Maverick .... from a wife's perspective

Latest update.

Redcoat is back to work. He hauled some lumber from Oxford, MS to Cedartown, GA. It was the second time he made this run and after the delivery this time, he now knows how to get to the place in Cedartown without any wrong turns.

From there he took a load to San Marcos, TX. He screwed up his shoulder hoisting the lumber tarp up onto the deck and seriously considered having it looked at but after a few days it is now starting to hurt less. He thinks it might be OK.

Right now he's near Austin, TX picking up some granite headed up to Kansas City. I had a look at the address they gave him and from what I can tell, it doesn't look like a place to drop off some stone but you never can tell for sure. I checked out the con's website and they are actually located on another street about a quarter mile away but that might be just the store. Maybe the other address is some kind of warehouse or something. Redcoat will have to call the receiver to double check on where they want him to take the load and how to get there.

I've spent the last few days getting my mom's house cleaned out as my sister and I are going to rent it out to our cousin (per mom's request). I mostly just gave away all her things to friends and family and threw away the rest. I donated what I could to the thrift store run by the hospice house where she stayed. It was hard looking at the empty house before I left but I was glad to get out of there and away from it.

The last week I was with my mom the temps dropped to single digits in Mississippi and Redcoat was out on the road. I couldn't make it back to the rig to drain the water lines and of course, everything froze. It was a perfect storm. Single digit temps several days in a row, me tied up at the hospice house, Redcoat on the road, and I ran out of LP gas to keep the furnace running and warmth in the coach.

Today is Friday and I'm sitting here at Suncoast RV in Birmingham, AL waiting on parts. So far, damage from the frozen lines has been two filter bowls, a kitchen faucet, leaks on the water heater, shower, and water pump and a broken flush valve on the toilet. They've overnighted the flush valve and it should be here this afternoon. Hopefully they'll get me all fixed tomorrow and I can get back to North Carolina and back to work.

It could have been worse. The water in the fresh water tank was frozen solid and it could have cracked the tank. All the water lines seem to be OK. Mostly it was just the fixtures that paid the price. The kitchen faucet is a Moen and it cost me a hundred bucks for a new one at Lowes. Suncoast says they will install it for me. I think the leak in the shower and the water pump just need new teflon tape and the water heater is leaking from the drain line so hopefully that will be an easy fix.

I want to take a moment to thank all the people at Maverick who took the time to send cards of condolences. I haven't had a chance to sit down and do all my thank-you cards yet but I thought forum folks might like to know that Redcoat and I received many cards with personal notes from the Maverick recruiters and fleet managers. I thought it very nice of them to take a few minutes to personally express their sympathy for one of their drivers' family.

Of course, Redcoat, cynic that he is, says that now I gotta watch what I say in the forums but I just laughed. I think any new driver reading up on all the different companies can figure out that ALL companies have their various issues and aggravations and things that just don't make much sense. But, overall, Maverick as a company, is far and away one of the best to work for and even Redcoat grudgingly admits this. Redcoat still hates the trucking lifestyle, but working for Maverick makes it easier and he says it definitely beats pulling a van.

The only bad thing now is that we are renting out my mom's house so Redcoat no longer has anywhere to stay in Mississippi. Since he still has a Mississippi drivers license, that is where Maverick wants to send him for home time. He has to specifically request home time in North Carolina and it's kind of a pain. But I should be finishing up my work in North Carolina hopefully by April and I believe I'll be headed to Memphis for my next area of work so that will be much easier for Redcoat to get to.

Stay tuned.

 

Latest update.

First of all, total damage from the frozen water in my rig was $650. Everybody says I got off lucky but my savings account doesn't feel so lucky.

I am now back in North Carolina and have finally started back to work.

Soooo... Redcoat has been busy. After he dropped off the load in San Marcos, he was dispatched to Austin to pick up a load of granite headed for Kansas City. Here are a couple pictures of the load.

Redcoat was a tad nervous because the load was really top heavy. He had to have another driver help him throw the straps over because he couldn't get enough on them with his sore shoulder.


After delivering this load, he was dispatched to Atkinson, KS to pick up a load of tubing headed to Amarillo, TX. This stuff was just one big, long 42-foot bundle of tubing and it was all rusted after sitting outside. There were a bunch of trucks there picking up this stuff and, of course, Maverick were the only ones having to tarp their loads. None of the other companies bothered with it. So, of course, since the load was so long, Redcoat had to use two canvas tarps and two lumber tarps and every single bungee he had. And it was pouring down rain. All the Maverick trucks had to reverse into an area to tarp while all the other trucks just loaded up and left.

You know, Redcoat says he wouldn't mind tarping as much if he got paid a decent wage for it. He was talking to an O/O at a truck stop and the man said he got paid $140 for a similar tarp job. It just seems that $10-$20 for busting your butt on a needless tarp job gets to be frustrating. You wouldn't mind so much having to tarp every load whether it needed it or not if you made some kind of decent money to make it worth your while. But when every other company just loads up and goes and you're out there using up your time tarping for $20, it just seems like punishment more than anything else.

So after Redcoat drops off his load of tubing, he goes to the nearby Pilot to hang out and wait for his next job. His FM tells him that it probably won't be until the next morning before he gets something and not to bother waiting by the QC. It's a simple gesture but Redcoat appreciates his FM cutting him loose like that. Redcoat says that NEVER would have happened at Covenant. The dispatcher at Covenant would have just let him sit there all night waiting for a job that wasn't coming.

The next morning Redcoat gets a dispatch to Duke, OK to pick up some sheetrock headed to Houston. I note that Duke is very near Altus where I spent several months going to C-5 engineer school.

Redcoat liked getting loaded with the sheetrock because there were about a dozen guys loading it up and strapping it down. Nice to have somebody else do the work for you for a change. All he had to do was tighten it down just a bit to make sure it didn't slip.

Redcoat had to go through Altus on his way to Houston. I asked him what he thought about the town and he wasn't too impressed with it. Neither was I at the time I was there. In my opinion, all there was to do was drink and if I'd have stayed there for any length of time, I'd have probably become an alcoholic. I was going through two fifths of liquor a week for lack of anything better to do.

So Redcoat delivered the sheetrock down in Houston this morning and only two pieces were slightly damaged. The forklift driver said not to worry about it.

Then Redcoat got dispatched to another place in Houston to pick up some coils. It's been a while since he's hauled coils. These were stamped on the side with their composition: 55% aluminum and 45% zinc. So Redcoat is thinking that he should use straps because of all the aluminum. He gets everything all strapped down (coils are eye to the sky) and was just about to put the tarps on when another Mav driver pulls in and tells him he's done it wrong.

The man tells him that he needs to use chains instead of straps. This guy used to be an instructor and he's got a shiny new truck and has been with the company for over ten years. Redcoat figures he must know what he's talking about.

So he takes off all the straps and uses chains instead. When he's almost finished, his phone rings and it's Safety calling him telling him that the other guy reported him. (!!!) Redcoat asked why the man reported him and Safety said that sometimes drivers don't want any confrontation so they'll call Safety instead of saying something directly. Redcoat told them that wasn't the case this time because after the guy told him how to do it, so he went ahead and re-secured the load. There was no good reason to call Safety in Redcoat's opinion. Redcoat DID find out from Safety that the load must be 100% aluminum in order to use straps. Also the QC will say 'aluminum' instead of 'metal.' If it says 'metal' then use chains. So that part he didn't know.

Redcoat really doesn't mind taking constructive criticism or instruction from more experienced drivers, but this guy really irked him. So before Redcoat put the tarps on, he took a picture of the load and sent it to Safety to make sure they were happy with how he'd done it. They had one correction for him. Redcoat had crossed his chains in front making an 'X' but they told him to just put a chain over the top and use trip chains. Once he fixed that, he went ahead and put on his canvas tarps and then the metal tarps.

And THEN he reported the other driver to Safety because while Redcoat was finishing up, he had his eye on the other guy. The man didn't bother to tent his load and he didn't use any canvas tarps. Redcoat said he was taught in orientation to use canvas tarps to protect the vinyl from the product, not to protect the product from the vinyl.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

All dude had to do was tell Redcoat the right way to do it and why. That's all he needed. But noooo. Dude had to go and call Safety. If you're gonna do that, then you need to make sure your own house is in order, right?

Then, to top it all off, this guy had asked Redcoat where he was headed and RC told him to Lawrenceville, GA. Dude laughed at him and was like, nya-nya I only have to go 173 miles to get home.

What a Richard-head.

Stay tuned.

 

Oh yeah. Redcoat sent me this picture and I was like "What the heck IS that???"



A great big cinnibon! Oh yeah. Breakfast of trucker champions.
Of course he said it wasn't even that good. Too dry.