3/10-3/14

This was my last week of local work and I was given a couple of loads that were long enough to pay mileage. Monday I picked up a load of glue at 4:00 pm in Kernersville NC and took it down to Spartanburg SC. It delivered between 7 AND 8 am. I opted to leave right after loading rather than drag it back to the yard and leave at 4:30 the next morning. I got to the yard around 1:00 and the mechanics were still working on my truck. They were fixing the compressor which I would need the next morning. They went to lunch shortly after I got there so I was able to spend some time in the truck putting my stuff in it. I had come by with my son the day before to show it to him and had some of my stuff in there. It was pretty dirty inside so I scrubbed on it until the mechanics came back from lunch. I talked to dispatch and was told I could use another truck to pick up my load and bring it back to the hard. They weren't finished by the time I had to leave so thats what I did.

Loading went fine and I got hooked up and off I went in my truck for the first time. I get up to the stop light and smoke is rolling out from under the hood. It was after 6 and all the mechanics were gone. I considered going back to the yard. Then I thought something like this

"I have been told these mechanics are the best in the company. They have had this truck for 3 weeks now and have pretty much rebuilt it. The coolant levels are surely right. The temp gauge is reading right Its probably just some type of oil burn off. If i have to call them its going to be from the side of the road broken down"

I forged on and the truck ran well. I got down there about 8:45-9:00 and stayed at the Mr Waffle truck and travel plaza about 3 miles from my exit to get to the consignee. It was an older truck stop but parking was easy. Big lot that never filled up. My trainer had pointed it out as a good place to stay for this load. He was right. It took me a while to get my bed made and stuff put away. I didn't want to put clothes in the cabinets yet as they were filthy. It took a while to get the bed made as it has a new mattress and I had to cut the plastic off first. Finally got to sleep about 11:00.

Tuesday 3/11

Got up about 6:30 and had a nice breakfast. Did a pretrip and got to the consignee about 7:30. Had a little trouble with the vacuum breaker leaking air again but the tank would charge to about 18 lbs with the truck compressor. Problem was it would drop below 10 and I had to shut off the internal valve a couple of times to let it build up again. Finished up about noon and headed back.

Wednesday & Thursday

More local stuff moving tanks and loading waste water. They did give me 4 hours to clean my truck on Wednesday. It turned 8 5 gallon buckets of water black from rinsing the rags I used to wipe down the walls dash cabinets and floor mats. I used greased lightning cleaner and washed it good. They let me go early Thursday since I have a load up to Riverville Va on Friday. I went home and built a stand for my laptop to fit on the passenger seat so i can run GPS if I need it.

Friday

Left about 8:15 and drove straight there with one 10 minute pee break. I had a wide window for this delivery.. anywhere between 8:00-3:00. I got there right around noon. This was the same trailer I had used on Monday and the vacuum valve had been replaced. What a difference it made. Trailer was charged to 25 lbs in 5 minutes. No leaking at all. It still took 2.5 hours for the load to come off. It had to push it pretty far through 2 inch hoses. I had to keep pumping the internal valve pump. It was leaking hydrolic pressure somewhere. Had a nice drive back. It was around 350 miles round trip with some hourly pay thrown in. Should be a decent pay day. I got home around 7:00. Next week will be out into the system so I will be dealing with some of the other terminals. I have a load going to Dalton Ga to launch me.

Glad to hear all is going good. I hope you have a great career with Superior, I like it here to. ............Fish Hook......

Glad to hear all is well.I have an interview thursday with Triumvirate Environmental in Somerville ,Ma and I have to recall my cousins boss at Rich's transportation. He just fired someone and asked if I found anything yet. Sill looking and currently working as a fueler for Greylawn foods. Lots of practice backing,dropping & hooking.

Monday 3/17- Friday 3/21

Been a good week. This is my first week out in the system. They have kept me pretty busy. I left Monday with a load of glue from Kernersville bound for Dalton Ga. Got there with about 15 minutes to spare and still have time to take a legal 10 hour break. I stayed at a Pilot that night.

Tuesday

Got up at 6 am and off I went to make my 7 AM delivery. The directions I was given left a lot to be desired. "Go through 2 major intersections and turn left on ____ rd." There were at least 15 stoplights before ____ rd. Exactly what is a major intersection? Fortunately i had found ____ rd on MS streets and trips the day before and had my gps running. It provided me with just enough info to not freak out over so many "major" intersections. Got there about 15 minutes early and proceeded to search for someone in the warehouse that spoke english. Finally found one and he directed me to the inlet. I had wondered why the travel order specified 40 ft of 3" hose. The plant sits sort of on a hill and if you back in close to the pipe there would be too much of an angle for the rear unloading tank. There is a ramp right next to it. If I go back i may pull up on it nose first. It will take the same amount of hose but would leave zero heel. The unload went well. There was lots of product left in the hoses and they were heavy.

Got a tank wash message within 5 minutes and off I went to our terminal in Atlanta to drop the tank and get my next dispatch. I stopped at the Pilot on the way back to try out my comdata card and grab a shower. Worked great.

In Atlanta I found out they wanted to Ohio but that load needs intransent heat. My tractor doesn't have that yet. They sent me to Augusta Ga instead. Gave me a load that delivered at 8 am 2 miles from the terminal there. I got there dropped my trailer and went to the grocery store and a Chinese restaurant.

Wed 3/19

Got up took a shower at the terminal and headed out. Got to the consignee at 7:45AM and was informed that my appointment was for 7:30PM. Went back to the terminal and was told that they were afraid that would happen. Had me drop the load and go to a tank wash to drag a tank back to Atlanta. I get there at noon and they had a load for me headed to Reidsville NC delivering between 8-3 Thursday. Problem is it loaded at 9:00 PM. After looking at my log I realized that I would be over on my 14 hours at 9:15. There was no way I could legally do it without cheating on my logs. I told them I couldn't do it unless I could load earlier. Couldn't change it so here I sit in Atlanta.

They have given me a load going to aurora NC that delivers on Monday. It loads anytime between 8-3 Thursday. I can pull it to High Point so it gets me home. Pretty good first week so far, a little too much Atlanta but overall good.

You no se habla espanol meester trucker? Sounds like you are doing great. I didn't realize that the no English plague had spread to GA. Do they have a bunk room at your terminals or do you sleep in trucks? Keep up good posts.

We sleep in trucks but if you are doing a 34 hr reset away from home they put you up at a company hotel at superior carriers expense. You just show them your ID card and they bill the company.

Thurs 3/20-Friday 3/21

Finished up my week with a load from Atlanta back to the yard in High Point Thursday night. Today is a holiday so I will not miss a day of pay. I have a load for Monday that delivers between 8-3 in Cincinnati. Plan to leave Easter Sunday after church and dinner with the family. Good first week over all. Hopefully next week will keep me moving better.

Great job Wsyrob. Happy EASTER.

Left out Easter Sunday after church and a nice family meal. Even packed a few mini ham sandwiches on dinner rolls for the road. They really came in handy over the first 3 days as they kept me moving pretty good.

Sunday I hooked to a preloaded tank of snot headed to a water treatment plant in Cincinnati. Shut down a couple of hours from the plant and made my delivery on time with no problem and about an hour of demurage pay. Snot loads always take a little over 2 hours to unload because of the nature of the product. One nice thing about this company and tankers in general is that you are paid hourly after 2 hours loading or unloading. They had me drop my tank and bobtail to the terminal. My next load was from a paint company in Richmond Ky about 90 miles south. I hooked to an empty and was to spot it and grab a loaded one headed to Memphis Tenn delivering at 8:00 AM Wed. My appointment time was 9:00 Tuesday so I drove to within 5 miles of the plant and shut down for the night.

Tuesday morning I get to the plant 30 minutes early drop my empty and learn that my tank is still being loaded. About an hour later they finish loading and inform me that this resin product needs to ship at 150 degrees. It is currently 95 so they hook it to steam and it rose about 10 degrees an hour. You can do the math. I made around $100 laying in the sleeper waiting for this load. Only problem is that my plan was to shut down at our Memphis terminal and now I would not have enough hours on my 14 to make it all the way there. I did a split sleeper on my log so I could take 8 hours and hopefully make it close to my appointment time in Memphis.

After hammering it pretty good I managed to only be around 30 minutes late the next morning. It ended up not mattering as they had a pump break down unloading a truck ahead of me and I got another 5 hours of demurage pay. I dropped my empty at a tank wash and shut down early afternoon at the terminal.

My Thursday load appointment was for 4:00 AM and delivered in Spartanburg SC Friday at 11:00. This load went pretty much as scheduled, 45 min demurage loading and 1 hour on the unload. After dropping my empty at a truck wash I was dispatched on a load that delivered Saturday at 11:00 in Raeford NC. I was to drop the empty on the yard and be off until Tuesday or so. This unload provided me with another 3 hours of demurage pay as they had one guy to unload 3 tankers. They also had a problem because the tank couldn't hold all the product. I wound up taking over 7,000 lbs of heel back with me. I am going to push for loaded mileage pay because of it. That company will be charged out the ying yang for cleaning that tank. Over all a great week.

April 1-4

Got my check and yes they did pay me for loaded miles because of that heel. I didn't even have to ask for it. My weekly check has finally climbed to the point where I will make 48-52 K in a year. The good thing is that was on about 1600 miles since about 500 of my loaded miles on Easter Sunday were put on the prior weeks check. It was a long training process but for a newbie 4 months in its starting to look pretty good.

This week I ran 1700 miles and was only out 3 1/2 days. I left Tuesday 4/1 pulled an empty down to Plaquemine La, loaded and brought it back to Brown Summit NC. Its about an 860 mile run one way and is one of my terminals dedicated runs. I worked half a day local when I got back loading one tank and was off by 1:30 on Friday. Even though I ran almost as many miles my check probably won't be as good this week because of less accessory pay (loading, unloading and demurage). I will have a little though since the tank was refused initially at the plant and I had to get it washed out again before loading.

I leave out again Monday headed for East Chicago Indiana. They gave me a choice of two loads, this one and another headed to Long Island NY.