My Swift Adventure

Thanks Dave... not much has changed at Swift. The range is still at the Navy Base and most of the instructors are from the M. S. Carriers era. You would probably recognize some of the faces at the Academy from your days there. Great group of people... they force a lot of information into your head in a very short amount of time but it is preparation for what the real world of Trucking is all about. Upon testing into solo status you are immediately a "Trucker" in the eyes of Swift and expected to perform at or near the level of an experienced Trucker.

 

11/05

Sitting at the Columbus, OH terminal waiting to pick up a JIT load. The truck got it's 90 day inspection and had some issues taken care of so I got some home time. It was nice to see the wife and kids and to take a shower that didn't involve running around trying to get wet. 130+ hours and 6,900+ miles so far and loving it. Hoping to be off the mentor's truck before Thanksgiving, which shouldn't be a problem as long as we keep getting loads.

Still looking forward to getting my own truck... Does anyone know the procedure/ process for testing out in Memphis? Wondering about time frame and what all is involved. Thanks in advance...

 

Well here we are... it's 11/23 and I have completed my Mentor Training and have tested out to solo status!!!!!

245.75 hours of drive time and over 17,000 miles driven. Only have to complete my simulator class tomorrow morning and I will be good to go. I have 30 days to get my sim class done but I want to get it out of the way now. Should get truck assignment either 11/24 or 11/26 and then be able to get it cleaned up and set up for the road.

Already have my fridge and am going to get the rest of what I need over the next couple of days. I would have gotten a truck today but I am taking home time and live local so the people who need a truck to get home for the holidays took priority, which I totally agree with.

I met with my Driver Manager today and he seems real cool. He actually likes answering questions and helping new drivers... imagine that. I am very excited to get out and get going on my own and start Trucking for real. My mentor was great but I am more than ready to have my own space and to be able to sleep without being bounced around like popcorn. 3 hours of sleep sitting still is equal to about 8 hours sleep bouncing around, so I ought to be well rested after 8 hours sleep in a non-moving truck.

See y'all out on the road!!!

 

Thank you Nana and OldNewbie and all who have given advice and accounts of their experiences. Got my truck assignment yesterday... 2009 ProStar double bunk with 276,000 miles on the clock!!! Dirty on the outside and trash shoved in every available nook and cranny inside but it is mine all mine. Brought it home yesterday after the shop cleaned the trash out of it that I found. Washed it up today inside and out. Was some weird shade of gray but is now restored to it's natural bright white. It was a mentor truck and the mentor upgraded to a new model. It was listed in the system as a "high mileage" truck not suitable for team assignment... works for me.

I will start moving in tomorrow and hit the road on 11/28. I can't wait to get going and hopefully the PornStar will be good to me. Gonna have to do something about the THIN foam mattress in the PornStar... probably gonna double up the mattresses until I have a passenger. I heard that a twin size mattress will fit in the lower bunk of a ProStar so that is a consideration.

My boys had more fun than I did cleaning the truck today and think it is the coolest toy they have ever seen. They both are counting down the days until they can go along as passengers.

Thanks again to everyone who shares and contributes here and I will see you on the road!!!

 

Hey Y'all... been a couple of weeks. I am finishing up my 2nd week as a Solo driver and am having a great time. The PornStar and I are getting along famously. She is a good girl underneath it all, but she can get dirty when she needs to.

I am attempting to upload pics with this post. I guess we will know soon enough if it works.

I have been all over East of the Mississippi. I was in 5* weather in Wisconsin, drove through snow in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and am currently in Georgia for the night. I am heading to northern Kentucky in the morning so more cold weather for me.

I am loving the elbow room afforded by having my own truck. The PornStar doesn't have much storage up front but it has enough for my stuff and she pulls pretty good so I hope to keep her for the next couple of years. She has 280,000 miles on her and runs like a dream. I don't know if she has been turned up or just broke in but she pulls much better than the ProStar I was on for 3 days at the beginning of my 240.

I cleaned her up real good inside and out when I got her and so far she is still pretty clean on the inside. The outside, however, is a totally different story. 2 snow storms conspired to wipe the clean right off her pretty face.

As for my fellow Swiftys I have met along the way... I have been pleasantly surprised to not have met any azzhats. To a person, they have been polite and more than willing to talk about Swift and trucking in general and pretty much whatever direction the conversation happens to take.

I have run into several people I know from class or from testing out along the way. It is nice to see a familiar face every now and then, and I enjoy meeting new and interesting people along the way.

Lastly, for all those going through training, either at Swift Academy or a private school, those 9' lanes they have you backing into make for really good close quarters training and have come in handy a couple of times... but for the most part the truck stops and shippers have 11'+ lanes so it does get easier in the real world. I am forever lining up on the far left side of docks and parking spaces and having to move over to center in the lane, which I am sure provides a good chuckle for the experienced truckers around me, but I am in there!!!

 

HELP... Get me the F@&K out of Phoenix!!!!!!

I delivered in Flagstaff on 12/17. On 12/18 I was told to deadhead to Phoenix for a Repo Move. I sat 12/18 and 12/19, then got a preplan on 12/19 at 18:00 CST. I went to the T-Call Window to get an MT. I was told that "The Planners" will dispatch and MT. At 05:00 CST I went to the T-Call Window and explained that I still didn't have an MT assigned to me and I had to leave in 1 hour to make my pick-up. They assigned me an MT and I spent the next half hour driving in circles trying to locate it. I finally found it and discovered a glad-hand lock on it.

I walked back to the T-Call window and they said that I was to find a Yard Donkey and they would unlock it for me. So for the next 35 minutes I searched in vain for a Yard Donkey. By this time I had gotten so pissed off that I drug the MT out into the isle thinking that surely that would get someones attention. I underestimated the lack of give-a-sh1ts possessed by the people at the Phoenix terminal. I walked back to the T-Call window while half screaming expletives and notified them that I can't find any Yard Donkeys and that I am now late for my P/U. They got on the radio and said that they would meet me at the MTs. Finally after another 10 minutes I got my MT unlocked and got the pleasure of sweeping 2 Walmart bags worth of crap out of the trailer.

Once I was allowed to leave the yard to circle back around to the fuel island I put a whole 84 gallons in my tanks and went on my way. I drove to a mine in Ray, AZ only to find out that of the 7 Swift trucks at the mine, 4 of us were scheduled to deliver in Amarillo, TX. The other 3 were going to Tucson, AZ. The mine informed me that they "weren't shipping to Amarillo today". I called my DM and the load was cancelled. 2 of the Amarillo drivers were switched over to Tucson loads and the other 2 of us were sent away.

I was told to deadhead to Ray, AZ. I left the mine and met up with the other driver in a pull-off outside of the mine on Hwy 177. I messaged my DM and was completely ignored as usual until I asked if I was expected to sit on the side of the road until... The other driver was a L/O and did a macro 30 and got on the road. I got so mad that all I wanted to do was start smashing things and so I took a walk to the mine's scenic overlook. There I met a local couple, the husband worked at the mine for 34 years and the wife lived in Ray, AZ as a young child.

They told me that the town of Ray, AZ was at one time where the mine is today. They told me all about the area and the history of the mine and the surrounding area. When I got back to the PornStar I messaged my DM the info I had learned from the couple and that I was in-fact as close as I could get to Ray, AZ without taking my ProStar into a Copper Mine.

Once again no response... surprise... surprise!!! So I sat until 12/21 00:09 CST when I got a preplan picking up in Phoenix with a stop off at the terminal to drop off some OSD I have been trying to get rid of for 1 1/2 weeks. At 11:00 I headed to Phoenix. At the fuel island the MT I picked off the same yard the day before got red-tagged because a 12" section of door gasket was missing, and I was told to take my truck to the shop because it has a recall on it. Once at the shop they ran my VIN and discovered there were in-fact 6 recalls on my precious PornStar and that there was no way I was making my 15:30 P/U. I talked to the shop guys and told them that I was going to Memphis for X-mas and getting a B-Service. One of the mechanics went to talk to his boss. Boss man said it was fine to send me on my way but that I should get the work done in Memphis. I went to the T-Call window and was told they don't have any MTs and that "The Planners" would take care of issuing me an MT.

"The Planners" messaged me about 30 minutes later asking me to try to get an MT off the yard. I messaged back saying that I tried that already and that was the last I heard. So here I sit, now 30 minutes late for my P/U having sent my macro 22 still waiting for an MT.

The real kicker to the whole situation is that when I arrived 12/18 I had a beautiful 2008 trailer with nothing wrong with it. The only reason I came to the terminal was to offload the OSD and boogie before they could steal my MT. Long frustrating story short... I lost my MT and never got rid of my OSD.

So I am sitting here without a viable load since 12/17... Is it any wonder I want to start doing morally reprehensible things?!?!?

So... hating the fuel island Nazi, loving the shop guys, tolerating the T-Call window, can't find the Yard Donkeys, and wanting to do bad things to my DM.

All in all a very frustrating way to spend 5 days of my life. BTW... anyone have Maveric's number handy?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Just got a message to bobtail to P/U. I responded that it is a live load and the load dispatch says specifically not to show up without an MT. "They" responded by dispatching the load to me again, without the offending text, and messaging... "yes live load". I am now trying to make room for 44,500 pounds of Quaker Oats in my pretty little PornStar.

Anyone know if beating and stabbing people is still illegal in the state of Arizona? Get back to me ASAP... I am getting ideas!!!!!