COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

Haven't heard from Redcoat yet this morning. Talked to him last night and he said the wind chill was 30 below. They had the truck idling but it was just too cold outside for the truck heater to keep up so they are still pretty cold.

I'm guessing they should have left by now and probably are on I-90 somewhere in Montana.

Other from that, no new news.

 

Not all ways from the South, I seen some in PA, and other northern States.

 

Latest update.

Redcoat and his partner have made it to North Dakota. He asked me to check on the status of I-94 so I went online when I got home and saw that it was closed between Jamestown and Fargo. Not sure what they plan to do. Redcoat was not in a good mood. He's sick of the cold, sick of trucking, and sick of driving at night.

It's definitely time for him to find another line of work because, quite frankly, I'm sick of his complaining and telling me it's my fault that he's having to endure such hardships. Funny how other men manage gut it out and do what has to be done to earn a living even though they hate it. Rather than finding a way to get things done, he finds every excuse why he can't do something. It's dark, it's raining, it's snowing, the pay s**ks, the hours s**k, on and on.

I have no doubt that driving a truck is one of the most unglamorous, thankless jobs out there. But I've endured much the same thing when I was in the military. In maintenance, I've been out in the freezing cold standing under a jet engine trying to safety wire a hydraulic pump and the wind was blowing across the ramp so hard that I had to follow the engine up and down and time it just right to get the wire into a tiny hole and my fingers were so cold that I couldn't feel them. I've been outside preflighting planes in Greenland, Canada and Alaska. I've felt that cold. And the heat. I've sat for hours in the top part of an airplane changing out PTUs and it was so hot that I couldn't see for the sweat in my eyes. I've preflighted airplanes in Saudi Arabia in the summer and the heat was so bad it felt like a blast furnace on the concrete ramp. The soles of my boots would be burning my feet.

And the pressure not to screw up was the same. Mess up on a check ride and you were busted down to student level again. Every time you flew, you were responsible for up to 72 lives. I've put in the long hours and the oh-dark-30 alerts and trying to stay awake as you fly into the sunrise.

And I did it for 14 years.

So I think I have a clue of how tough it is for truckers.

Which is why I'm definitely losing my patience for all this complaining.

Sorry people. I've had a terrible day. I had a homeowner scream curses at me and slam a picture onto the roof of my truck. I'm just really tired.

 

I hope for a much better tomorrow for you!

 

I'm in the military too. We're (military) the best at complaining but there's no one that can tell us we can't do something. It's just that drive to Charlie Mike (CM) aka complete mission that makes us move. I'm sure you as prior military can put that fortatude in Red Coat to Charlie Mike. LOL.

 

Maybe it's time for Redcoat to think about looking for a job driving a smaller delivery vehicle in a local gig somewhere.

 

You are probably right CornCob. I suppose he can live with my mother in Mississippi and find some local work. She probably wouldn't mind letting him use her car to get back and forth to work.

It's raining today so I have a day off. I'll check out the help wanted ads in the Tupelo area and see if anything is out there.

At some point, it's time to throw in the towel.

At least when I talked to Redcoat this morning he seemed in better spirits. The only complaint I heard from him was that he noted the bottle of water he took to bed with him was frozen this morning.

They are just now setting off down I-94 in North Dakota headed east. The road has been opened and Redcoat gets the first shift.

 

Hang in there RedCoat Wife- trucking can suck, but like anything else in life it has its ups and downs. Some people are just complainers. Obviously you learned to get past that, given your experience in the Armed Forces. And I agree with the previous poster- maybe RC should look for a job driving a vending truck, or airport bus (he will need his Passenger endorsement), or something that will keep him off the road.

And tell him to find a piece of cardboard, two tarp straps and make a makeshift winter front- that's a covering for the grill, to keep cold air out of the radiator and keep the truck warm. Also, if he and co-driver aren't already doing it, they should bump up the idle speed on their truck (above regular idle); that will also help keep the heat going. Just make sure they don't cover the entire grill, or the truck may overheat going down the road. I had to keep the grill covered on my last Covenant truck, otherwise I would have frozen too.

 

Hanging a blanket over the inside back wall of the sleeper may help too. My hubby just recently did that, and it helped out quite a bit. One of those egg carton foam pads or even a couple of blankets under the mattress on the bottom bunk may help too.

 

Thanks for the advice. As I said, Redcoat seems to be in better spirits today.

I don't think he realizes how much he complains when he talks to me. I already feel bad that he is having to do a job he doesn't like but when it comes down to brass tacks, it was his insistence to get the motor home we live in and now we are having to pay for it. We made that decision together so in my opinion we both need to do what must be done to pay for it together. I worked every day for months (April to July) until Redcoat could go to school for his CDL. I also emptied my savings account to pay for his green card which cost several thousand dollars. So I believe I've more than pulled my share of the weight in this household and now it's Redcoat's time to man up and pitch in to help without moaning about every single thing.

That probably sounds harsh but the way I look at it, it's still income, he has benefits, and he's gaining employment time until he can get something better. Look at MCR. He hates this company as much as anybody but he's doing what he has to until he can get something better.

I could probably take Redcoat's complains as a matter of course but when he threatens to walk off the truck if the company sends him back out on a northern route, that's when my tolerance level starts to reach the limit. He can't dictate to the company where he is or isn't going to go. My thing is, no matter where he goes, it still earning and helping with the finances. But every time he threatens to do something like that, it just increases my stress level on top of everything else. I do realize that all his threats to leave are just manifestations of his being cold, hungry, and tired of shelling out $8 for a soup and grilled cheese sandwich.

And so I come in here to vent my frustrations to all you folks. I don't yell back at Redcoat because I figure he's got enough to deal with without having an angry wife on the phone. So y'all get to hear it instead.

Wallbanger is right. There are ups and downs and right now is just a very down time. Winter driving s**ks for everybody but everybody figures out a way to deal with it.

As I said, Redcoat is in better spirits today. He is even talking to trying to figure out a way to team up with his old roommate from orientation. The dude is at Chatt. now as we speak but he's supposed to spend the holiday in AZ for his home time. Redcoat can't stay with his current partner forever as the guy IS a trainer so at some point they're going to want to give him a student. So today it is encouraging that Redcoat is trying to make plans to team up with his friend.

It was just a long, cold weekend.