My RBX journey Strafford MO

Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good evening.

It's been a while since my last update. Yes I'm still with RBX and yes I'm still happy here. At the end of November and into December I had pretty good miles. The third week of December I had another issue come up. I spoke with My Fleet Manager and Mr. Peavey the Operations Manager about the situation. They told me to take how ever long I needed in order to fix it. I was off for three weeks. This had to do with my future ex son-in-law, Daughter, Grandbabies and my wife. I was not going back out on the road until I was able to take the necessary precautions to insure their safety and welfare. As of know all is well. As time permits I will continue to update this thread.

Everyone be safe and enjoy your travels.

 

This is a quilt and pillow case my Ol'lady made to fit my bunk. She's a good woman.



Tight fit. Getting loaded up in the Chicago area.



06:00 delivery at a strip mall in the Chicago area.

 

Sorry about that. Should be fixed know.

 

Time for an update: Things have been going extremely well for me. I'm getting good miles and enjoying the road. This update isn't location's or miles. I've been all over the Midwest from Texas to the Carolina's, up to Chicago and all points in between. I'm going to post a few pictures in a few minutes but first I'm going to write about a few things. Along with updating this thread, I'm also becoming involved in AAVD askaveterandriver.com (yes I know I'm not a veteran driver, but its more about helping others out on the road). I'm also in the process of writing a book as well as talking with my family on my down time. So time management is not only critical in Trucking, its important in life (for me anyway) in order to accomplish multiple tasks.

Company CSA scores. When I first started driving the only locations I ever received a red light and had to cross the DOT scale were on I-75 south going into Georgia. Every time I've entered Florida except once and once in Southern Missouri. Other then that I've always received a green light and would by-pass the scales. Know, I had read in the CCJ last summer about pre-pass and who normally by-pass' and who don't. I've always figured it was because of the company CSA scores. The lower the score the less likely that company will be targeted. The higher the score, well you get the idea. Then last week a fleet message came in from someone at our company stating to watch what your doing out there on the road in order to keep getting the green light. You know, follow all the law's of the land. That's because smaller companies, not just ours, but all small outfit's and low CSA scores are good for business. Keeps them off the radar. Finial thought, I love by-passing all the scales.

One of a few things I don't like is unprofessionalism from other drivers. There's a few other things I'm sure I discuss at a later date about driver conduct out on the road. I will say this. 98% of the Truckers are very professional. Its the 2% that need their license revoked.

One thing that bothers me, (and if you are one of these individuals, then read no further, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Although in trucking your going to need some pretty thick shin) is when a driver from a mega carrier is struggling to back in their tractor, and 3 or 4 other drivers come across the C.B. is trash talk about it. I don't see why these veteran drivers won't get out of their truck and help them out. Maybe pass along some knowledge to them. I'm sure that rookie would appreciate it. Every once in a while I'll see someone get out to help. I personally think it lets the rookie know that its alright, everyone in this parking lot was new at one time or another. I don't mind spotting for someone. I spotted for a driver the other day. Before I did I went up to his window and asked him if he would like some help. As soon as he said yes, I told him exactly what hand signals I will give him so there would be no miscommunication. That was the Military in my. Full and complete understanding. He was grateful and I was glad to help. Know, I'm not a veteran driver be any means. I don't even know how long everyone feels a person must drive OTR in order to be considered a veteran. Well I guess the length of time doesn't really matter. I would guess that some of the 2% above are veterans driver's whom I've watch cut off 4-wheelers as well as their fellow drivers. Ok, that's enough of that.

Know for the pictures.

Frist my cooler that is wrapped in a liner my wife made.

Second is my alarm resting inside the cooler. You can read the temp on the right hand side. 36 degrees.

Third is the material used, it's 1/16 of an inch thick.

Know you can buy this cooler in the truck stops. It only keeps your food 20 degrees below the temp of the inside of your cab. So if your cab is at 72 degrees. Then your food will be at or close to 52 degrees. Well for me that's not cold enough. I like my water almost frozen. Also in order to keep food from spoiling it must be much colder. So I told my wife about this and she bought material used for high temp items. This material can be bought at most quilt shops I believe. My wife who is a Cook by trade tells me she can take a pot out of the oven at 350 degrees and hold it for bit before she would began to feel the heat from the pot.






The following picture is a driver in Texas that didn't feel like waiting for traffic to start moving. Look to the right in the picture. The driver tried to drive through the medium onto the side road. He didn't make it.



NOTE: To prevent anyone from assuming the wrong thing, any and all picture's I post on here form out of my windshield are retrieved from my dash cam.


Everyone be safe, enjoy your travels, help out your fellow drivers and enjoy the road.

 

Thanks. I've tried to get her to sale them. She just likes making different quilt's and giving to family and friends as gifts.

 

Update Time:
Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening.
Just like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. Every dayis a repeat day.The 18[SUP]th[/SUP] of March marked my one year anniversary with RBX. I’m going to stay with RBX due to the fact that they treat me with courtesy, respect. I have some friend’s whom have worked here for many years and wouldn’t go anywhere else because of the atmosphere. My decision to stay on with RBX lies mostly with my Fleet Manager’s professionalism, candor and his ability to understand Drivers. I also like the fact that if there is more than one load in my area he will call me and ask which load I would like.
I’m sitting here in Oklahoma City doing a restart on my hours. I was in Jacksonville FL Thursday night. Friday I drove up to MontgomeryAL for a live unload, then on over to Selma AL for a drop and hook and arrived here in OKC Saturday afternoon. I decided to get here early to complete a restart, (wasn’t really needed) and to end my week with 2,824 miles. My miles are still sitting between 2,500 to3,000 my first week out and my second week, which I go home on a Thursday or Friday are around 1,800 to 2,500. Short week’s equals small checks. That’s just the way it is.
I had taken my truck to the shop about a month ago.The truck ABS light wouldn’t go out. Maintenance worked on it for a while and decided it needed to go the dealership. They asked me if I would take it over there as well as pick up a truck for the company and bring it back to the yard. After dropping off my truck, a lease operator picked me up in the company car, took me to another dealership. After picking up the keys I went and located the truck. It was a 2015 Freightliner. I jumped in, put the key in the ignition, pushed in the clutch and my foot hit the floor. I thought, what the flip, NO Clutch? Puzzled me for a second, I looked down and no stick. I fired her up, took her back to the yard. I knew within the first couple of hundred yards I would not want an auto shift transmission. I did not like it at all.
I did a multi-stop run up to Ohio and then on to Michigan, north of Detroit. My final stop was to drop the loaded trailer and connect to the empty right next to it, which I did. This was at a mall. After connecting to the empty I attempted to pull it forward in order to slide my tandems and shut the doors. The dock was on a slope and covered in ice. The trailer was frozen to the ground. My drives would only spin and I was going no were fast. My 10 hour break had already started and my intent was to be rolling early in the morning before traffic piled up. I could have just called the night dispatch and informed him of my situation. However, spending 4 to 6 hours of my 10 hour break waiting on a tow truck to pull my out would interfere with my sleep as well as be a waste of my time, and money. So I started looking around at what I could find to assist with some traction. I ended up finding some 1X4s and broke them into 2 foot sections. I put them aside for now. I brought out my clawhammer, my 30 bar, a bottle of deicer and commenced to busting up the ice in front of the drives. Mind you it was below zero that night but all this kept me warm except for my toes. After a while I finally got the ice busted down. I poured the deicer in front of the drives and quickly wedged the 1X4s under the drives right on top of the deicer with my hammer allowing the 1X4s to freeze in place after a couple of minutes. My reasoning for the deicer. I know from experience, had I just put the 1X4s down, they would just get spun out from under the tires. Water will not work for something like this. It would only freeze on top of the ice. Deicer will melt at first and then refreeze. This allowed the 1X4s to be frozen to the ice and allow for traction on top. Even though the trailer was frozen to the ground, I didn’t think that would prevent me from pulling forward. I went backand unlocked the tandems; thankfully the last driver hadn’t slid them to the rear. I put her in gear and slowly pressed the accelerator allowing the drives to catch ahold of the 1X4s and pulled forward until the back of the trailer bumped the tandems loose from the ice and I was free. All this took about an hour to get-r-done. I locked in my tandems, closed the doors, eat dinner and got a good night’s sleep.

I hooked up to a Werner trailer and pulled it around for a week as well. I ended up taking a load to a new Bass Pro store at the Pyramid in Memphis TN. I think this place was by far the tightest place I have gone to yet. Both getting in and out of there. I finally found the manager. He took me out to where he needed the trailer to be unloaded. There were people everywhere. He said you’re going to be on camera. I laugh a little. He said I’m serious. He told me this store is to open up this summer and there doing a promotional video to promote the grand opening. Then he told me they had already filmed this once with the first truck but couldn’t use any of the footage. He said the first delivery made last week, the drive took close to 4 hours to back her in. Got the truck stuck once and had to be pulled out by a dozer on site as well as hit their building 3 different times and yes 3 different spots. Wasn’t anything I could really say except yes sir. I looked around to access the area, unlocked my tandems. The Manager asked what I just did to the trailer. I explained to him in order to even think about getting close to that dock my tandems had to be slide all the way forward. He didn’t know what tandems were so I just told him those tires on the trailer need to be slid forward. He just said, ok. Back it up until the back of the trailer is right here. (Pointing at a rock). We want to film the doors being opened before it’s against the dock. Then he said don’t back up any more until the camera man gives tells you he's ready. Well needless to say after a half dozen pull ups and getting out to look a couple of times I finally put her in the dock. Getting out is another story. I’ll just post the pictures. That’s should explain it.

Well that’s about it. Everyone be safe, enjoy your travels and lend a helping hand when you can.