ATS/school

Milkman, sorry it took so long to get back to this. I would say I am satisfied with the company. I am starting to look more seriously for a local or regional gig, fot because of the co., just would like to see the kids more for a few more years. I am out east right now, came from the southeast. I prefer to run west, so I think my FM tries to keep me that way, but I know of other guys that run a lot more in the SE. I left Tulsa with a load for upstate NY, had to tarp it, but it was just a wood box so it went easy. From thereI picked up in Erie and went down to SC. Another tarped load. Picked up Coils of wire in SC heading up to here, RI. Yup, another tarped load! They definetely will get moisture tho, starting to rain now and expected toget worse threwout the day. My truck decided to die yesterday. Heading down a hill on I 84 in CT, nothin. No warning, no symptoms, just all of a sudden no power. No dash gauges, no p/s, p/b, no throtle, no engine, NOTHING. That killed any hope of delivering on Fri. before 3 est. Had to get whole thing towed 10 miles to the towing co, dropped the trailer there( CT has a law against towing truck and trailer more than 25 miles) then an hour away to the Volvo dealer. Turned out to be a wire running from the batteries to the computer had worn threw, shorted out and blew a fuse. Not a fuse you would ever see unless you got under the truck and knew were to look. How smart is it to have ONE, exposed wire, run ALL THE ELECTRICAL? I'm starting to sour on the Volvo badge. Love the layout, invertor set up etc., but this is breakdown #2 in a few months. Now im sitting in the "only truck stop in RI", no kidding, thats its name. And its true! I sure hope the next load gets me running back west. I dont care if you got $10 a mile, if things arent just right, your not making money out East! You need to be able to run, pick-up and deliver at night, or forget it!

 

BigDaddy, hills dont really bother me. After you run the Rockies a few times it better NOT bother you. I take them as fast as I feel comfortable. That usually depends on the road and load. I dont worry about how the guy behind me wants to run it, if he/she wants around, i'll slow down more and let them go. Only thing I didnt like about the hills in CT/ RI was the "slow traffic use right lane" stuff. By the time you get over the lane ends and no-one wants to let you back in. After a couple like that I just held the right lane. Very pretty out here, but i'd still rather run the west. Just fits me more I guess. Well, actually i'd preffer the midwest but time will tell on that.

 

BigDuker, forgot to tell ya I did get paid something for sitting the weekend. But you know how that goes, it only takes the sting away, not the hurt! I did deliver early this am, now i've been sitting at a rest stop all morning. I really wish they would do a better job of pre-planning these loads. It would be nice to know at least which direction to head after you unload!

 

Well my next load picked up in NJ, and it was OD. Biggest thing ive pulled, 10' 6" wide and 13' 8" tall. There were 3 of us all hauling the same thing, going to the same place. Still NJ managed to mess up one driver and myself's permits. They didnt get us the correction until noon the next day. Oh yes, we had to tarp these things, in a monsoon! I could not have been wetter if I had gone and jumped in the river! My boots were filling with water. And these things were odd shaped, 4' taller in the back half than the front. We had to turn 2 of our large tarps sideways and over lap them to get any coverage. The good news is that the guy I got to run with( cause of permits) was a he77 of a good guy! I learned more from him in a couple days than my trainer for 5 weeks! He was a class 1 driver, adn this was small for him. Because of the permit trouble we had to take the loads to our Jax,FL yard and untarp and unsecure them, then RE-DO everything. The load and trailers were going to Puerto Rico as a unit. Had to get to Orlando to get generators for the next load. Hurricane relief stuff. Ran late into the night, left early am. I was told that logs ,hours of service etc. go out the window in these situations. Hopefully that will be so, I'll explain in a bit. Well I called the consignee this morning after i'd been on the road a few hours, and left a message that I could be there Sat. instead of Sunday. I figured they needed the generators more than I! I get a message later to not come to Houston, cant unload me anyway. Supposed to call in to dispatch and see about re- routing. Well diapatch cant help. They dont know anything, and cust. service isnt in on the wekend. As of right now I still dont know were or when i'm unloading these things. And i'm pretty sure someone could use them! I'll try some diff. numbers in the am. Ok, now the other part. While making a right turn into a truck stop today a guy in a pickup(black one) tried to squeeze through. He didnt make it. crunched his left front fender and took off the drivers side mirror. Of course nothing happened to the trailer, didnt even scratch the paint that I can see. What sucks is I had set up to do a button hook. Had the trailer over in what I thought was the far right lane, the tractor in the left. Ya know, to keep someone from TRYING TO SQEEZE BY! But seeing as there were NOT ONE line on the road, what I thought had to be shoulder was actually used by the locals as a turning lane for the NEXT street up. The guy admitted that there was no way to know it was a turning lane cause of the lack of lines. Well Barney came and took all the info for his report. No tickets issued! And no looking at the logbook. Technically was not supposed to be there for a few more hours. SO.... now I dont know for sure what will happen. ATS is trying ( appears to be anyway) get rid of as many company drivers as poss. and replace them as L/O. I will have to get back to St. Cloud and "talk" to the safety department. See how they rule, and if I get to keep my job. I guess what will be will be. Its outta my hands. I think I did all I could to be safe, I cant stop someone else from doing something they know they shouldnt. Hopefully safety see's it that way, but im not holding my breathe. ATS has had too many bad incidents this year. We keep getting warned to be on guard etc., logs current, all that stuff. I guess our safety rating dropped into the "inspect" catagory now. NOT good for yours truly! Night all, gotta get some sleep, dont know what i'm doing in the am. Wish me luck on both things!