Day by day adventures of a new solo OTR driver

Back at it again... I knew my 3 weeks of trucking tranquility would never be repeated LOL.

Woke up about 4am, couldn't fall back to sleep so I decided to use the new thing on crossroads where we can check to see if we had a work assignment, sure enough I had one... going up around Trenton, NJ. Oh boy.

Left home about an hour and a half ago, got sent to the Greensboro drop yard to pick up an empty.

Get there and of course no empties.

Sent in the exception, then called in to my DBL because I need some alcohol permits for this load, got that taken care of.

Still sitting around waiting for an empty. My appointment time is for tomorrow morning, why do I have this sinking feeling that is gonna be tough to make it. Sure hope I can find a place to park tonight.

Talked with Schneider Finance over the weekend, here is where I am at so far:

Because of my limited driving experience (9 months or so) I have to do a 1-year lease. If I want to keep the truck, they will finance the balloon payment after the end of the lease term. If I don't, I can just turn the truck back in. We'll see... hopefully I like the truck and will end up keeping it.
I asked about the maintenance account and if it was optional but told again because of my experience it is not.
I asked some more about the maintenance account and was told that I can use the money in the account to purchase parts for my truck if I am doing the work myself. I have a feeling it is much more limited in terms of where I can get parts from and what parts I can purchase myself through the account, but we will see.

At first they were going to set me up with a truck out of Charlotte, but they only had Cascadias with 10spds and the electric APU there... so I sent an email back after receiving the lease quote from a truck in Charlotte, asking about more truck options and am now set up with one in Green Bay, probably one of the trucks that Sadwar mentioned earlier in the thread - a 2012 Cascadia with a Cummins ISX and a 13spd and a diesel APU - much more along the lines of what I am looking for. Still waiting on the lease quote for that one to see a little more information about that truck, but assuming it all checks out that will be the one I go with.

It won't be ready until November, so gotta stick it out until then. I have a feeling this is going to be a LONG month.