COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

Latest update.

Well, I'm back from Florida. My mom, sister and I had a very relaxing week. Mom was tired when I got her home today but she said she really had a great time. We all lost money at SunCruz casino down in New Port Richey. I dropped over a hundred bucks in the stupid slots but managed to win all but $15 of it back playing blackjack. Tossed one roll of the dice and came out $5 ahead after I sevened out. We went to Charlies Fish House and Crackers for dinner in Crystal River. Mom liked Charlies the best. We also checked out Cedar Key and had lunch by the gulf. Another good day there. Did lots of relaxing and now it's time to get back to work.

Team Redcoat has been coast to coast hauling shopping carts. They are in Oregon on their way to Washington with another load of them. Redcoat says that the trip they are on was probably supposed to be a solo driver's run judging by the amount of time they had to make the delivery. Fortunately they have permission to deliver early but then that means they'll probably sit all weekend.

I have to brag on Redcoat on the backing job he did in Texas. His teammate helped spot him in but I still think he did a pretty good job. Check this out:

 

Latest update.

Team Redcoat is on a trip going from Seattle to Rockville, MD so that's a pretty good one. Nothing exciting to report.

Rocks, unless you already have your pictures on the web somewhere, you'll have to upload them to your photo album in your bio/member area here in the forum. Once you upload your pictures to your album, click on the one you want to include in your post, then copy the URL (what's in the address bar) -- highlight the address and then use Ctrl C for a nice keyboard shortcut -- and then paste that into where it wants the URL/address in the Insert Image thingy -- Ctrl P will paste it.

Doubledragon5 I think it was either a town called Farmer's Market or it was some kind of farmer's market near Ft. Worth. I can't remember. I just remember Redcoat telling me he had to make a left into the parking lot on the other side of the road and then back the trailer across the road into the receiver's lot. I told him he can't complain about not being able to back any more. Truth be told, he doesn't complain very much about the small stuff anymore although we both know that his job definitely is crap. We have a game plan for what we want to do and everything hinges on how fast I can get through my schooling for medical transcription. I have two more courses to go after I finish this one and then my internship so hopefully some time by the end of August.

Nitro thanks for the well wishes. Here's hoping you find something soon. It seems as if freight is picking up so maybe the companies will start to hire again soon.

Stay tuned.

 

Latest update.

Team Redcoat is getting some miles under their belt. They went from Rockville, MD to Indy for a drop then back to Allentown, PA and now back to Plainfield, IL and from there to Minnesota I think.

There was a bit of consternation at the delivery site in Rockville in that Redcoat was looking for a building and come to find out it was a construction site. So that took a little bit to figure out. Then they had gotten permission from the site supervisor to deliver a day early but when they arrived, they were told that it couldn't be done because of scheduled deliveries of several cement trucks. So Redcoat has to drive 60 miles to a truck stop to wait a day and go back the next day. THEN there was the issue of backing into the site and blocking several lanes of traffic but he managed that just fine. He made the man sign the paperwork after inspecting the load saying all the glass in windows was intact before they took the windows off the truck and sure enough one got busted by the forklift so he was glad to have the man's signature. Otherwise you know what would probably happen....

Just for gee whiz purposes he QC'd his DM to see if they could get paid for the 120 miles round trip to the truck stop and maybe some detention pay even though he already knew the answer and sure enough, no surprises there either. He also told his DM about the receiver being a construction site and about the difficult back across the road (thinking that maybe he'd pass the info on to the other Covenant drivers who were also supposed to be making deliveries in the next few days) but never got any acknowledgement....no surprise there either.

Sounds like just another example of how the company doesn't really care about what their drivers have to deal with just as long as they deliver on time. Such a shame that they can't be bothered sharing just a little bit of info to make the next driver's life just a little bit easier.

Other from that, not too much excitement. Redcoat finishes his six months team driving on May 15 but still has quite a few more miles to go to hit the 80K mark. I am close to leaving the Huntsville area and will be relocating to Chapel Hill, NC soon. I'm leaving on the 12th and have decided to take the route through Atlanta and then up I-85 rather than deal with the grade on that mountain near Ashville on I-40. Is it Black Mountain? I can't remember the name but I've been over that mountain a couple years ago and I definitely remember that it's a pretty steep grade and so I don't care to deal with it in my rig if I don't have to. It's only 15 miles longer going through Atlanta so that's what homegirl is going to do.

Stay tuned.

 

That does seem to be the case, doesn't it. Too bad this forum doesn't have something like the RV Park Reviews website where I go to scope out campgrounds for where I'm going to stay when I move to a new territory. You can go to that website and check the reviews for a prospective campground and you'll know what kind of hookups they have there, how many sites, cost, amenities, cable, internet, and a whole bunch of other stuff AND they have reviews from people who have been there that will tell you if the owners are nice or nasty, if the sites are large or small, what kind of pad they have, whether or not there are derelicts in the campground and all kinds of stuff.

They could do that for shippers and receivers. You could put good truck directions to the place, whether they allow drivers to use the restroom, whether they allow drivers to spend the night on their lot, whether they offer snacks, and all kinds of stuff that I'm sure you can think of better than I. And then drivers who have been there can review the shipper/receiver as far as how considerate their staff are, difficult backs, potential hazards, and any other pertinent information that might be helpful to the next driver who goes there.

It would all be sorted by state, then city, then company name. All a driver would have to do is drill down to the name of the company and then read all the info posted by others who have been there before. Then after dealing with them, he could post his own review if he has anything else to add. (or her --as the case may be)

That way, no surprises.

Do you think if there was a website like that, would any of the drivers use it?

Latest update on Team Redcoat.

After sitting in Minnesota for about four days, they got a trip this evening to take a load to somewhere in Pennsylvania. Where ever it is, it's about a thousand miles. So they're back on the road turning the wheels again. Since they didn't move for several days, I have no stories to tell.

Stay tuned.