Good Night From II

i15s ex110 at truck parking.
other driver got to beaver early enough for me to turn back towards misquite NV.
stopped at flying j and was packed so continues south.
still had 35 minutes on driveline
got a few miles and traffic came to a stop.
got past the 1st lane closure and still bad.
a truck rear-ended another truck and blocking right lane.
by this te I had to go pc to continue
got off at ex 12 and that was packed full of trucks, so came here.
about 35 minutes of PC to go about 4 miles.
not fun.
got a 3 day fishing trip leaving this Monday so will only do weekend trip when I get back

 

not sure what's going on with this traffic

I know they are repaving at mm100 and down to one lane, but traffic is still backed up.

 

Another Costco load, this time to Omaha, NE.
When I got there the dock area was completely full. More than full, it was stacked nearly to the ceiling.
They told me that it would be Monday before they could unload me, and today is Saturday.
'We have a really nice zoo in the area", I was told.
Or I could take the returns load back to Owatonna and be on my way.

Too many of these Owatonna Costco loads hold me hostage to their loads back to Owatonna.

Nearly 23 hours at the Costco in Fargo a couple days ago, and then this one.
When I called my terminal I was told that Sioux Falls was saying the same thing, and others.

That DC is sending out more loads than the stores can handle, and it is messing everything up for everyone.

I had a nice load from there, which had to be taken off me, and I am taking the returns load back to Owatonna.
Then it will be yet another Costco load, and who knows what will be in store for me this time.

I'm sure there are more loads delivering in Omaha today and tomorrow, and those drivers will probably have to simply wait it out.

 

Par for the course, I guess.
My next preplan had me going back to that same Costco in Omaha with a Monday 0700 delivery.

I didn't respond with a mac 9; I called her to tell her that I would not be taking that load because... and I explained.
That was the only available load going out today and the others don't deliver until Tuesday.
That's OK, I'll take the load to Independence, MO delivering Tuesday because from there I can probably get something NOT Costco related.
And no, I do not want to run a couple local Costco loads today in the meantime.

The past week of nothing but pain in the back side Costco loads has left me short on patience, so I will just chill for a 34 and hopefully next week will be better.

 

So my DM of several years, Heather, just left Swift for greener pastures.
The FM will be my DM until they get someone trained to take Heather's place.

I just spoke with her and she gave me some very awesome news...

My million mile truck has arrived.

It is currently in Columbus, and once it gets delivered to Menasha I will get up there and take possession.
Probably in a week or two.

After this past week, that is some very welcome news indeed!

 

Be sure to take a picture and post it here.

 

Independence, MO at the Costco.
I got here at 1430 for my 1600 delivery and it looks like I'll be here until at least 0800 tomorrow morning.
Same thing as all the other Costco's this past week, they have way too much stuff coming so everyone has to wait.
There is a truck in the door waiting to be unloaded and another sitting next to me. He is the next truck in, and he has been here since 2130 last night.

 

Question for drivers currently with swift. I'm looking at going back OTR after working local doing demolition work for the last 6 years. Very little class A work with the company, tandem dump with tilt equipment trailer mainly that requires class A. Mostly just drove tandem axle dump trucks. In you opinion, would swift bring me on and give me a refresher? Clean record, no tickets or at fault accidents.

Also, while poking around their website they showed reefer openings in Texas (I'm based in Abilene) paying top 25% $1900 per week. That seem accurate? Based on what I've heard over the years it seems like 2% would be accurate but I'm outside looking in. Guess that's with a lot of fuel and safety bonuses and never going home?

Thanks for your input

 

They may just give you a standard driving test and go from there, id say the pay is only best case scenario with no issues. You should know theres always an issue in trucking.

 

Oh I'm well aware of that lol. Drove for prime for my first year before going local. Would $1200-1500 be reasonable gross on a week everything went well?