I got up earlier than normal in Lancaster and boogied down the road, figuring to arrive in Laredo by 9 or 10 AM. Shortly after leaving my engine check light came on but I noticed nothing abnormal with my gauges, and our Road Service folks told me it was probably an emissions issue and to have it checked later. A few hundred miles later I start losing power and belching out smoke from the stack so I pull over.
After more phone calls I get the address for the local Kenworth dealer in Austin which is about 9 miles away at that point. I very slowly and carefully maneuvered my truck through the pre-dawn streets and managed to find the place (not very easy to get to from the direction I came from). Now I'm parked outside waiting for their 8 AM opening.
UPDATE: I got in right at 8 AM when they opened with just one truck needing work left over from the previous day. By 9 AM they had diagnosed the EGR valve in the engine as the culprit and began putting large fans on to help dissipate the engine heat and let them work on the area in question. By 11 AM the truck was fixed and I was on my way.
Made it to Laredo without incident at 3 PM only to find myself 55th on the board. If I still don't have a load by Monday morning I'll have to deliver mine locally before I get my new load, and possibly one or more other local loads as well. Something that was missing from my CFI orientation materials.
To celebrate my safe arrival I fueled up then headed out to grab a steak. Yum.
