While traveling through Arkansas recently, I felt the light tug and pop of a trailer tire exploding under pressure.  I immediately pulled over on the shoulder to survey the damage.  There was only one tire damaged and I had a light load on.  I knew where I was on I-40 because I keep up with the exit numbers I just passed in case something like this happens.  I checked my trusty truck stop locater handbook and luckily found a small fuel stop with truck parking was at the next exit.  I drove there to get off of the interstate because that's a dangerous place and you always need to get off the shoulder if possible.

Once at the safe haven of a fuel stop with adequate parking, I opened my iPad and searched NTTSBreakdown.com.  I entered the city and state I was in (Clarksville, AR) and entered the type of vendor I was looking for (tire repairs).  One of the results came back as only 3 miles away.  I called them to confirm their address and get information on truck parking.  They told me and I entered the address on my map app on my iPad. I was able to see a birds eye satellite view of the layout of the parking lot and knew exactly where to park my truck when I got there.

I limped there on my 17 other good tires and had 2 spare tires with me so I was in good shape.  They took the damaged tire off and put on my spare and I was off to I-40 to continue my journey with only about $15 spent and an hour lost.  By going to their shop, I saved $150 by avoiding a road side service call!

Break-downs and flat tires will happen from time to time; that's trucking.  You need to be prepared for when (not if) it happens.  The resources and other similar ones talked about in this blog are there to help you in your time of need, so use them!  This will save you time and money.
 

Comments (6)

Joey Slaughter

Joey Slaughter is the owner of Blue Ridge Transport, LLC. Joey has been in the trucking industry since 1992.

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Hey like they say! Time will not stand still. And our trusted trucks don't care where they decide to asked us for some attention. (Lol) πŸ˜‡ and sum $$$$$.πŸ˜‚

August 14, 2014 20:59:51 PM

Greg,
Thank you, we are doing all we can to help. The truck is running 7 days a week from 12 up to 16 hours a day depending on daily needs. On some fires we run 24 hours a day but it depends on the fire management for each individual fire, local topography, fire weather and many other factors. We love the work and the camaraderie with the firefighters and the communities we are helping.

August 14, 2014 8:46:07 AM

Craig, thanks for all of the hard work, Living in Washington, we have had a rough year for wildfires.

August 13, 2014 21:17:55 PM

Joey,
It's a double edged sword and I hate to see the forest burn and it's far worse to have people houses burn, but yes we have been very busy which is good for business. We spent 5 days on the Buzzard Complex fire south east of Burns OR, that fire is 395,747 acres and burned mostly range land. We came home and within two hours were dispatched to the Carlton Complex near Lake Chelan, WA. That fire is 256,108 acres and sadly burned 312 homes as well as most of a town. We spent 15 days there. We came home and the very next day we were dispatched to The Dalles, OR on the Rowena Crest fire. It is a relatively small fire at 3,673 acres with one home burned and we spent 3.5 days there. We came home this last Sunday and before the truck got home we received another dispatch. The truck left Monday morning and headed back to Washington this time on the Devil's Elbow Complex near Nespelem, WA on the Coville Indian Reservation. Only time will tell how long we'll be there.

It's years like this that I wish I have a dozen water tenders. This would be a good job for Freightliners Severe Duty series truck. My truck holds up well and I have no complaints but it sure takes a beating during these busy summers. Tires, shocks, springs, spring hangers and bushings really take abuse.

August 12, 2014 19:07:46 PM

Hey Craig. Have you been busy with forest fires?

August 12, 2014 18:31:46 PM

Glad it worked out well, now if only all breakdowns were that easy.

August 12, 2014 8:34:15 AM