COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

Hey MT1 thanks for the clues. Actually I DO understand what you are trying to say. My only question is I thought you guys had your mirrors lined up like I do in my motor home. I have them set so I can just see down the length of each side starting about halfway back. I've found that if I include the walls of the rig on each side then I can glance in my mirrors to see how far I am from each of the white lines. And it gives me perspective on how close passing traffic is to me.

So if a trucker has his mirrors set the same way it just seems to me that the offset of the driver's position would already be compensated for. Although, having never been in the left seat of a tractor, I'm probably wrong.

Quite frankly, Redcoat is, IMO, a terrible backer. I've watched him back up my little Mariner and most of the time he would end up crooked. BUT I would *never* tell him this. I talked to him tonight and he told me that they went to an empty lot near the airport and were practicing straight backing there until they were run off by airport security and the cops. Seems they were acting suspicious and Redcoat said that once he thought about it, they probably DID look pretty suspicious being so near the airport.

Anyway, I told him the next time he had a chance to practice backing up, he needed to get out and analyze exactly how the trailer is ending up and by how far. If it's crooked the same way every time then he needs to figure out how to compensate for the illusion that he's straight. Which is probably was MT1 was trying to say in the first place.

Trip update.

They made it to Newark, NJ and while they were there they had enough time to go see the Statue of Liberty so he enjoyed that. He said he also got some great pictures of the NYC skyline. So it's good that he's actually able to see some of the sights and that cheers my heart.

He's now in Avon, OH and they are supposed to drive up to Motor City to pick up a load to take to Kentucky. He said his trainer got a ticket. I think it was in NJ when they were trying to find the shipper. The route Covenant gave them had a road closed and they asked an ambulance driver how to get where they needed to go and he gave them directions down a road that had a weight limit on it. When they pulled over to figure out what to do, a cop pulled in front of them and that's how he got the ticket. It's BS if you ask me but even though it wasn't their fault, they were still wrong so you can't argue. Redcoat said Covenant would pay the fine but his trainer still will get the points so he is not a happy camper.

That's about all my news. I'll be leaving Illinois Wednesday morning (providing the mail I am expecting arrives by then.) I've found a campground a little ways south of I-459 in Birmingham called Cherokee Campground and that's where I'll settle for a few months. My picture territory is mostly south and east of B-ham so I'll be running up and down I-459 and down I-65 in the Helena area and out I-20 toward Leeds. Trips to my mom's house will take me back and forth on Hwy 78 (I-22). So if y'all see me in my little black Mariner with the Air Photo signs on the doors, you better honk and wave and then come in here and tell me it was you.

 

Hey Wallbanger. Loved your post but there is NO WAY I'm going to tell Redcoat about it. LOL He has enough to worry about now and hopefully he'll be a little more confident by the time the bad weather rolls around.

So that made me wonder. What happens to you guys if you hit ice and slide off the road like Swifty did? Does ice on the road count as an emergency which allows you to pull over on the side of the interstate? Or if you have to keep going until you can get off but you end up hitting the ditch first, does that go on your DAC as being your fault?

I remember years ago my ex and I were driving from Mississippi back to Delaware in my beloved TR7 and the weather in Tennessee was crap. We pulled off to gas up and my ex took over driving. I told him the roads were getting squirrelly but of course, what did I know. Sure enough, less then a couple miles down the road we ended up doing a couple 360's on I-40 just outside of Nashville and we slid off the road. When I looked out my door there was a mile marker about 3 inches from it. About 10 seconds after we came to a stop, an 18-wheeler went by that had been behind us. I bet that driver had an eyefull watching us turn into a carnival ride. A dude pulled over and the three of us pushed my car back up onto the road and we went on our way. Then we started seeing semi's and cars in the median and down in the gullys off the side. It was like within seconds the road just froze and that was all she wrote.

 

Trip update.

Redcoat is somewhere between Nashville and Memphis this morning with the load scheduled to drop in Memphis. His trainer is driving the day shift.

They have a high-security load (DVDs I believe) and Redcoat says the rules are that the truck has to keep moving. He said he found it ironic that you're not supposed to stop within a hundred miles of the shipper but the first thing they did when they picked up the load was to go to a Pilot and get weighed. So that kind of doesn't make any sense. Then they stopped at another truck stop early this morning for a shower and Redcoat thought they were supposed to keep moving but his trainer took about a six-hour break and they left at daylight.

I told Redcoat he needs to make sure he's clear on exactly what the rules are for these high-security loads just to make sure his trainer isn't bending them a tad and if he tries it he'll be taking the chance of getting in trouble. Not good.

I also asked him if he had to go solo today did he think he could handle it and he said, yes, with the exception of the backing problem. So that's serious progress from where his head was at a month ago. He said he's got the qualcom thing down. He said it actually kind of silly sometimes in that when you tell them you're loaded and ready to go (and I may not have this exactly right but those of you who do the work will know what I'm trying to say) you have to send a macro giving your status. It will ask you how long it will take you to get there and when you expect to arrive. Redcoat's thinking is that he has no freakin' idea how far it is and how long to get there and that Covenant already knows the answer to this because they're going to pay you what they say the mileage is no matter how many miles you actually drive and so why bother asking questions they already have the answers to???????

I was thinking I should start a list of Things In Trucking That Don't Make Any Sense but I'm sure somebody in here had probably already done that so I'll do a search for it.

I told him what MT1 said about the illusion with the mirrors and he said he'd keep that in mind. He said they have very little time to spend for him to practice (not to mention trying to find a place) so that isn't helping things. Seems we go from one crisis to another. We finally get the panic under control and now he frustrated with backing issues. It makes him mad because he didn't seem to have any trouble straight-line backing when he was at Roadmaster school and he can't figure out why he's having trouble now.

I keep telling him he'll get it sorted out to keep trying and that it will come eventually. Of course, I'm going with the odds. I see the thousands of drivers out there and they all can back their trucks up -- granted some better than others -- but they all figure out a way to get it done. I am reminded of Rocks' story where she got super frustrated trying to get backed up and she just made herself calm down, said a prayer, and carefully got it done. That's what Redcoat needs to do but he has a tendency where if he doesn't get something right after ten or 15 minutes, he will throw up his hands in frustration.

The RV park where I am is just off exit 23 on I-55. I can sit here at my computer and watch the trucks going past in both directions. (Celedon....Schneider...Wal-Mart...Prairie Farms...United Van Lines...Target...Schneider...MCT...Prairie Farms...Swift...Werner...CFI...Crete...Werner) Last night I had just gone to bed around 1 in the morning and I heard *BLAM* this huge explosion and then thwackthwackthwackthwack. So I'm thinking, man, somebody's not having a good night. That's the first time I've ever actually heard a tire explode. It's way louder than I thought it would be. I know if I was in the sleeper it would scare the bejesus out of me.

Well, time for me to get ready for work. Sold 9 pictures over the weekend and so made a little over $400 in two days which helps make up for the terrible week I had all last week. I told Redcoat to send me all the numbers for his mileage so I could post it for the new folks reading this thread.

 

Thanks for that info. We're still learnin' here. Redcoat is now in Olive Branch, MS just outside Memphis. Wish it was a day or so later as I'll be passing right through there on Wednesday on my way to my mom's house between Tupelo and Fulton. They are at Covenant's yard waiting for a load. How is it that a trucking company as large as Covenant has a yard with NO BATHROOMS?????

Not even a port-a-potty??? That makes no sense.

But Redcoat did say he practiced for about an hour backing up. He got it into the dock (or whatever) after about ten tries. I told him that it may have taken him a while but at least he knows it can be done and he can do it again.

Next goal....nine tries....then in eight....then in seven...