Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

Hope your out on the road soon Doc, it's been a pleasure following your adventures. By the end of February (upon finishing school) I will hopefully be able to share some adventures of my own. Keep em coming, really helps us students and wannabe's with the good and the bad, and what to expect.

 

I'm sure something will happen for you soon Doc. With a company as big as swift I'm sure they'll find someone willing to take you on. You've made it this far, which means they like you. Otherwise, they would have found a reason to run you off. It's that hurry up and wait thing going.

I just got asked to take a load from Laredo,TX going to St Louis, which means my vacation in Austin Texas waiting for a Monday load going to Atlanta is now officially over. How much do you want to bet that I will have a story to tell from the TA in West Memphis on the way to St. Louis.?

 

Sits back with popcorn and waits to hear tales from the dark side, lol.

 

The last mentor trainer I had was wearing bermuda shorts, a tee shirt and flip flops when were crossing donner pass. He was not the brightest candle in the box. I was asleep when I woke up to hearing a CHIP office say" if you are going over the pass, you will have to chain up. Here is an example of what is acceptable for chain tire configurations. You can turn around, chain up, come back to this check post and we will inspect prior to letting you go on". Next thing I know, he is calling dispatch asking for a 1,100 mike reroute through LA. I asked my mentor if he had much experience driving in the mountains in the snow? he just stared at me in bewilderment. I kindly informed him that as soon as the storm passed, Calif DOT would be out with snow plows and sand trucks clearing the pass and we should wait it out. He said that may be "edays befor that happens." I said "wrong answer". I Pulled up the NOAA real time weather infered radar on my phone,and clearly showed him that there were two more squalls coming in from the Pacific and that DOT plows and clears the pass between storms.. (He would know that if he had been either living here in the NW or at least driven it more than once or twice.) He lied when he said he had experience in snow and passes. He would have known that they clear and plow the passes if he had the experience. My point is this, not all Mentors should be Mentors. Especially when the company slamed him into a overpriced lease on a 2007 FL Columbia with 600 a week payments. Go figure. Everyone is always learning. Some take the easy route by paying attention, others make it hard on themselves becasue they hear what they want to hear. No one is exempt from the human condition of suffering and struggles. Even so called Mentors. Indentured servitude to pay off a lease is a bad place to be. By the way, if you are going over the passes up here in the NW, carry extra water and food on your rig. The weather can change in a minute. Food for thought eh?

 

Please exuse my "double run on sentance in the above post" maybe I am not the brightest candle in the box? LOL

 

West Memphis update- nothing out of the ordinary as of yet. The usual suspects- the same old derelicts and degenerates that are usually here. The night is young though and I'm not pulling out until 01:00 central, so we still have a lot of time.

 

Other than a sketchy looking dude trying to sell fake jewelry, West Memphis is pretty quiet this evening. I'm at the Petro and something might be going on at the Pilot across the way or down the road at the TA, but all seems to be quiet.

A Lot Lizard just waved at me after typing that last line, so add that to the list. I always wave back with a look that says " thanks for the attention ma'am, but you don't look like you would wake up and cook me breakfast in the morning".

No sooner did I finish that line did the LL find a date for the evening. She's talking to a driver at his passenger side window.......and yes, he opens the door and she accepts the invitation. I'd like to think she is either : A-working her way through college; B-a journalist or author doing research for her next book; or C-earning money to pay for dialysis for a loved one. I'll pick C so I can use her plight as another reason why we need to fix healthcare in this country.

Well, I won't say who is renting her services this evening, but lets just say she is taking a stroll through "The Pumpkin Patch" this evening.

Look out St Louis, here I come!

 

Well at least your heading out of the rats nest, right? Have a safe trip.