This post is kind of related to cattle just read the whole thing its worth it.
I live in middle Tn. and have been looking for a used diesel truck for awhile and thought I found one just south of Minneapolis Mn. After about two weeks of talking with the seller I felt like this was worth it to fly up, buy it, and drive it home. Realizing there is a certain amount of risk involved. Here is the story:
Fly to Chicago Wednesday morning, then to Minneapolis no problems. Land at Minneapolis owner of truck picks me up within 5 minutes no problem. Owner is much younger than I thought and in really poor condition older car. Nice guy though and we drive about 65 miles south of Minneapolis to the truck in middle of farming town (mostly corn I think). Truck is rougher than I thought but hey I'm getting a good deal I think.
Truck smokes pretty bad on start-up for about 5 minutes then idles smooth but really loud to due to some crazy homemade exhaust he had put on it and never told me.
Inside of truck is pretty bad and I'm still thinking--good deal, I can make it better. I pay him in cash and drive it out. It was a 97 f350 5 speed Powerstroke and I could hardly get it in 1st gear or 3rd. I'm starting to think this was a mistake but I'm 850 miles from home in the middle of Minnesota so lets drive. I drive about 20 miles and stop to get diesel, truck starts boiling over when I stop but temp gauge reads just halfway. So I think air pocket and pop hood and just let it idle for about 15 minutes. A local guy there in rural Minnesota stops to see if I need help and talks to me for almost 30 minutes--a really nice guy. Finally get going and have to stop after about 10 minutes because temp light comes on but truck seemd fine and no overheating signs. So get going again, barely make it over the Iowa state line when she over heats, oil gauge starts going crazy so I pull off to shoulder and park it. Here is where the story gets good I'll try to be as brief as possible:
I'm about a mile into Iowa in the middle of nowhere surronded by corn and whatever else fields. It is getting close to dark with seriously about 40-50 mph winds. My cell phone signal is weak. While I'm stranded and plotting my strategy I see some white cows about a half mile in a massive field. There is literally no signs of life except and old abandoned farm house, just corn and other crops as far as you can see, so I'm thinking this is not good. I finally get a Iowa trooper to come and help me. The trooper was young (probably mid 20s) and very proffesional and helpful. So, the guy I bought it from comes and gets me, gives me my $ back and takes me to a hotel for the night. All of this was about a 3-4 hr episode.
You can imagine what the flight cost back to Nashville the next day with such short notice, geez! Keep reading because it gets better.
I check in at Minneapolis airport and get picked random at security to be checked over like I'm a terrorist, so that takes extra time and I almost miss my flight to Chicago. We fly into Chicago and it was like landing on an Aircraft carrier at sea, they had winds at 40-45 mph. I get into the airport at 10:30 a.m. and from then until 5 p.m. I have 4 flights cancelled. I calculated I walked seriously about 4 miles while in the Chicago airport which is no problem cause I'm in good condition but after awhile you start to think am I ever going to get out of here. Met some interesting people and saw some really strange ones also. While sitting in Chicago airport starting thinking back to last Saturday when we were tagging 65 Black Angus and wished I was back in time to that. Then started studying people
to see if I thought they might work with cattle (I might have been losing it a little). SO finally get a flight to St. Louis then back to Nashville at around 9 p.m. Lessons learned:
-A used vehicle is easily not as described
-Minnesota is big
-Minnesota has a lot of corn
-Minnesota has a lot of land
-Minnesota has some white cows
-Iowa looks like Minnesota or vice versa
-Chicago airport is huge
-Chicago airport is chaos
-I like being with cattle a million times more than being in a airport
-Not all F350s are the same
-There are still some nice people out there that will just stop and help someone because it is the right thing to do.
-Chicago airport had a nice big juicy Angus burger and it was good
-Cell phones are a good thing especially in the middle of Minnesota farmland even with a weak signal
-Iowa troopers are nice and helpful
-Some of those TSA security people at the airport are clueless
-It is really windy in Minnesota and Chicago
-Everyone in Minnesota answers questions with the word "yep"
-
I live in middle Tn. and have been looking for a used diesel truck for awhile and thought I found one just south of Minneapolis Mn. After about two weeks of talking with the seller I felt like this was worth it to fly up, buy it, and drive it home. Realizing there is a certain amount of risk involved. Here is the story:
Fly to Chicago Wednesday morning, then to Minneapolis no problems. Land at Minneapolis owner of truck picks me up within 5 minutes no problem. Owner is much younger than I thought and in really poor condition older car. Nice guy though and we drive about 65 miles south of Minneapolis to the truck in middle of farming town (mostly corn I think). Truck is rougher than I thought but hey I'm getting a good deal I think.
Truck smokes pretty bad on start-up for about 5 minutes then idles smooth but really loud to due to some crazy homemade exhaust he had put on it and never told me.
Inside of truck is pretty bad and I'm still thinking--good deal, I can make it better. I pay him in cash and drive it out. It was a 97 f350 5 speed Powerstroke and I could hardly get it in 1st gear or 3rd. I'm starting to think this was a mistake but I'm 850 miles from home in the middle of Minnesota so lets drive. I drive about 20 miles and stop to get diesel, truck starts boiling over when I stop but temp gauge reads just halfway. So I think air pocket and pop hood and just let it idle for about 15 minutes. A local guy there in rural Minnesota stops to see if I need help and talks to me for almost 30 minutes--a really nice guy. Finally get going and have to stop after about 10 minutes because temp light comes on but truck seemd fine and no overheating signs. So get going again, barely make it over the Iowa state line when she over heats, oil gauge starts going crazy so I pull off to shoulder and park it. Here is where the story gets good I'll try to be as brief as possible:
I'm about a mile into Iowa in the middle of nowhere surronded by corn and whatever else fields. It is getting close to dark with seriously about 40-50 mph winds. My cell phone signal is weak. While I'm stranded and plotting my strategy I see some white cows about a half mile in a massive field. There is literally no signs of life except and old abandoned farm house, just corn and other crops as far as you can see, so I'm thinking this is not good. I finally get a Iowa trooper to come and help me. The trooper was young (probably mid 20s) and very proffesional and helpful. So, the guy I bought it from comes and gets me, gives me my $ back and takes me to a hotel for the night. All of this was about a 3-4 hr episode.
You can imagine what the flight cost back to Nashville the next day with such short notice, geez! Keep reading because it gets better.
I check in at Minneapolis airport and get picked random at security to be checked over like I'm a terrorist, so that takes extra time and I almost miss my flight to Chicago. We fly into Chicago and it was like landing on an Aircraft carrier at sea, they had winds at 40-45 mph. I get into the airport at 10:30 a.m. and from then until 5 p.m. I have 4 flights cancelled. I calculated I walked seriously about 4 miles while in the Chicago airport which is no problem cause I'm in good condition but after awhile you start to think am I ever going to get out of here. Met some interesting people and saw some really strange ones also. While sitting in Chicago airport starting thinking back to last Saturday when we were tagging 65 Black Angus and wished I was back in time to that. Then started studying people
to see if I thought they might work with cattle (I might have been losing it a little). SO finally get a flight to St. Louis then back to Nashville at around 9 p.m. Lessons learned:
-A used vehicle is easily not as described
-Minnesota is big
-Minnesota has a lot of corn
-Minnesota has a lot of land
-Minnesota has some white cows
-Iowa looks like Minnesota or vice versa
-Chicago airport is huge
-Chicago airport is chaos
-I like being with cattle a million times more than being in a airport
-Not all F350s are the same
-There are still some nice people out there that will just stop and help someone because it is the right thing to do.
-Chicago airport had a nice big juicy Angus burger and it was good
-Cell phones are a good thing especially in the middle of Minnesota farmland even with a weak signal
-Iowa troopers are nice and helpful
-Some of those TSA security people at the airport are clueless
-It is really windy in Minnesota and Chicago
-Everyone in Minnesota answers questions with the word "yep"
-
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