CRETE - A Year in Review

I actually had an outside shot at 12,000 this month before the screw-up by several parties the end of last week. Ended up doing a shag from Spartanburg to two miles from my house then went home instead of working this week and going home Friday. I'll come back out Sunday morning. I think I ended up with something like 10,200 for the month, but that's really working the 1st through the 27th with 2 34-hour resets during the 27days. Delivered on the 28th, then went home having only driven 28 miles that day.

I will say I got a nice note from Lincoln yesterday, checking on my status and, in a roundabout way, apologizing for how things went for me the previous five days (again, it wasn't all Crete's fault here...).

 

OMG, have been waiting in Lewiston since Monday to deliver. Customer offloads and I do my empty call asking for high miles since I have less than 3000 total for the month. An hour later I get a message "head to truck stop, no freight". WTF?!

 

Ralph, my friend, if I were in your position and I got that message, I'd be real tempted to send back something like "....you mean for ME!"

Man, I hope June turns around for ya. This has been painful to read. I've never had a streak this bad in my years of doing this.

 

I will have a word w/karma, I'll try to get it off your back...you've had a years worth of trouble in the last two weeks...it's time for a break from misfortune.

 

Any of you seen Crete's FB page today? Says they're looking for "driver managers" in Lincoln. Now, I thought they were Asset Managers. So....which is it?!?!?

 

I think the company must have had a major influx of departures lately...the tone I've been getting from Lincoln, for the most part, has been more apologetic or upbeat. Either that, or we are gearing up for next months DOT regulation changes and they realize how much of a problem it's going to be and are trying to keep drivers that know their system.

 

Either their confused(what else is new), they're gona transition to a "driver manager" system where they give them more authority, or we're on the verge of a name change(as in 'Crete, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe investments)

 

stupid beer loads....I hate em. we will see if my new erm asset manager will run me out of time today or if i have to sit with 6hrs left for the day... so far im at 1200 miles for the week. Had to sit on a load for four days when i told her i was pretty pissed off about it she gave me $300 for layover so i guess its working out somehow.

 

The service guy suggested the Travel Lodge but I was on TripAdvisor and it was rated pretty low. I found instead a place called All Seasons Lodge across from the Ho-Jo and like three blocks or so from the downtown eateries.

Well I found out my truck would be at least another day so I left my extra laundry back in the truck. The mechanic had ripped the entire front interior out...seats...doghouse...even the rubber matting! He said it would be the rest of the day just hooking up the pressure hoses to do the leak test on the cooler to make sure that's it. Then he would know for sure. About 0830 I got the call from Wilmer asking about my truck/availability. I was fully expecting them to offer me a truck but she just said OK keep us updated. I went by the car rental place and traded in the Prius for a Fusion. They asked me how I liked the Prius and I told them it was a piece of crap. They both laughed and said "yeah, we get that a lot". I'm liking the Fusion even for a rental. I mean it lacks power because it's a four banger but the interior is nice with black with silver (plastic) trim and white piping/stitching on the seats. Pretty cool car. So hopefully I will be back on the road tomorrow afternoon.

I went to see Star Trek in Real ((D)) 3D. I had seen it in Imax 3D already and wanted to compare. Price is about half for the RealD 3D, effect is more comfortable and consistent as far as head movement goes. In Imax they use linear polarization and in RealD they use circular. Linear allows side to side movement but circular allows full movement with out compromising 3D effect. RealD though is somewhat darker. The Imax has a distinct advantage in brightness. Both formats have their pluses but there's nothing like a HUGE screen.

 

When they did the EGR on both of the Maxxfarces I've had, it was the same way....everything up to the sleeper curtains was out. The 1st one he had it sitting outside...my seats were on the catwalk, my mat(s) were over the tandems, the doghouse was who knows where. But it only took him 1 day,(back when they only did the valve by itself, not the valve and cooler like they do now), it was the wait in line to get to him that took 2 days. Now they do both the valve and cooler, and it's the cooler that takes the special vac tank that most of our 'in house' International tech's are just now getting. The valve is suppose to be a new, more durable design. The one tech told me, the old type had a 40-60,000 mile life expectancy.