CRETE - A Year in Review

Same ol' story here.

I've either been too busy driving to take the time, too frustrated with the current freight conditions to submit a rational post or too engrossed in this #### house hunting adventure to spare any time.

I was given a home bound load last week and actually pulled in on my requested day. I hit the north end of PHX with zero hours left for the week. My customer was on that end of town and I spent the rest of the morning on line four to avoid a log violation.

Last month had it's fair share of aggravation, no different than any other month this year, but I managed to close it out with 12,675 miles.

I think the house hunting has finally come to a close. We currently have 3 homes tied up in the short sale market waiting for one of those to come through, but while I was home last week two Fannie Mae (foreclosure) owned homes hit the market that where in our search criteria. We put bids in and ended up getting one of them. If there are no big surprises during the home inspection process it should close within the month and I can get back to life as normal.

Like my last home time, I was once again asked to leave the house a day early. They were overbooked again and really needed me to run a load up to IL. It was a great 1589mi run that had me on such a tight schedule that I could only make one stop a day for fuel and that was it. I managed to arrive with 30mins to spare.

That was followed with a load that didn't pick up for 24hrs going to PA with an anytime delivery.

Crete broke an all time record for getting me back to PA after hometime. It usually takes 7-10 days. They managed to get me here by Friday, noon this time around. Just a shade over 4days and that was with a solid 22hrs layover in IL along the way.

I managed to drop my load in Lancaster Friday afternoon, a day early and found that nothing has changed up here. Yet another "no freight" message. It is now 7am Saturday morn and I have been told to check back at 9am. If I'm lucky I will get a load out sometime later today or maybe tomorrow morn. In any case it will be an OK week with the possibility of a very good week. It all depends on what kind of load I get out of here. For the moment I'm sitting with 2400mi or so for the week to this point.

 

I write my updates from memory (when I get around to doing them that is). I tend to have a very good visual memory of what I've done in the past. But for some reason, if I look at a map and make a mental note of the next few roads or highways I have to take I can forget what they were before I manage to set the map back down on the dash. Go figure?

I also refer back to my log book or small note book that I use to keep track of my load info and where and when I make any stops along the way.

 

Nope, not me. I was on a beeline run from Phx to the middle of IL at the time. But it's always a thrill to know that a Crete truck got to pass anybody.

 

That tends to be how many of my days have been of late, or at least that's the way I have been perceiving them. Things just don't click as well as they did in the past and the process isn't as smooth as it once was, but in the end it seems to work out fairly well.

The economy it doing a number on every one (another 600,000+ first time unemployment claims last month) and I just have to realize that every time I start getting, well, you know. Frustration levels are up, but it could be so much worse. And that's saying a lot from a driver who is once again sitting in PA waiting for a load on a weekend.

 

There was a time that I thought I was just another nobody hidden in the anonymity of the vast world of the internet. Then SuperSnack was plucked out of that world and I learned otherwise.

I have no doubt that they know who I am, but that is as far as it goes. I have never heard so much as a peep from anyone and to this day only know 3 people in the company by name. That is my FM whom I have talked to maybe 3 times in the last 3 years and his assistant that I converse with only briefly to arrange home time or alter fuel stops. Neither of these people would know who I am in a face to face meeting unless I told them my name. The only person that recognizes me in a one on one situation is our one and only "Bones". He's our Safety guy and I don't even know his real name. Maybe I'll ask him while I'm sitting through another one of his Safety meetings next month. My punishment for getting that "failure to yield" ticket last month.

I am positive that I get no special treatment for my effort here. There have been far too many horrible experience over the past months for that to be possible. I certainly wouldn't have been left in a TX truckstop for 3 days with a student on board only to be given a 100mi run followed by another 24hr layover. I wouldn't be enduring these 1-2 day layovers and I wouldn't have anything bad to write about.



I have never pulled any punches while reliving my experiences with this company. At the beginning of the thread there simply wasn't much of anything bad for me to write about. That has change over the last few months, but I'm not about to go off on a tirade about how awful the company is just because the economy decided to take a nose dive. I certainly don't agree with a number of things that go on here, but then I'm making these judgments from a personal perspective based on my own selfishness. The company makes decisions based in their best interests and do what is needed to insure that it will survive. These two points of view don't always coincide with each other but I'm wise enough to know the difference between the two.

My recent experiences have been littered with frustration and discontentment and I have never failed to point out each and every one of them. As a matter of fact I have noticed that my negativity has been far more prolific than it once was (and a reason for many of my absences from this board) and I have been trying to lean a little more to the positive side. It makes life a little more enjoyable to be content with reality instead of dwelling on the way things used to be and somehow expecting nothing to change in my world while the rest of the world is going to hell.

I got the high miles long before I started this thread and will continue to outperform the majority of my piers. I always have and always will. Here and anywhere else I have ever worked. I don't want that to sound arogent, although I know it does. Please don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say. I'm simply willing to do what ever it takes to make that happen and have the ability to do it. I set goals and I obtain them. Every workplace has a system and I learn how to make the system work to my advantage, whatever that system is.

Crete doesn't just hand the miles to me. I work for them. I make every run with then next one in mind. I make every run like it is the hottest load on the road. I make every decision now knowing how it can effect me 8 days from now when my log rolls around on me. I take nothing for granted and never waist a minute in my day. It may seem pointless at the time, but time and time again it has made the difference between a 2500 mile week and a 3400 mile week.

Two of the easiest things to do in life is blame someone else and make excuses. I do neither (or at least I try not to).

 

I miss go ol' Russ. He and SuperSnack would have had a lot to talk about. Too bad he never made the switch from the other board.

 

Hurray, just got my load offer. It's on a preloaded trailer that has been ready since yesterday. UNBELIEVABLE!

Going to Upstate MI (800mi+)but doesn't deliver until Tuesday morn. I suppose that's why the load wasn't released until this morning. Good and bad on this load. I won't have to wait for a load out because they will have me pull a load of empty pallets back to where I came from. That's the good news. The bad news is that I will be back in PA in a few days. Well, time to get going and see if I can get this load delivered early.

Looks like a 3200mi week. But then I'll be there by Sunday with a Tuesday delivery. If I can't get the early delivery thing pulled off next week is going to be a stinker.