Just keep going
Earlier this year, we made the decision to sell the tractor and trailer that we used for our hauling business. We bit the bullet on a brand spanking new 2022 Kenworth WL900. This truck has all the bells and whistles including leather seats and touch screen navigation. It puts our personal vehicles to shame. As my husband says, it is the Cadillac of trucks.
The truck was on the road officially for about two days when we ran into an issue. My father-in-law who happens to be our driver, called around 7 a.m. to let us know that the front wheel and hub started to come off, so he immediately pulled over. Roadside service was called and they repaired the issue but we knew something was not right. This is not something that you expect on a truck that had under 2,000 miles on it at the time. We took the truck back to the dealership in New Jersey and it was determined that the wrong front end had been installed on this particular model of truck. This was not an isolated incident, as another company was the first to have the same issue just the week before. We hoped that they could have it fixed within a week and we would be back on the road. Boy, were we wrong!
It took over a month for the problem to be resolved. Measurements had to be taken multiple times, a special service tech was called in to correct the problem, the struts and brake drums were all replaced, an alignment was performed and they test drove it several times. Farmer E and his Dad made several trips back and forth to the dealership and countless phone calls were made so we could get updates on the status of the repairs. Unfortunately, we did not have our other truck to fall back on as the transmission blew up the day before we were set to sell it. Yes, this is real life - our life!
During this time frame, we still had to pay for things like insurance, payroll, fuel and toll expenses for the month prior, IFTA taxes, as well as our brand new payment. We literally were losing tens of thousands of dollars during our busiest season of the year.
While this was a difficult season and it certainly took a toll on us. I cried a lot and didn’t know how we would make it all work out. We argued at times and felt defeated. We bought a new truck so that we didn’t have to worry about so much uncertainly and yet, we still managed to find ourselves in the same situation. Not to mention that we had just dished out quite a bit of money for the down-payment, sales tax and tag/titling fees. However, it was just that - a season. Temporary. A lesson learned.
If you are going through a hard season right now, know that you are never alone. Embrace the uncertainty. Pivot your plans as best as you can. Allow yourself to feel all those emotions, but pick yourself back up. Give yourself grace. Keep your head held high. And most importantly just keep going!
