CRETE - A Year in Review

Has anyone tried entering 'more miles' in the 'request for next load destination' macro? I did a week ago and have been running near 600 miles a day. Actually, Im bumping my 70 now because of it. Not complaining though. Got my home bound load now for some needed R&R. Take care!

 

"Request next destination" I was told in orientation was for trying to stay in the heavy freight lanes. As for the "more miles" I was wondering the same thing..?? Why wouldnt a driver want more miles? The next time I talk to a dispatcher I will ask them why that question is there and if you put "yes" in there, what will they do different...

Crete gave me my longest load so far in my trucking career (6 yrs). Deadhead Portland OR to Central Point OR then to Portland Maine! Oh I just love the northeast, but the miles were 3600+ (cant remember exactly). DRIVE SAFE

 

took a load to michigan delivered yesterday at 7 pm, got there at 9pm get empty and tear on down the road. 15 minutes on my 11 to get parked and theres a hole in the wall truck stop with a fax machine 17 miles away... i made it. digital dash read ******* load offering******** maybe i dont hate michigan so much anymore. the loads going to jersey.... scratch that, still hate michigan.

i hate jersey, but i rarely get something less than a thousand miles coming out of there. almost makes it worth it, just gotta get across the winter wonderland in ohio first. again.

 

as far as the more miles thing goes, basically if you punch that in, it means youre willing to wait for a longer run. i did that on one of my afforementioned jersey runs, all he had was one to birmingham with 4.5 days on it (closest t-call wouldve been knoxville, and they werent real keen on it, because it had an open p/u), told me to wait til a.m. and i got a 3 day 1700ish run instead. had 17 hours of downtime in new jersey though, so be prepared to wait a while if necessary.

 

I have used the 'more miles' request...Works about as good as a home time request. If you're in the right area at the right time. I have used the part of that macro that requests a state. Back in '04 I used it to try to get to CA when my wife ran with me, she had never seen the west coast before. It took them a week or so to work it out, but they did find me a t'called load to Tracy, CA out of the Salt Lake yard. But the truck had other plans. Seems as though they had a run of trucks that had come out that never had the grease tube put on the throw out bearing. The result, my throw out bearing ceased at around 495,000, ripping part of the linkage loose and all the 'shock' springs out of my clutch. Had complained earlier in the week that the clutch felt weird and the KC shop adjusted it. I made it to Sparks, NV. After a few disagreements with breakdown as to their accusations of abuse (abuse my butt, I seldom use the thing), and their request that I bob-tail all the way back to SLC without a clutch to have our shop put a clutch in it. I ended up staying and having it fixed. I guess it wasn't all bad, I did get to spend Friday - Tuesday in Reno, with my wife, and the company paid the motel bill and breakdown pay. Plus one of the casino's I visited donated some winnings, which paid for all our meals and a little left over. So I guess there is a silver lining to some of those dark clouds...Just glad it didn't get the lightening bolt treatment again

And I have used it to request a little less NE. And it worked. I get there once in a while. But I stay west of a line between PA and GA, and go all the way west. Am out west at least 7 out of 10 months. Especially in the winter. Which doesn't bother me that much, I can handle snow. Even if it is piled higher than my trailer.

 

I haven't been on as much lately because it seems as though my 'temper tantrum' has lit a fire under someone's butt, or the slow season is starting to end. I had a 3400+ week last week, then was in MI with 2675 this week, and offered a load back to central Ohio for Friday. Would have been another 3000+ week, but my new truck decided to start having problems. So I spent the rest of the day in Grand Rapids Freightliner. Ended up being a blessing in disguise though... Columbus got 20 inches of snow, and had a blizzard. Needless to say, truck repair didn't fix the problem, but I wasn't stuck in OHIO.

Now I am on a run from Battle Creek to Marietta, OK. 1150+ miles for the weekend, and enough time to put in a 34. Since I am trying to get home after 28 days, will give me plenty of hours to run hard, if there's freight, and not worry about my 70. I've been told the problem isn't a safety issue, and won't leave me stranded on the side of the road. So when I'm home, will drop truck at my local Freightliner, and let them sort it out. I've got a relay that is tapping me a msg in morse code. But only when the truck brakes are released. So it's in the brake sensor or brake manifold sensor wiring somewhere. It even kicks off my cruise from time to time. They told me all of those circuits are breaker or fuse protected, so my truck won't look like some of those trucks (or what's left of those trucks) that are sitting at the terminals melted.

My luck isn't as bad as the other Crete driver at the Grand Rapids shop. Guess he was hit a while back(not his fault), and ended up sitting most of a week while his truck was fixed. Got it back, and on the way up to Michigan, got struck by lightening while rolling down the road. Fried all the sensors, and ecm's in the truck. He had been there almost a week, they were just getting the last few bugs worked out before he could go... Guess God doesn't hate me as bad as I thought.(just kidding, don't start preaching at me please)

 

Does anyone know off hand if Crete works with CDL holders straight out of training? and, If your school has a list of carriers they set you up with...do you have to choose between one of them or can you choose any company? Thank you

 

Yes, Crete does hire students out of school. However, the school has to be on their approved list. All PTDI certified schools are on their list, and there are a few non-certified PTDI schools on the list as well.

I made my decision a while back that I wanted to go to Crete and called them up and asked them what school in my area was on their approved list. They told me and I went down to that school, I graduate on Friday and hopefully will start with Crete on the 24th.

They have their student hire information on their website under company drivers information.