The start of my first year with Swift.

I guess the Comdata card works better if you call in and set the PIN first...duh. Just shows you how much I don't know..lol

 

Today was a good day. Once again I didn't run in to anything and delivered the load ahead of schedule. I backed into a place that I really didn't think I was ready for and nailed it on the first try.

With every success there has to be some misery. After I dropped the load I wanted to drive to the Swift terminal in Denver. Just like my mentor, I searched for it on the Qualcomm and sure enough it found a location. Away I went....deeper and deeper into the bowels of Denver. I finally got to the location the Qualcomm and taken me to. It was an intersection of an on ramp and off ramp next to a residential area. I quickly gathered my wits and headed back out on to the interstate where I drove around for another 45 minutes trying to find a place to pull in and figure out where I was.

I found a truck stop at exit 276. This time I called up the directions for the SPECIFIC terminal. I was in luck and only two exits away. It took me another 20 minutes to get to the terminal. Once I was there I realized I could have thrown a rock and hit the building from where I dropped the load at.

new guy...that's me.

I scanned my paperwork, picked up some supplies and waited for a load. There had to be 30 drivers in the lounge. The parking lot was packed. I saw one guy back into a parked trailer and take off. Anyway, I finally got a deadhead to SLC.

That's the end of it for today. Thanks again for all the great feedback and encouragement. Old men seem to need it when trying to master these new skills.

 

A dead head is when you are dispatched with an empty trailer to another location. Basically they were just moving folks to areas where there was more freight.

I was in Denver no more then an hour.

 

Another good day....no one died. I made it almost to SLC when I was dispatched to another load. Now, when the msg comes in, you can't read it because your driving. After the second notice I figured I had better pull over and see what it was about. It was a load to WA state. I accepted the load without reading ALL of the information. Don't ever do this.

So, after committing to the load I read the entire msg., I wasn't supposed to show up until 1600. Specifically it said to not show up early. To unload I have to be at the destination by 1530 or it's going to take a lot longer. With the hours I had available I could have made the load just fine....if I picked it up right away. After a great deal of worry that I would not be able to deliver the load on time, I went ahead and tried to pick it up early. The guy in receiving said no problem. The trailer had been loaded for a few days. He said to never wait for them. Great deal. By doing that I made up 2.5 hours of driving time and I'll make it.

That's it for today. Off to sleep.