Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

Well. So you can get .36 cpm from the big pumpkin. And what from heartland? Should be at least .38 or .39 base with a year regional. Miles would probably only be in the 2200 range if you want home every weekend, or every other weekend.
System would be home once or twice per month. 4 cpm more on base. And maybe 2500 average.
I would look at benefits on each. Heartland has some expensive freaking health insurance. They are working hard this year to make changes to attract and retain drivers. I am expecting to see pay go up. And a better idle solution before the end of the year.
Have to find a way to pull drivers from Crete.

 

Sess, I hope you enjoy yourself at the school. I am in my (hopefully) last week with my trainer. For those who don't realize it, they do match up people with the trainers somewhat. My trainer told me today I had been assigned to him because I was so far behind the curve coming out of TDA. No prior manual experience and it showed. This has been the hardest thing I've ever done, tbh. Learning this has been harder than grad school, harder than learning the insurance business. But if you come out of TDA struggling then they seem to try to make sure you get hooked up with someone experienced and patient.

My trainer has been OTR for 17 years (not with Central for all that time obviously) and been training for 9 and has incredible patience as I tear up his gearbox. Other trainers, not so much. There are some that won't let you sleep in the bottom bunk, so you're only sleeping when the truck is sitting. Others won't actually let you back, or won't let you drive, or whatever but write in the stuff anyway in the book. I've spoken with members of my class while back at the terminal who share this stuff with me. On the other hand, I have no nightmare stories about my trainer. Top notch guy who makes sure that his students know what they are doing. He keeps them longer if needed to ensure that they can handle themselves safely and deal with problems as they come up. I know that they have been cleaning house in the training department for a few months and they are completely revamping the upgrade process so that trainers can't get away with skimping on things like teaching how to do reefer pretrips and sliding tandems and whatnot.

The one thing I haven't been shown is how to chain up. My trainer asked if I was going to be someone who uses chains. I asked him if he chains up. He said that he has never put on chains; if chain law is up he sits. To him, job one is getting back home safely and driving with chains isn't safe. That echoes a lot of what I read here so I'm happy to follow his example. After going over Cabbage right after chain law was lifted and seeing the broken chains littering the ground, I wonder just what they are supposed to do other than litter the landscape and provide traction for everyone following you.

Anyway, so far I am really enjoying myself here with Central. I'll check back in after I have done my upgrade and had to do all this stuff without a monitor.

 

Im almost done as well with training. I run mostly evenings from 4 to 2 am...im not from the country and night driving out here is hard mentally and physically...try sitting in the dark and staring at a light for 11 hours...brutal. Also found out from my class 3 guys jumped ship and left the truck. Its not easy away from being home and being stuck with someone literally 24/7 in a tiny box. You will get used to it...adapt and overcome

 

Also I dont know if I got extremely lucky but I get along with my trainer very well...he's extremely knowledagable. I have been happy with my overall central experience so far.

 

the last snow storm to hit cabbaage lasted a week. we sent 4 trucks to washington. i chained up and made delivery. got reloaded and went to colorado. got reloaded and went to boise. got reloaded and came home for the weekend.

the other 3 trucks were still sitting on the side of the road waiting for the chain law to lift.

nobody likes to chain up. but it's better then sitting on the road somewhere not making money. and if you have no food or water. you will defenitly be hurting.

january, and february are good times for storms that linger. which means if your going to be someone that isn't going to be using chains. your going to be sitting a LONG TIME.

it's the trainers job to teach you ALL aspects of trucking. that includes chaining.

my trainer didn't teach me how to chain either. and it took me 3 hours to figure it out. with the wind blowing snow everywhere and the temp was 20 degress. NOT A FUN TIME TO BE LEARNING.

shippers and receivers want the loads delivered in a safe and timely manner. it's allright to be a few hours late. but being one week late won't be tolerated. and the boss won't be happy either. and good luck finding a job if you can't deliver your loads in the winter.

your trainer might be an allright guy. but if he can't teach you to chain. then he's still lazy.

my trainer didn't teach me either. it took me 4 hours to figure it out. with the wind blowing snow everywhere and the temps aty 25 degrees. NOT A FUN TIME TO BE LEARNING.

 

I got into the main terminal around 9PM mountain time. Its not as bad as imagined but I gotta say, its also not the Hilton. I really don't care how nice it is tho. It has the things I need to get by and I'm happy with that. Ill be doing a whole lot of nothing tomorrow so if anybody on here is at West Valley then let me know. Other than that, ill be starting class Monday. I'm really excited and so happy to be here!

 

I don't like to chain.
Did it 1 time. That was enough for me.
My company does not issue chains to most of it's trucks. We do not go into area's that make you have them often. The few trucks we send to that area have them. But are not allowed to use them.
If the roads get bad they want you to shut down. No load is worth anyones life. And the receiver wants the load to arrive, not go into a ditch.
I stopped hauling that far west probably 4 or 5 years ago now. And I do not miss it. Though I did like to run that way in good weather. A few nice area's out west.

 

I don't think I would have minded it so much at 38 than I do now at 58....

 

in my opnion if its bad enough to put chaibs on then its bad enough to keep yer butt parked. i would rather sit for a few days and see next week than to run this week and possabilly never see next week/

 

jj and i don't have any problems making deliveries with chains.

i wont drive on ice though. and that hasn't happened yet.