To the drivers under 25..

Sorry for not getting back here sooner but it was a long week here due to the weather so I did the work/sleep and repeat thing for 5 straight days.. Monday was a straight blizzard on the Pa Pike and Thursday was a straight mess down through Baltimore and DC with the snow/ice.. The other 3 days were me sleeping and getting pissed off when that alarm sounded right..haha..

 

It simply cannot be done so just give up on it already dude..lol..

Man, I'm not sure what I'd do in your shoes when you cannot switch without taking it in the ***.. If I could only do one I'd run line-haul but having said that, I bid off line-haul for 2011 despite the 30 - 40K pay whack to have a life for a year..

Kind of one of those things - it just depends on your life situation and where you priorities are.. There's a reason I've never been married or had kids and am now 30 - driving for the last 9 years has a lot to do with it..haha.. - but when I do, it will be my only marriage and I'll be able to do the best for them as my parents did for me..

Like you, I'll probably be #1 here someday but you can't just look at work as I have over the last few years unless that's all that matters.. I have a countdown of nights left on my Facebook and a lot of people that I have not been able to see much of in the last few years are counting them down with me right.. Kinda cool.. I'll definitely miss the paychecks and I take pride in them so it's bittersweet but I can't wait to take the cut and have a life..

One last thought on line-haul that occurs to me at this time yearly.. Monday night I didn't run my usual and had to head West - was fine till I popped out of the Somerset tunnel heading West.. I had a 6 and a 4 and drove into heavy snow, single digit temps, and 40-50 MPH winds.. I have never been happier to descend Donegal at 20 MPH since I was using the rumble strips like braille - visibility was near zero for 1/2 mile stretches and I had nobody near me.. Thursday night was the opposite on the usual run - visibility was fine but ice made Baltimore and DC stressful to say the least.. Line-haul has about 10-20 nights per year that make you question what you're really doing..

At that company you can't go wrong but just think the decision through before you make it..

 

Hahaha.. I appreciate the humor driver..

I don't know all of the state rules regarding pup trailers but I know all of ours are 28' or 28.5' which keeps us legal running 2 or 3 in all the states I've operated in.. We run RMD's out West but I'm only aware of the legality of our doubles/triples combinations from Illinois East..

With all due respect to the amount of years you've been on the road I think I can give a decent answer to your question about why "logistic type" companies run pretty hard in adverse conditions - I'm assuming you're talking about companies running doubles like UPS Parcel/Freight, Con-way, FedEx Freight, Estes, OD, and so on..

Eliminate FedEX Ground from the below because they're either O/O's or getting pimped by a fleet owner paying them .35 to run a set with a nice big truck - some of them are fine but most are not..

I certainly don't have your years of experience but many of my co-workers do and I have 9 - over 7 now pulling doubles which certainly has taught me a few things..

We generally run the same route - been over the roads I run nightly enough times to understand what weather conditions produce what road conditions.. I also know where every pothole is so I can take a 50MPH curve at 65 because I've been through it with all types of sets - light, heavy, top heavy, leaner's, and etc.. I know what I need to do and be safe doing it..

If I can see and the road isn't straight ice, I'm gonna stay out in the left lane with a good following distance if need be because of what I mentioned above.. I know the road and chances are most 4-wheelers and OTR trucks don't.. Think about that as it applies to your local area..

Probably a secret that I should keep to myself but on bad roads the lane that looks the worst often provides the best traction.. Had my wheel spin light going crazy too many times in the "clear" right lane - move over to that snow covered left lane I can't break traction if I try.. The other night I95 was icy as hell so I grabbed the crusty looking left lane and never broke..

Generally speaking, any driver you see pulling a set at night at any of the above mentioned companies has been at it for a little while.. With over 7 years experience pulling sets at Con-way I sometimes don't make my normal run and the drivers under me are within a few months of my hire date - most have 10+ years on me as it relates behind the wheel of a truck.. In that instance, I blaze tracks across the Pa Pike..

The last is kinda silly but it's pride.. We feel we know what we're doing since we pretty much do so we're gonna do it.. I ran home early Tuesday morning over the "Hazmat Hump, Happy Trail, or Ho Chi Min Trail" - whatever you wanna call it.. It was icy, snowy, windy, and I was pissed off since I had to go that way in the first place.. I made it as I always have and take a lot of pride in that..

There's a bunch of us on Facebook that use it nightly once we're stopped and our slogan is...... "Con-way Freight, fastest trucks on the road from November till March"..lol..

I'm sure comments will be made but Con-way Freight's DOT accident frequency is 1 for every 1.9 million driven.. A company with 14,000 drivers is gonna have a few so I just hope in the rare event one of drivers is in one, he walks away..

It's always questioned why we "appear" to run hard with doubles so I hope I've answered some of those questions.. I would like to know why the driver that passed me on the right while I was moving over for 4-ways on the shoulder can't hang on the small road?? I would like to know why those big trucks get real small on roads like Pa 31/US 30 with adverse conditions?? I would like to know why the big O/O does 15 through the 40 MPH scales?? I would like to know why the driver throws his garbage out the window then wonders why he can't park there anymore?? I would like to know what crosses a drivers mind when he tosses his piss bottle out the window by a sign stating a high school band cleans up that stretch of highway??

It is what it is right....

 

Kinda the same here.. I had 3 years of college chemistry in and quit to start driving.. After about an 8 year break I decided to go back and finish my degree even though I'll probably never use it - was just something I decided I wanted to do. Would say that I wish I'd done it in the first place but there's no way I'd make as much as I do driving as a chemist and I would not change the way my life played out since I'm pretty happy with it right..

 

Yeah - Greenpoint.. Only lived there till I was 7 though..