least Friday if not until next Monday or Tuesday. We will have a better idea hopefully tomorrow. AND now, the interesting part. Last night, we were trying to hurry and get through Montana because snow was coming in. Well, the snow has arrived. It started snowing this afternoon and so far there is about 6 inches. They are forecasting that there is another 6-9 inches coming in. I know the passes are going to be horrible. I think it was a sign that we broke down when we did. I guess everything happens for a reason. They did say that they were going to get a team up here tomorrow morning to pick up the load we had. I hope the team they send up here drives really safe because it is treacherous out there. But, it does look like we will be spending Thanksgiving up here in Montana and it looks like it will be a VERY white thanksgiving if this snow keeps up. But things are good. We had good miles so far this month, so we are ok on money. There is a Flying J across the street and a CASINO!! Also, right across the freeway is a grocery store that is in walking distance so we are all set. I figure we may as well enjoy the down time while we have it. We even had a snowball fight this afternoon. It feels great to be a kid sometimes.....