EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

well if you're trying to go out Monday there's nothing but #### loads going out for Monday. bunch of lowes stuff and some other stuff that didn't sound very attractive. they got me.....asked me before I left browns summit when I wanted to go back out so I said Monday would be fine. never sent me a preplan and waited till I got beck to the yard and checked in to put me on one for only 250 and said i'd probably sit the rest of the day after the drop. nothing good going out until Tuesday

I was really annoyed especially after the examples of stellar 'planning' I was put on last week but took it like a man lol.....get home and the wife is really annoyed I said i'd go out Monday she for whatever reason thought I was staying home Monday. if i'd have known what was going out Monday I would have just said Tuesday instead.

I was so glad when they called me up and cancelled that load so somebody else could take it to get home. told them just hold me till Tuesday. that got me a plainfield out for Wednesday delivery.

the route suggestion strikes again lol.......heading out of milford to syracuse (250 empty again) for my load home there really isn't a good way to get from milford to 84......except to follow the route up ct34......nice tiny 2 lane through a couple of even more tiny towns.....and in the rain.....that's the longest 30 miles I've done in awhile.....and one of those where they give you 34 but the road to it is only listed as 'local'.....okay, which local road to get there? can't see anything good on the atlas in the part of ct so pull out the google maps and nothing really looks good.....finally just find the shortest roads to get there and always make sure I check on the google map to see if I can see any trucks on the road.....luckily none of those surface streets getting to 34 said no trucks but they were tight......I always feel a little apprehensive running roads like that until I see another truck on them lol it was a good 15-18 miles down that little 2 lane before I finally saw another truck and then felt a lot better.......came up to a bridge or what looked like one with a really tight 90 to the left, cross what turned out to be a dam across a small lake, then a tight 90 to the right off the other side. one and a half lanes over the dam and i'm halfway across and here comes a dummy in a car. just not enough room for us both. surely he saw that huge white wall coming across that dam? he didn't care out on the dam he comes anyway. squeeze the right side as much as I can but you probably couldn't have put a 2x4 between us as he scraped the right side on his side getting by. moron.

only got about 1800 last week. had 2 days I sat more than I ran and only got 254 one day and 62 whole miles the next.

wonder how often they drug test those planners, if ever.

 

Sounds like igor the idiot load planner strikes again! Lol

 

tried calling in yesterday for a preplan.....no answer! Guess alot of guys were just as fired up as I was this past week! hehe But, got in touch with them this morning...looks like another Pitston run for me tomorrow. Not a bad way to start the week! It was either that or Pitman! Glad I chose Pitston....because we all know I'd be ending up in PhilaNOphia! lol

 

you know they only get pre-employment testing ONLY! So after that....guess they get to smoke ALL the weed they want. lmao

 

question, should i start at 4 in the morning, so i find a spot at the truck stop. with my trainer we usually start around 6-7 and by the time 14 is up the stops are packed. curious, what yalls opinion is. thanks

 

whenever possible if I have day runs I always try to be rolling by 3-4am but when I have my choice on timing even more preferable if I can roll 2200 or later and roll overnight I much rather prefer to run at night and sleep during the day and there's never an issue with parking.

if you're running northeast, you HAVE to get parked by or before 1700 or you're just screwed for parking in most cases. on those instances where you find yourself up in the NE after dark looking for parking the reserved spots some of the chains are offering now are worth their weight in gold and a small price to pay to be sure you can park somewhere. running south parking is less of an issue until much later in the night.

but you're on the right track.....wherever possible, start as early as possible. the earlier you can start the earlier your day ends and the easier parking will be. but, not always possible given appointment times vs. time to run vs when you pickup

there are always options though and sometimes you have to get creative. walmarts (those that allow it), lowes, home depot, grocery stores many places you can get into and park if they don't have a sign saying no trucks......there are quite a few burger kings, hardees and macdonalds around that have an area for 3-5 trucks to park as well. every time you see a good spot to park mark it in your gps. I have many little gems marked in my address book by state and road they're on and they've saved my ### from time to time.

 

3-4am starts will usually work best for you IMO. That's the schedule I usually keep and it really helps finding parking. In almost two years I've never parked at stores and McDonald's or on a ramp. I parked at Walmart once in the Atlanta area and stay in rest areas from time to time. But mostly truck stops. Pilots are the worst to get into seems like loves and ta's are usually easier. Ran the grave yard shift about two days one time. It all boils down to trip planning. Some days you can run your hours out and sometimes you can't. You will develop your own system the more you do it as well as learn when you can park given the area you may be in. Good luck!

 

BOTH above posters are pretty much DEAD ON! Mon-Fri....I run 3am til when my day ends! Weekends, is a different case. You'll ALWAYS find parking on the weekend, unless you're in the NE! I'm so set on getting up at 2-3 am it's almost like a normal work schedule...although the wifey CAN'T STAND me getting up so early! lol Why I don't change my name to earlybirdtruckerdoo is beyond me! lol now that my little guy is almost 5...when I'm at home...I get up, go downstairs, to watch tv/sleep more, he gets outta bed and crawls in with the wife! SPACETAKER! lol the joys of kids! lmao

 

Are u trying to avoid the toll roads? U can run 8 north to 90 West, plenty of service plazas, less hills and 6 miles shorter. If you want to go 84 17 then I would take 25 North out of Bridgeport. Local drivers up here running day cabs with 48 fters will avoid 34 unless it is dayligvht and good weather. If you look at the rocks around that dam you'll know why.

 

hmmmm......so yet again I run where daycabs fear to tread in good weather hehehe well nobody ever accused me of being timid that's for sure lol and this time it was in the dark and pouring rain.

I was following the route suggestion.....the general fallback anytime i'm not familiar with an area and/or don't see a whole lot of options on the map due to the clutter of the area and lack of info on the map......but as is the case sometimes as well, the route suggestion isn't really that great of a suggestion......and this one was one of those times......and yep, it's the computer generated scenic route to avoid the tolls and supposed to be the shortest point to point between the 2 zip codes.......but more often than not I find a good way to go this was one of the few times I just didn't see a good way from here to there.

and yeah that dam is a tight one. getting on, going across and getting off......as will the dummy in the car attest to once he started scraping the wall halfway across. moron. served him right in my opinion for his impatience I was fully halfway across when he decided he could squeeze between me and the concrete when 30 seconds would have saved him the trouble.....I was down to a crawl and surprised I didn't scrape my side but kept it an inch or so off as he dinged his way on by