i know why allot of people like OTR

i finally drove on the thruway today lol. i have been staying more or less on the city streets. compared to driving in those tight areas, driving on the thruway is easy. i do what i do because of my family situation, i will always find a way to be home and close to home during the day, if an emergency arose. today i did 7 loads but only 65 miles. allot of my loads were picking up top soil a city block away and bringing it back to the job site. this is my real first taste of city driving in such tight quarters, its not as easy as a looks, and those streets really arent setup for a tri-axle dump truck. the job itself is going fine and the people are decent, but i can see why some people dont like this type of driving. it's too bad my last job was ran by such a dolt, because i enjoyed what i was doing...... it wasnt long interstate runs, but country driving..... with some long open stretches. i like the people and the equipment is decent, i just hope i can adjust to driving downtown everyday. im not complaining either, i just have to adapt to driving in tight areas. the really good thing is no one is pushing me to go faster or do anything unsafe. very much a safety orientated company.

 

by the way i have been using sygic truck GPS for the last few months. its a godsend when you dont know the area. i swear its every bit as good as a garman or rand truck GPS. you can get it off of google playstore. some people i work with seemed to think i was using google maps until i explained what it is, and that it is indeed programed with road and bridge restrictions.

 

i have been hauling ALLOT of broken concrete, they have been tearing up old broken sidewalks. i have also been hauling top soil. i think they are adding "green space" along the street in the city. SOMETIMES i only drive a block away to the construction yard where they load me with top soil or stone. basically i get signed onto a job in the morning and i do whatever the contractor needs until signed out. they say jump, i say how high. i really prefer when i get loaded and actually get to drive 1/2 an hour a way vs. just driving a block away. loading and unloading a city block away gets tiresome.

 

with this job there have been 2 drop off sites, a place that has just broken concrete and another place that takes dirt mixed with concrete. basically if it has any dirt in it, it goes to the second place. i do feel like it is an important job and it matters, which means allot to me. i cannot invest my time into a meaningless job that brings little to no value to society. its rewarding knowing that i am making the infrastructure better.

 

im going somewhere else tomorrow at the old steel plant on route 5 in hamburg ny. something about replacing concrete there. the company has allot of different jobs all over the city so i don't necessarily know where i will be till the boss tells me at the end of the day for tomorrow.

i have been on the SAME job all week so far, but that one job has two different drop off areas. if i dont know where i am going i punch it into the trucking GPS on my phone. it costs me $10 per month BUT it usually keeps me out of areas i should not be in. it has the ability to change settings like truck clearance, i have 12' programmed into it, as i was told my clearance is around 11'6". i can fit in allot of areas you would never take a dry van, BUT i cant fit everywhere.