First load with Melton

Finished up orientation Friday around noon and got my first preplan. 1,050 miles from Butler, PA to Vicksburg, MS.
3 coils, 12k a piece. Easy. Pulled out my tarp to tarp the load and it's gotta a hole big enough to drive a smart car through on the drop. Whatever, I'll roll it up and get a new tarp later. So now I've got 3 rows of D-rings on one side and none on the other for trying to make it work. Not only that this tarp has tons of little holes in it so I attacked it with duct tape. #### this looks like crap but it's on there, it's tight, and it's waterproof.
Anyway, feels good to be back in flatbed, but after 28' pups I'm gonna suffer another adjustment period now backing a spread axle. No worries.


Orientation was the standard run:
Monday - paperwork, drug tests, physical, road test.
Tuesday - we watched the videos. Went over policies. Touched on securement.
Wednesday - actually got snowed into the hotel. The orientation director guy or whatever you want to call him actually came to us in the hotel because nobody could get to the terminal. We went over securement training in a conference room and then spent the rest of the day digging people out of the snow.
Thursday - securement yard training. What fun at 2 degrees and a foot of snow on the ground but we pushed through and made it happen.
Friday - congratulations. Complete and lingering paperwork. Get your ComData card and truck assignment.
For me, a 2016 T680 with 12k miles.
The 680s have a fridge and TV mount. All trucks have APUs and inverters.

Finally, yes. This fleet does have the awful drive cams. I don't know what to make of them. We were shown videos from them in class and whereas swift shows you people eating a sandwich and saying it's dangerous, Melton shows you idiot 4 wheelers and how to avoid them/praises the driver for avoid them. None of the he didn't have two hands on the wheel, he checked him mirror for 1.5 seconds instead of two.
So it makes me more comfortable that I won't be nitpicked. Finally, I cannot get the thing to go off. I've already bounced my way across train tracks and turned right into a giant hole in a truck stop. Nothing so far.

 

No, I didn't have to pay for them. I've got a coil bag over it as well it just really looks bad.
Ill throw my lumber tarp over it if it get any worse. Right now it's only a few small tears that I've patched up and that huge one on the side that I worked around.

 

You

Where will you be going to orientation at?

 

Good luck man, they like to have fun as a company. Orientation is pretty standard but with some flare lol

 

Load #1:
Butler, PA to Vicksburg, MS
2.5 days from P/U to Con.
Paid miles: 1,050.
Odometer miles: 1,120.
Total for trip with tarp + layover pay: $541.50.