CompanyB and Greater Omaha Express

When I went to visit Jerrod, he showed me there main traffic lanes. I guess drivers living in the Chicago/Milwaukee area is a good area. He showed me that a driver could leave that area go to Denver then off to Houston, or go to the L.A. area. I guess Chicago is a busy area for them, the day I visited him, said they had 5 loads that went there.

 

Hey, did GO hire people to handle back-hauls? Thought maybe they got one or two, to help Bill & Shaun out on that end.

 

There are definitely two new ones in the office. Talked to two others on the phone too.
We got a lot of more freight lanes and I think it helps Bill a lot.
The yard was full of loaded trailers when I left this morning, lots of freight going out.
Haven't seen many drivers yesterday, I think the most had their day off and leave today.
Since the last weeks I wasn't sitting too long to get a back-haul, very often I have one when I deliver my load.
I already know that I have one when I"ll have delivered tomorrow morning.

 

What a stressful month!
Thought I have a slower week before my move but dispatch kept me busy, got me back to Denver on time for my flight home. Delivered Friday evening, dropped the truck on the drop yard Saturday morning, Shuttle Bus to Denver Airport, flight on time to Las Vegas NV.

My wife and our two dogs picked me up at the airport and we went straight to U-Haul, picking up the 26 ft truck with car trailer, we loaded the car on the trailer, and on the way to Pahrump.
Drove around the block and returned the truck to U-Haul, brakes were rubbing, pulling to the side, totally unsafe to drive, no way to make 800 miles with this piece of junk!
The answer at the counter was, we have no other 26 ft truck available. I told the lady I will call DOT and they will put this truck out of service immediately, she grabbed the phone and two minutes later she asked me, if I could drive this truck to another U-Haul location in the city and switch trucks. I agreed, it was just a few miles away and I had already lost a lot of time, didn't want to loose more...

At the other station, a much better and newer truck was waiting for me, unload our Chevy, unhook the trailer, load the Chevy and lift our 60 pound dogs in the other truck, too hot on the asphalt for them. Finally we came home two hrs later as planned and I started loading the truck the same day.

Sunday loading, Monday morning another appointment at the eye doctor for a short laser treatment, a bit blurry vision for the net 5 hrs but no problem loading the truck in 108 F
Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock our landlord arrived, house inspection, everything was perfect, got a check with our deposit back and part of our unused rent for the month (surprise ),
loaded our Chevy on the trailer, to the bank to deposit the check, buy some oil for the truck (U-Haul doesn't care) and on the way to New Mexico.

Headwind till Kingman AZ, fueling in Seligman AZ and I wished I had my Volvo, 6 mpg!
A few breaks for the dogs and spent the night in Holbrook AZ in the Motel 6, room was clean and they accept two dogs for the night. Not a really good sleep, the younger dog was so excited, whenever he heard a door slamming, bark! Just once, but loud enough to wake me up.



We arrived in Las Vegas NM at 5 PM, tired but glad we made it without breakdown.
Unloaded the most important stuff, mattress, coffee maker and dog food and went to bed early.
Next two days unloading and trying to organize everything in the new (old) home.
Wasn't so happy about the condition of the house, usually I expect a clean house when I move in. Not in this case, the house wasn't cleaned and the wife not really happy
Saturday morning dropped the truck at U-Haul, got reimbursed for the engine oil and did some grocery shopping, back to the house and there was still chaos, nobody unpacked the boxes meanwhile.

Picked up a rental car on Sunday in Santa Fe NM (there's nothing in Las Vegas) and drove back to Denver, dropped the car at the airport and back with the Shuttle Bus to my truck.
Was busy the last weeks and tried to recover from the move, my back still hurts

Was picking up a load in Cali when I got a call from my wife, she was totally down, she went with the puppy for a walk on the leash and they were attacked by three big dogs from the neighborhood, fortunately she had only a few bruises and the dog a few cuts and bites, not too bad.
The owner of the dogs came out of the property and was throwing rocks at the dogs, finally my wife got rid of them and went home.

The next day my wife talked to the landlady, she's living next door, about the incident. The landlady and her son watched the scene and they told her it's a known problem, there were other dogs hurt by these dogs.
When I heard that, I was asking me (and also my wife), why they didn't tell us before? Why didn't they helped her? Seems they watched her and waited what happens, seems the don't want to have trouble with the neighbors!

The same day my wife got very sick, caught a cold and had a mental breakdown...
Since that incident she's scared to leave the house, with our without dogs,

I called dispatch and told the story and they got me home as soon as possible, was home Friday evening and Saturday I talked to the landlady about the incident. I asked her why she didn't warn us and why they didn't help her. The answer was "You're welcome to leave". And this before I could tell her that we will be out of this "quiet and peaceful" neighborhood as advertised.

After a few really bad days my wife is feeling a bit better, the dogs are scared at every noise, the other aggressive dogs are roaming around the house in the night, barking and there's no good sleep possible in the night.

But we have good news too, when my wife was at the doctor and told the story, the nurse told her that she has a house for rent

We visited the house the next day and surprise, 3 bedroom on 3 acres outside of Las Vegas, not fenced but the owners will fence about a third acre for our dogs

I'm back on the road since Thursday, my wife is still recovering from the incident but feeling much better.
I will be back home next week Friday and then we move again, this time with a trailer, it's only 11 miles.
I'm very angry about these dishonest people, we will lose a lot of money, have to do a lot of work again!

But I'm also very thankful, the company got me home asap and I will get another bunch of days off for the move, not all companies would do that! Thank you GO Express!

I know, this is more a private story and has not much to do with trucking, but things happen in life, for truckers too!

P.S. We have a small sign in our house:
"The life you have ordered is temporarily not available"

 

If I wasn't enjoying my time with Holland I might give GO a look. Thanks for sharing your stories with u .

 

I was with Holland from November 2013 till August 2014. I enjoyed my time there too until I had an accident at a truck stop in Teas, I fell and broke my left hand and thumb.
I liked the long coast to coast runs and was out usually 4 weeks.
But, I never got the feeling I would be part of the "family".
Had to fight to get the miles, not all was rosy. Tried to get a good quarter and only took 4 days off in three months.
Couldn't get the bonus for 36000 miles in a quarter, was dispatched and swapped to another load short before I reached it.
What I didn't like was the high insurance costs for me and my wife, here at GO I pay about 600 bucks a month less and have a better insurance. For 600 bucks you have to drive a lot of miles more at Holland.
Here at GO I have sometimes 10000 miles in 3 weeks, not always, but I also have a much better home time, usually I'm out 3 weeks and have 4 or 5 days off. They are more flexible with home time than Holland ever was. The only times I was home longer was because I was sitting at home waiting for a phone call for my next load. This happened here too, but in the last months I usually have my load for the day I want to leave.

What I absolutely disliked how they treated me after the accident. As long as I was running my butt off everything was good, after I was at home for a few months cause I couldn't use my left hand, they tried to get rid of me. Seems they were pissed off because I informed workers comp about the accident.

Holland is not a bad company at all but I like it much more to work here at GO.
GO is not perfect but tell me a perfect company
And here I get paid detention time, not only when the customer pays...

 

There is no perfect company. Been to my share of both good and bad over the years.

The only other one that treated me good was M. Bruenger before Roadrunner bought them. I might give GO a look if it goes south for me here. Used to being in the beef patch..

 

Hey@The Kraut how's it going with Go Express lately?

 

Busy busy the last three weeks

The two weeks or better 16 days I was out before my second move were a bit slow, bit more than 6000 miles and shorter trips. They got me home on time again and I was home Friday at about noon, straight to U-Haul, picked up a trailer and after 4 trips all was done Sunday afternoon.
Left the house at Wednesday, three weeks ago. First days a bit slow, so I had to complain
But then everything changed and I'm running my butt off, made 10,500 miles in the three weeks, no reset, running on recaps all the time. Last week was my best with GO, made nearly 4000 miles in 8 days
Just finished my day with one minute left on my 70, 710 miles from Cali to Colorado in 10:48 (have a light load).

And another great news, I got the truck turned up to 70 mph, all drivers without speeding tickets and other major violations get the trucks turned up. Don't know exactly all the requirements, but it's fine for me.
Much better driving right now, I enjoy it!

I'm planned to be home on Friday, hope it works for me. Time to get home, will be out for 24 days then.

But there are also sad news, we lost a driver about two weeks ago. He picked up a trailer at the Greater Omaha Packing plant and was found next to the trailer.

http://cdllife.com/2016/top-truckin...lled-in-accident-at-omaha-meat-packing-plant/

A statement from OSHA spokesman Scott Allen: “The preliminary indication was the brakes were not set on the tractor, and the victim was pinned between the trailer and an adjacent trailer.‘

I was shocked when I heard it, I met the driver several times on the yard, he was a nice guy.

R.I.P. Robert

 

Wow sorry for your loss