Indian River

I used to stay out 3 to 5 weeks then take 4 to 6 days off. Ever since the pandemic started this year, I’ve been staying out 2 to 3 months too. There just isn’t much to do right now when I go home. I’m divorced and haven’t ever had any kids either. On a normal year, I do a Vegas vacation, go down to Corpus, run around on my time off, etc. COVID has everything screwed up though, so I’ve been working more just to avoid twiddling my thumbs at home. Once things are back to normal in society I will go back to my regular 3 to 5 weeks out.

 

I left home October 12th and got home yesterday on December 21st. I’m off until Sunday the 27th. Like I said, these longer stays on the road have been totally my own choice. I scheduled this home time a few weeks ago and reminded dispatch (in a friendly manner) a few times. I didn’t have any trouble getting here on time. They actually gave me a 999 mile dead head from Barker, NY to Bessemer, Alabama to make it happen. I washed out in Bessemer, loaded in Georgia and delivered in Waelder, Texas yesterday which is less than 100 miles from San Antonio where I live. That was how they worked me home.

From now on, schedule it by phone. I’m still not sure to this day how those “freeform” Qualcomm messages work. I don’t know if they go to corporate or if they go to the terminal you’re currently running under or who the heck reads them or if they’re read in a timely manner. A verbal phone call is the best way for important things. I use “freeform” messages for things like:

“My truck is due for a PM service”

“Just a friendly reminder I have home time scheduled for XYZ date - Thanks, Larry”

“Trailer XYZ was picked up at XYZ location with XYZ damage already existing”

I like having the message on record just in case someone forgets or there’s a miscommunication it kind of covers myself. I don’t send them very often though.

 

Helicopter flight training sounds interesting. I’ve only been in a chopper one time and that was in Las Vegas in 2019. My ex-wife and I did one of those helicopter tours over the city at night. I’ve never cared for roller coasters, so I was expecting it to be nerve racking. It wasn’t bad though. I don’t know what the altitude was, but we were even with the Stratosphere space needle most of the flight. The pilot said they cruise around 80mph on the tours. How many years or hours does that take?

 

I wonder if your Qualcomm wasn’t showing an accurate location. At times in the past, I’ve been asked how many hours I have left due to them not being able to see it on their end. I’ve also been 1000 miles into a load and received a phone call asking if the facility ever got me loaded and rolling. They usually boot the Qualcomm down and reset it from the terminal when that happens. You are correct though, the terminal that covers the region that you will be delivering to or are currently in after you get empty will be the terminal that assigns you your next load. Sometimes senior management will step in and dispatch you from Florida regardless of where you are, but in my experience that is very rare and usually for special loads or if you have an emergency and have to get home. It also could’ve been a new dispatcher too. That would’ve confused me as well if you were already in Florida. I wouldn’t give it much thought.