Company Driver with American Central Transport

Cool. I've done 3 loads so far for 1820 paid miles since starting Friday (basically 4 days...5 once I get rolling tonight). My mpg is steadily increasing up to 6.9 overall for four days (from 5.7 after the first day). I'll be that way later. I'm supposed to fuel in Council Bluffs, IA. I'm dispatched on a load from KC, KS to Bismarck, ND for delivery on Thursday at 7AM. That is 757 paid miles. That will put me at 2577 plus whatever I run Thursday for the first seven days. Not bad to start. I'm not sure if I will get paid on this check for the last load which I delivered this morning. It's supposed to be preloaded. I'm waiting for confirmation the load is ready from the shipper. My Qualcomm touch screen stopped working though. Looks like I will be doing a paper log for tonight if it doesn't get working soon.

....and I just got a call that the load is ready so I'm off. Have a great night!

BTW...I tried fueling at the Des Moines Pilot this morning (exit 126) and it took an hour to pump 50 gallons. (no exaggeration)

 

Now, I'm up to 7.1 mpg for all miles since I started. It keeps going up each day which is good. I stopped in Watertown, SD on the way to Bismarck, ND. I will fuel in Fargo and then deliver in Bismarck at 7am. Then, I have a preplan picking up in Eagan, MN (Friday am) going to Topeka, KS (for Saturday am). That's about a 450 mile deadhead...and close to 490 loaded (925 paid miles). I will get back hours Saturday at 12:01 am because Friday is my eighth day. At some point, I will probably need a reset if the hours I get back are low. I haven't really looked at my hours beyond that. SD liked weighing my load. I guess after the prepass weigh, the weigh-in-motion weigh and stopping on the stationary scale for a weigh, they were satisfied. I was only about 65k lbs gross, too. I've mainly seen a green light on the Pre-Pass...and have only went into two scales. So far, everything is going great! I think the truck might be a 2012 model. It says 2/11 when you open the door. I just hit 130,000 miles. The truck drives and rides great. The steering wheel is actually straight (unlike every other company truck I've driven where it is turned 20+ degrees to the right when you are going straight). When I stopped for fuel in Council Bluffs, IA these two guys were all drooling (figuratively) over the truck. They were driving a Pete. He said he wanted to get one as his next "dream" truck.

...and I was able to update my logs on the QC from yesterday/this morning...the touch part is working again. What it logged was mainly correct. I just had to add comments (like pti, fuel/vi, drop/hook/pti, and adjust some on duty time to off duty since it defaults to on duty when you stop the truck). That's about it for now.

 

I'm not really sweating it...but a lot do the lease/operator deal so I am just trying to provide accurate info as to what this truck is getting for fuel mileage. I just shift at 1100 and accelerate (and repeat). It seems to dog going uphill if you are really heavy and wait too long (run the RPMs too low) to downshift. The first load was 45000 and I was driving straight into a 30-40 mph wind the whole time. It said 5.7 mpg after that first run. After the first day it was, 5.7; first two days, 6.0; first three days, 6.6; first four days, 6.9; first five days, 7.1. I'm guessing that after I deliver this and deadhead to Eagan (about 450 miles), it will be closer to 7.3 - 7.4 (which is great). I don't downshift much and when I do I won't keep gearing down (how you learn way back in school). I don't like "coasting"...as they put it. I prefer to be in a safe gear where I have a lot of control (rather than just relying on the brakes). The brakes in these trucks...you almost have to stand on them hard. Once you learn what speeds equal what gears in the truck, it makes it easy to figure out where you want/need to downshift. The throttle is touchy (you just tap it). Some trucks that I've driven, you had to floor it to get the RPMs up enough to downshift. I'm loving this truck! It handles, drives and rides great! I got the color I wanted, too. If I had $130k? I'd consider buying it. People don't like my xenon headlights though. I keep getting the high beam flash on and off. Sorry...but I don't have my high beams on. If I did, you would really know I did. You can see really well with these headlights. They aren't those dingy, dim, cheapo ones I am used to in company trucks. The LEDs on the trailers are nice, too. In the past, I used to have to change the trailer lights all of the time. If you've ever had to wait for four hours, at a T/A, to get a clearance light changed, you know what I am talking about.

If anyone was wondering...I guess my assigned truck is a T-660 with the Paccar MX motor. I like it so far. I don't know any specs but you can look it up.

 

Thanks, Pete! So far, they have been accurate and OK...but I know what you are talking about. They really should put cardinal direction on them all. They just have from the closest major highway usually...and often I am coming from the opposite way. You have to pay attention to whether the off-ramp is a straight off or loop on both sides. Sometimes, they are the same. I have had some pretty bad directions on the QC with other companies. I have PC Miler plus access to Google Maps. They are both helpful because most directions don't say go 1.8 miles, etc. Google is nice because you can see an aerial or street view and cruise down the street with a mouse click. You can check out any tight turns, etc. before you actually drive to that corner. If you know exactly how far you have to go before you need to turn and a cross street reference and/or landmark that is gold. If I have any doubt, I will call a shipper or receiver. I've never used a GPS. Frankly, they are wrong too often. I've done a LOT of northeast. (I don't miss it.) There you can get into some very sticky situations with low clearances, etc. It's generally not an issue where we go. Have you ever had to back up three miles through a sugarcane field? Yeah...one customer actually sent me through there in Belle Glade, FL. No joke! I could tell you a lot of funny stories. The most important thing is to take your time and be smart and safe. Worst case scenario, if needed, call the police to block traffic so you can safely get out...rather than taking any unsafe chances. I had to to do that in Cumberland. There was only one way you could go and a parked car was blocking the only way I could turn. If you can't follow a detailed local map and directions you wrote down, you might consider employment at one of the fine fast food establishments around the country.

Just a quick update...I had to stop near the ND/MN border because I was running out of my 14-hour clock. It took a bit longer to get unloaded today (almost three hours). It was one of those loads where there were no pallets and it's jam-packed floor to ceiling, front to back. I'm on my way to Eagan...then to Topeka. I have plenty of time. I only have about 12 hours left on my 70 (until Saturday 12:01AM when I get back about 9 hours). That's OK because it will be Friday (and I can't drive 12 hours in a day anyway). I need to get a tire fixed or replaced on the trailer (which has a nail in it). It's not flat but it still needs to be fixed. Total overall MPG is up to 7.2. The first week on the road went pretty well. I drove 3034 miles in less than seven days. About 2800+ was/will be paid mileage on this check and the next. There's still four days left to run on the next check, too. I had to hit a couple fuel stops but it wasn't too bad.

 

Right! The brakes work really well actually. It just takes a lot of pedal pressure and the design is different. We were all discussing the pedal design after we took the road test/trip.