Headed for Indianapolis for Orientation August 7th...

Got a call from the dispatcher today, I will report Monday at 7:30 and go to Illinois, and back to the INDY OC for training on the mcp200 (or whatever the new qualcomm is called), and have it installed in my truck. Will update Tuesday when I am INDY.

Again thanks for all the encouragement.

Raid3r

 

I am here, and quite frankly have been to busy driving to be on here, although next week I should be a little better with time. Sorry for keeping you all in suspense, and I intend to continue to update this continually throughout my stint with SNI. Additionally, the two chances I had this week online, I was on SNI wifi , and I was worried about their terms and conditions of using their service because there is a bunch of stuff about not speaking about or on behalf of SNI, so I just skipped this site (even though I have nothing negative to say).

So I drove my pumpkin to work on Monday. By the time I figured out how to get my paperwork, where loaded trailers are, where to dump empty trailers, the difference between hauling finished product and raw materials, etc, etc it was 10:30. Of course it still takes me abut an hour to pre trip and hook up a trailer, so it was looking like 11:30 am before I got out of there. THe thing is I was still on paper logs, so my day started at 11:30 am . So Monday I headed out to Shelbyville , IL. Pretty simple route, mostly on I-70 , 333 paid miles, although the route solution says it is 359, which means I have 7 spare miles to not go OOR, and I am driving nearly 30 miles for free. Well, I drove to Shelbyville and arrived in the evening. Now overall I consider myself a pretty bright fella, but I am still figuring out the paperwork and the qualcomm stuff. So I backed up the trailer to the correct door, dropped the trailer, pulled away like the sign on the building said....Then I sat in the truck for an hour not knowing what I was supposed to do. I went inside and asked them if they were supposed to unload and reload my trailer, or what I was supposed do. The lady told I was supposed t leave, . So I called dispatch and asked them and they said that I should park for night and start again tomorrow with my regular dispatcher. I pushed the issue because I had several hours left. They told me to just grab an empty trailer and come "home". So I did that and drove abut an hour when I got a message to return to plant and pick up a loaded trailer, so I went back to drop the empty (now remember it is still taking me an hour to drop/hook/ pre trip etc.) By the time I got all of that done, I was out of hours, so I just spent the night at the plant. I will jump out of sequence just a bit to say that on Friday I finally built up the nerve to ask about getting paid for all the miles I drove with that empty trailer (because I didnt want to rock the boat in my first week), and my dispatcher said she would pay me since technically I was dispatched and did what I was told!

So I woke up Tuesday and drove back to Ohio. I dropped my trailer , picked up new paperwork and headed back to Shelbyville, with a planned stop in Indianapolis OC so they could install the new MSP 200 Qualcomm , and have me take the class . Now some really frustrating things happened at the OC, most of which were MY FAULT, but still irritating. When I pulled in, the gate operator told me my trailer was due for a PM so I had to take it to the shop. I went to the shop and was told to drop trailer so they could do the PM while I slept. I asked them if they could fix about 8-10 things that I wanted to have fixed on my truck and they got me right in. THe majority of the items were comfort issues for me, and I was very pleased with them fixing them and doing it quickly. Since I was disconnected I asked them about installing the new computer in my truck and they said they did not have any record of that , so I just went and parked the truck to sleep for the night. I woke up a couple hours before my class so I could (without logging) hook up my trailer and pre trip before my 9:00 AM class. I went to the shop and asked them if the trailer was done, and if they had any work orders for my truck....basically confirming that they were NOT going to install the computer computer on my truck..I was told they did NOT have time to get to the trailer so they were releasing it to me and would catch it the next time it came through the yard, and they did NOT have a work order for my truck, so that I could hook up and go. So I grabbed my trailer , did my pre trip, and parked it so I could go to the training class. I walked into the class 5 minutes early. At 9:00 AM the shop called and asked where my truck was . I was so upset and frustrated. I went out and parked trailer, and took truck to shop, but now was late for class. I was just upset that I had spent an hour or so hooking up trailer and pre tripping everything and it was wasted, in addition I was now late for the class, and would have to use logged time to hook back up and pre trip again. In hindsight I need to practice backing into holes and dropping and hooking, so maybe it better all this happens in an OC instead of a shipper. So anyways, the new electronic logging and computer is installed in my truck and I am hooked up and ready to roll. Well since the computer is new, and it doesnt know any better, I just pretended to start the day at this point, not counting the 3-4 hours I was in class, training, etc. I finished the haul to Shelbyville, dropped trailer off, picked up back haul, and headed home. The logical stp would have been back to INDY, but according to the new computer I had the hours to make it home. I went to the Ohio plant and dropped trailer and drove truck to my house. On my first day with electronic logs, I violated HOS by 3 minutes. Not a good start with that system.

On Wednesday I started in the afternoon. My paperwork was ready, the work orders (including the back haul) was in my computer. I went to pick up load, delivered to Shelbyville, picked up load, and headed back to INDY for my 10 hr break. A couple new things learned about this trip. First is, that it rained 3"+ in an hour.It happened to be one of the hours I was driving. Funny enough, it was the very first time I EVER drove in any type of precipitation. Welcome to trucking! Another important lesson I learned today is about sliding tandems. At both plants they require you to slide tandems all the way back. I just drove like this for a couple f trips. I figured out that I could move them in between the stops. I know it seems funny, but I just didn't think abut it. So my new plan is to slide the tandems at each shipper before I leave. My trips have gone alot smoother since then. Not a curb has been hit since then! I learned more in this day of driving than any other day since I started truck driving school. Made it back to INDY for my 10 hr break.

Thursday I got back to Ohio , back to Shelbyville, IL, and back to INDY for my 10 hr break. By the time my break was over, it was mid day on Friday. I sent in a message asking if I could get one more round trip to finish out the week since I felt I lost time n my first day with the back haul mix up, and spending almost 24 hours in INDY while they installed my computer and I took the class. I was told that all the loads going back to Shelbyvillae had been assigned so unless I wanted to go to Long Island, NY , that I was done for the week. Well, I am home so you can guess which route I chose. I woke up in INDY Friday afternoon and just had a 4 hour drive home.

For the week I had about 2100 paid miles. With all of the growing pains and hiccups , I thought it was decent. Had I gotten back earlier Friday I could have caught a Friday/ Saturday run to get closer to 2800. I am even more satisfied with my choice now than at any other time. My regular DBL (who I did not even talk to this week) is a former Schneider driver with over 20 years in. My dispatcher is a very nice woman who has been extremely nice to me, and helped me with everything , including many silly questions that "real" truck drivers probably are not asking. The people at both ends of my hauls are very nice. They arent mean or rude, quite frankly just the opposite. I am becoming increasingly fond of the operating center in INDY. I am learning names of the staff there. The service shop jumped on top of my truck problems, quickly and efficiently. The shop loaded me up with parts and accessories. My truck is now cleaned up, and I have it set up pretty much as comfortable as it will be. My truck has performed brilliantly, and I just need a couple of things tweaked. I love this Ultra Shift automatic transmission, can not figure out a draw back to it.

I had a satisfying week, happy working and learning with SNI. I am home as promised, and it seems that as long as I do not do something to mess up my hours, there are plenty of loads and miles to run, and the only limits will be my own. I should easily be able to run 2700-2900 miles a week. Anything less will be paying me to load or unload trailers, which means the same amount of pay. I am learning things everyday, and making money in the process. So far , everything from my perspective has been first class all the way around from SNI.

I have been becoming more efficient with driving and doing all my paperwork, and other non driving work. I would hope to have more time update more frequently. I am off until Tuesday so I should be around more often the next few days.

Thanks for reading!

Raid3r