My Journy with Swift

I know what you mean about some of the load offers. I know that I have turned down a few in my short time including one that picked up 4 hours after my clock would expire. Another one they tried to send me yesterday that was 450 miles but I only had 4 hours left on my 70. I will say that so far I have been lucky and they haven't had me sitting for more than an hour waiting for a load. The only exception was when I was put on hold, and even then I was running soon after getting that issue cleared up.

When talking about my "weeks" I am currently referring to Monday through Sunday. Thanks for bringing that up since I had failed to clarify what I was talking about. Eventually I will transition over to tracking it by the pay period. I will make sure to let everyone know when that happens though. I also will begin giving more detail about the trips, my planning, and exact mileage. Right now my only form of regular internet access is through my cell phone. This makes it rather challenging to post very often, especially when I want to include much more information. When I got a broadband card for my laptop I will begin providing more informative posts.

I am already planned out of here on Monday morning, although I will say that i am less than thrilled with it. It is a live load at 10am with 370 miles on it. The problem is it doesn't deliver until Tuesday morning. For me that is just too much time sitting on a load that has less than 400 miles on it. I am going to see if I can deliver Monday night instead. I would still have 3-4 hours of drive time available. Either way I won't complain too much. It takes a lot to get under my skin and I only need around 1600 miles to pay my bills and live comfortably. Everything over that is just gravy. Stay Safe.

 

This week started with a Pepsi load. This load was short on miles and I had hoped to arrange for an earlier delivery time. That didn't end up happening. The directions that I had were just about worthless. had I followed them I would have been heading the wrong way and even following the streets I was told to would have sent me under a 12' bridge. Fortunately I caught a glimpse of some Pepsi trucks from a different street and was able to find a safe way over. By the time I had arrived I had a pre plan which I accepted that would do a decent job of keeping me moving. Unfortunately, I ended up waiting for over 4 hours to be unloaded and had to give up the load.

After being unloaded I went down the road to a nearby truck stop to wait for a load. I turned down to loads that had pickup times that i could not make due to HOS. After sending a message to clarify what I could take I was given a load I could run. I was not happy about this at all though. It picked up 30 miles away the following day. So, day two for the week went down in flames driving a total of less than 80 miles. Not a good start to my week. Although I didn't end up sitting that much for the rest of the week it never got much better.

I had one load all week with more than 400 miles on it and every load had an appointment on one end or the other that required I sit for at least 3 hours. Although I did manage to end the week with over 2000 miles it was very frustrating for me. I am currently sitting at a TA in Virginia where I decided to shut it down for the weekend. This turned out to be the best part of the week actually. I went in to grab a bite to eat and found that they had a U shaped counter that the drivers were gathering around. I found myself a spot and enjoyed a couple helpings of chicken fried steak and a some great conversation with other drivers.

I sat there enjoying the conversation with a cup of coffee for nearly two hours and began to make some observations. I was the only person sitting at the counter under the age of 35-40. As i scanned the dining room I found that there were other young drivers like myself, but they had chosen to sit at a table by themselves. I was really disappointed by that. This was a great opportunity to learn from the experience of others and enjoy that "we're all in this together" atmosphere.

I have often felt like I grew up in the wrong generation. Like I have missed much of what was once great in this country. Sitting around that counter last night I felt a little bit of hope, like it might not be all gone just yet. We came from all walks of like and all corners of the country, but we treated each other with courtesy and respect, even when we disagreed. The others that chose to sit alone, seemed to represent that growing group of people more interested in themselves than being part of a community.

I know I dragged on about one meal more than anything else I did this week, but that was the truly highlight of my week. I will be picking up a load in TN tomorrow heading to IN. I have a request in to be home on Thursday, we will see how well they do. I expect to spend more time sitting this week as they try to find me loads heading that direction. Stay safe and if you are given the opportunity, pull up a chair and enjoy some time with other members of the driving community. I guarantee you will not regret it.

 

I haven't had any serious issues with Swift yet. All of my pay checks have been correct including getting all of my reimbursements. It did take them some time to get me back to my home terminal after picking up my truck but they kept me fairly busy with other loads until they could. I am trying to get home for the first time this week. I will let everyone know how they do.