Newby Mixed Experiences: Transport America & SRT

They still do the 4 corners. And the grain of salt came in handy when they sent her to Washington and Oregon over the mountains. She got some good experience waiting until the roads were open. They are routing her here for a night this weekend to pick up her medicine. She is still loving it although than ran more as a team this week over from Chicago to Oregon ot LA and back to Indy with a stop in Peoria tonight. But after 4 or 5 weeks she is comfortable running like a team now in most circustances. They did miss the empty miles they ran from a drop off to their next laod. But as soon as she asked, they said they made amistake and it will be on next weeks paycheck. Not the first company I have heard of this happening occasionally.

 

I am not sure how they treat solos. But all the teams I have talked to really like the miles. They have been very accomadating for us so far. I start March 3. My wife is loving it. Although last week, she ran across some black ice on the way to Oregon. Which, she found very "interesting". They let her take her 34 hour restart here this weekend on her way to Indy. Then, they sent her back to the Northeast today. This time she will be more prepared if she runs into black ice. Although, she was glad to be with a trainer when she hit that ice. She did learn something.

 

Xlbasser, try ext 8514 and see if she can help you out. Tell her your experience with the other recruiter.

 

Thank you. Even though Transport America did not work out for us, we ended up recpmmending it to someone who is going there from SRT. It is a better fit for them. I think in general there a lot of good companies, but for various reasons, they do not make the best match for everyone. I think it is important that people not look for a nebluous "best company", but what rather what company will meet their needs at this time in their career. There is no perfect company, and hopefully the info about our expereinces can be added to other info a person gatehrs to help in making their decision. Of course, I am trying to be generous in this and realize their are some poor companies and also some jerks who will never be happy no matter who they drive for. Even within a company, there can be difference experiences between dispatchers. This is just a fact of driving.

 

Have you and your husband driven together before? For my wife and I, it has worked out well. But for the majority of couples I know, it has come close to causing a divorce. I think perhaps there is a misconception about what team driving is for a married couple. I hope it might be helpful to some to relate some of our experiences.

First we are a team who happen to be a husband and wife. This means we like to average 6000 miles a week. There is also what is oft times referred to as a husband and wife team which actually drives solo miles. the opportunities for this are less curently and I can make no comments about what this is like.

Now for us:

First of all, we are "together" 24 hours a day. But we see each other less than when we worked fixed site jobs. Driving 6000 or 7000 miles means while one is driving, the other is sleeping. some days we get to eat together. But, this is not a given. Some security and hazmat laods require one of us to be in or at the truck 24 hours a day until delivery. Other times we do not have the time to eat. It is grab a couple sandwiches to eat while rolling. If you have some romantic idea of traveling and seeing the country together, get a job delivering motorhomes, cause OTR is not that.

Second cleanliness suffers. The 10 hour break time solos have to shower, eat, etc does not exist for teams. The truck is rolling. Unfortunately, 3 showers a week is a good week for us. 1 or 2 is average. While SRt provides Idleaire and motel rooms, teams do not really get to take advantage of them. The time in the bedroom together is severely limited. If this is a big part of your married life, OTR may be a big disappointment.

Another disadvantage for teams is the tractor. A team truck at SRT and most companies is a solo truck with an upper bunk. This seems to be common with team trucks for other companies I have seens o far. But in the same space a solo stores their clothes, food, etc, a team has to store twice the food, clothes, etc. It is crowded. When we do have to both use the sleeper at the same time, it means moving what is stored on the upper bunk to the front seats and then back on the bunk when rolling again. And, the whole upper bunk is not useful for storage, so while it gives some storage area, it is not what one would expect.

An unexpected (to me) probloem is the urinary bottle. The truck is rolling, and the one in the sleeper is taking care of business when ... It does not matter if it is an application of hte brakes for a 4 wheeler, a pothole or any number of things. It means cleanup and discomfort.

There can also be problems with personalities that does not take place in a house or larger space. All of the space is shared. Their is no individual space. Therefore if one person has a more cluttered existence while the other is very neat and organized, it will be constant friction. If one person is very social, this will also cause stress. Rolling so much, you do not have time to talk with others in the truck stop lounges, etc that solo drivers do. I so cherish my time to talk to someone even if he/she is a bser it is conversation.

If you have not given up by this point and are still reading, you may have a question. Why do we love it so much?

We love the driving. Since one of us (usually me) drives at night, it is not the sights. It is the driving you both have to really enjoy. Another great aspect of team driving for us is the communication is so improved. We are both doing the same thing so we have greater understanding of the others moods and fustrations. Sharing the OTR experience has brought us closer together than than anything previously in our marriage.

SRT also lets us manage our time the way we want. Our friends who we just spent a day with like to drive 800 to 1000 miles every day. We like to drive 1000 to 1200 miles 6 days and take a day off. SRT lets us both do what we want. We explained to them we needed that day off every so often. They let us have it and we have the same mileage as the teams who drive every day. We are never sure where we will havethe day off or what we will do. Sometimes it is get to the delivery early so we can spend Sunday in a hotel room before a Monday morning delivery. Sometimes it is rent a car and run up to Big Bear from Ontario or to a national park someplace. Once it was park and take a train to the Grand Canyon Lodge for the night and then back the next day after a couple short hikes.

Also, the little things we work to make worthwhile. We try as much as we can to take a meal together when we change drivers. Because we do not have this option all the time, we cherish this when we do. There is no time spent flling in the other on our problems or ####### of the day. We just do not have the time for it. Also since we are doing the same thing, the other knows and understands. We know the time is limited, so if we have an irritation with the other we deal with it fast. There just is not time for arguements, etc.

A harder thing to explain is the shared sense of accomplishment. So far we have been lucky never to have been late to deliver a load. Until I wrote this no I have told no one that. But inside our selves it gives us a shared feeling of satisfaction. There us something about doing something successfully with our chosen mate that is so much greater than an individual success. At least to us, it is that way. And, while subtle and not explainable, it is an important part of our love of OTR driving. Not that everything has been a success. Sometimes we have had difficulties finding a place due to "strange" directions. But when we hit a problem we work to solve it together. Sharing the problems (which I will not go into details about here) and working out solutions to avoid the same thing in the future is so much easier when my wife and I share them.

For us, it is not "fun" or excitement. It is more a quite contentment and comfort we have with where we are at and what we are doing. We are at that stage of life where contentment and satisfaction with our life and job is important.

A little thing I might add is sleeping. When the truck is rolling, I sleep so well. It is similiar to laying in the cuddy with the waves rocking me to sleep. I awaken so well rested and sleep so well. It is so hard now to sleep when the truck is parked or we are in a motel room.

I should add a few things. Freight has been a little slow and 5000 mile weeks are more common now. A couple weeks it was only 4000 miles, but back at 5000 now. For a beginning team this is still a couple K a week which is livable for us. Still, thisis not all bad. It has added time to take a few hour break and play my flutes by mountain streams, set by a waterfall, watch a migration, walk some trails, etc. I enjoy these short breaks just as I will enjoy the driving when things pick up a little.

While I have not mentioned hometime, we are having a great time taking hometime where we want and seeing different things.

At SRT, the shop is a common source of irritation to most of the drivers. It is my only complaint about SRT. But an important one. It should be easier to have a safe reliable truck with a minimum of downtime and attempts to fix it.

Finally husband and wife driving is a choice. For us it works out great. But there are things we gave up not having a home to go to each night or week not utilizing our rec area membership and motorhome, not seeing the grandkids as much (except when we take hometime there), etc. But, if we had chosen not to do this, we would have given up all the things we have now as OTR drivers.

I hope this helps in your looking for a home company as team drivers and wish you all the best.

Wayne