STARTING A NEW CAREER WITH JBH

More I think about it the 2521 mile a week average bugs me for some reason. I feel it should be over 2600 and it has been in the past but the numbers aren't showing it now. Could be my math or I'm forgetting something but I'm pretty sure that initial number is low bye close to 100 miles. Can't make the numbers back it up right now.

 

Back in the U.P. again. 2 weeks in a row now. Love this run except it really shortens my reset compared to the turnables I was doing. Will be a 2900 mile 14 stop week. Beautiful here especially this time of year. They have a JBH DCS mining account somewhere near Marquette. Seeing DCS day cabs pulling double dump truck style trailers. Whole lot of axles on them. Best of luck to you hurricane people.

 

Had a good week but didn't get a 4rth run cuz I ended up basically "truck" sitting instead. I was in northern central Illinois on my 10 when I was asked to help another driver that was having problems. So he was enroute to 5 deliveres when at a fuel stop another driver somehow hit his driver mirror and popped the glass out of it. Mirror assembly was still on the door but glass just hanging there. If it was ur own truck after exchanging insurance info you'd duck tape the glass back in and with a little work you could make it useable to get you home. So this is the best part now. He called it in to road service and instead of sending a repair truck out with a mirror JBH had the truck towed to a shop for a mirror repair. Yep $195 an hour and at least 4 hours total when you add in the tow trucks drive to and from his shop for a mirror. Other driver was stuck there till I got off my 10 and then we swapped trucks. He took mine on to finish his route and I sat with his truck and waited for the tow. Sat around at repair yard then eventually drove his truck home. Not sure how I'm gonna be paid but being told it will be made up to me. Not too concerned about it, they haven't done me wrong yet. Got off bye 7:30 Friday morning and don't go back out 10 pm Sunday eve. Needed this long reset after over 200 hours total in 3 weeks.

 

Not much new here. My 4rth run of the week has stabilized into a 925 mile 4 stop run ending in the U.P. near Marquette Mi.. Real nice week at just over 2900 miles and 14 deliveries ($1500) but it's a long week and a short reset. Worked a deal out with account manager and every fourth week I'm gonna take my first run off so I can have 2 full days off. He offered me every other week but I don't want to lose that cash. Maybe next summer if I'm on the same set of runs I may take him up on that. Even that short week is 2390 miles and 10 deliveries($1200) so still a nice week. My drive tires are just about to be replaced so perfect timing with winter coming soon. Replacement process seems to be more complicated than you'd think it would be.

 

Finally got my new drive tires and a got a bit of a surprise. JBH has switched to a wider and just a bit taller tire. Old was 275 80 22.5 and new is 295 75 22.5. So the old wore out tires had me going 61 mph on flat ground according to GPS and the new tires have going a solid 63 mph GPS confirmed. Turns my truck into a time machine! May sound pathetic but a 617 mile turnable run has me coming thru the gates with minutes too spare so the ability to pick up almost 5 minutes on a 300 mile run will be very valuable.

 

I ended up in a spare truck for about a week and am glad to have mine back. Thought i was gonna get a new Int. with the new bendix system but was in a 2014 Int.. I drove Int. day cabs before I came to JBH so I really like the steering wheel controls and like the engine brakes cuz they are almost undetectable when shifting. FLs are a bit harder shifting with engine brakes on. Anyways the Pro Stars are so much smaller inside and have much less power than the Cascadias. Plus the headlights suck in comparison. i was wrong about one thing I've thought in the past. The Pro Stars ride a lot better than the Cascadias but I think that's about it.

 

It's based in Mpls Mn. About 600 miles at the most. Not too far west but pretty far south and east. Central ND, SD, Neb, Ia, KC, over to SL, then up thru Ill, Wisc and the U.P. . A ton of accounts all over Wisc, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. Pretty much Saint Louis is as far as I've gotten. Think there might be a couple south of KC and SL. Pretty sure the longest I've done is about 1220 miles round trip ending up in the Saint Louis area. Usually 5-6 stops and close to a 38 hour trip. I don't get those very often. I get a couple 900 or so mile round trips that I can usually pull off a 8 hr sleeper berth and do them in about 28 hours.

 

Been a while. Lots a little things. Truck in for another b service so I played musical trucks for over a week. Sucked but I can move in and out of a truck in about 10 minutes now. Had a little experience in a new Int. with newest Bendix system. Lane departure has a button to turn it off but I never asked if we can use it. Maybe in construction zones?? Biggest thing I noticed is it's more observant on speeding. Once you get 5 mph over speed limit the speed gets highlighted red on the GPS screen. In my 2014 system If im running 62 in a 55 it is yellow. Newest all you can do is 59 in a 55 to keep it yellow. Wasn't beeping or anything like that, wonder if it's gonna keep more of a log on all of our "speeding" events? The 2016 Prostars seem to have more power than 2014s. Drove up hills loaded more like the FLs.

 

So far winter hasn't cost me money on this account. I was worried it could with lift gate deliveries in the winter with snow. It does make those 600 mile runs unturnable often cuz of not perfect road conditions so less home time. Been through a few big storms already unscathed, knock on wood. Week after Christmas sucked. 2 drivers stuck in ND blizzard and another driver hurt so everything was thrown out of whack. I ended up spending Sunday through Thursday in the truck doing drop and hooks and shotgunning out with every run. Worst thing is only ended up with 2200 miles and 8 deliveries but didn't complain when I was given Friday and Saturday off.