My RBX journey Strafford MO

Time for an update:

Been running hard and getting pretty good miles. From FT Pierce FL I dead headed to Alabama 612 miles and picked up a load going to OKLA but I dropped it off in the yard and went home to take care of some issues. I came back out on the 18th and the following is where I have been and the miles I drove. I tell you I had a pretty good time running recap with the exception of one day. After you start doing this for a while you will start to see how it will all work out. You just really have to manage your time well.
18th started running.
Springfield MO to Ochelata OK 178
Ochelata OK to Tulsa 36
Tulsa to Waukesha Wi 767
Waukesha WI to Pleasant Prairie WI 51
Pleasant Prairie to Durant OK 878. This 878 I had split because it was a Fri and Sat run. So it was 541. The 337 started my new week on Sunday.
Total miles for 3.5 days was 1,573

Finish run to Durant 337
Durant OK to Tulsa 164
Tulsa to ST Louis 393
ST Louis to IL 22
Illianis to Shreveport LA 586
Shreveport to Cumberton NC 950
Cumberton NC to Georgetown NC 103
Georgetown NC to Chicago IL 953. Again I had the 953 split since its a Sat/Sun run. So ended the week with 566
Total miles for running on recap for 7 days is 3,121.

Today it Sunday evening and I'm less then 18 miles from the receiver and starting the week with 387. This week will be short because I going home Thursday and will not be going back out until Sunday or Monday. I'm Going to call my Fleet Manager tomorrow afternoon and talk about next week. My wife is going out with me and I'm going to see if there's a load headed to Florida. I'm hoping she does well with it. If she does then I'm staying out for a few weeks and see if I can get around 3,000 both weeks. If she doesn't do well with it I'll be calling my Fleet Manager and have him look for me a load running through the house. LOL. Know that 3,000 a week,,,,,, Everything has to fall into place. I only had two drop and hooks last week so that tells you I haven't seat very long at any shipper or receiver. I've even showed up early to a few of them and they have no problem loading or unloading me. That one exception day I was going to Georgetown NC. Tourist every where. This is the main road headed to Mertle Beach. Jam pack roads. Took almost 4 hours to go 103 miles. Then when I arrived to gate 3 I pulled up to the gate and a woman run out and told me if your here to pick up a load you have to go to gate 3. I must have looked it her like she was crazy, but I kept my cool, very important if you want to get in and out without any problems. I told her the sign I just drove under read gate 3. She said ya I know but gate 3 is over there, pointing to a different gate. She said she has no idea why the sign at her gate reads 3, its been like that for years. Yap, I had to back her up about 50 yards until I could get enough room to make it over to the gate with no signs. LOL. Well this was listed as a live load but they already had an RBX trailer loaded so I did my drop and hook then headed down the road. Patience and a kind voice is extremely important in this line of work.
Everyone be safe.

 

Everything is going great. I'll post a full update in a couple of days. Have O'lady with me on the road.

 

I don't know if you have read my thread or just this page but I've been with RBX going on 4 months. I'm pretty sure I wont work for any other company. I'm sure there's some companies that pay more , however pay to my is not the only thing that will keep a Driver happy. There are many other factors as well. Give Kristi a call at RBX 1-877-450-2200. We have a yard/shop in Macon GA. I retired in 2004 from the Army and called Kristi last spring. I hadn't been over the road since 2004. Although I had worked as an Driver Training Instructor for a number of years after I retired. Went out with an Instructor for a few weeks. The time you will have to stay out is up to you, the Instructor and Safety. They start at .38 cent a mile and you will not have to go back to a truck driving school as long as you have a current CDL.

feliper98, if you have any questions just ask. If I can't answer them I'll call my Fleet Manager. I can tell you this time out I have been running the entire southeast.

To anyone else that keeps up with this thread. I'll be doing a full update in a few days.

 

Update: First let me apologize for taking longer then I thought it would to get back on here. Its been crazy two weeks. My wife wanted to go out with me for a couple of weeks. So I called my fleet Manager and asked if he could find me a load going to Florida. He came through as always. It was to be picked up on the morning of the 7th and be there on the 8th. We left Sunday to take our time, work on raising my fuel mileage some more and I was pretty sure the load would already be loaded. Let me back up for a minute. When I told my wife she was going with me for two weeks the first thing she asked was, can I go buy some new outfits for the trip. Sure I told her. That cost me close to 100.00 plus dollars. No big deal. Then she told me she would like something to play games on. I hate to say this but I won't let her use my laptop. That sounds mean but she plays Facebook games and her laptop is full of viruses. So we went shopping and she ended up with a Samsung 10 inch tablet. So far I had spent over 500.00 dollars for this trip. I love that woman. Know back to the trip. I told her to be sure to use the bathroom each time we stop. There are some stretches of 2 lane highways were we wont be able to stop. Going east on highway 60 in Missouri we must have stopped at 5 or 6 truck stops. No she didn't need to use the restroom. She was looking for those small bells that have the States name printed on them and gifts for our Grand Children. Well we had the time so why not. We finally made it to Florida and delivered our load. It was just east of Tampa Bay. After we unloaded I called my Fleet Manager and asked him if I could go start heading back up I-75, (there's not very much freight coming out of Florida). So he told me to take off but not to go past I-10. Ok, you guessed it. Almost every truck stop we had to stop at and look for bells and toys. I'm not kidding. I have went to more truck stops in those two weeks then I have in the last 2 or 3 months. We did have fun hanging out with each other. I enjoyed her being in the truck. Then our assignment took us to Savanna GA to International Paper. We took that load to Spartanburg S.C. Dropped that trailer and Bob-tailed back to I.P. in Savanna to pick up an MT trailer. She kept telling my she had to go to Wal-Mart so I finally pulled into one just off the Interstate. We needed paper towels and she wanted soda. Know I'm walking pretty fast through the store. I look back to make sure she's keeping up with me. Can you believe she had stopped and was looking at dress'. I'm like come on woman. We don't have time to shop. She said I don't want to buy anything I'm just looking. I new better then to stop at any store that had cloths in it. LOL. Anyway I had a feeling they wouldn't let me have an MT and I know my Fleet Manager is dealing with other drivers so I made a call to an individual our company uses when dealing with I.P. I explained to him that I had to leave my trailer at our last location and needed an MT. He put me on hold. About 2 minutes later he gave my a trailer number to ask for when we arrived. So we picked up that MT and dead-headed to Statesville N.C. After loading we were off to Kansas. Know we have stopped at nearly every other truck stop between N.C and Kansas looking for bells and toys. LOL. Oh, I didn't tell you, we only eat in the truck 3 times the entire 2 weeks. Every evening was a restaurant. She hates using a microwave. Buy know she's getting tired of being in the truck and as we past ST Louis my wife looked over at me and asked if I could call our daughter to come meet us somewhere to pick her up. I glanced over at her and that one eyed, are you nuts look. The look on her face was priceless. I told as were rolling down I-270 on the north side of ST Louis that she should have said something yesterday. I'm sorry babe but by the time our daughter gets to ST Louis we will be in Kansas City and sleeping there for the night. I told her you only have a couple more days and we will be home, ok? She looked over at me and said I guess. We parked at the Flying J in Kansas City MO for the night. I told her regardless, if you have to go to the restroom in the middle of the night you will wake me up and I'll walk with you inside. She looked over at me. She could see I was dead serious. I said you are not to step outside the truck unless I'm with you. Of all questions she could have asked my, she asks why. (To put this into perspective, my wife is a country girl and hasn't ever had to deal with bad areas in her life. At least not here in America). She was fine with that. So we went to sleep. Know this is were my wife accidently seen my mean/pist off side which I haven't displayed in years. She has only seen me once this way by mistake when I was dealing with some people overseas years ago. I really wish she hadn't seen that either. It took her a couple of months to figure out who I was again and she made sure not to walk up on me unannounced any more. About two hours into my sleep someone started knocking on my door. I thought I was dreaming. Finally my wife woke me up and said there's someone beating on the door. I jumped off the bunk, pulled back the shade and low and behold there was a freaking lot lizard looking up at me. I wont repeat what I said to her, but I can tell you my blood was boiling. What kind of person goes from truck to truck waking up every driver in the middle of the night. Yap you guessed it a flippen hooker. After I cursed her out her, and I could tell it didn't even phase her, she walked around to the next truck. Anyway, that was it for my wife. She wanted to go home. LOL. Poor woman. I told her just two more days babe. We were to stay out until Thursday evening and it was only Monday. I called my Fleet Manager and told him I need a something to get us home as soon as you can. My wife is going nuts. LOL He understood and sent me a new work assignment. This will get us home Wednesday. So after delivering our load at 0600, up at 0430. Our new assignment wasn't to be loaded until 15:00 that afternoon. We went on over to see if they could load us early. This is in Independence MO. I've been there once before.
(Be respectful and you'll receive respect in return when dealing with people) When we arrived I went inside and told the lady, in a very soft voice, I was there to pick up a load going to Effingham IL. She looked up the numbers and said your early, you don't pick up until 15:00 this afternoon. I very kindly said yes mam. I was up at 4:30 in order to deliver a load this morning in Kansas and I was hopping I could be loaded early here. Ya see mam, this load you have is required to be in Effingham by 06:00 tomorrow morning and I'm trying to get as far down the road as I can before my time runs out, but if you want my to wait I sure will. She looked over at a follow standing behind a desk and nodded her head at him and he said back it into door 1 and we'll load you up. I was grateful and told them thank you very much. Then off to Effingham we went. After Effingham we picked up a load going to Springfield MO. Wife was very happy. Know we live just off of I-44 and around 30 miles out she wanted me to drop her off at our exit. LOL. I told her to call our daughter but, if she's not sitting at the top of the ramp when we get there were not stopping. She said you can just drop my off. LOL. I told her, I'm not doing that. Someone you know will drive by and think I kicked you out. My woman is a nut sometimes. I'm not trying to sound mean but I'm on a clock and it don't stop. Well my daughter was waiting there so I stopped and she happily got out of the truck. She told my never again unless its from home to the yard in Springfield. Well after I dropped my trailer in Springfield I found an MT and headed to the house. Stayed home 4 days. This morning woke up at 03:00 and picked up a load back in Springfield and tonight I'm 65 miles away from the receiver in Monroe Ohio. I did enjoy my wife coming out with me and she enjoyed the first 5 days or so. I'm sure I spent more money then I made over the course of two weeks but it was worth every penny.

If she goes out next year I'll just leave on a Monday around noon and have my Fleet Manager get us back home by that Friday.

Well everyone be safe out there.