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I've been looking around for a M915A1 for a few months and I decided I needed (wanted) one with an air ride seat and A/C. I had talked with Ray previously about going with me to pickup a truck if I won one. Well, a few weeks ago I won one in LA. After the paper work cleared, Ray and I got our schedules figured out and I arranged to pick up the truck on Monday, May 19th. I booked a room in DeRidder, LA for Sunday night and we left at 6:00 am Sunday morning and headed west.
We got to the hotel about 7:30 pm LA time and after checking in, we went out for dinner. The only real problem we had in DeRidder was they don't sell beer on Sunday. Arrrggg!!!!
If you don't have a military ID, you have to enter Ft. Polk through the Main gate on US 171 about 2 miles north of LA 10. That was about 30 miles north of DeRidder as US 171 runs through it.
After getting a visitor pass we head for the GL lot. The GL building is the only building on Magazine Rd. We didn't see an address on the building so we went a little further and the road ends at an off road driving course. After back tracking we find the GL office and sign in. I gave Linda my paper work and in a few minutes Maxine came out to take us to the truck.
When we got to the yard where the truck was, Maxine was met by a person in a HMMWV and she rode in with this person and Ray and I followed in my truck.
Bob (Av8or) had been generous (thanks again Bob) and sent me a key. The first thing I did when I got to the truck was see if the key fit, and it did. I checked fluids before I attempted to start it. The engine oil was full as was the radiator, I also pulled the transmission dipstick and it was at the cold fill line. Accessory belts looked good and nothing looked like it was falling off, so I buttoned up the hood. I pulled the battery box cover to see what was in there, and the batteries looked new and well secured so I put the cover back on.
The batteries were low, so we jumped the truck off with the HMMWV. It started right up and died shortly after Ray un-hooked the slave cable. Ray re-hooked it and I restarted the engine and we left the HMMWV plugged in for about 10 minutes to charge the batteries so the full load wouldn't all be on the M915A1's alternator. I finished looking things over while the truck idled and noticed the air drier purge valve was leaking so I squirted it with some PB Blaster and tweaked it with a screw driver and it didn't give us any more trouble.
I drove it outside the gate and Maxine and I traded autographs and she gave us directions for the easiest way off the base. Maxine was very patient while Ray and I were getting things inspected. Linda and Maxine are both very nice and easy to work with.
Ray and I headed out the gate on LA 469 I think, not real sure, about 9:45 am LA time. We hung a right onto LA 28 towards Alexandria to take I-49 back south to I-10. After going a few miles I was looking for a place to stop and look things over and check temperatures with my IR thermometer.
Warning: For those of you that go crazy when Ray and I call each other "Ray", brace yourselves.
The first place we came to was........... Ray's.
Ray pointed this out to me as I hadn't noticed! We got a good laugh over that.
Anyway. Everything looked good, the truck was running good and all temperatures were OK so we headed down the highway. A few miles further down the road we passed a gas station with $3.71 diesel so I made a u-turn and went back to fill up. This place also had home made lasagna (huge portion and very good!) so Ray and I decided to chow down so we could put some miles behind us without stopping. $428 dollars later, (not counting lunch) we headed out.
Once on I-49 south I remembered how bad the road is. I thought it was bad when I drove my M929 back last year. I have a whole new definition for "bad road". I also found out that air ride seats aren't very helpful if the whole back of the truck bounces a foot off the ground! I also have a new definition for "road beat the crap out of me".
With a couple of brief pit stops to take care of business and get my kidneys back in position we got a hotel about 20 miles west of Mobile, AL off I-10. There are a lot of hotels at this exit and the first one I pulled into had a room and the price was right. I parked the M915A1 where I would be able to jump start it in the morning if the batteries were junk. After shutting the engine off I thought I might as well see if it will start, and it did! Great!!!
Ray and I cleaned up a little and then went looking for dinner. Ray was having Sonny's BBQ withdrawal pains and asked a person we passed in a parking lot where one was. The fellow told us about a mile up the road, but it turns out there wasn't one. We did find a Dick Russell's BBQ and went there. Turns out this was probably the best BBQ I've ever had and I think that goes for Ray too. Very nice waitress and the grilled pork chops were out standing.
We stopped on the way back to the hotel and bought beer.
We got up at 6 am Tuesday, Mobile time, and grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and got back on the road. After bracing myself for another 400+ mile road beating, I'm happy to say the roads were much better through AL and FL. We traveled about 1.5 hours and stopped in Milton, FL to fill up the vehicles, look things over and make a pit stop. Our lunch stop was just east of Tallahassee.
Last stop was the rest area just outside of Gainesville at Payne's Prairie and while looking things over I discovered a brake dragging on the rear tandem. I re-greased the slack adjuster and the S-cam support bracket but it was still not coming all the way off. I was going to pull the air hoses off that can but realized I didn't have to stop again until I got off the expense-way near my house so I released the parking brake and pulled the slack adjuster back to fully release the brake. After giving Ray $10 to cover tolls on the Turnpike and expense-way, I grabbed my Sunpass out of the Ford so I wouldn't have to stop for tolls and off we went.
We arrived back at my house about 8:30 pm and celebrated a successful mission completed!
Miles traveled was 1,805 in three days. The M915A1 got about 7.4 mpg (surprise to me) @ 55 mph on the way back. The pictures posted here are a mixture of mine and Ray's and I'm sure Ray will post more himself.
Thanks for your help Ray!
We got to the hotel about 7:30 pm LA time and after checking in, we went out for dinner. The only real problem we had in DeRidder was they don't sell beer on Sunday. Arrrggg!!!!
If you don't have a military ID, you have to enter Ft. Polk through the Main gate on US 171 about 2 miles north of LA 10. That was about 30 miles north of DeRidder as US 171 runs through it.
After getting a visitor pass we head for the GL lot. The GL building is the only building on Magazine Rd. We didn't see an address on the building so we went a little further and the road ends at an off road driving course. After back tracking we find the GL office and sign in. I gave Linda my paper work and in a few minutes Maxine came out to take us to the truck.
When we got to the yard where the truck was, Maxine was met by a person in a HMMWV and she rode in with this person and Ray and I followed in my truck.
Bob (Av8or) had been generous (thanks again Bob) and sent me a key. The first thing I did when I got to the truck was see if the key fit, and it did. I checked fluids before I attempted to start it. The engine oil was full as was the radiator, I also pulled the transmission dipstick and it was at the cold fill line. Accessory belts looked good and nothing looked like it was falling off, so I buttoned up the hood. I pulled the battery box cover to see what was in there, and the batteries looked new and well secured so I put the cover back on.
The batteries were low, so we jumped the truck off with the HMMWV. It started right up and died shortly after Ray un-hooked the slave cable. Ray re-hooked it and I restarted the engine and we left the HMMWV plugged in for about 10 minutes to charge the batteries so the full load wouldn't all be on the M915A1's alternator. I finished looking things over while the truck idled and noticed the air drier purge valve was leaking so I squirted it with some PB Blaster and tweaked it with a screw driver and it didn't give us any more trouble.
I drove it outside the gate and Maxine and I traded autographs and she gave us directions for the easiest way off the base. Maxine was very patient while Ray and I were getting things inspected. Linda and Maxine are both very nice and easy to work with.
Ray and I headed out the gate on LA 469 I think, not real sure, about 9:45 am LA time. We hung a right onto LA 28 towards Alexandria to take I-49 back south to I-10. After going a few miles I was looking for a place to stop and look things over and check temperatures with my IR thermometer.
Warning: For those of you that go crazy when Ray and I call each other "Ray", brace yourselves.
The first place we came to was........... Ray's.
Ray pointed this out to me as I hadn't noticed! We got a good laugh over that.
Anyway. Everything looked good, the truck was running good and all temperatures were OK so we headed down the highway. A few miles further down the road we passed a gas station with $3.71 diesel so I made a u-turn and went back to fill up. This place also had home made lasagna (huge portion and very good!) so Ray and I decided to chow down so we could put some miles behind us without stopping. $428 dollars later, (not counting lunch) we headed out.
Once on I-49 south I remembered how bad the road is. I thought it was bad when I drove my M929 back last year. I have a whole new definition for "bad road". I also found out that air ride seats aren't very helpful if the whole back of the truck bounces a foot off the ground! I also have a new definition for "road beat the crap out of me".
With a couple of brief pit stops to take care of business and get my kidneys back in position we got a hotel about 20 miles west of Mobile, AL off I-10. There are a lot of hotels at this exit and the first one I pulled into had a room and the price was right. I parked the M915A1 where I would be able to jump start it in the morning if the batteries were junk. After shutting the engine off I thought I might as well see if it will start, and it did! Great!!!
Ray and I cleaned up a little and then went looking for dinner. Ray was having Sonny's BBQ withdrawal pains and asked a person we passed in a parking lot where one was. The fellow told us about a mile up the road, but it turns out there wasn't one. We did find a Dick Russell's BBQ and went there. Turns out this was probably the best BBQ I've ever had and I think that goes for Ray too. Very nice waitress and the grilled pork chops were out standing.
We stopped on the way back to the hotel and bought beer.
We got up at 6 am Tuesday, Mobile time, and grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and got back on the road. After bracing myself for another 400+ mile road beating, I'm happy to say the roads were much better through AL and FL. We traveled about 1.5 hours and stopped in Milton, FL to fill up the vehicles, look things over and make a pit stop. Our lunch stop was just east of Tallahassee.
Last stop was the rest area just outside of Gainesville at Payne's Prairie and while looking things over I discovered a brake dragging on the rear tandem. I re-greased the slack adjuster and the S-cam support bracket but it was still not coming all the way off. I was going to pull the air hoses off that can but realized I didn't have to stop again until I got off the expense-way near my house so I released the parking brake and pulled the slack adjuster back to fully release the brake. After giving Ray $10 to cover tolls on the Turnpike and expense-way, I grabbed my Sunpass out of the Ford so I wouldn't have to stop for tolls and off we went.
We arrived back at my house about 8:30 pm and celebrated a successful mission completed!
Miles traveled was 1,805 in three days. The M915A1 got about 7.4 mpg (surprise to me) @ 55 mph on the way back. The pictures posted here are a mixture of mine and Ray's and I'm sure Ray will post more himself.
Thanks for your help Ray!
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