Just got a new job.

Well, I had to say goodbye to working for the owner operator I had been with for over a year. It was an mutual split. Their truck blew it's transmission after a seal broke and leaked all the gear oil out in Arizona last month. The truck is still parked at Freightliner in Chandler, AZ with half of my stuff while they make arrangements to have it transported back to El Paso where the cost of a transmission replacement will be half of what the Freightliner shop wanted to charge ($12k). I will always thank them for taking a chance on me and told them when the truck is back in El Paso, I'll clean it up to make it ready for the next driver.

Meanwhile, I needed to get back rolling so I applied at the trucking company my father in law works at, Munoz Trucking. Not a huge company, less than a 100 trucks in the fleet. Nearly all Volvo VNL780s with a couple of Cascadias and a few holdover Columbia's that are in the local driver fleet. I was hired and went through orientation today. I was assigned an '08 Volvo 780 with a Volvo D12 engine and 10 speed gearbox that's ready to be traded in so they told me to not get too comfortable, lol. For having nearly 900k on the clock, it's in great shape. Art, my father in law, has a 2013 model year truck. The Munoz maintenance team seems to be on top of things, since the trucks come back after 6-13 days, they get PM service done frequently.

The dispatcher I am assigned to is the same one Art is. Apparently he told everyone back at the office he could about how good a driver I am, lol. They all knew I was coming.

Hopefully I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. Looking forward to getting rolling again.

 

Munoz has 48 state and Canada authority but most loads run California and back, Georgia/Southeast and back and Pennsylvania/Northeast and back. There's a drop and hook account in Pennsylvania that runs back here to El Paso for the maquiladora industry.

 

I'm optimistic. Got my dispatch. Load will be ready to go at 4 in the yard bound for Georgia.

Munoz trucks are governed at 65. Will be an adjustment after having an ungoverned truck but I usually ran 68 with my old truck anyways so its not too much of a change. They run loose leaf logs as well which I have come to prefer, lol!

 

I lucked out, my truck is set to 69 mph. Score!

Yeah, I used to do this run all the time with my old employer. I pretty much could run the 10/20 corridor to Georgia blindfolded.