Coming to orientation Aug 13th...

Update.....
Yep, Im still here, and still running truck 2070. Hit SFS last week for a bunch of repairs... New headlight assemblies, windshield, bumper (from the deer hit months ago) new steer tires, new air lines to the trailer, oil, lube, ect....
I had NO clue just from looking at my old headlights, how bad they really were until I had new ones on the truck... WOW... I just happened to remember someones comment a few months ago about asking for new headlights when in SFS.. So I did... and now I think it was a 300% improvement on what I can see at night... Sweet...

Ok...had a bad couple of months (mileage wise), due to getting sick, and also some dental issues that forced me to take some time at home to fix. I have run over 10k in the past 4 weeks, so Im back up to where I need to be. Now to get caught up on bills so I can stop eating top ramen....

Yeah, I am still working on buying a new truck... Looking at a 2014 Volvo 780 with the I-shift...Yep, an automatic.. lol..

Ok... I have a TND-720 as my GPS, and enjoy it.... but... the charger that it came with flat broke the other day. (plastic cracked and fell off). So, I picked up a charger at a truck stop.... bad idea... about 3 hours later, the GPS let out an electronic SCREAM that startled the heck out of me... Took me a minute to figure out where the noise was coming from.. The screen froze, then went to snow... I had to rip the thing off the dash and hit the reset button on the back to get the screeching to end... then it wouldn't turn back on. It just sat there with a weird hissing coming from the speaker. Soooooo..... I called rands tech support.... turns out they flat told me to NOT use aftermarket chargers on the GPS in the paperwork that came with it... opps..... didnt remember that... Nope, its not salvageable...... lost my next paycheck to a replacement... Yes, another 720... I "know" it, and dont really want to learn another one right now.. lol.

Ok, ran several days without GPS, and came to the realization I was SERIOUSLY depending on it to much.....
Yes, its a great tool, but dang, I felt stupid without it... So my way of doing things has now changed, so I am less dependent on the GPS.... I kinda see why Rick (in orientation) said he didnt like new drivers having GPS, because it becomes more of a requirement, than a crutch... It is a GREAT tool, but its also VERY easy to stop planning your routes, stop looking at maps, stop reading road signs, ect... because the GPS does it all for you....
It makes me MUCH more efficient, but... I also take the time to double check everything now.. I had started slipping on that, and was just typing in the address on GPS and rolling...

Seams like the end of winter is in sight. maybe... lol. the 2 things that scare the heck out me on the road are ice, and wind... Ice, because...well.... its dang dangerous... and wind, because you flat cant "see" it until it hammers you.... The other day I was running along watching the trucks in from of me changing lanes one after another from the slow lane to the fast lane and wondering why. well.... I figured it out when I got out of the blind spot in the wind created by the hill... I was at 78,900........and I SWEAR the right side wheels almost came off the ground.... good god.... we were all changing lanes, not because we wanted too, but because we were being BLOWN over to the fast lane!!!!! thankfully there wasn't anyone in the fast lane, because I was headed there, weather I wanted to or not...

Re powered a load out of Denver going to Fresno
The humor of this load was that the broker couldn't seam to get their computers wrapped around the fact there was a different truck/driver taking their load, than who picked it up.... they kept calling HIM for updates, even though I was calling them daily.. lol.

Anyway, got to come home for home time a day early woohoo!
Going to enjoy my sons Birthday, and then get back on the road Monday...
See ya all out there..

 

A treadmill? wow, you got the high tech version... my class got told to walk fast around and around the front porch of the doctors office. lol.

steveceki, I was a couch potato, with back issues when I got hired here. The physical testing is NOT "that" hard, but you do need to be able to bend, crawl, lift, walk, ect...The following link is to a video for Schneiders testing, but ours is very similar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXC0y0mS1Go

 

I dont like doing it.......but i'm needing to rant. <br>#. 16 days down in last 2.5 months due to mechanical issues, and when I ask about upgrading vehicles i'm blown off with a "we will look into it".&nbsp;<br># lack of miles lately. heck i ran 340 miles in the last 5 days (not assigning blame, just saying it wasnt me or my truck that caused it this time), and when i ask for something long to make up for it, im given an 800 mile run. gee......thanks.... and now to my rather extream annoyance, i walk in to pick up said load, and im told "what load? that LD# already left with another W/S truck"........ nice.<br><br>ok. seriously. what the heck happened to our company? it seamed we were doing so well, then in the last 3 or 4 months things just seam to be getting worse and worse. i'm sick and tired of low paychecks that i cant seam to do anything about. i have had 1 really good paycheck in the last couple of months, and that was due to breakdown pay!<br>I have broken 100,000 miles incident free, and i'm a couple of weeks away from 1 year here. And I'm down to the wire, about to pull the trigger and buy my own truck. the serious question on my mind right now is if i bring that truck to watkins/sheppard, or go make a new start with another company.&nbsp;

edit. my tablet mangled this post. i will clean it up later from my laptop. :-/

 

not really worth swapping into another truck "now". one way or another im not going to be in this one too much longer, since it looks like i will be getting my own truck in september. this truck is a hair shy of 800,000 and just needs to last another month or so.
my main concern is miles. seriously.......im starting the week with another 200 mile 2 days run, and this is REALLY
causing me to wonder about my future at this company.