CRETE - A Year in Review

Great update and pictures! During my stay at Crete, they sent me to the west 2 times and it was a thrill both times. Congrats on the APU.

 

Hey Redbeard, I got accepted to run the SE regional fleet. What kind of mileage and money can I look forward to? I don't need to be home every weekend, in fact, I planned on every 3 weeks to a month out.

I would be living in Greensboro.

 

Well, I got sent home every weekend whether I asked for it or not. I even told dispatch one week that I wanted to stay out that weekend - after I was unloaded Friday afternoon I got the "Go ahead and deadhead home from there" message.

I think the best week I had on SE Regional was about 2300-2400 miles. There's just not much in the way of miles on regional, with the shorter runs and higher percentage of live loads/unloads.

I'm also pretty sure the policy on regional is that you can't bank hometime like you can running national or dedicated. Hometime is on the weekends, and only on the weekends. If you have to make a doctor's appointment or a dental appointment, they tell you to make them on Mondays or Fridays, not Wednesdays. I just didn't really care for it; thankfully Crete seems easy to work with in that regard, to get you into a fleet that fits your lifestyle - for me, that's dedicated or national.

 

Thanks, Redbeard. That seems to be the issue I waas afraid of. Crete claims I can still make 52k on the SE regional, but with those miles it seems sort of difficult.

 

Well boys, welcome me aboard.

Completed my prequal in Phoenix last Wednesday. Was issued a truck with some hood damage to be turned in to Lincoln when I arrive for orientation.

Took a run to Chino, CA then another from Buena Park to Walmart DC just west of Cheyenne. This morning picked up from the Budweiser plant in Ft. Collins, CO heading to podunk, IA. T-called that load in Lincoln this evening.

Just hopped out of the shower and found the computer room...whoohoo!!! First time online in 6 days, boy howdy I miss having AC power in my truck (my laptop just cant run on one of those plugin inverters...250 watt). My FM "promised" me an '07 with an APU when I finish orientation. I intend on holding him to it as best as I can.

So far so good.

 

Welcome aboard, I think you will enjoy driving for Crete. Good Luck on the 07 truck with an APU, but with that said, your in the right place to get one.... If you dont, buy a 350 watt for your computer. Good Luck and enjoy orientation.
DRIVE SAFE

 

You're right on the '07 looks like I'm stuck with the '05 I brought in, got the hood, the engine brakes, and an air leak fixed...Pretty clean inside for 470k. some of the guys in my orientation had to drive to OK to p/u their trucks, so I feel lucky for what I have.

Orientation was a breeze, and I was made to feel welcome, but boy howdy do those folks in the cafeteria know how to turn a chicken breast into leather.

Off to allentown...the exact opposite direction I need to go to pick up my gear. That's always been the nature of the beast though

 

Thats funny (sorry), they headed me west to Wyoming then down to El Paso, then east to Dallas, then Washington state, then home. I needed Oregon from the start. Again, welcome aboard!

 

Thats right, they piggy-back them in. My truck was the Piggy... It had 1200 mi on it when I got it, and the L.F.O. drive tire has a extra groove carved in it, the piggy driver must have had something hanging down making contact.

And evertrucker... I'm not an old coot, I'm an old fart. Send me a private msg with you new truck number.(unless you want to advertise your new smurf mobile) If I see you out and about somewhere, I'll take you up on the one-on-one BS meeting. Would be cool to put a face with the name.

And knight---Geez, a 250 inverter won't run your computer. What kind of computer you have. I run a Dell Inspiron or my HP all-in-one printer off of the direct plug in - 175. The computers power supply only takes 85 watts.(I use that inverter because it doesn't beeeeeeeeeep without the truck running and tends not to kick off when the opt idle starts)


As for me, all the news isn't bad. After coming back out a couple weeks ago, managed to carry some miles over and turn a 3500 mi week last week. And this week started ok, but took a 2 stop out of Charlotte...Aurora and Minooka, IL. Minooka was hesitant on letting me drop since they were the number 2 stop. So....without asking they t-called in Romeoville. And stuck me on a short 48 mile to the NW side of Chicago for an 8am del. Geeez o wheeze. But still, gona put me at 2200+, with a 2 stop and a shag bonus as of 830 Thursday, and hours to run.

I keep hoping that the beep me with my appointment to get an APU. Have tried to get thru to my terminal manager.... Always busy. I did msg her, but like always, no response. I hope they hurry... my wife is getting sick of me talking about it.

(hey look, a msg from snackbar without any major complaints.... whats up with that???)