Good night from...

Hey scottie when did you put an apu on your truck? they are so nice i love them

 

Well, it is technically an APU by the strictest sense of the term, but it is really a small generator and air conditioner. I have been calling it an APU for simplicity's sake when people walk up and ask what the set up is all about.

OK so the score is, 2 loads in a row where I picked up trailers IN a Swift terminal, both trailers had problems!
First one, in New Boston I went to the dispatch window seeking an empty trailer for my next live load, assigned and hooked up, ABS light would not go off. Bear in mind these trailers had already been through the shop and thoroughly checked out, in fact PM'd and put on the ready row by the yard goat. So I had to roll it around the shop and have them work on it while Abby and I got to hang out at the picnic table and listen to the great glorious stories from the Swift drivers who frequent the table. But you can always learn great things, for instance I learned Swift actually has a 'Ghost Fleet'. These guy can run the full speed limit where ever they may be. If the speed limit is 75, yep, these guys are doing it. Have to be double Diamond times 2 then be personally invited to be on the fleet. Very hush hush and secret handshake and all that, not too many people know about the Ghost Fleet so keep it on the Down Low.

Second trailer was in Decatur, had been tcalled there by previous driver. Problem with upper marker light. It appeared to be burned out to me, took to shop, guy got up on ladder and cupped his hands around it and said it was on but very dim. I asked him to fix it because this road check thing, if a DOT inspector sees that, they will summarily declare the light burned out, I don't need that. So he worked on it for about an hour then all the upper lights were burned out. Tripped my fuse. Long story short, have the shop hook up their own battery pigtail gizmo when working on the trailers. Another hour and good to go. Decatur has a station set up for all trucks leaving the terminal, must be fully checked out like you're being inspected before you hit the road. So I had to do a mac 22, this load which would have added 400 some miles to my 2400 mile week is now going on next week's check, thank you tcall driver.

 

Yup, I got that.
My DM corrected it.

Now I am getting very short loads with a lot of time.
My next load doesn't pick up until 1800 tomorrow, and the first stop delivers at 1600 the next day.
All of 200 miles for both stops.
It's going to be another very short week.
And it's a Hi-Val load, but no way I can do 200 miles before stopping with this one.

I'll stick it out though.
The first service failure should drop off in a couple months, and the second a few weeks later.

My DM has still said nothing about it.
Maybe I should ask him about it in a direct way.

 

these things always suck, interesting about the ghost fleet

We picked up a load of cans in Denver this past Friday morning, all the lights were out and the trailer was already loaded so I dont know why they didnt check that stuff first, guessing the last driver was lazy and decided to give the problem to someone else...we took it to the terminal and put it in the shop, a guy worked on it all day and said he was done and putting it back together....the guy ended up going home and not finishing, the next morning another mechanic had to finish it and said it should of been done the night before but we finally got on the road Saturday afternoon. Because of this we sat at the Denver terminal for 2 days, I had just enough hours to finish the week before getting some home time and testing out, ended up getting a wasted 34.

 

More BS by the driver who never seem to leave the teminal.

 

Hughson,Ca, at the house!

 

That's why he never leaves the terminal...The Ghost Fleet is running all his loads!

 

funny how these secret fleets and clubs always crop up in stories.

 

Im a new guy so i never know whats completely true in peoples stories. I know some like to lie, like the ones "I got 10mpg on my last run" really how heavy was your load and where did you go? "43,000 and I was travelling through Utah" suuuuure....
Im just stating an example but I have heard a couple like this, or the ones who claim they do well over 3k miles every single week in one story and in the next they talk about how they keep getting stuck in the shop etc every week.

The Ghost fleet was an odd one, it doesnt add up to Swift policies especially since even O/O's are monitored.

 

Should I even say it, well, okay, Morris, IL. PU in morning, del in afternoon then home until Monday. Then back on the 737 fleet.