Burleson Terminal

Discussion in 'Millis' started by stevenneill, Nov 19, 2013.

  1. sapamil

    sapamil Medium Load Member

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    Feb 7, 2012
    Middletown Ohio
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    keep on with the updates and I assure you Harold is a straight shooter if he says ur doing good you probably are these things don,t come easy so don,t be to hard on your self we all have days where it seems like we can,t get anything right
     
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  3. MTownZ

    MTownZ Medium Load Member

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    Jun 2, 2012
    Myerstown, PA
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    We are reading. Keep the updates coming!
     
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  4. stevenneill

    stevenneill Medium Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2013
    Weatherford, Texas 76086
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    So...you have good days, and you have bad ones. No matter who you are, or no matter how long you have driven, something can go wrong. I am finished with my first week. Two more to go. When I woke up this morning and stepped outside, I know today something was going to go wrong. From the start I screwed up. I knew it was iced over out side, but I didn't think it would ice over that bad. Harold told me to be there at nine, so I figured leaving at 8:30 would give me plenty of time, I mean I'm only 4 miles away on a straight shot down the access road. I ate breakfast at the hotel, and came to my room...to wait the next two hours to leave...you see that was my first screw up. Knowing how it had iced over, what I should have done is eat breakfast, then go to my car and de-ice it, instead I went to my room. At 8:30 precisely I walked outside. Immediately I was hit with the cutting wind. It hit me like a knife of ice, cutting through the leather motorcycle jacket as if it were not even there. There was a thin coat of ice on the ground, and I half skated to my car only to see about 4 inches of ice build up on the hood and a half inch thick coat of ice on the windshield. It started fine, though it took me all of five minutes to get my door open, I maxed the defrosters, put on my mirror heaters, rear defroster, seat heater, and waited...and waited...and waited...the ice was so thick it wouldn't melt. I looked for my ice scraper only to remember I had put it in my wife's car last year...this is, after all, Texas. You REALLY don't need one...until you do. I took my mag light and lightly tapped on the ice, images of my windshield shattering running through my mind.

    I went back inside the hotel to wait, decided to call Harold...no answer. Now, what the hell do I do? I left a message. I'm gonna be late. A few minutes pass, I go back outside to check...no progress. Traffic on I-35 is crawling past at roughly 20mph. I start tapping on the ice again with my mag light afraid I'm going to shatter my windshield...briefly an image pops in my mind, me driving through snow, with no windshield, an aviator hat and aviator glasses laughing hysterically...####.

    No luck so I go back inside, check the time...I've been jacking with this for twenty minutes now. I have ten minutes to be at School. I watch the news for a minute, traffic is stopped on an interstate bridge as two semis are at a dead stop in either lane halfway up the overpass and show no signs of moving, I wonder briefly if the drivers just climbed in the bunk and went to bed, or maybe they are kicked back playing XBox... The traffic cam pans out, traffic is stopped everywhere, the newscaster is telling everyone to just stay inside...advice I tend to agree with today. I look at my watch. ####, its 9 AM, I am now officially late. I go back to the car...It doesn't appear anything has happened. I can now see my mirrors in each side window, the back window is clear, but the windshield is still a solid block of ice...then...wait a minute...There is a layer of shifting water between the ice and the windshield!

    So...I get out, tap it ever so lightly with my mag light and start seeing cracks. I move to the edge and a piece breaks off. I pull the hotel room card out of my pocket, slip it underneath and a larger piece breaks off. 5 minutes later my windshield is clear. My windshield wipers however are still encased in ice...screw it, I'm gone. I took my time getting there even though I was in a rush. My speed never got over 25 and honestly, that was too fast, but I did get there safely and Harold was cool about it.

    Most of the day was spent in class, then around 2 PM he decided to go out and do some range work. He had fired up some old freightliner that looked older than my oldest boy as soon as I got there and it ran all day, but by 2 Pm it was still covered in Ice. He took me to a trailer and demonstrated proper coupling procedures. He backed under it, we did the proper checks, he pulled it once to the front, once to the left, once to the right. We both got under it to look at the locking jaws, he showed me how to tell that it was locked. He got back in and pulled it forward, then demonstrated straight line backing, he put it back, then pulled forward, then put it back, backing about 100 feet. Then he asked if I wanted to try it. Sure! I was pretty confident I could back it. We never even got out. I just waited for him to step in the back, I stepped to the driver's seat belted in, slipped it in gear, eased off the clutch, it surged forward a few feet then Jerked real bad and CRASH!!!!!...No, I didn't wreck...something broke in the 5th wheel and the trailer dropped. I started thinking Dangit, this is just my luck... This crap happens to me ALL the time, MURPHY get the hell out of my life, you and your laws are not welcome here! then I realize...I didn't hook this rig up, I didn't have ANYTHING to do with hooking it up. I didn't even raise the Landing gear. Harold did all that...but I was driving when it dropped. ####. I raised the trailer back up, Haarold tried to connect again so we could redo the excercise but the jaws would no longer lock around the kingpin. Harold hit it gently then pulled right out of it, Harold tried a seconds time hit it a little harder, then pulled out right out from under it. Harold tried a third time, this time hitting it hard enough to make me wince a little, then...yep you guessed it, he pulled right out from under it. 5th wheel is out of commission. He drove me and it back to the maintenance bay and by this time it was getting late, so he assigned me homework and sent me to the hotel. In my opinion, this was a bad day.
     
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  5. MTownZ

    MTownZ Medium Load Member

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    Jun 2, 2012
    Myerstown, PA
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    Sounds like truckin!
     
  6. baha

    baha Road Train Member

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    Jul 25, 2013
    ga
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    you can see now that getting under trailer an CK. with flash/light even in day is allways the thing to do. set the alarm.
     
  7. stevenneill

    stevenneill Medium Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2013
    Weatherford, Texas 76086
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    Yeah, I can see that, but we did that, both me and Harold checked it underneath, with the flashlight. It was locked.
     
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  8. d o g

    d o g Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Sep 20, 2010
    Texas
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    That happens sometimes, so this is a good place for a lesson in old-school trucker etiquette (something that unfortunately, is becoming less and less common). Any time you're stuck like that, when traffic starts to move again, be sure the guy behind you is awake and can get untracked and get moving.

    If he's asleep, wake him up so he can get moving with everybody else. If he's on a slick spot and can't get moving but you're able to, you're already in a perfect position to help him.

    I suppose that in this era of big company micro-management of everything a driver does, I should add the caveat that you should help him only if your company permits it. If they don't, well...that's the day that I would start looking for something else.

    Anyway, another good write-up. Thanks for sharing with us!
     
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  9. stevenneill

    stevenneill Medium Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2013
    Weatherford, Texas 76086
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    One of the reasons I began this description of my experiences training and driving with Millis Transfer is because when I was researching companies, I couldn't find much info on it. It took a lot of research to find enough info to convince me to go for Millis Transfer. I found a lot of stuff on other companies, but on Millis people were, interestingly enough, silent. I don't regret my decision to go here, and I am immensely grateful that Millis Transfer accepted me.

    I hope that what I write can help people who are also considering a carreer in trucking to make a choice to go with Millis as well, as I personally think it was the best choice. However, there are other issues as well. When choosing a carrier to start with I considered several things. Not only the training program, but also the time on the truck with a trainer, the ease of having home time when needed, and the requirements of the carrier. When I license out I plan on getting doubles/triples, and tanker endorsements also, not because I have to get them, but because I WANt to get them. With Millis you are not currently required to get ANY endorsements. Harold explained to me that they are not insured to carry HazMat so they don't require you to be endorsed with HazMat either, but for me I look into the future possibilities. I know Tankers get more money and its possible sometime in the future that I MIGHT haul a tanker so long as its not Hazmat because I don't want that complication. Its possible I might want to eventually haul doubles or triples...I doubt it, but it isn't hard to get these endorsements so I'm gonna do it. But the bottom line is that Millis Transfer does not require ANY endorsements and that is something to consider. I just read that Prime is requiriing all company drivers to get Hazmat. For me that would probably be a deal breaker because, 1. I don't want it, and 2. I probably can't get it. At Millis, I don't have that concern. I get the endorsements I want, and don't get the endorsements I don't want...simple. I have a surprising lot of friends who drive. One amusing friend constantly complains because his truck heater doesn't work and he has to wrap up in scarfs when driving up north...His company knows, he has complained, and he's not happy. I feel his pain, really, but one thing I am confident of is that no matter if you are OTR or Regional, Millis has good equipment that is well maintained. They seem to go out of thier way to insure at least some degree of driver comfort. I remember that when I was studying, someone asked about drive chains for winter driving, a Millis Driver responded that it was the policy of Millis that if you needed chains, you park it. I thought about that and during class we discussed putting chains on and I asked harold about it, he said that in some states, like Colorado, you are required to have chains on the vehicle but that my info was correct...If you need chains you don't move. It seems that Millis transfer puts driver safety above appointment time. Harold also said that if you don't feel safe, its your call, you don't drive. if the appointment is late, you notify dispatch and they will handle it. I respect that.

    I guess my only "complaint" is...if it can be called that, is that they don't have an O/O fleet. Maybe I'm not quite sane here, but I would like to eventually own my own rig and be an O/O and I wish I could do it with Millis. I know, I'm not experienced enough to even think that far out, and yes, I know its expensive to be an O/O but I want to. With Millis, I don't think I can. Maybe that will change.

    Insurance with Millis seems to be okay...which is good since I haven't had insurance for a couple of years, since Obummercare caused my rates to triple. $60 a week for you and a dependent, $3,000.00 deductible, not sure on co pay, but they also have a health savings plan, and a prescription plan, from what I understand they have a 401K and the company matches up to 15%? i think that is right.

    Most drivers I have talked to say they average 2400 miles or so during this time of year and that it increases after the slow frieght season...for those reading this months from now, it is December 7th right now. Currently Millis Transfer is hiring from the Burleson, Texas Terminal for Regional and OTR, I was given a choice and chose OTR and now I'm not so sure that was my best choice. Regional are guaranteed $800 a week and if miles driven exceed $800 then you get miles driven instead. If Miles driven are less than $800 a week you get $800 instead...seems a pretty sweet deal, really. Regional drivers get the same trucks OTR drivers get except the sleeper is a coffin sleeper and not the extended VIP sleeper. None of the trucks are over 4 years old. Dan Millis told us last week that all 2009 trucks will be replaced by 2014 trucks this spring or early summer. They have not priced the 2014 models yet so they are not sure on when yet. He said it depends on frieght frequency as to how fast the trade ins will go. The trucks come with factory installed refrigerator units, and I think...don't quote me here...but I think they also come with inverters installed. There are mounts for a tv and for a microwave. Storage space seems to be very good all things considered and so they work well for a home away from home.

    During Training Millis Transfer will put you up in a hotel. It is not free. You sign a promissory note to pay it back at a rate of $20 a week until it is paid. They use the Comfort inn and Suites in Alvarado, about 3-4 miles south of the Burleson Terminal...can't speak on any other location. The staff here is great, and the room is nice and spacious. I am from Texas so I drove here in my own vehicle, I am not using a company vehicle, but as I understand it there is one available if you need it. I am also the only student in class so I am not sharing a room with anyone, though if you have a larger class you may well share the room. At Millis there are, I think 4 training trucks. One brand new Kenworth with less that 90k on the odometer, I drove it the other day and put about 8 roab miles on it...yeah I know...laughable for you experienced drivers. One older Petey about 2012, fairly nice, tough clutch caused a cramp in my leg that I can still feel three days later...an Old Petey about 11 years old, that junker is wore out inside and out, its the one that broke the 5th wheel locking mechanism I posted about the other day. I don't like that truck, it is my nemesis. But you drive what you gotta drive. The last one I haven't been in yet, not sure about that one.

    Here in Burleson, we do our testing at the Waxahachie DPS, so you can you tube it and there are videos of CMV testing at this location. Also there is a member here, Baritone, who has a You tube series called OneTruckersView, I watched all of his videos, except the ones that won't play because someone blocked it...He isn't from the Texas Terminal but he is a Millis Driver and has some good stuff. You Tube it. Okay...I think thats all I can think of right now. its Saturday, I'm iced in at the Hotel, bored to death, so figured I would try to piece together info I wanted when searching. Thanx for reading, see ya soon.
     
  10. joseph1135

    joseph1135 Papa Murphy

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    Nov 8, 2009
    The Highway To Hell.
    0
    I guess I can officially welcome you to trucking. Not that you're in school, or hooked up with a great company. Nope. Murphy's law at work. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong!!! Don't get bummed. You have no idea what you're doing. All new to you, and I can say that when I was in school (MTI class of 12/2001, ahhh, I remember the big football game against the bartender's school, lol) we all screwed up in someway or another. Don't get discouraged with this new adventure in your life. These things happen. A lot. When you're new. Good luck and I am subscribed. I got my start with Millis. In my honest opinion, one of the best companies to start with and maybe even stay. Good luck to you Steven. I'm rooting for you
     
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  11. stevenneill

    stevenneill Medium Load Member

    440
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    Nov 11, 2013
    Weatherford, Texas 76086
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    Okay, trying to get me thoughts straight so I can update this thread. The weekend sucked. If it hadn't been iced over I more than likely would have just gone home for at least one day, but the ice storm hit texas and it pretty much shut Alvarado, where my hotel is, completely down. I should have known better, I KNOW what Texas ice can do, but I blew it off and ended up stuck in my room. As I said before, its a nice room, but TV viewing options leave much to be desired. I have a lot of friends in Texas but none that I know of in Alvarado, so it was just me, in my room, fighting boredom all weekend.

    Me and boredome do NOT get along. I don't mind being alone. I spent most of my life alone, sometimes its good to be alone, but I have to be doing something all the time. I can not get bored...It is just not good. And this weekend I spent most of it bored. Saturday I watched reruns of movies I had just watched Friday, and I spent a lot of time on Facebook...yeah, I'm a facebook junkie, sorry, get the laughs in, I really enjoy facebook. I have a lot of family and friends and I can spend an hour or two at a time just scrolling through...Bleh

    Facebook was dead. Nothing except the weather, and I didn't care much to talk about the weather, I mean I can open my window and look out on I-35, and watch all the stuck cars, trucks and big rigs...Yeah the weather sucks. Reruns suck too, but somehow I got through to Friday. I would have went to Church if my car could have been retrofitted as a snowmobile. Took one step out side, nearly killed myself on the ice, and turned around and went back inside.

    Back in the room the TV was playing reruns of the movies I watched Saturday, which were in turn reruns of the movies I watched Friday. I detest watching sports, so that was out, and I didn't bring any good books to read, not that I can find much these days that catches my attention in books. I remember when I used to read a book a day and a textbook a week...ahh but I digress. I was...bored...to...death. So I have several subjects I am studying out on the internet, and I began searching some of those out, but there wan't much new, I already knew most of it. Checked You Tube to see if Baritone had anything new up...Nada. Came here to the forum and commented on a couple threads...man THAT was a mistake, somehow I got sucked into this argument vortex that I didn't even really want to be in but I just can't seem to shut the heck up when people are spouting nonsense, so I hope I at least provided amusement for someone, all it did for me was frustrate me.

    Anyway, I get in a pretty bad mood Sunday night, Boredom does that to me, and by the time I woke up this morning I had a real bad headache and a worse attitude. Got up at 5 AM, showered, I was too early for breakfast so I stopped at Whataburger but that garbage didn't look appealing. Finally settled on a bacon egg and cheese buscuit and coffee. The roads were okay the 3-4 miles I had to travel to the Burleson Terminal. Harold was already there as cheerful as ever...does this guy EVER sleep? He took my Homework...I was suppossed to take the text book home and do about 8 quizzes and a week one test. I guess taking the text book means its open book exams? Well, if you recall, Friday was not a good day. I was frustrated and when I left, I forgot the textbook. Yeah...Murphy again. So I get here and I'm like...drive back over all that ice, or not? I chose not. So Friday I sat down and did all the quizzes. I already knew most all the info but then I got to the chapter on all the paperwork side of it, I didn't know half that stuff, so I answered what I could and spent most of Friday night researching the rest. I aced it all...not that its all that hard, really. So this morning, I was fairly happy that I aced it all, even the stuff I didn't know, because I had my laptop and I was able to find the answers by researching the subject.

    Then we went out to the truck. We spent a good time going over pretrip. Then he started me on Straightline backing. I screwed it up the first couple times...took me getting used to the junker I was in. On the third try I aced it and spend the next couple hours backing in, pulling forward, backing in, pulling forward...I lost count after 50. Straight line backing...I got that. My confidence was rising, My mood was improving. Harold comes up and takes me a couple hundred feet up to show me Parallel parking. I'm like...seriously? I don't even parallel park my car...and you want me to parallel park a 75 foot semi?

    Harold just laughed. "You'll get this" he said. I was like...yeah...right. But I did. He showed me twice, Switched seats and I did it....and you would have thought I had 1.) Never driven anything with an engine, 2.) Never even seen a stick shift, 3.)never parked even a bicycle. Yeah it was pretty bad. I didn't know if the truck was going left or right, or where the friggen trailer was...Barrells? WHAT Barrels? Poor barrel...If that had been a car, he'd just need a new car. Seriously. And I'm like, WTH! I OWN two trailers, I back them in all the time. I have to weave them through my yard to get them where they belong. I do it alone...by myself, ALL...THE...TIME...and here I am panicking because I can't seem to get this to save my life. I'm like Am I supposed to watch the convex mirror or the West Coast mirror? What barrel am I watching to disappear, Where did the barrel go my front end is about to hit...WHAT DO YOU MEAN HARD LEFT?

    I pull out, set up again, Harold comes over and says try this...He says watch out your left mirror, wait til you see the emercency line gladhand, when you see that you are at the perfect angle, cut around, follow it, when the trailer clears the first barrel .....It clicks...The next run it slips in as pretty as can be...I'm shocked...utterly shocked. I just sat there looking at my positioning and asked myself...Just exactly HOW did I just do that? I look out at Harold, grinning from ear to ear giving me a thumbs up. I sigh in relief...I got this. Then...Thank You GOD.

    So I still screwed up a few times. the next run took two pull ups but I got her in. I flattened a couple of barrels once or twice...But out of thirty runs I only missed the first two before Harold gave me that invaluable tip, and maybe five more...I was satisfied...apparantly so was Harold. We went to lunch. When we came back, he took me to the offset backing range...Heck this is just a combo of straight backing and parralel parking. No problem. Harold did it in about 3o seconds...we maybe not that fast but it seemed like it. No problem.

    Yeah, Right.

    Two hours later I was about to pull my hair out...what hair I have left. Millis said they wanted shoulder length hair, mine was down the middle of my back. I cut it all off before I got here and was about to pull what I kept out now. MAN! I was soooo frustrated. I would lay it in perfect, pull up, lay the other side in perfect, then spend the next half hour screwing up so bad I embarressed myself. I wanted to turn the CB off and this junker doesn't even HAVE one, thats how bad it was. Then just when I was ready to start cussing everything, I would set up and she would slip right in as pretty as you please and I would just sit there and Thank God. I don't know how I got through offset backing. I would say I got about 40% right and about 60% wrong. Counting each side as a run, I ran it about 30 times before even Harold said it was enough...at least my last run was perfect. I wonder how long he sat there just so he could end the day with a perfect pair. I am thankful he did because my confidence today has taken a huge bashing on the Backing practice. Anyway...day over. My homework...the chapter on Emergency maneuvers and plan to take the Junker to Cartersville and drop it off next week. I have to do the trip planning, plan the breaks, stops and figure out when we are going to get there...Harold has more faith in me than I have faith in me to have me drive him to Georgia in this junkheap...have I yet mentioned that I've never been further East than Louisiana?

    Anyway, I'm tired, I'm Upset with my progress, and I have homework to concentrate on, so I'll tune in and see if anything interesting pops up on the forum tonight, but otherwise, I will see you guys later.
     
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