Calex Express....My New Home!

Ok folk's here it is, the continuing adventures of Johnboy. I emptied out last Friday morning in Maspeth Queens early and started heading back to Pittston. On my way back Louie called and said he was sending me back to Florida as he was over booked with freight. By the time I got to PA he called back and said change of plans, I'm sending you to Las Vegas. I said fine and got to the yard with around 2.5 hours left on my clock. Friday's in dispatch I have come to learn are very stressful with continually changing plans. After calling Garylobo and finding out he was also going to Vegas we met up at the yard and compared loads. I went with him to p/u his trailer up in Duryea to show him the way and we got back to the terminal an hour later. I was still hooked to the trailer that I brought from Queens so I went down to Mountaintop and drop and hooked for my Vegas load with Garylobo right behind me. I was up since 3am that morning so my backside was dragging. His load delivered on Tuesday, mine didn't deliver until Thursday. We split up at the T/A at the 232 mm on 80 in PA, he still had 8 hours on his clock and I ran out as I was getting off the exit. The next morning I called Gary and he said that he was about 8 hours ahead of me. He took the 80/76/71/70/15 through MO and I decided to take the 80/76/70/15 through Nebraska. The reason I went the way I did is because we are paid by practical miles which is 2428 to Vegas, the actual miles driven was 2441, a 13 mile difference which isn't bad at all. I also decided to run out my clock everyday with the hope of maybe delivering early. I put in 3 good days of driving and woke up this morning in Grand Junction CO. with 515 miles left to Vegas. I woke up and was on the road at 5am my time. At 8am Vegas time I called the receiver and explained to them that I would be in Vegas 2 days early and that if they could fit me in I could be there around 11am local time. They said sure, bring it in, and that they would probably start unloading me right after lunch. I hit the dock at 11am and they started hand unloading the load at 1pm. They unloaded it, no lumpers or fee. The only thing wrong was that it took them 6 hours to unload me. I really had nothing to complain about, I was empty 2 day's early and it didn't cost me or the company anything to get unloaded. As I wrote the last time I was out here last month, the company policy is to take a reset when you arrive to make sure you have enough hours to get back to PA. Coming out of Florida up to NH and then down to Queens you need to start watching the clock. After bumping the dock, I only had 59 minutes left on my 70. So here I sit, with Garylobo 10 hours into our reset at the TA in Vegas. I called into dispatch and spoke with Pat who is in charge of me since Louie decided to go to Playa del Carmen Mexico for the week. If I had their job I would stay in Mexico for 2 weeks. So instead of loading in Ca on Friday/Saturday, I'll load Thursday/Friday and be able to get this round trip in on next weeks paycheck. This company in my humble opinion is run very well. I see it as a very simple marriage, they give me my dispatch and I deliver the freight, on time and safely. Well that's it for now. I'm here until 10 pm tomorrow night then it's off to CA to chase after produce. Be safe all, God Bless.

 

Wow, what a nights sleep I got! I had the best wake up call you could possibly ask for. Right at day break the parking lot exploded with the roar and sound of Fighter Jets doing maneuvers out of Nellis AFB. Sure makes me proud to be associated with this wonderful country, and to be secure in the fact that someone has my back door while I sleep.

 

Al, in all my years running out to Ca. I've learned that as long as you do the right thing, like watching your speed, log book and the usual things that go along with trucking, it's no different than going any place else. Now some people might disagree with me, but in all my years running out there, I have only one speeding ticket in CA and have been inspected a dozen times. Our trucks are well taken care of so I have absolutely no problems with taking my 800,000 mile truck out there. You don't have to run west if you don't want to, there's plenty of work east of the Mississippi to keep you busy.

 

I live in Florida so my home time is usually the weekends. Running Local will get you home during the week and on weekends. Yes you do take the truck home, they require you to have it in a safe location. Orientation will be the easiest one you have ever attended. Usually it will be you and Mort in the safety office. You'll be able to get a hands on look at how the operation is run from there. It's right in between the shop, dispatch and the front door where the drivers stop by to check in with safety. Very casual and very easy going. It takes about a day and a half so they will put you up in a motel and dispatch you out the following afternoon. As far as anything to do, there's nothing special. Once you get the road test done all the background checks are complete. When you are told to come to Pittston, you have the job and everything is done. If you go to the very first blog I wrote it will tell you exactly how it will work out. It hasn't changed at all since I went through.

 

Well while waiting for my reset to finish Garylobo and I decided to go down the Vegas strip and get a bite to eat. While walking to the truck Pat from dispatch called and gave me my dispatch. He told me to head over to Oxnard and pick up a load of Celery going to one of our regular customers in Milton PA. He said it loads in the morning and that he will send me the info when he gets in in the morning. He also told Garylobo to head towards Barstow and to call him in the morning. It seems they are trying to figure out the best utilization of equipment. He might load in Coachella, Oxnard, or Reedly. They figure being in Barstow will have him positioned in the right place in the morning. His reset has finished so he left already. Mine ends at midnight and I'll be leaving at 4am my time to be in Oxnard and miss all the fun around LA. I deliver Monday so I'll try and update this during my breaks. Talk soon.

 

They have quite a bit of work in your area. I do know those drivers doing the local work are always busy.