My new career with Superior Carriers begins!

Great!

No. I need to give him a call. I have his number. I will let you know what I find out.

 

9/17-9/21

This week seemed like the week for musical trucks! I put mine in the shop to get it looked at and they sent it to Cummins. Terminal had another truck I could use so took a load up to Indiana and on the way back it started acting up. Lost all pulling power. When I got back to the terminal I had the shop look at it and the turbo manifiold was cracked. I had a load going out the next day so they jumped on it and got it fixed but...that was not the problem because I went and picked up my load and headed out finally at 4pm, made it as far as Cartersville and had to call the terminal and tell them the truck would never make it to Indiana. Still had no power under a load.

I will back up here a minute. Monday my load was not ready until 11pm so I had to run all night. On top of that it rained hard almost all the way up to Indiana. I was absolutely wiped when I got there. Took my 10 hour break and yep, had to drive all night again. Had Wednesday to recover somewhat but not fully. Had another load ready for Thursday at noon so I was, and I say was going to get to back on track with the sleep thing...

But, jumping back to where I left off about making it to Cartersville. I called and told them the truck would never make it to deliver. This was around 4:30-5pm. Thought the problem was the manifold but apparently the truck had another issue. Not sure what just yet. So dispatch had me turn around and get the truck back to the terminal along with the trailer. They had another truck, brand new!, they told me to use. So I unhooked the trailer from the bad truck got it hooked up to the new one and finally got out of Morrow terminal around 7:45pm. Dispatch knew at this point I would not be able to make it all the way to delivery with the hours I had left so they had me relay it to Franklin KY where another driver that was coming back from Indiana grabbed it and took it back up with him for an on time delivery. I took his empty back for him the next morning. So basically I wound up driving at night again until about 2am. Not a big deal but my body was wore out!

I just want to say thank you to my terminal, dispatch and manager. Despite all the truck troubles, they bent over backwards to make sure I still was able to drive and make money this week. I know there are some drivers that have not been that fortunate. Sometimes driving at night is just part of this business. Even though it was taxing on my body, I am still blessed that I was able to roll. I have the weekend to recover so all is good. Looking forward to the Georgia game tonight. Go Dawgs!

Oh yeah, they let me take a day cab truck back to my Winder terminal so I had a way to get home after I had got back in town last night. These people have really taken care of me. A big thanks to the Lord above for leading me here.

 

I was at the Morrow terminal quite a bit last week and saw your car there but I figured you were out making money in your new truck. At least I hope that is the case.

Yeah, this past week was rough and I am not complaining. Just putting out there for other potential drivers coming into this industry so they know how it really is at times. This job is not the lifestyle of the rich and famous!

 

9/24-9/28

I promise I am not doing anything to these trucks! I think I just had a string of bad luck. The day cab they put me in lost it's reverse function somewhere between Franklin KY and Marietta GA. Since I only had a day cab to run in I left out Monday noon with a relay to Kentucky. Swapped trailers with another driver and headed back to GA to drop the trailer. Got back to the place we drop trailers at and the darn thing would not go into reverse. I messed with it and finally got it to catch where I could back up the trailer into it's slot but I had to hold the shifter because it would not stay on it's own. I really dreaded getting back to the terminal and telling them a third truck was down

I was afraid they would think this newbie doesn't know how to drive a truck or something like that. I got a little teasing but other than that nothing else was said.

So they put me in another truck and I got to make a full run and back to Richmond VA. Spent the night at the customer Wednesday night, delivered Thursday morning and headed back. Dispatch called me and let me know my truck was ready and was at the yard for pick up so they routed me back to Morrow terminal with the loaner truck to have on hand if anyone else truck went down.

Got back to the Morrow yard last night with 1.5 hours left on my drive clock but my 14 hour clock was within a few minutes of catching up. If I hustled I could have got all my stuff transferred back into my truck and made it back to Winder and been at home last night but when I got back to Morrow it was like all the wind got knocked out of my sails. I was pooped from driving 9.5 hours already. Only stopped twice. Once to take a quick whiz and then a dinner break before coming into Atlanta to let the traffic die down some.

Rather than rushing and getting in a hurry, and already being tired on top of that, risking being in an accident or something preventable from happening, I decided just to chill out at the Morrow terminal last night and transfer my stuff back into my truck this morning then take an easy slow ride back to Winder. And that's what I did. So now I am at the house for the rest of the day and the weekend. Head back out to VA on Monday.

It feels good to be back in my own truck finally. Not sure what they found wrong with it but it is fixed. Hope it stays problem free for a while. I think it will.

Be safe out there everyone. There are some crazy mofo's on the road!

 

That's what I have heard. A couple people told me there were some (maybe like 6) KW's bought for testing by drivers in Greer. That would be sweet even though I know it would be a while before I ever got in one. Gives me something to look forward to though

 

10/1-10/5

I don't think I will ever need a stress test done on my heart because it it being tested right now. My load on Monday was not ready until 4pm. Hmm...let's see, I am going from Winder to Marietta right at rush hour and it's pouring down rain. I thought no way was I doing that so I made a decision to wait until later to pick up and drive over night. I figured traffic would be died down by 7pm and I had heard on the radio the rain was suppose to be tapering off. Neither of those happened. I thought, that was a bad decision on my part! It seemed like it took me forever to get out of the Atlanta area. Finally got headed up 85 North above the metro area and things calmed down some even though it was still raining. I needed fuel so I stopped at the Pilot in Braselton. What a F-up place that is. I won't be stopping at that one again. I know these are just words that I am typing but when you are actually in these situations is can be quite stressful as a lot of you know.

So I finally get rolling and drive all night. Make it to the Virginia state line around 5:15am and pull in the rest area and take a 30 minute power nap. Take off at 5:45am and roll into the customer right at 7:00am delivery time. Perfect timing! Got unloaded and took my 10 hour break at the Pilot across the street. Took my first truck stop shower! The showers are actually pretty nice. All tile, they provide towels. Pretty nice. Most of the time I am able to get back to the house to shower if anyone was wondering.

Alright, did my 10 and drove back Tuesday night. No rain, no traffic...it was great! Rolled into Winder at 5:30am and crashed until 10:30am and went to the house and had the rest of the day off. Headed back out Thursday morning with a load going back to the same place. Ran it during the day. Made good time and hit no traffic on the way up. Coming back Friday was a different tune. I thought I would beat traffic coming through Charlotte NC around 2:30-3pm. Not so. That stuff was already jacked up. I talked to another driver after going through there and he told me a different way to go to avoid that next time.

Atlanta, what can I say??? Came in right at rush hour. I already knew I was screwed before hand so I had mentally prepared myself not to get uptight. That worked for a little bit. You can only take so much of all the idiot driver here. On this VA load, I use 85, 75, and 285. I don't have to tell you how screwed up traffic stays on those freeways. Where in the heck do all these cars come from? 8:00pm last night and I-285 is still packed in like a sardine can. I am like WTF??? Anyway, they need to make me my own special roads just for me! haha.

As of now, I am scheduled to work local Monday 10/8. Probably head back out OTR Tuesday.