Andrew's Trucking Journey Continues

I take that back! It doesn't pay the same..lol. Ashley gave me $75 layover pay for waiting up in Washington for my next load.

So as it turned out, I didn't get as much time at home that weekend but was paid a little bit more.

So if you recall I was about 80 miles away from delivery the morning of at Roady's. Drove a couple hours to deliver in Spanway WA. Then sat there until the next morning.

Of course I called the main dispatch (like they want us to do) after waiting a bit in the beginning and they said the Spanway dispatch knew about me and was working on it.

For whatever reason I think someone dropped the ball because when I called my dispatcher in the morning and let her know I was still there she slapped a load on me in like 2 minutes.

The dispatcher I'm referring to was my main dispatcher/driver manger when i started but after I came back from LTL they put this other guy on as my driver manager... A lot of drivers hate the guy. I think he means well but things definitely get chaotic when he is involved.

Anywhoo.. When I really need something I call my girl Laura, she's all business and gets things done and treats me as if she's still my dispatcher.

Whatever company you work for there's usually 1 or 2 maybe more that you gravitate toward that will help you out the right way when needed. At least that's been my experience.

 

Hey Willy, Thank you. Don't quote me on this but I believe they do run up into Canada. Back in early spring I was up there running loads for a couple of weeks for our Spanway division.

One of my assignments was a relay to our drop yard in Bellingham. I spent the night there and in the morning got to talking with one of our LTL driver who ran loads to Canada. I don't remember if he said they drop them at the border or deliver into Canada.

Not sure if they are hiring up there now but they probably will eventually.

Also it's a big plus that they have a drop yard in Bellingham. They might be interested in hearing from you.

 

This whole week went by and I didn't post anything about it.

It was a strange week that is for sure. Monday morning they had me running to Tucson on a store delivery (customer unload) I like those because we get paid a little more to deliver them. Usually it's $40 per drop but with furniture live unload it's $60.

That didn't happen though . Got about 90 miles out and they sent me a message to turn around and come back. Warehouse loaded my trailer with the wrong product. This was the first time this happened so it's not a normal week already

So.. I went on back, and then they sent me to Sparks NV on a relay to meet an LTL driver at the TA there off the I 80. That might be in Reno actually, but my dispatch info said Sparks.

 

So they Deadheaded me back to the DC from Sparks.

Ended up getting stuck on the mountains off the 395. I saw the storm coming, could of gone around (they would pay the extra miles) but noo... silly me just decided to go through it.

In all honesty I thought 2in of snow wasn't going to a big deal. Forgot to check the temp prediction tho.

Yep, temps dropped to the teens and roads were a sheet of ice. Add white out conditions and it was a recipe for disaster. I ended up on the side of the road overnight. Got stuck loosing traction on a hill. Fortunately I remembered passing a pull off area and ended up backing down the hill into the pull out area, whew! No traffic around so that made it easy.

I'm usually pretty good at avoiding these situations but haven't had to worry to much about snow these last couple of years and it caught me off guard.

In the morning the cops were pulling trucks over for not having chains on.

Yep! I was nap dab in the middle of chain restricted area.

Being icy, on a hill and empty I didn't have much of a choice but to chain up and get out of there. Only had the first set of drives and trailer done in this pic. Finished the second set of drives afterwards.

I haven't chained up in years. But got it done and plowed through the ice.

About 50 miles later was out of all chain zones, ripped those suckers off and finished the trip on dry roads.



I stopped here to tighten up one of my chains. It doesn't look like it but that road is icy. Sand trucks were out but it still was pretty slick.

 

No I haven't. I did see one of our trucks pulling one a little while ago. So it probably could happen once in awhile.

 

I'm still here.. lol. This week I haven't hauled a single Ashley load.

Started off this week picking up a load of tents out of Redlands and taking them up to San Francisco area (imagine that).

Deadheaded back and now doing the exact same load again. ‍

Back to back same load should end up with about 1900 miles, 2 drop payments and 60 ish hours. Bit of a slow week but not to bad.

After that I will probably deadhead back again and go home for the weekend

Last week was a killer week with 68+ hrs, 4 drop payments and 2300 + miles.

Just FYI, we get paid by the mile and hourly pay, plus some activity pay for drops, trl management and rest period pay. It's not huge amounts but it adds up.

Hey, I know there is trucking jobs that pay more, and possibly a lot more in some cases. But this is the best paying job I ever had. Ashley advertises "above average pay" and that's pretty much exactly what you get.

 

The wife and I are in the middle of trying to find a new place to live. Same area, we just trying find a better home. Long story.

Anyway, it's been a little crazy so I will probably be ghosting off and on.

Stay awesome! Keep on trucking!