From School to Superior Carriers

I have been doing that on different message boards. Good win. Our Pass D is ranked 1st in the NFL but next week will be the big test for them.

 

11/1-11/6

Driver appreciation week at the terminal. I pretty much missed it but did stock up on some free truck food supplies.

Headed down to the terminal Monday around 3:00 PM since my load was supposed to be ready at 4:00. I had to swap out tanks so I got there a little early. My yellow check engine light came on so I pulled it into the inbound check line and asked the mechanic to check the codes on it. It had been coming on under load for for a few weeks but would go off whenever I restarted the truck. Never seemed to be on when I was at the shop. They checked the codes and decided to replace the ERG valve.

That meant I had to move into a "spare truck". Got moved in, backed under my trailer and did a pretrip. The tractor had a flat spot on the drives that looked boarder line and there was a lot of oil covering the drive axels. I had the mechanics take a look at it and they decided to put me in another "spare truck". I took another 45 minutes to drop the trailer and move all my stuff into it. It was filthy with a full ashtray and cigarette ashes covering everything. Fortunately the mattress had a plastic liner over it even if it was half the thickness of my usual one. I considered swapping it for the one in my truck but didn't want to contaminate it with smoke smell.

The worst part of this truck was the drivers seat. It hit the back of my legs at a spot that after 3-4 hours on the road caused leg cramps in hamstring muscle. It was a pretty long week but at least I was moving and making money.

Since it was 9:30 PM by the time I got my load I decided to stop 3 hours down the road and split break. It is possible to turn this load in 2- 10 hour breaks if they don't take too long to unload you. That's an unknown and about 1/3 of the time they run out your 14 under the rack. I decided to plan for that. I shut down about 12:30, headed out at 8:30 that morning after an 8 hour break. I took a 2 hour lunch/ shower/ walk break and backed under the rack with 90 minutes to spare on my 14 around 9:30 PM. I told the guy unloading me that I needed to stay there 8 hours and went to bed. The next morning I drove the 2 miles to the truck stop where we weigh and took the other 2 hours of my break. That got me headed for home around 8:00 AM Wednesday morning.

I had planned to take my time getting back and drive about 8-9 hours. Got a call from dispatch wanting me to load in Winder Ga at 4:00 Thursday. In order to make that I had to max out my hours Wednesday to be able to leave late enough to get the load. I shut down in Beckley, Wv and made it back to the terminal by 8:45 AM.

When I got there I found out my truck wasn't ready yet. It seems another driver pulled in there under load with a problem. They took a part off my truck to keep him moving then the parts supply company screwed up the order and the new part for my truck didn't come in. I was stuck in the "spare truck" for another day.

The rest of my week was uneventful. I got back about noon Friday after dropping my load. Got moved back into my truck and was rewarded for my troubles with a 2500 mile run from Greensboro NC to Whittier Ca for next week. 24 hour delivery window. Really get to stretch my legs next week.

 

You will like Jack. He does a good job of keeping dry subject matter interesting. Just don't be late for any class sessions.

 

11/8-11/13

This was about as good a week as you can have trucking. I headed out Sunday morning with my load that was waiting for me on the yard. I pretty much averaged 600 miles a day arriving in Barstow Ca Wednesday around 8:00 PM EST. My truck has been running great. Haven't seen a yellow check engine light yet and it really pulls the hills better with the new erg valve.

Thursday I left at 6:00 AM EST and drove to the waste water treatment plant in Whittier. It never ceases to amaze me how much traffic is on the roads near LA at 4:00 in the morning. I could not handle that type of commute daily to go to work.

My delivery went without a hitch and I was sent over to the LA wash rack in Vernon Ca to get my tank cleaned. I was planned to load in Phoenix Friday morning at 8:00 AM. Spent around 4 hours at the tank wash but was still able to make it to the Flying J on the Colorado river on I-10 before running out my 14. 10 hour break and I made it to Phoenix with 15 minutes to spare.

This load is heading to Tlaqepaque, Mexico. I am supposed to drop in in Laredo Texas, grab an empty, throw all the hoses on the empty, and run it up to Houston. It loaded at a rail yard out of tanker cars. The loading guy told me it would take about 30 minutes to load. He hooked up a filter backwards and it ended up taking 2 hours.

That wasn't a big deal since I had already decided to grab a 34 hour reset. I am in Willcox Az checked into the brand new Holiday Inn Express across from the TA. Its a great little hotel complete with a flat screen tv and complementary hot breakfast for around $65 a night. I cleared it with my TM and will get reimbursed for it when I get back. I have used up 63 of my 70 hours since Sunday. This reset gets me out by 5:00 AM Sunday with a fresh 70. Had I kept running I could have only driven 7 hours Saturday and would have wound up sitting in West Texas all day Sunday out of hours waiting until midnight to run rollover hours. No thanks

This load has to be in Laredo by Tuesday but I should be able to make the drop and hook Monday morning, high tail it up to Houston and hopefully get pointed home Tuesday.

 

11/15-11/16

Good week. Left early Sunday and shut down in Ozona Tx. I decided to run the interstates instead of state roads down to Laredo. They are routing me home anyway and with the reset I have plenty of hours to run. Also I like to stop at the Circle Bar Truck Corral when I run I-10. They have a big lot and the restaurant has good steaks.

Made my drop and hook in Laredo after driving around the block 3 times. The gate was on a different road from the address and none of the roads were in my GPS. Fortunately I had MS streets and trips running on the laptop and the streets were in it. I am glad a SPCR trailer was on the end of the row or I might still be looking for it.

Made it to within 100 miles of Houston before running out of hours. I will have a load going to Salisbury NC waiting for me at the terminal so its another drop and hook. This load delivers Thursday morning. My parents live in Salisbury so I plan to run it up there and spend Wed night with them. The truck stop where I meet them for lunch is only 7 miles from the customer. This has been a good trip.

 

Welcome to the thread. Are you out of High Point or Wilmington?

 

11/17-11/21

Got over to the Pasadena terminal and found out that the load I was pulling to NC needed to be steamed up to a narrow temperature range. That cost me 3 hours (paid of course) and meant a harder run than it should have been. Since the load had to have in transient heat and was Hazmat I wasn't able to stay at my parents house.

This load delivered to a company that makes taxidermy supplies. It was pretty interesting. They were rolling around molds that make dear, wild boar, and moose heads.

Got over to the terminal and was off by 2:00 Thursday. I had asked for Friday off for a lot of Dr appointments.

Next week all I am doing is a N Chicago dry bulk drop and swap. I will leave Sunday and should be home Tuesday afternoon for the Thanksgiving holidays