A New Truck For Richard

Our son, Richard, returned to his terminal in Syracuse, NY over the weekend, to get a new (different) truck. When he returned from his "Birthday Break" in September, he was given an International Harvester (IH) LT 2020. However, he was uneasy about the safety of driving it, particularly due to the engine brake. For the several weeks that he had the truck, there was a random beeping sound like the chirp of a smoke detector when the battery is getting low. However, no one could figure out what was causing this, even IH technicians. And it was happening on other trucks too.

Since he was comfortable driving a Freightliner truck previously, he requested for another truck, and preferably a Freightliner. When he finally got back to his "home" terminal, a Freightliner was waiting for him. (Richard reports that the replacement truck feels and handles much better and he feels safer).

So Lynn and I drove over to Syracuse to take advantage of an opportunity to see our son. The previous driver was obviously a smoker, so the inside of the cab had to be wiped clean using Lysol wipes.

I am standing to the side of Richard's new Freightliner truck.

One of the high points of our visit with Richard was the unexpected treat of meeting his (driving) mentor, John. He looked a lot different than we had imagined but in a good way.

Me and Richard (in the terminal).

During our few hours in the Syracuse area, we had once of the worst dining experiences in a long time. We decided to return to a nearby Chili's (in DeWitt) where we had two previous tolerable meals. However, this time we waited over an hour without receiving our food. We noticed also that none of the tables around us had food. One nearby table had received their order but sent it back due to errors. When we asked about estimated time for our order to arrive, we were told they had no idea. That's when we decided to follow the example of a few others. So we cancelled our order and left. We ended up down the street for a quick bite at a Five Guys Burger joint.

While it was a long day, we were happy to see our son again and know that he now had a truck he felt safer with.

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Links:
https://www.internationaltrucks.com/trucks/lt-series
https://www.jacobsvehiclesystems.com/parts-service-support/how-an-engine-brake-works
https://freightliner.com/
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Written Sunday 27 October 2019.