Calex Express....My New Home!

Gotta love those red light cameras....

 

For future reference....a red light camera ticket can only be assessed as a civil penalty....the worst they can do to you is put it on your credit report as non-payment...it wont go on your license...

 

you should know better. lol

 

Picked up a load from mtn. top today to deliver 9am tomorrow in elizabeth nj. Nice weekend, got home friday afternoon, went to Pittston today and got my truck back after having a new turbo put in, got load from Fabrikal, then back home till tomorrow morning. God willing I wont have any truck problems and will be able to get a full week of driving in. I haven't been able to do that since I started 3 weeks ago.

 

Hey all...well...monday I had come to Pittston early...was pretty nervous for the road test but all that went away as soon as I walked into safety and met Mort, Brian, and Joe and realized these were pretty normal and cool guys. Took my road test with Brian and did very well for not driving since about early December. That went great and then went and took my physical/screening down the road a few hours later and drove myself home for the night afterwards. Get a call from Mort tuesday telling me all was good and to come in tuesday night, and put me up at the hotel for wensday orientation. Another smooth day.. lots of videos and filling out paperwork overall very very easy, but somewhat tiring being its all crunched into 1 day watching videos and learning their procedures. Then assigned a truck which was OK but had a lot of miles about 885K. Wasn't too happy bout that but ill deal with it since I'm a newb here and most likely get assigned another eventually. Billy is my dispatcher and he's a great guy I'm on the local/regional run and he's working with me to get me home every weekend. I didn't get my first trip until early thursday morning so I had to sit a bit for my start. But come thursday morning 7am it was bobtail to mountain top to I2M.. to grab a load for 2 stops in NJ..butler and fairfield...real easy for me being I know the area well. Delivered both stops with ease and deadheaded back to Pittston and dropped my empty, and 2am friday after a 10hr break, bobtailed back to mountain top to Fabrikal which was next door from I2M, for a loaded Chester Va load. Had a 10am appt I ran all the way down 81 hard and across 64 and made it by about 1030 am to chester which is a bit south of richmond. A bit tight but it went smooth and the unload was quik. Since I started the week late, Billy had planned to get me home by at least saturday, after Chester I had a Toano, Va PU at Owens which was a heavy load of glass. Was already starting to run out of hours sitting there for about 2 hours. Anyhow got loaded, and started runnin north but ran out of hours at around the 126MM on 95 which is where I planned to take my 10hr break anyway, at around 4pm. 10 hours later at 2am saturday(yesterday), I start heading north planning to breeze thru DC and all the way up to Pittston via695/83/81 with no one on the road early saturday. I was to drop this load in Pittston and Billy had a load there for me to get home with for a monday delivery in jersy again after my hometime. Sounded great, but THEN as soon as I get thru the Dumfries, Va scale the truck started acting up and an ECU code popped up and the truck lost a lot of power. Long story short I made it up to Ta jessup on low power, and early saturday morning they did a diagnostic check and learned the ECU code is an injection/ECU problem which they couldn't fix and only Volvo could. So I limped up by Volvo baltimore which doesn't open till tommorow morning. Been in a motel down the block since. Not so happy bout that but at least ill get breakdown pay and I do know billy DID make every effort to get me back. Hopefully they'll be able to fix my truck tommorow and can start running again. Besides the breakdown tho, so far I really really like it here. I love how everythings pre planned and its constant running just the way I like it. No long waits at shippers and really quik unloads or pre loaded trailers at their dedicated customers. Billy in dispatch really working with me to get me home every weekend and get a routine going is another huge plus to me, which I won't find at most other companys. I can definitly get used to that and being able to run and do what I do legally and efficiently and know efforts being made to get me home by at least friday every week. I'm just anxious now to get my truck fixed or get assigned another and start running again this week. Definitly enjoy it so far tho and looking forward to running some more. Everything Johnboy has stated was on point and accurate. Everyone at Calex has been great and real nice. If someone can't run here they just aren't trying and are prolly the lazy type. If you want to constantly run without sitting much and get home every weekend this is a great company to roll with. Another thing I absolutly love is how when I pass another Calex truck, they ALWAYS wave. That goes to show me the drivers are happy here and are taking pride in what they do. All the drivers I have met and talked to so far have been great and didn't hesitate to answer any of my questions. So again I really realy like it here and lookin forward to run some more and meet more of you. Its definitly been an experience thus far and I'm glad I made the move here. Big thanks to Johnboy for posting up his great experiences here as well... if it wasn't for that I wouldn't of considered coming here at all. Definitly glad I did. Thanks ---Anthony

 

best way to do that run is take 81 to exit 213 in va take 66 to 17 no traffic and
good roads