Good night from...

That sucks, shifting was my strong point. How does he do when your not in the front seat next to him? I know some students tell me they get nervous and screw up more, I personally seemed to do a tad better at different things when my mentor went to sleep and stopped bothering me. Maybe try to get him to adjust the seat some where he cant press it fully down so easily? not sure if that would help or not.


Anyway got my truck, its the small volvo a 2009, when I went to do my pre trip there was a swift driver returning a loaner truck and he insisted on coming and helping me and he also loaded me up with things. The truck had a tool kit still sealed in a box, the guy gave me a new road kit which also has the air hose and all that stuff, I have extra oil, wipers but out of washer fluid, the guy gave me a gallon and I used it since it was empty. The truck doesnt have a full set of chains so they are supposed to try and route me near phoenix to try and get a set. I drove from Mira Loma terminal and to Fontana back and forth a couple times for different things, DL also called me when i went back to Mira Loma asking if I would pick up a guy from Fontana to go get a truck since I guess the shuttle guy went home early, I said sure since I wasnt doing anything except unpacking. I get to Fontana and the ahole got a ride from someone else after being told I was coming. I had about 9 hours left on my 14 and he helped me get a small load that was sitting at the Mira Loma so off I went again over there, I dropped it a couple hours ago at a Home Depot in Tracy, CA. I went to the space to back it in and of course it was one of the tighest spots I have backed so far, cussed myself out some and it took me freaking 30minutes almost to put it in the spot. I was getting mad at myself not getting it in and I was running out of time quick too, finally got it in and cussed myself out some more, as quickly as I could I dropped it and flew over to grab an empty, went to the guard shack with 19 minutes remaining of my 14 and asked if there was somewhere i could park and he told me go find a truck stop back off the hwy (ahole) I ended up parking on the side of a road where a couple other trucks were, did my post trip and had 4 minutes left. At least no violation for me, was not too far from a gas station so I walked a bit to get some water.

Will be going to sleep shortly and picking up another load they stacked thats sitting in Lathrop terminal, I have to take it to Oregon which has just a little over 600 miles, the problem is that it doesnt even deliver until the 10th at 1300 and its a live unload. I sent off a message saying I would be a little late picking up the load but still will be good on delivery. A dl responded asking if I could still make it, like dude its a day of driving, I will be sitting at a truck stop for over a day. It sucks I will only have 400 miles on this next check since I was off for awhile, I wish I could deliver the 2nd load Sunday so I could get paid for that. Hopefully next week picks up but at least they are trying to keep me busy for the weekend. Lucky for me I always put money aside for times like this, I need to buy a few things like a CB, vise grips, safety vest etc so might be looking for a walmart in the next couple days and pick up some food too since I invested in a big 5 day ice chest to save on eating out.

 

Got a load from south Arkansas to Salt Lake City. Swift routing suggests running through the heart of Colorado US 50 which I recall is mostly straight up and straight down with 15 mile per hour switchbacks etc. Google maps suggests running up over the top through Wyoming. My idea is to run up on the 40 - 491- 70- 6- 15, looks like only 10 miles longer and about an hour longer somehow. Wish me luck 1300 miles to go 29 hours left on 70 with live unload.

 

The pay period ends Wednesday night at midnight.
It would be on the same paycheck if you delivered on Sunday or Monday.

 

Take the 25 to US 550 to US 64 at Farmington and then over to the 491. It'll knock about 25 miles off ... The good news the 191 through Moab is a beautiful drive ... the bad news - especially this time of the year - all the tourists want to drive it too. You run a pretty good chance of getting behind a German tourist in a See America Rent-a-RV doing 30 mph.

Scottie ... you're a wuss.

Alabama ... going to Mass.

 

yeah my old mentor told me when i called up just to chat, I was used to the trainee pay periods, I just need to find a couple quick runs or one I pick up monday evening and drop tuesday night so im not stuck with just 1k miles.

Anyway sitting at a rest stop in Eugene, OR
I filled up a few miles back, my cruise control that was working just fine decided to stop working completely when I left the Loves, my engine break doesnt seem to be engaging, luckily my load isnt too heavy so I have just been downshifting a little more and taking it easy, so I might be heading into a shop and hope it doesnt take long to fix. I drop my current load in Clackamas and I dont think thats too far from the terminal so I might shoot over there Monday after I unload if they dont take 5 hours.

Maybe someone can answer the question, this is my first truck with a regen system, it shows on the dash "regen in progress" and goes for like a hour and then a hour later it seems to be on again, is this normal? It did this like 4 times yesterday and a couple times tonight.

 

Still home sweet home. Today received a phone call from Lewiston regarding my last student asking how to light a fire under him. He did not want to pull the truck out of the terminal because it is missing a very important card in the permit book. It is the little fold out card that explains the E-logs. Nobody at Lewiston knew what this card was. He remembered becasue when he was getting a level 1 inspection, he was asked to show that we had it, and that if we did not, citatation. Hope that all who reads this has theirs in their permit book. I remember that when I went through elog class long time ago, they stressed this very hard. Where he screwed up, he was issued the truck in COLS and waited until getting to lewiston to check out his book for everything.

 

I am a total wuss. I stuck to my route plan because I have never been over 550 plus I heard there are sheer 1000 foot drop off cliffs etc.

Moab wasn't too bad for a Sunday afternoon 96 degrees. Even got a smile from a bikini chick standing in the hotel pool as I drove on by.

The kid who conducts the Canada class has them. Make sure he gets the DOT one, not the MOT one lol

Pilot at Green River UT. Little restaurant next door has the best restaurant spaghetti I've ever had and it is all you can eat.

 

Try lifting up the clutch and/or brake pedal with your foot and see if that helps. Sometimes the return spring gets worn, and the cruise and jake won't work.

 

550 in Colorado maybe ... But up to Farmington, 4 lane, flat and no towns until Farmington ... just a short grade coming into Farmington ...

Lee Hi, VA ... setting up for a 34 in Connecticut, delivery Wednesday in Mass.

 

you had me worried I was missing something else lol, checked and its in there so im good. I didnt mention when I filled up last night I was missing the Oregon fuel permit and it took me almost 30minutes to finally get fueled up, had to contact a DL to get a copy faxed over to the Loves I was at, hopefully im not missing anything else, I checked to make sure i have the weight permit too.

I am sitting in Clackamas right now on a side street in a business area less than 1/4 of a mile from my drop at Fred Meyer, I spent over a hour looking for parking, went to the Loves to see if they had the CB the other loves was out of and got lucky they had one that was being held for someone but he ran out of time, I got the Uniden Bearcat 880, its $70 off right now for a cost of $79.99 plus no sales tax up here so its hard to find it seems. I couldnt find parking there after I left the fuel island, went to the TA next door and nothing there either, so went to Walmart and found a spot on the side they said I could park for a bit, went and did some shopping and went back to the truck stops and still no spots, drove all over the place just looking for a place I can park, found this side street where other trucks are parked and I took the last spot and I have been watching trucks come and go for the past couple hours looking for parking. I didnt think it would be so hard to park somewhere in Oregon. I know in Roseburg that Loves was almost empty, I was the only person in a fuel island and most of the lot was empty at the time around 9pm