Stevens Transport aviary

Best of luck! At least you're in the Crosslands and not America's Worst.
Sitting at home today. Got an extra run for Saturday so my reset was moved back a day. Okay with me. Rain and 40mph winds today, yuck.
After midnight I head to Michigan City and start my week, about four hours away. Quiet hometime this weekend. No visitors or bbq or such. Did some shopping for truck supplies and got a couple bluray movies to watch, Alice in Wonderland and The Final Destination. Some mix, eh? LOL
Crazy week. Got sick from visitors last weekend, had stomach cramps, shakes, shivers, hot/cold flashes, runs and headaches almost all week long. Made some stupid thinking mistakes and just felt tired and worn out from Wednesday onward. Friday was probably the worst. My train of thought was impossible to keep on track. Would think of something then I'd forget it and 'think' of it again later. About Saturday afternoon I started feeling a bit better after a horribly embarrassing episode on a commode in the north Indy TA. The bathroom was empty when I was done. LOL
But gads I felt human again shortly after. Showered before I headed to the bunk and got first real decent sleep almost all week.
Because of some of my sickness induced stupidity I lost a few miles for the week, and I'm starting this week a day late, but at least I didn't drive when I was too fuzzy minded. I managed to park and doze when it got that bad a couple of times. Many companies would have #####ed no end. My fleet manager wasn't happy, but at least he didn't try to force me into anything I didn't feel I was up to doing. No late loads either, I just didn't take a load I couldn't have made in my condition and he gave me two shorter runs with better stopping opportunities during them.
I even ended up with a weekday off, and am about to go into surrounding towns looking for places to securely park the truck other than where I do now. Want something closer and easier to get in and out of.

Most exciting part of the week was early, Mon or Tues, can't remember which, when a car changed lanes a few hundred feet in front of me and clipped a minivan. Both ended up spinning out and blocking the road. The minivan ended up on it's side almost off the right side of the road. The car that caused it was stuck almost off the left side with wheels hanging over the ditch.
The four wheelers in front of us sort of did a 'break and scatter' formation and ended up all over the place, two of them hit each other but not hard as they went between the two spinning cars.
The truck on my left in front of me (who had just passed me and was probably about to head back over to the right lane) ended up swerving all over the road trying to stop. I had about 27K lbs and able to stop pretty quick and in my lane and stayed behind him, though I went onto the shoulder to avoid a car that stopped in my lane in front of me (he had rear-ended slightly the car in front of him) before I could get my truck stopped. The end of my trailer was still in the right lane, and my tractor was about a foot from the bumper of that car in front of me. I didn't need to go for the shoulder as I stopped afterall, but I'm still glad I did. Right behind us trucks was a messy bunch of cars that were all kind of tangled up. Pretty much only the truck ahead/next of me and I didn't hit anyone else. LMAO
Great advertisement for keeping your following distance and keeping your eyes about as far ahead of you as you can. And for setting those slack adjusters. I bet if I didn't poke my brakes each time I get a trailer that I might not have been able to stop in time that time. Sometimes you can REALLY feel the difference in stopping ability after you do that.
By the time me and others around me got up to them other drivers were doing what needed done, so I just got back in my truck and waited for the traffic to get moving again. Neither driver got hurt much, the minivan lady was bleeding from cuts here and there but was saying she wasn't hurt anywhere else. The woman who cut her off was about 19 or 20 at most and just seemed like a total idiot airhead dizzy blond dolt. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if she was on the phone, doing makeup and changing shoes all at the same time. I remember her saying "Where did she come from?"
How I wanted to scream, "She was in your blind spot you idiot! You just didn't bother to look!" while I slapped her a few times.
Her car was barely damaged on the left rear quarter, but the minivan will certainly be totaled out. Every window but ones that ended up on top busted out. Good thing it didn't end up on driver's side! She probably would have lost an arm or hand or something. Or worse.
Cops asked if I saw anything, I said what I saw, they said it was same as they'd heard from cars up closer, so I could just wait until they moved the cars and go ahead and leave without any formal statement. The other trucker, an independent, was told the same. So we chatted a bit, I shared a couple of cold Cokes and a bag of Doritos and salsa and we sat on his flatbed a couple of hours. At one point a driver from behind us came up and chatted to us a bit. He was doing newspaper delivery in mornings and part time painting/remodeling days to get by and was thinking about trucking. We told him what we knew of what he'd need to do and what we thought of what we did. He was pretty sure he was going to go ahead and go to schooling and would check out Stevens Transport for training too, though he wasn't sure about two months with someone else in a truck. I said something like, "Two months you'll be glad you had compared to two weeks that leave you feeling pretty unsure of things when you go out alone first time."
The independent driver said he thought it sounded like good training to him. He learned from his uncle then went to a community college and got three weeks driving with a trainer for a company that went under a few years ago. He said two months with two different drivers would probably make for a well trained driver. I said I've only got a year in, not quite yet, and look at what I avoided. And it's not the first one either.
So maybe a new recruit to Stevens? I offered to give him the phone number of my counselor's business card and said he could give him the right number to call if he wanted, but he said he'd look it up after checking Stevens out. He said he'd been googling trucking companies the last couple weeks but didn't remember Stevens, probably because it was Texas based and he was thinking of looking closer to home. We both told him to forget about USA, JBHunt, Swift or Prime. LOL Three of them were his current top choices. The other driver said he had four good years with Werner before he did flatbeds, then got his current truck and went indy.

So, now I'm off to hunt the nearby towns, come back and play around a few hours, hit the rack, and head off north after midnight.
Ya'll play nice, keep it between the lines, and keep your eyes up!

 

Talked to my fleet manager today, and looks doubtful I'd be home for T-day. I knew that the day I talked to him about his dedicated fleet. There is a small chance there won't be any OTR stuff needing an extra hand through the area so the OTR guys can get home for holidays where possible around here. But if not, I might be home Thursday and back out Friday morning for two days, then back home for a day and a half. Yuck if you ask me. I'd rather be busy as heck until next weekend, or until I eat up the 70.
We'll see.
Nice day putting around the little towns around here. Nothing useful for storing a big truck. Nobody willing who had the room, either. My needing to drop on Saturdays and pick up early Mondays just blows all my chances. Getting home on Sat morns and leaving Monday late morn is not doable in this fleet.
I could MAKE it doable, to make Stevens happier, but it'd sure piss off my fleet manager, and I know what a mess it would make of getting me loads for Mondays or Fridays.
So, heading to the rack now. Off to Michigan City IN to Aurora IL, then p/u in Chicago ending up in Streetsboro OH.
Good full day there.
Ya'll be good out there, and best of luck to the students and grad fleeter.