Stevens Transport aviary

I made my delivery to Laredo this morning, at 10am, gave time for the cluster to end at DHL. It had, and I was out by 10:30. Back over to the JO yard, grabbed me an apple and bottle of water, and sat down at the pick nick tables with 3 other drivers. All 3 were griping about not getting loads out. I will admit that is the emptiest of trailers I have seen that yard...

They all said it was packed the night before...One was on safety hold, would not say why, one was a trainer, and did not want to take a short run up to Houston, and the third was offered a run to San Antonio, and refused.

Walked back over to the truck to grab my hat, and saw I had a QC message.. a load too. Pickup trailer and take it to the Haslett rail yard, then come to the yard. I was parked right next to the trailer....

I hooked up to it, and 2 of them asked me what I was doing...I answered rolling, making money, and headed to the yard to get off safety hold.

Spent less than 2 hours total in Laredo today...my experience every time I go there.

Stopped for the night in Waco, out of hours, will roll to the rail yard early, and be on the yard before 8am....Then get that clearance sheet knocked out, so I can roll off the yard on Friday or Saturday.

 

to the folks thinking of going through the Stevens program. It is very good from what I have seen. I started on Monday Oct. 18th. all was going well until the physical. Not a real problem, more of an inconvenience and one others might be aware of.

Apparently in January the BMI Body Mass Index ruling is going into effect for real. I am 5"10" and weighed on there scales 259. That put me into the Obese criteria, no real news there for me. I had used a cpap for many years and all was well. It would have been well for Stevens as well, except the data recording card went missing. I don't even know when. The moral of this story is, I was sent home, Stevens provided the ticket, and have gotten a new data card and will be here for 5 consecutive days to get data on the card. Then all I need to do is call recruiting and they will arrange for me to come back down and re-start training. I am also a diabetic type II and well controlled with pills only. This is fine, my finger stick was 98 and the high end that is OK is 130, at least now, that can change like everything else.

At first I was a bit upset and thinking, "that's what I get for being honest", well as it turns out I met a fellow student in the same BMI mess I am. He did not have the cpap and was told he had to go home and get the full sleep study, a machine, and data showing it worked and he was using it. So, I would have been found out and probably terminated for lying on the medical history. So honesty still is the best policy, just inconvenient some days. Everyone be safe, I'll get back with you when I get back on the training program.

 

Maybe Stevens is implementing the BMI... there is no proposal at the federal level for such a rule. Sleep apena is also a solution looking for a problem so people can make money off of truckers. MY NOT so humble opinion.

Made it to the rail head, at guess what, stevens had not schedule my trailer be dropped, so I had to call stevens, have it billed out, and wait for 20 minutes for the computers to catch up so I could drop my trailer... well that put me into Rush hour traffic, so I did not get to the yard at 8am... oh well pulled in at 9am, and I am clear as of 3:30 pm... now if I could just get these small mechanical issues taken care of I would be rolling in the AM...

Such is life at stevens yard. And Driver appreciation, not much happening, a free lunch today was hamburgers and hot dogs. Now that company drivers get a shirt or a hat, alliance drivers, "NOTHING".

 

I wouldn't argue with you, that is just what they told me. I was told by the other guy that got sent home for BMI that he checked with England and they told him he would need to get the sleep study for them as well. I figure if England is doing it every one else must be.

 

I wouldn't argue with you, that is just what they told me. I was told by the other guy that got sent home for BMI that he checked with England and they told him he would need to get the sleep study for them as well. I figure if England is doing it every one else must be.

 

Well got on the bus to head to Dallas! Should be there tomorrow at 4:30 Dallas time. There are some weird people at these bus stations! As for the bmi thing. I am 26 years old and never had any problems health wise. Don't show any of the warning signs for apnea. Will they automatically send me home? Cause that would be bull crap!

 

wow.. so this has been a killer week... got run up to South jersey on a mailman load (5 stops) got tapped by local dispatch to run over to the harrisburg, pa train yards and grab a trop load for Jersey city, that was last thursday and friday soon as i finish the drop at tropicana , i get hit to go pick up at port newark headed to Kraft in Illinois.

Saturday, I repower a solo alliance driver in indiana , launcing me back to Pa. for a monday delivery with a final in syracuse on tuesday. Finish up in Syracuse tuesday morning... get a repower out of canada, deadhead to buffalo to catch it.. it drops me in Murfreesboro, drop at 4 am yesterday, and get a load right out of there headed to temple texas.. now sitting for the night here in Arkansas.. gotta relax a bit. due in temple texas , tomarrow at 1930 .. walmart... should be getting home in the next week here, on track for a meat load out of texas.. betting on seguin.


but , wow.. when your in the loop... they run you like mad... been breezing hours like i had them.. got down to a rolling 8 i was holding on to for a rainy day

 

Yea, I was in class with iowarider and from what I understand ... if your BMI is over 30, or if your neck size is over 17" ... they will require a sleep apnea test. Its BS if you ask me, but nothing I can do except get the stupid test done so I can get back to Dallas.

Also, you dont have to do the "sleep in a clinic overnight crap" as there are Home Sleep Studys you can have done now. Im getting set up for one next week. They ship you the kit, you sleep with it 1 night and send it back. Then the Doc downloads the info and sends you the results. Its alot cheaper this way. I have found them from $250 - $450

 

BMI and sleep apena have a low correlation. Yet some doctors have been pushing it, and the insurance industry loves easy charts to exclude people. Yes it is BS. Has everything to do with money, and nothing with health.

Wish I could have caught up with some people on the yard....NOT......Arrived at 9am on thursday, and left the yard to pick up my load at 9:15 am friday....Truck serviced, and due to some recent APU fires, they finally found and fixed the fuel leak I had on my APU draw line.

Headed up to Denver, for a Monday Morning Delivery...sure wish this receiver was open on Saturday, But it will give me some time in Denver.

Any good movies playing this Weekend? plan on going to a movie theater, and catching one.

 

May see you again. I just got back from the folk that service this cpap thing. I now have a card and made sure it records for them. I'll be setting up time to get back on track. I am shooting for a week from Monday. I called and what they want is 5 consecutive days to show compliance and if it is working for me. Then I will have to get to someplace that can download the card once every 30 days for the next 90 days. More crap to wade through and hoops to jump through.