EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

Actually it's been a rough couple of weeks. Just that time of year but also some poor planning not of my doing. It happens but it always gets back on track after a couple weeks. Kinda like everyone in the office wakes up and gets with the program all at once lol

 

Everyone is still on holiday break. Lol. Like you said it will pick up. Quick question for you. Do you enjoy working there and is the hometime good? I know a lot can change from now to September when I will be finished with training, but EPES seems like a good fit for me and it's close to my house in Sanford.

 

Overall it's not a bad gig. I like it here. The lines of communication stay open between my DM and myself and we work well together even though many don't like him. I had no issue or problem at all telling him he needed to take a look at the bs loads ive been getting back to back to back and spread it around a little instead of just leaning on those of us he knows don't turn down loads to get the crap stuff moved.......and he listened and agreed I had a point and a valid concern. He knows sometimes he leans hard on the ones that don't complain and handle business and sometimes he needs to be reminded to take care of those that take care of him lol and I do but I don't pull him to the side over a bad trip or 3 only when it becomes a pattern over time. And then we get back in track.

Bearing that out is that heading out tomorrow I got a double preplan that'll have me sitting on 1150 by Tuesday morning. More in 2 days than I got almost the whole week last week.

Handle business, be dependable, but don't be afraid to assert yourself ( in the proper and professional manner ) and you can do well here.

I can still say I'm happy here and not going anywhere. Averaged out over the year it's good miles and good money. These lean months don't last long ( and actually this is the first bad January I've had. Prior years I've kept rolling hard ) and he runs the wheels off my truck most of the rest of the year. Home time still good and I'm getting in most weekends but every week for sure. Haven't been out 2 weeks in awhile but I feel that may change later in the year. Just my gut gnawing at me but we'll see how that works out

Wife is going out with me next week. That's always nice too but for loading all the stuff she brings with her into the truck lol

 

Sounds good to me. I know it is nice to have your wife out with you. Hopefully I can get mine to come out with me some. Thanks for the information and be safe.

 

what a difference a week......and speaking up makes lol

barely 1400 week before last then last week got run to death and ended up with 2900.

I'm so reayd for summer and so sick of snow......just haven't been able to get away from it last 3 weeks in a row. this week was wv, ohio, pa, ny, pa, va, even followed me down into upstate sc. everywhere we went the snow and ice followed. even the wife was sick of it by Thursday after talking about how 'pretty it was' first part of the week.

the kitty litter sure got a workout too this week. used up a whole bag of it getting out of ice covered downhill docks......mucny, pa was a lot of fun....data papers.....if you've never been there it's not the 3 docks around back it's the single dock off the main road....which I only found out after I got there then had to do a blindside down the ice slope off the little 2 lane. nailed it though but it had to be right the first time. with all the ice and the grade on the dock you only get one chance at hitting it straight no pulling back up the ice hill with 45k in the box. then took the guy 3hrs to unload 20 rolls......killed my clock for the day and kept us from getting home Friday night.

then over to Montoursville......that dirt lot is awful when it rains but this time was a solid 2 acre sheet of ice. compound that problem by being the first one there for the day so I had to make 4 trailer moves in and out of the docks for them before they'd give me my load. it was excruciating getting in and out of the truck on the ice and then trying to get the trailers moved. finally get my loaded one and it's on the steepest dock and nothing but ice. did the smart thing and got close to the trailer and then laid down the kitty litter all along the track in to the trailer. good move on my part. no way I'd have gotten that one out of the dock without it.

the pilot in duncannon was a real pain. nothing at all had been done to the parking lot. solid sheet of ice and ice ruts and the one path around the fuel lanes and scale had an ice mound about a foot high and 3 truck widths wide coming around the scale. we barely made it over it and then a real pain to get parked but I picked a spot facing downhill as opposed to the spots coming uphill out of the spot. watched guys all evening getting stuck on the ice mound and the ones across from us spinning and sliding and some just give up trying to get out of their uphill parking spots. got woke up around 0030 someone had finally gotten stuck on the ice mound and couldn't get off and nobody could get out of the fuel lanes. I had to back up about 20ft as there was nobody behind me then and they were able to squeeze around between him and my front end to get out. finally the guy gets unstuck but then his trailer brakes locked and he still couldn't move.....but at least he was out of the lane enough they could get around him. pulled the curtains and went back to bed don't know how long he ended up there before he got his brakes unstuck.

long week......550+ every day except Friday and just lost too much time between the long unload and then playing yard dog at Montoursville so we just decided to stop short in Winchester.....it was the fuel stop and I needed fuel so you know the drill there. 1:15 to get fueled. 4 deep every lane not counting the ones pulled up in front of the pump. no need trying to go farther we just parked for the day after we got fueled and then ran on home Saturday morning.

thankfully heading out to Lakeland Monday for Tuesday 0630. finally somewhere that isn't white and frozen for a change.

 

Sounds like you had a better week besides the ice. Good thing you are heading to Florida it's a lot nicer there. Maybe they will keep you in that area a while, it's supposed to be bad weather here Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

Yeah it was a much better week even with the ice. Always nice to have the wife with me too even with all the #### she brings with her and the longer trip times and having to make sure she has 'proper' parking lol read that to mean extra bathroom stops, somewhere with a sit down restaurant and coffee first thing in the morning. She does pretty well roughing it one or two nights a week but her not having fresh coffee in the morning is like me running out of tea. I gotta give her credit though I ran a bunch of days where I was up between 0130 and 0300 and she was up and hanging with me the whole way. She for sure is that special breed that it takes to be a drivers wife. I got #### lucky.

Truck sure is a lot smaller with all her stuff in there too and twice as expensive. As much as I'd like no way I could afford having her with me all the time. Well I could lol I'm just too much of a tightwad to spend that much on meals and goodies every week.

Im hoping they do keep me down there a day or 3 but that's it's own pain in the ### bouncing around Florida. Either way we're supposed to get a mix to straight snow along and north of the 85 corridor starting tue night into Thursday so I'll be right back in it before the week is out.

My last student just called he's in Pa and had to shut down early he said snow and icing up there is so bad he can't keep his windows clear or wipers from freezing up so he decided to just shut it down and wait for daylight. Said it's really getting bad up there and 3 feet on the ground where he was tonight.

Im just ready for it to be over it's been a rough winter all around

 

This has truly been a rough winter. It's been snow and ice everywhere. Once you get to Florida you may be able to put on a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops lol. I'm sure it was nice to have your wide with you. I know that can become expensive as well. As men we can rough it for a while, the wives not so much. I was checking out the CDL course being taught at Fort Bragg and found out EPES is recruiting there. I don't attend until july. I had scheduled for January but, since I am not out of the Army yet they began to become difficult about me attending. All is well since I will be on transition leave.

 

Why did you HAVE to do this AND does it pay extra for company drivers doing this??

Does Epes make all their drivers do this?

 

Was wondering what's up with the yard tractor and driver there? So post to be a one of our trucks and drivers there. Keeps chains on it year round. Muddy pit , it is . They did get rock into the docks though. If they would rock the rest as 1/3 as well , it would be a great help.