EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

long week this week......6 1/2 days out.....3180 miles......one thing has been consistent lol.....end up 100 miles or less from home on thursday into friday and you're going to be in for a long weekend.......friday morning 0200 fresh hours and in roanoke rapids expecting the run home...... and get sent to jersey.....then on up to new haven, then back over to tunkhannock and down to salisbury......and also consistent lately no empties at salisbury.....so, sunday 10:00 and no empty and 4 hours left on the 70 and service due on the truck so to the yard i came.......

daughter calls on tuesday and says 'i have a question.....if you leave your doors open and lose boxes on the highway, do you have to pay for them?' hahaha......asked her what she was talking about and she said she was riding down 77 and started dodging boxes in the highway and soon came up on a target truck with the door up and boxes falling out into the highway......asked her what the truck looked like and she said she didn't know it was a target trailer and the truck was orange lol wonder who that could be?.....said she rolled open her sunroof and was trying to get his attention but he had his earbuds in and was jamming to the music and lost in some other world......now i'm not sure what bothers me more.....that he didn't notice the boxes falling out on the highway behind him and had headphones on and in another world or that he didn't notice the hot 20 something in the tank top and shorts trying to get his attention through the sunroof beside him lol.......told her don't worry about it, she tried to get his attention and that's all she could do and that he'd most likely pay for it by being unemployed the next day.

saw another rollover on 81.....on a straight stretch of road this time......that remains consistent as well at one every 10 days or so.......

and another one you have to look at and just wonder how the hell they did that?......on 77 about 2am and the 24 in virginia a guy was about 80% jacknifed on the onramp to the highway about 2/3 of the way up the ramp.......how do you jacknife on an onramp? some things you just have to shake your head at and wonder......

picked up 3 trailers in a row over the last week with flat-spotted tires......all 8 not just one or two.....was able to get the first one by the shop and have them changed but the other 2 was just too far away and delivery times too tight but did call them in......i mean are we really locking them down that much? lol.......should that even be happening with ABS? guess it's just a bad run of luck to get 3 in one week like that

developed a really bad vibration thursday after i swapped trailers........in high range at 1200rpm it #### near shakes my teeth out in every gear......just at the point in the power band where it's #### annoying because that's where it starts to pull good and just above where the shift point is going down or just below the shift point going up......only under throttle......was able to smooth it out a little by feathering the fuel but really shaking no matter under load or empty.......since it's due service i hope they get that one figured out can't ride like that too long and everything in the truck will come apart.......

talked to one of the guys that got one of the new volvos this week we both had a run out of NJ to new haven ikea.....said it was a pretty good truck but only 405hp and no manual control over the i-shift.......he said it's a little annoying that it won't downshift until 50mph and you can't over-ride the computer and do any shifting of your own up or down......nice interior but i think i'll keep my 10 speed thank you very much.......hope i never get an auto truck......

some really tight runs this week.....ran it down to under 10 minutes 3 days and thursday really pushed it to make one i should have turned down based on time available and when i pulled the brakes and went off duty it said 0:00 when i pulled up the screen and soon as i hit ok it said -0:01 lol.......thankfully there was a spot at that pilot or i'd have been screwed.......

okay, so first year numbers are:

paid miles - 134,502
earnings - 43,890
avg miles/wk - 2586.5
avg days/wk out - 6
avg days/wk home - 1.5

3 days down for maint due to screwed up DEF system
2 weeks slack miles due to a temp DM that just didn't get it

with the graduated first year pay scale that's an average of 30.6 / mile.........i figured that as a projection in another thread where someone called me on my earning projections/miles.....lol....i love it when i have my projections confirmed in the end by the actual data......i was honors math and stats after all hehehehe the old man keeps a good handle on his numbers........and at .35 now into the first year and that's #### good first year pay for any newbie......

overall, not a bad first year. finally got in at noon sunday and be home till tuesday early AM and got a good one out to grand rapids......good miles to start the week

time to fire up the grill

 

geez.....been running so hard i can't even hardly stop long enough to post last 2 weeks.....ending this week makes 3 in a row over 3000.....going into this week will be slack though.....wrestling with my biggest dog last weekend while i was home....an 80lb lab/pit mix...... and we got a little rough and he broke one of my teeth lol....but no issue let my dm know monday morning and they planned me right in friday with no problem to make sure i'm here for my dental appt monday morning

long runs last two weeks....nothing under 550 and the last 3 this week back to back were 810, 1090, and 721......been running the time out every day and down to 3 left on the 70 when i got in friday night.

picked the truck up last weekend and it was supposed to be in for service due......didn't happen.....all those tractors on the yard and they let someone take MINE to run local between statesville and winston even though service was due on it.....so, still had the slow leak in the primary, still has the bone jarring vibration in the high range......not to mention the guy they let use it trashed it....grease all over my carpets, my floor, the door and fairings.....trash on the floor.......took me a whole evening to get it clean.....what a slob.....had to replace my carpets.....idiot went through my food and screwed with my tv too....good thing i took the remote home with me he couldn't have done much with it.......chewed the dm good over that one i better not find out who it was......and during a storm in spartanburg this week, the clip on the wiper broke and the blade fell off.....lol....that was alot of fun in driving rain.....thank god for rain-x lol and good thing i had just applied some that morning.......got one at the loves when i stopped for the night and no problems getting reimbursed at all.....

last 2 weeks started the week out with runs to michigan.....week before to grand rapids and this week to detroit....i like those....always something long coming back out of there......

down to rittman, ohio and morton salt heading to lexington, sc.....anybody been to this fustercluck? 6th in line to the gate, 2 hrs to get TO the gate.....by the time i got to the gate they were stacked up almost 15 deep behind me.......anyway, get to the speaker and she says.....be with you in a minute....which turned into 25 minutes.....finally get back there and back into the dock and it's one of those you have to go inside and observe the load......2 hours waiting on the dock as they load the 2 guys that came in behinf me because the load isn't ready yet.....finally, 4 hours later get out of there once i get to the gate going out and the gaurd says 'go out to your truck and i'll be right out with the paperwork and seal'......which ended up being 25 minutes later.......just over 6.5hrs there......46k and coops before any scale close by.....you gotta look at the map and think it's planned that way.....so, have to go through the woods to get down to the scale on 77......atlas says STAA route.......i don't think so.....1 1/2 lane goat path up and down and up and down i'd estimate 6-9% and 45 to 90 degree turns.....dodging tractors and amish buggies that are never in the flat where you can see them but just over the crest of each hill where you can't see them....that was about the longest 6 miles of my life..... until i get to the 2 lane 'main' road to 77 and the scale......

thought i was going to get a week of no stupidity until wednesday lol shoulda known better.......and 2 out of 3 of it in sc....shoulda known that too lol i left there for more reasons than just an ex wife....never really did fit in there even though i was born and raised there....so.....driving on 20 out to the drop and this van passes me.....

Dent's Adult Daycair......Adult Home Cervises

now this was wrong on soooo many levels lol......first, would you hire this guy? it was professionally lettered and very well done in large letters on the sides and back glass, but would you have hired the guy that did the lettering? did either of them realize how bad the spelling was? or how unprofessional it made him look? surely he didn't pay for that. maybe he did it himself, who knows? well done, but so wrong haha

pulled into the little truckstop at the 51 to wait on the load assignment....spartanburg to andover, ma....i like that one....good long run.....

guy comes up to the door and thought i recognized him vaugely and slid the lock on with my thumb as he approached and cracked the window.....told me his very well-rehearshed sob story about how he's in the military, out of bragg, got hooked up with a woman and she stole his wallet, trying to get back to base, about to be awol, needs gas....got it down with his MOS, unit number, the whole spiel.....what he didn't know is he shot me the same bs story at the state line in the rest area on 20 a couple of months back and i never forget a face....or an idiot....and told him so after i let him run his whole game.....he just turned and walked off but it really got all over me and i just saw red and did something i normally wouldn't do and got out of the truck and followed him across the parking lot.....telling him about how we're out here trying to earn an honest living and idiots like him out here trying to scam us and he needed to explain to me why he can't get a job and feels the need to scam hard working drivers....and he picks up the pace a little and i'm still behind him telling him he better not walk off from me i'm talking to him and i want to know why he fells the need to be a scammer....and he starts running into the woods behind the truckstop lol......not the wisest thing i know but i can take care of myself and this guy really irritated me.....get back to the truck and thankfully the load assignament had come and i copied down the info and got my stick out and did a walkaround and got moving before he had a chance to come back and do anything to the truck....now if, on some odd chance his story WAS true (which i doubt) the second time around it's his own #### fault if he didn't learn the first time.....but, being as his story was word for word the exact same he shot me awhile back, i'm just not buying it

made it up to the 23 on 78 in Pa my fuel stop......what a mess.....3 swifties had the place entirely locked down nobody could move in or out because they had the pumps, the scale and parking blocked.....one of those articulated curtainside things they run blocked me twice....once from getting to the pump, then i had to go through the scale to try and get to a pump from the other side and by the time i had come around the corner he had moved and had me blocked from the other direction to where i was blocking the scale.....and another guy trying to get on the scale in addition to all the guys blocked from getting to the pumps...and he had GONE INSIDE......the guy at the pump in front of him had already pulled out and was trying to get out from behind or around me......i finally did the right thing and backed off a little and had to pull through the scale again and get a parking spot.....which let the guy waiting get to the scale which in turn unblocked one guy so he could get out..... otherwise i would have had to get in the conga line trying to get out and get on the highway and go 5 miles up and turn around and try to come in again....and these bozos had things locked down so bad there were trucks backed up trying to get in all the way out to and into the road....so i just parked and ended up taking my break there, fueling at 2am and running on up to andover.....i had intended to go another 30 miles up before i parked, but as it was i have 3 swifties to thank for putting an early end to my day.....they really screwed up the works that time that's for sure.....

so, made it to andover without any other issues, got my load back out of there back down to browns summit and then in for the weekend.....hopefully won't take too much to get this tooth fixed....probably going to have to schedule something for later but i've got vacation time now so probably get it taken care of afte rthey see what they're going to need to do with it.....

#### good 3 week period let's hope it keeps rolling that way

 

North Carolina can, has and WILL prosecute those that impersonate military personnel. If you'd called the cops on him, they'd have arrested and charged him.

 

99% of the time the scale will let you correct your weight and with the BOL showing them that you just loaded, they wouldn't have given you a ticket

 

i've never seen anything one way or the other to confirm this and heard too many stories one way or the other....both the good side and the bad side.....just not sure and not going to take the chance......and i wasn't the only one tackling that goat path that day either lol.....the way my luck runs i'd go through there on the 1% day lol......but i keep very good trip records and the next time this one comes up i'll be picking another alternate route than the one i chose this time there were several available, this was just the most direct....next time i'll just go a different way and avoid the hills, tractors and buggies haha

 

the hell of it is as well, that when i find myself in those situations, as i was this time, that i've got the axles set right the first time and the weight is legal when i do get to a scale....a little heavy on the rear, but it was legal nonetheless

but there's always that 1% lol

 

yeah normally i wouldn't bother, but this was just one of those times that it just rubbed me the wrong way and i had that 'how dare you try to scam me....and not once, but twice' attitudes lol

i'm well versed in how to defend myself in more than one discipline, and carry a big stick in the truck as well and not afraid to crack a head or two if i need to.....fortunately so far haven't needed to. as both a biker and having spent more time than i'll admit to in my less 'respectable' days as a musician in some rather rough joints, i always keep well aware of my surroundings and those around me.....street smart from a very young age and it has served me well out here on more than one occasion....about the only thing i'm not going to have a respectable chance against is a gun or more than one guy without an out or escape route......but, generally i just stay in the truck

just one of those days i guess lol

 

Hello, long time no hear from. Things are very well and doing great