The adventures of 'Team Klingon'

We are in Petersburg, VA. I-295 exit 3A
We will be here till 5:30 am local time....

 

I think this was more of the case that the solo that had it, needed to get home. Not so much that it was a 'hot' load.
Besides, its not even a meat load, it is potatoes.....

 

Well. There you go.. meat got to have taters Hahaha

 

We are on our way to SLC with a pretty light load of boods from Random House Publishing. It is going to FedEx in SLC

 

what's a bood???

I am driving my DM crazy trying to keep me rolling and in a specified area...Well I think I am anyway..

 

boods = books

sorry...

 

Klingon & LadyK...
I've enjoyed reading your story. I started last night and finished this morning...whew! It was quite intriguing! I was attracted to your thread for many reasons: my husband also drives for Central, he's a new driver (10 mos.), he went to school at TDA in Modesto and tested in Fontana, we 'live' in CA not too far south from you, and I am SERIOUSLY considering going for my CDL and teaming with him next spring. Trucking has always been in the back of his mind most of his life; spent the past 25 yrs in police/public safety work. He was 'pushed off the cliff' when he lost his job last April and decided to go to truck-driving school. I, on the other hand, have a steady job with good health insurance. So, my motivation to 'JUMP off the cliff' (waaaaaay different than being pushed off) is to be reunited with my seemingly long-lost driver (we see each other about every 8 weeks for 3 days), to test out my tom-boy tendencies/abilities on that big ol' rig, and see the country from a dashboard perspective. I've been on the road with him a few times and have felt the itch to drive getting stronger and stronger. It's nice to have an insider's perspective via my DH because I'm learning ALL about crummy DM's and great ones, loooong wait times for live loads/unloads, missed hometimes and ALL of the frustration that can bring, as well as loads/plans being changed at a moment's notice, irritating accident-causing 4-wheelers....on and on and on. Yet, knowing all that, I still want to learn to drive and team with my hubby.
Question is: will it be with Central?
It's our understanding that they no longer allow company drivers to team, only L/O or O/O? Maybe by the time I get my license we will be ready to make that leap. We discussed it and decided when DH was going to school, that he would try out this new career for at least a year or two before we made any long financial commitments, i.e. L/O, O/O.
I also stumbled onto your thread in searching for best companies to team for, as well as best schools to learn with. At this moment, I'm living vicariously through you both, and hope to make a final decision in January. In the meantime, we're saving up $$ to get us through those first few months of little to no income on my part...otherwise I'd have jumped on that truck yesterday as he pulled back onto the highway.
I'm quite interested to see how Central treats their teams. We've learned that company drivers get the short-end; I can understand that when the L/O and O/O are the ones taking the big risks and if it was us, I'd want to make sure we were getting enough miles to make the payments AND an income! We've been sorely jacked time and time again with hometime...maybe it's their way of encouraging us to drive together so we can actually SEE each other?! But as time goes by, I'm thinking that it's not just Central, but company drivers as a whole that are at the bottom of the list.
At any rate, hubby LOVES driving, and we finally have a wonderful DM out of Fontana that takes great care of him. As my driver comes up on his first year anniversary, we're waiting to see what they offer him in terms of retention. So far, the 'perks' and 'bonuses' have been few and far between...although they have been recruiting him HARD to L/O, O/O, of course.
I will be keeping up with your thread, awaiting all the tasty morsels of info you two offer up. Your experience is INVALUABLE to us both!
Congrats on getting your licenses and living the dream of 'semi'-retirement! You certainly are an inspiration!

 

Where did you hear about Central not leting company drivers team?
This is the first I've heard of this. My wife and I are "teaming" as company drivers. This maybe because of the fact that we are husband and wife but we are in WVC for the next couple of days so I'll ask around.

 

anybody can team... Though I prefer to be anti-social er Solo HAHAHH

 

Apparently the updated policy was released this month stating that new-hire team-drivers would now have to at least be L/O. Maybe the 2 of you were grandfathered in since you started before the new policy? I'm SO hoping the info we were told was wrong...PLEASE let me know what you find out. (BTW...we heard this at WVC just last week.)

Also...how are you 'working' the 8/3 schedule between the 2 of you? The math is not working in my head. I get the 5/5, but not 8/3. Sorry...confused newbie here... Enlighten me.....