Andrew's Trucking Journey Continues

That's good to hear Thank you for the update! Yes expenses can get out of hand quickly.

 

I know it! You got that right. Trust me I've been thinking about it. Unfortunately I've got almost 5 years invested here.

 

Well yesterday was my vent session… but today’s looking up.
Things are slowly getting back on track now that the chaos from my planner leaving seems to be settling down. Not quite like the good ol' days when I first started, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction.

First load of the week was a furniture load, then grabbed a backhaul to San Diego and now I’m rolling toward Albuquerque for a live unload furniture load to one of our distribution WH— this one pays a bit better too (extra $20 on the drop, $60 total).

I’ll be out for about 5½ days and back home for my 34+ reset — but the miles are solid and the pay’s stronger. Let’s see if this pace holds up.

 

I'm still here. I would still recommend them but at the same time I'm a little hesitant. It probably would depend on where you're located. Over the last year in the West we've gone through a complete what I call culture change. It's not the same as it used to be. There's just not the level of thoughtfulness for the driver like it used to be. But I'm not sure if it's because I've been here for so long that I noticed the difference so much. Pay is still good but they did reduce the miles for a while. But now I'm getting really good miles. Currently it's kind of a love-hate. I think they had to do what they had to do to keep things moving. Last few years have been really rough on the furniture industry. But they seem to be holding it together they have great benefits, easy work, if your PTP. You just got to stay aware of your paycheck sometimes they miss things depending on what you're doing. I'm usually a home every week guy. But recently I've been held out Which I can't complain too much because I could use the extra money. But when they forget to pay for the 34-hour reset over the road then it becomes a pain. They wait till last minute sometimes to correct your load assignments or they'll just forget about you but it's important to get your load assignment correct so you get paid correctly. I know this is long but just wanted to kind of give you a heads up. Overall paying benefits are good but whatever it is that they're going through right now it's not what it used to be. Oh BTW this might explain it better; our current office personnel, all the people that used to be here when I hired on are gone in the last few months, except maybe one or two. It's like a revolving door. For a few months I got a great DM and then they change it. Lots of shifting going on in the management space.

 

So this week marked my 5th year anniversary here with Ashley. Wow how time flies..

 

Another Week, Another Run to the Pacific Northwest

So this week, they ran me up once again to the Pacific Northwest.
At this point, I’ve been doing this route for about six weeks straight now — and I gotta say, the miles have been **solid**.
More miles = more money, and you won’t hear me complain about that!

But man… Seattle traffic still sucks!

Every time I roll through, I think, “Maybe it’ll be better this week.”
Nope. Same circus, different day.

That’s trucking though, right? You take the good with the grind.

Right now, I’m parked and waiting on my backhaul.

They finally got me unloaded — took ‘em 5 hours this time.
My trailer was packed tight with furniture headed for Alaska,
so they were transferring everything into containers for the next leg of the trip.

On the way up here, I snapped this shot — can’t ever get tired of this view of Mount Shasta. (Below)
Sometimes it’s the little things like this that remind you why you love the open road.



Anyway, that’s the update from the road. Safe travels out there, and keep the rubber side down, Ladies and Gents