Good Night From II

Delivered the Kohls load this morni g. Going to golden co for pick up and delivering in la Mirada on 11/5.
Home time will start o. The 6th and e back to work on the 8th

 

I'm offically a Swifty again. For those who don't know me I was a Swift O/O from 2012-2016. I drove company for 5 different companies since I left Swift in Jan 2016. After a short (3-week) stint as an academy instructor I applied to come back to the driving side as an O/O and was approved in only 4 days. I picked up my brand new KW T680 yesterday and am already planned on a 4 load stack (I HATE stacks) that has me devilvering in Las Vegas tomorrow, then Vegas to Lewiston, Lewiston to Modesto, then Stockton back to Buckeye, AZ. I'm gonna give my new DL and the planners here in Phoenix a chance. I stood in front of the planner yesterday who asked me 3 simple questions concerning weight, California, and how soon I could be in Lewiston after I MT out in Vegas before he planned the 4 loads on me.

It became obvious to me that the only time I've been happy (as a driver) since I returned to trucking in 2011 was the time I spent as an O/O with Swift.

 

I'm interested in hearing the academy instructor story ... And good luck on this run at it.

They seem to be allowing DMs more control in load planning now ... But the death of the Command program was the end for me.

 

Welcome back

 

I was invited to apply for an adademy instructors position. Based on my experience teaching people how to ride motorcycles and 30+ years as an OJT air traffic control instructor I figured "why not".

The "not" was the 12-14 hour days (I was told 10) and the fact that the person who hired me went on medical leave leaving the academy in the hands of someone ill prepared to run the school AND manage people at the same time. I knew by the middle of my 2nd week that it wasn't gonna work for me so I started looking seriously at going back to the O/O ranks.

 

My "stack curse" has already struck and I haven't even picked up my first load! My load from Las Vegas to Lewiston was cancelled leaving me with only the load from Tolleson to Las Vegas for tomorrow.

 

One the issues that was starting to bug me. The DMs were given the ability to plan, but more often, than not, any load my DM planned on me was cancelled if it was more than a day out ... Sometimes I didn't find out it was cancelled until I was MT, leaving me scrambling for a load.

Hope you have better luck ... moose, dp and seem to be doing ok.

 

Rough day yesterday.
Went o
To pick load up in golden co and they inspected trailer. Refused it for a what he clai.ed was a crack In the frame.
On leftside.. on outer skin on The very bottom is a strip of metal that goes the whole length and the front was bent in a little and seemed to be a crack.
Was only cosmetic. Nothi g to do with any function or leak of trailer.
So had to go back to terminal which mechanic looked at it and said it wasn't a crack. So he hammered the bent part in place and gave me an inspection sheet so I could bypass the inspection guy.
Then after picking the load up I continued to la Mirada ca. Got to one of those electronic signs that said 55 mph gust to the tunnels and I have 8000 in the box.
Noone answered the radio about condition of the winds. So 've winds were not blowing that hard I decided to continue. Had one gust that might have been that high abd it was mostly a head wind. after the tunnels wind had stopped.
Got my first taste of winter condition going over the mtn. Signs were saying icy roads and they were a wet. Light snow flurries up to Eisenhower tunnel.
So decided to call it early and stopped at the Petro in grand junction last night.
Gonna either stop in Vegas( most likely) or drive 659 miles to barstow.

 

Flying j in prim nv.
Easy day today. No drama lol.
Going to jv terminal to fuel then head to Montebello yard for my 10.
My delivery appt is 1100 on mo day

 

So with command gone, do lease guys get to still choose loads?