Trans Am Still

Well, survived my Chicago two dropper yesterday but was exhausted. My "Mercy Mission" was to assume this load (driver ran out of hours) to Professional Refrigerated and Amigos Foods in a residential neighborhood. Departed Waterloo Iowa 2am hit Chicago morning rush and pulled into a weigh station and was 1000 pounds over on the trailer axle. I had slid the tandems too far forward and didn't have the time for a re-weigh. Officer Gonzalez wrote me a warning ticket. Next time, screw the load if its late, do the dang reweigh!! Taught me a lesson for FREE!! Between the 20 minutes plus at the weigh station and morning rush, I was almost an hour late. Was there 2.5 hours total and made me late for my second appointment. Plus navigating the streets in metro Chicago was a nightmare. GPS had me turning on No Thru Truck Streets and streets not fit for a tractor trailer of any size. I passed on many turns, because it was not safe. Took me over an hour to get less than 3 miles from one delivery to the final. But, the folks at both places treated me well, and by the miracle of God, I didn't hit anything other than some low lying tree branches and a couple of curbs. Hey sometimes there is not enough room and you gotta take a curb. No pedestrians, no foul. Got out of there alive, and didn't take any lives. Definitely grew from yesterday's experience.

Today, altogether different. Left the Pilot in Minooka Illinois at the 122 mm. Got up at 0445, showered, a bite to eat and left at 6am for Ashton, Illinois and Karlin Foods to pickup 19000 lbs of powdered drinks going to DG in Ardmore OK. Beautiful place this Ashton and Karlin foods. Plenty of room to maneuver. T-Calling in Bloomington IL and waiting on my swap which takes me to BI-LO in Greenville SC for a Friday 8am. Parked side by side with the trailer. Think I will spend the night here and head to Greenville at daybreak, though will have to do the balance early Friday morning. Drop and head home to Plymouth for the weekend. Deuces.

 

He has a laptop, CY. He & I (although I'm not thr trucker) have become spoiled by our tablets. He has a Kindle and uses it like a computer. Good point, though. There surely is a bigger screen and more features on a laptop. Using a tablet is why I usually have to edit nearly every post, due to restricted space of screen.

 

Thank you Cranky. Everything happens for a reason just not sure what this one is.

 

When adjusting the trailer, I usually use 300 as the magic number. Find out how much your over and divide by 300 and you should be good without having to scale again. I only reweigh if I'm 2500 lbs or so over. With TA, you at least don't have to worry about moving the 5th wheel.

 

I dropped in Odessa and snagged a 2013 trailer. Parked at the Flying J for the night and will head to Friona in the morning. Got me a Florida run, two stopper in Plant City and Lakeland. Both stops the same day and if I play my cards right should have the hours to get reloaded at Auburndale the same afternoon.

 

Thanks HTQ , seems like things are looking better there. With Sage and them picking up the school tab around $ 4500 and you don't have to pay it back you just agree to drive for a year. I think I could do that.
Carter says they try to get you home a couple times a week , I had asked if I could stay out for like 3 weeks and they said they don't do that and that sometimes you are bringing empty shipping crates back with you so you won't be out too long.

So far sounds pretty interesting and about 1 hour from home.

 

Hey Dennisroc. TransAm has treated me very well, but I insisted I was going company driver route or going elsewhere. My recruiter, Jonette Owens is my recruiter both times (I considered going with them out of school, but the leasing scared me off). They have not pressured me at all. So far, its been really good here. They flew me to Rockwall TX, put me up in a nice hotel (Best Western in Rockwall) good breakfast at hotel, took care of lunch. Of course, you own dinners. Three days orientation here is all and because I had a grand total of six weeks solo at Abilene and I hit the road right after orientation. You will probably do 11 days training. Now at Orientation they will introduce leasing program to you, but YOU get to decide whether lease or company. I highly advise you go company while you learn to drive the truck, learn shippers and receivers and your Driver Manager. We do a lot of meat hauling which means long waits.

Don't rope yourself into $550/WEEK PAYMENTS while learning the gig. You can always lease later, but once you do, you can't go back to company driver status. 84cpm sounds really good until the expenses come. I am really happy here. I got a great DM, a great recruiter and I have gotten to meet them both and can't wait to get back to Rockwall to meet more of the gang. I made a mistake NOT coming here after school, but really happy to be here now. I am not getting paid to write this. Hope this helps, I realize experiences vary, but mine has been terrific and look forward to staying here for the forseeable future. Deuces.

PS TransAm literally pulled me off the scrap heap even after a former employer hit my DAC with an unrehireable. In my second month here at TRANSAM, I have back to back weeks of DRIVE CAM TOP PERFORMER notifications. Gotta
keep that streak alive.

 

Help needed please! George is at a truck stop off I55 exit 160 in Bloomington, IL waiting on his swap. The truck stop is filling up quickly. He was hoping to stay there to start his clock fresh in the morning and have his full driving clock. Any advice on where a relatively close truck stop or rest area is that would likely have spaces available, if there are no spaces where he is now? I told him, IMHO, the spot where he now is should be his, but he figures the other guy may need it worse, since George has been there several hours already. Thanks in advance!