I believe it's .34 - .36 mile to start, but Johnboy can confirm that, as he's already in there working. I'm waiting to get started this week...

Good for you Gary! I will be in Pittston on those days also to get my reload info so I'll be sure to look you up. It won't be hard to find you, they do the orientation right there in the safety office for all to see. Any questions just ask!

The pay scale is .34-.36 cpm depending on years of experience. I started out at .36 cpm. thats for OTR. If you run regional then it starts out at .40 cpm. We also get extra pay for multiple p/u's and drops. There's also extra NYC pay for going into one of the five boroughs. We also get extra money if we are sent into Canada. I carry my passport with me and told them I would go into Canada but haven't been offered any loads up their yet.

Keep on their tails. I'm quite sure that as they weed through the apps it will dwindle down the list.

Well I got home late Friday night after a rather rough week. I loaded in Auburndale Fl Monday evening and had to deliver on Wednesday in Northampton MA. Then I did a p/u in Rotterdam NY to bring to the yard and had my Florida load info waiting for me to reload Wed Night. I got home late Friday night where I'm at right now. I need to deliver in Orlando 5AM in the morning. Not a bad week considering. 3050 paid miles and home in 5 days for a reset. That was the easy part. The bad part was that I came down with the Flu as I was heading out Monday and fought that all week. The rough part was my encounter with a HUGE Gull at the 3 mile marker on 95 in NC. I was in the right lane minding my own business when a flock of, what I call flying pigs came out of the trees on my left side. All but one was able to get enough of lift and cleared my truck except this particular one that was trying to get going. What happened next was something out of a movie. Now I have hit a few Deer in my day but never a bird with a 4 foot wing span that must of weighed 40 lbs. He t-boned my drivers window and mirror, sent my driver side mirror flying into a thousand pieces, broke the bracket, and exploded all over the side of my truck. The driver behind me asked me over the CB what just happened and I told him, he said that he couldn't see what happened with me, but all he saw was glass and feathers. Meanwhile, this Gull got wedged between my window and mirror bracket and went trucking with me until I was able to stop. Right before I stopped he fell off and got run over by the guy behind me. You want to talk about a horrible death? If the impact didn't kill him then getting run over by a big truck sure did. I surveyed the damage then spent the rest of the day looking for a Volvo dealer that had the parts in stock. I finally was able to get the whole thing fixed in less than an hour at the Volvo dealer at the 89 mile marker in Ashland VA. I've posted a few pictures of the incident. God Bless all and watch out for flying pigs!

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Umm, looks like the fowl needed to go potty!

What a week Johnboy! Between the flu and the gull it would be a week to forget I'm sure, except for the 3000k miles that is. There's always a silver lining somewhere. I hope you've beat the flu, it's the worst. I got my flu shot on 10/14, and am waiting for the H1N1 vaccine to become available here in central FL soon.

Those were some nasty scratches, in addition to the mirror. Did the Volvo dealer get those scratches out too? And all this right after they fixed your truck so well in Pittston recently. Oh well, that's trucking. I'm glad noone else got hurt in your incident, that's the most important thing.

Well, it's Monday morning. Hoping to get final word today or tomorrow about heading up to Pittston. Been out of work for 1 month now exactly, and I NEED to get to work, believe me. This hiring process takes soooo long. But it was that way for you too, I remember. One week to do each step along the way, pretty much, right?

Johnboy, does Calex give you EZ passes or Prepass? Lots of tolls in the NE...I imagine your trip to MA this past week racked up quite a few, shooting up 95. Or do you pay cash and get reimbursed?

Have a safe week my friend, and I hope to meet you soon.

God Bless to all. Everyone ready for the Christmas blitz?

Hey all, I got home last night around 9PM after a rather uneventful week. I unloaded Monday in Orlando then was dispatched up to Griffin GA to drop and hook for Tuesday Afternoon. I've been to this customer a half a dozen times so far and know that it takes a whopping 15 minutes to drop and hook then leave. On my way up I had an electrical issue with my truck that turned out to be a bad alternator and tensioner pulley. I got to the TA in Jackson GA which is about 15 miles to the customer Tuesday around 10AM and from the time I showed up to the time the repair was completed it was just shy of 3 hours lost. $915 later I was on my way to my delivery in Edison NJ for Thursday Morning. I bumped the dock at 4:45 am and was on my way back to Pittston at 5:40 AM. When I got to Pittston I was given my reload info for a drop and hook at the usual customer for Thursday Afternoon for a Monday delivery. So this weeks total breaks down like this;

2795 paid miles
Left Sunday night
Arrived home Friday night.

Not bad for 5 days work and another reset at home. Be safe all, God Bless!

Gary, that wasn't scratches you were looking at, it was the inner make up of the Gull after he exploded all over the side of the truck! As far as tolls we have EZ-Pass which makes it SOOOO much easier.

Gary, I saw Mort on Thursday and he told me that I might be picking you up on Monday for a ride to Pittston. I guess it all depends on what dispatch has in store for me after unloading. I don't want to put my cell phone # on the blog so call Mort and he will give you my number.