From School to Superior Carriers

It seems every terminal is different. I should end up grossing close to 48K for the 2008 calender year. I started in Dec of 2007 but being right out of school had to do the 500 a week thing until Mid Feb. My official 1 year isn't until Mid Feb. I have yet to have a week gross less than 500 so I should be able to make more next year. I also plan to make hay while its running good and take less home time in the spring and summer. I think 55-60K is possible next year.

 

12/16

Well I thought I would be on the road by now. Got another paint load to Holland. I am sitting at the plant now waiting for them to finish loading it. Go on the clock in about 5 minutes since I have been here 2 hours. It looks like its 35-40F through the mountains so I plan to get past Charleston Wva before shutting it down. Bound to see some snow on this trip but it looks like it will be on flatter ground.

 

12/17

What a pain in the butt this load has become. I had put placards on the tank they told me I was pulling, backed up in front of it, pretripped it and settled into the bunk about about 6:30 thinking 2-3 hour tops. Called the plant around 10:30 and was given the runaround. No one would tell me when the load would be ready and they didn't return my phone call with the info.

About 11:45 the guy comes down and tells me he was lied to about which tank I was pulling. It was the other one. At least he was nice enough to put placards on that one so I didn't have to do it twice. I backed under it, climbed on top, tightened down the dome, and pretripped it. Found a flat tire and called my terminal manager. Finally got on the road about 1:30 AM after the roadside service put a new tire on.

I only made it to the first rest area in WVa before getting too sleepy to drive about 4:30AM. Got about and hour to go before my 8 in the sleeper is up. I plan to get out of the mountains then grab a shower on my 2 hour break. Thats going to require 8 straight hours of driving to get the load there on time thanks to our stupid HOS rules. I hate sitting in the daylight when I am refreshed knowing I will have to drive those hours at night at the end of the day fatigued.

Weather looks ok. This might end up being a blessing as the forcast has the snow storm ending before I will get to Ft Wayne. Had I left on time with no problems I wiuld have been in the thick of it.

 

12/18-12/19

Split break worked real well. I left at 12:30 and drove about 4.5 hours and stopped for a shower, dinner and a short break. It worked out well for a couple of reasons. I was right below Columbus Ohio stopping right before rush hour. I was also able to use up as much daylight as possible as it was just getting dark when I stopped.

The weather was cold but roads were clear. I got to Holland 15 minutes early about 1:15 in the morning. It took them 5 hours to unload me. I slept hard the whole time. The guy had to bang on the truck pretty hard to wake me up to sign the paperwork. I finished my break and left about 10:30AM the next morning after logging 8 hours in the sleeper. This plant will let you sleep there. Split my break again, grabbed a shower, and lunch right at the Michigan-Indiana line.

Drove about halfway back and shut down for the night in Jackson Oh. I had hours left and could have pushed farther but it was starting to rain, the weather report called for warmer temps today and I prefer to drive daylight hours. Wound up being a good decision. Clear sky's today and I heard some drivers on the CB talking about a big wreck the night before as I drove down the mountains today.

I am off until Monday and dispatch tells me they are going to work me local the week of Christmas. I have a load of water treatment polymer to deliver by noon about 100 miles away.

 

Hi Sid. Did I sit next to you at the Hazmat class in Kingsport?

 

I went to the class that started on Monday after the super bowl. That would heve been late Jan or early Feb. There was a guy sitting next to me named Sid from the Axis Ala terminal. Must have been a different Sid.