Traveler "Drives" his Point Home!

Traveler waiting at Premier~

Our Memorial Day Weekend was not at all what we'd expected...  Butch had hoped to be home for our yearly trek to Greenfield, but this year it was not to be...  It was the first time in our married career we were in two different motel rooms, in two different states, over 1,200-miles apart!

Hum - what was I to think about this?

On Thursday the 25th, I received the photo above...  I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, so gave Butch a call.  He explained the steering was suddenly gone.  He manhandled the truck fourteen-miles to an exit near St. George, UT.  He was on a return trip from Boron, CA.

Traveler waits his turn~

Traveler is one smart truck!  He'd decided to have a difficulty - his first - as close as possible to a branch shop of the same Dealer where he had been purchased, Premiere Truck Group in St. George, UT. Butch had driven 325-miles since leaving CA.  It was late in the afternoon when they arrived.  Traveler would go into the shop the following day. 

Butch's unexpected abode~

Friday, it was early afternoon before the mechanic's started assessing the truck.  Unsure as to the issue, they closed for the weekend & would return Tuesday.  Butch was one of eight other drivers waiting for their trucks to be repaired.  Since Traveler was now in the shop, Premier gave Butch a ride to a nearby motel.

Butch's Sat. morning walk~

Butch spent a boring weekend, taking walks & finding a restaurant with good food.  He was more than anxious by the time Tuesday morning rolled around & caught a ride back to Premier.  Traveler had recived an oil change, all his scheduled maintenance items were taken care of & the steering wheel was realigned.

Waiting at Southern Tire~

 Butch's next stop was eight miles away to Southern Tire Mart.  Traveler received a new set of very expensive steer tires. 

In the shop~

Since this business did not do alignments, with new tires on, Butch drove toward Salt Lake City.  He stopped at Walmart to re-supply & spent the night at the Flying J in Springville, UT. 

Traveler without tires~

The morning of the 31st., Butch had arrived at Jack's Tire & Oil in Salt Lake City by 7 a.m. Traveler received an alignment of both the steer & drive tires.   After the alignment - Butch drove to Frito Lay.  He found the trailer (now uloaded) he had been bringing up from CA full of potato chip potatoes!  (Another driver had picked it up at Premier & made the delivery.) 

Traveler gets a bath~

After all this - Traveler insisted on a bath!  Since they didn't yet have a dispatch, Butch agreed.  They found a Blue Beacon nearby & took the last spot available at the Flying J in Salt Lake City.

Today, they're on the road again, heading to WA.  So far, Traveler is behaving himself!  When Butch told me how close he had been to the Premier Dealer - I told him Traveler couldn't have been more kind!  Considering the miles they've gone, we both think Traveler has done a great job!

A somewhat funny postscript to this post.  It was almost a year to the day from Big Red's breakdown in Texas, when Butch was hauling a hazmat load for CFI.