Stevens Transport aviary

Well I'm back in Dallas, for Grad class. finished up with my Finishing trainer on Saturday night (my time was up on Thursday, but decided to take the bus from Houston rather then Atlanta)

Got here and found out that all the normal Stevens hotels were full.. yep Ambest maxed out(70 rooms) and crosslands.. so I am at the Super 8 just off the yard. Nicer then most, but the internet here sucks...

Hopefully this won't be too long a process to get rolling.. but just happy to finally be getting my truck... I bet it will be blue.. and say stevens on the side

 

Everyone parks on the street where the signs say, "Absolutely NO Parking".
But Sysco lets you in at 0500 and the street becomes bare after that.

 

Well, just in case you all missed it, today is Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Argh!
So I'm sitting here in Belle Fourche, SD tonight. I have 2.25 hours on my 70 for tomorrow and only 8 the next day. This load is due in Cedar Falls, IA at 0600 Tuesday.
Originally, I was going to take a reset in Portland over the weekend, then head out, but they insisted I take this load, knowing I didn't have the hours to make it.
"don't worry! We'll repower it!"
Famous last words.
Now they are going to be REALLY pissed when the regular crew arrives tomorrow morning and discovers I am holed up in the middle of nowhere along with all these apples!
I do have 2.25 hours...I could make it to Rapid City.
Whooo hooo!
I probably will, since the Mid America Truck Stop here is not the best place to take a day off.
I had suggested to them twice to re route me down to Cheyenne so someone could pick this load up and haul it in. I don't care if I get an empty. I've got to sit anyway...could do a reset there just as easy.
Well we'll see what they do. Unless there's a Buzzard lost and lurking, I don't think they'll find anyone traveling this corridor.
On a bright note, the antelope are plentiful. where's my rifle when I need it?

 

Hey everybody, saw a Stevens truck (Peterbilt) with the truck number *Took number out just in case, never know who is watching* heading southbound on I75 just south of Tampa marker 240 late last week! Anybody on here? I got excited seeing my first one lol!

 

Hello everyone,

First of all thanks to Smoker and all the Stevens drivers who have participated in this forum... I have been reading it for the last few weeks... very informative no doubt I am a newbie who was seeking company paid training and applied to Swift, Prime, Central Refrigerated, and Stevens Transport. Prime denied me outright after applying online, Swift was terrible in communicating with me and never called me back after I had talked to two recruiters and left messages, Central Refrigerated told me that I had to pay for my own housing out of pocket while attending a school here in North Carolina, where I live and then... Stevens called me, sent me a hard copy application and told me that I was accepted!!! Woo hoo, I am so happy! I have been unemployed since September of 2009. I am also a newly wed and it has been very tough for me and my wife. I thank God that Stevens has given me a chance... If anyone is starting class on the 27th of this month let me know! I look forward to the opportunity and plan to learn as much as possible and work very hard to build a good reputation with the company.

Johnny

 

Congratulations Johnny,
and welcome aboard. Keep us informed on how your training is going and feel free to ask ANY questions you may have.
BTW, what part of NC are you from. I have people in Grimesland, Shallotte and Spring Lake.

 

Good job Comic! Hopefully they get you a load our way so you can get some home time! When you do I'll give you a call and we can get a beer and shoot the breeze!

 

Driving down the road, the mind has time to think...I was rolling towards the Dallas Ft. worth complex to set up to do my 4 deliveries spread across 15 hours. Yea terrible scheduling, but I can make it work with a split sleeper berth. Can't park at my first receiver, and really would not want to with 26 hours to kill. No repower over the weekend.

Okay I am wandering again...back to the thought, why is it that us Stevens drivers can not use the Dallas yard as a safe haven to park at for the day/night, and then roll out to make our delivery? Instead the yard is ran more like a prison, check in, and until everyone has signed off on you and your truck, you can not leave!!!!! Some of the highest crime rate is in and around the truck stops and terminals in Lancaster on I20, TA, Pilot, flying J.

so instead we either stop short, outside the complex, or try and find a place to park that is relatively safe. So I looked for a parking spot at the pilot in Ft Worth, found none, and parked over at cabellas. This morning I drove over to the pilot and snagged me a parking spot, so I can roll out at 20:00 for my deliveries around town, starting with target.

If you could roll onto the yard for a 10 hour break, would You? Not have to see anyone, just roll in, and roll out.

 

You bring up a really good point. Maybe you should suggest it to Safety. Perhaps a system where dispatch gives us a 'pass' in advance to come and go so we're exempt from the safety lane and all the other stuff.
As an update on my wanderings here in the hitherlands...
Kelly asked me how this got to be such a screwed up load, this morning.
I told him (hope my smile didn't show thru the phone), "I told everyone before I took this load..."
He agreed, then told me there was another truck a few hours behind me with the same load and the same problem.
Got my appointment changed to Wednesday morning, so I'm a happy camper. Moved over to the J in Rapid City this morning, got a good shower and some needed sleep.
Or maybe that's a needed shower and good sleep....

 

sounds about right, let someone else fix the problem, don't do it right the first time. Funny, how they can reschedule your appointment at Target on this load, but have told me in the past, Target is a high value customer, we can not reschedule. Helps to be in the middle of no where too.

Antelope makes great jerky.

I have suggested it to Safety, to operations, been told the old tired line of we don't do that, we have never done that, and we are not going to change.