Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

A beautiful drive today. Decided to take a road that I haven't traveled before since I have plenty of time. Got off on US16 at Buffalo, WY and ran it across to US310 up to Billings. About 60 extra miles to the trip but well worth the views. Definitely not recommended during the winter time Only 8 pallets to knock off tomorrow and then 3 days to cover 850ish miles to Tacoma for the last drop. Not a great trip for miles normally but considering I needed a reset that ate up one day made it a little better. Hope to snag another Smoky and the Bandit run out of WA to bring up the old weekly average.

Enjoyed my day off yesterday borrowing the wifi at Johnson's Corner. Watched 12 episodes of Orange is the new black. Pretty good show thus far. Also stopped at the Truckstop at the junction of US160 and US287 in Springfield, CO the day before. Noticed they had a sign for Indian food which I really like. Got the lamb boti and it was really good. Nice big portions (enough for two meals) which included bismati rice, salad and a good dipping sauce. Got an order of Garlic naan and I think it ran me about 15.00.

 

I hope you get something out of this area more quickly than some of us. Of the 3 of us at Costco, 2 of us are sitting here at Roadrunner. I saw the 5:30 a.m. delivery Poly headed up WA18 at 8:30 this a.m., one of the other drivers who was with him at Costco said when he last talked to him, he hadn't been called with a load. Not sure where the third guy went after I left, but my DAT app doesn't show much van freight out of this general area right now...reefer and flatbed are in demand.

I truly believe that this is going to be my last trip up here for a while. With the quality of equipment and the half arse repair jobs here, there is a specter of impending breakdown looming overhead that could strike at any time. Couple that with the uncertain wait for back haul loads to appear up here, it's just not worth it for me to make this trip anymore. I may just push for being a southeast loop driver until something local comes up that has a paycheck I can live with...who'da thought that as aggressive and 'in your face' as I try to be when a confrontational situation comes up that I would be this changed by a shop and management the size of this company's, but that seems to be where my overall desire to push and exceed expectations has radically changed. When I had that issue with Tommy, then had to see Alan, and then have a faulty shop repair get turned towards me being suspect of the cause...it has taken the wind out of my sails and has put me into a perpetual funk. Frankly I couldn't care less if I make 1 mile more than the company requires each month...in fact, as it stands right now, that's more than I want to run to be honest.

*update* my Roadrunner load is headed to Houston...hopefully I won't be heading to Pol-Tex for a load to Henderson after I deliver.

 

Hope things are better come Monday morning up there. Haven't ever had to wait for a load yet when up there so hoping to keep that trend going. Going to have to download that app, sounds like a very helpful tool in selecting where to run. How far into the future does it project?

 

the DAT app is just a mobile view of what the load boards show in the truck stops. You can check a specific truck stop's board, or look for loads out of an area headed to a certain state...the lead time varies...I've seen loads there that weren't due to pick up for days, but I've also seen immediate load times appear through out the day. I use to use it when I was a Crete, even though they didn't use broker loads often, it gave a general picture of how heavy freight was in a given area.

 

Outbound just called me wanting to set up a load out of GP for this w/e...the problem is...I'm in Pendleton, OR headed for a Wednesday delivery in Houston...not sure where they got confused, but I won't even in TX until Monday...guess they're overloaded and looking for drivers.

 

i may have asked this before but anyone kno if they dont get all our outbound loads covered if they broker them out or what, theres gotta be times they dont have enough trucks in there

 

Got my back haul arranged for Monday with a load picking up in Auburn, WA and returning to Dallas. Plan on dropping that off at the yard Thursday and being able to roll out again on Friday so all is looking good for the next week. Stopping tonight in Bonner, MT. Perhaps see if there is a high school football game going on down the road and meander down to watch it later.

 

Sounds like a great company, they fly you in for an interview then fly you back if they hire you?? I know ya all have said they put you up in a motel there but what about meals during the interview process, do they cover any of your meals?? And what about orientation, is it paid or any meals covered?? I love following along on your adventures, very informative.

 

they fly u in for interview, that usually means ur hired if u pass drug test, physical, some have not been hired after interview tho, why i dont kno.

orientation pay is 3 8hr days at 12bucks an hr i think.

they tell u bring money for meals, they paid for last day lunch for me, seems like its been different with others. dinner at hotel is on u

 

Change of plans I think is in order if I can work it out. Going to do the old 3 day Tacoma to GP yard run hopefully with a follow up run to Henderson so I can be sitting in my lazy boy by Friday night drinking an adult beverage. Another 3380 mile or so 5 day run which I have just enough time to do. Take the weekend off and snag a Blaine load for the final two days of the month which would put me at over 13300 miles for September with 6 days at home and 1 reset on the road. The only time I have been over 13K miles for the month I only had 1 perhaps 2 days off. This western running is sitting real well with me Will likely be changing my tune in 6 weeks or so but for now all is good.