Leave for orientation at Roehl the day after tomorrow.

Hi everyone,
Made it home tonight for the first time since June 5th. It has been a long time, but well worth it. I picked up my truck Friday in Marshfield. Got an 04 International. My only complaint is the last driver must have smoked, because it smells like an old ash tray. I am home for 5 days so I plan to clean the heck out of it and get it set up. My trip home was quite stress full for me. Don’t remember if I stated it before, buy I retired from the Navy back in April, but my actual retirement date was June 30th. I have been on leave since April 13th. I went to Orientation and Evo I and II while I was on leave. I made sure to let Roehl know that I had to be home by Sunday the 1st of July so I can go in tomorrow, 2 July to sign and get my DD 214. I have talked to my DSR about it over and over while in training. Well, I pick up my truck in Marshfield WI on Friday and guess what? No loads to Virginia. On top of that, I am running low on hours. I sit there for a few hours and they get me a load to relay to the Gary terminal. I only had 45 minutes to get over to the next town and grab the trailer. I get it and take it to Gary. I arrive around 10pm or so. I grab a shower and go to sleep. My DSR said we should be able to get a load out in the morning. I wake up and send in a message and she replies that she doesn’t have anything. She says she is working with the planners to get me a load home. A few hours go by and still nothing. All of a sudden around noon, she tells me that there is a trailer in the Gary yard that was relayed there the night before and it is going to Newport News, VA. The only bad thing is it has to be delivered on Tuesday the 3rd. I said no problem and started working out my trip plan. It was close with the hours I had left, but took off around 1245pm. I made it to Charleston WV around 9:45pm last night. Woke up this morning and took off for home. I made it here this evening just in time for dinner. First home cooked meal since the 4th of June. Sure is nice to be home. I supposed to get 5 days off since I stayed out 26 days. I have to call my DSR tomorrow and discuss how to handle Tuesday. I have to deliver the load here early Tuesday morning. I am not sure if I will get an extra day at home since I am working Tuesday or not. But it was worth it to get home. I was worried about it while sitting in Gary. I told the DSR that I would just fly home and then come back to Gary to get my truck, but missing the apt for my DD214 was not an option.

I talked to one of the guys from orientation on like day 8 of EVO II. He was home between I and II. I stayed out and didn’t go home, so I finished way before him. I am sure he is doing evo II now if they got a trainer to pick him up. I talked to guys that said they sat at home for a week or more in between evo I and II because they didn’t have a trainer in the area to pick them up. Everything is based on freight, so if there isn’t anything close, I guess you have to wait. I didn’t want that to happen to me, so my wife and I decided to just stay until it was all over. That also makes it so the real checks start coming quicker. One of the guys that tested with me this past Thursday went to orientation on the 23rd of May and finished the same day I did. So for those of you that have not started yet, that is something to think about.

Take care,
Pedy6pak

 

I didn't use the school, but tested with a guy who did. He showed me the place they put you up in. I think he said it was $300 for the time he was in school. The room had a microwave, but no oven or stove. It is only about 5 minutes from the terminal.

 

Hey Whispers,
Truck #3888

 

Well, I spent my first entire week out in my own truck this week. It was a good experience. I left home last Monday and went over to Franklin, VA to pick up some rolls of paper. I took them to Cleveland. I had a 11:00 apt and was on track to make it there with an hour or so to spare. I stopped the night before on the PA turn pike in one of the plaza's to take my 10 hour break. I had been there a couple of hours and was lying in bed talking to my wife when I felt my truck rock. I told my wife that "I think someone just hit my truck". I told her I had to go and looked out my windows. The two trucks that were there when I pulled in were still there, so it couldn't be one of them. I looked in my mirrors and there was a white Freightliner right next to the rear of my trailer on the driver's side. I pulled on my shoes and ran back there. The other driver was out of his truck looking at his right fender/light assembly. It was all broken and the light had popped out. He said "I hit your trailer, but there is nothing wrong with it." I looked at the trailer and could not see anything wrong, but had some paint transfer to the already rusty DOT bumper. Looking at his hood, it was really messed up. Fiberglass is no competition for steel. Well, when I was in orientation, we were told to call in any and all accidents, so I walked back up to the cab of my truck and grabbed my phone. I called my DSR first and then he told me to call the Roehl accident phone number. I called it and gave them all the information I could. She started asking me questions about the other truck that I didn't know. I asked her if she wanted to talk to the other driver. She told me no, but if I could ask him for his information she would take it. By this time, he had finished backing into his spot. I walked up to his truck and knocked on his door. He didn't answer so I went back to my truck and got up in the cab and continued to answer her questions. All of a sudden someone knocked on my door. It was the other guy and wanted to know what I needed. I told him that I had called my company and they wanted his name and information. He instantly got angry and would only tell me his first name. The lady on the phone could hear him and told me not to worry about it, and not to make him any angrier. The adjuster would get his info. I told him that she said she didn't need it and I hung up with the Roehl people. When I hung up, he continued to complain. He said that I should not have called my company because there was nothing wrong with my trailer. I told him that none of this was worth my getting fired over. I told him that Roehl requires us to report all accidents no matter how insignificant it was. He said that He had been hit the night before on his rear bumper and didn't report it. He was an O/O leased to a company and the trailer was not his, but he still hadn't reported it. We talked a little more and he calmed down. He actually gave me his full name and let me take pictures of his truck. I forgot to tell you, that my DSR told me to take photos of everything that I could and get his truck if he would let me. I wrote down everything on his door, USDOT #, KYU #, Truck #, License plate # and all that. After a hour and a half or so, I finally got back in my truck. I then remembered that I had to put all this time on line 4, so I did. Well I had planned out my next morning to get to the consignee on time. I never even thought about the fact that I had gone back down to line 4 until I woke up the next morning. I was getting ready to start my pre trip when I looked at my log and realized I had to add a few hours to my 10 hour break. I freaked out, because now I am not going to make it to my apt. I jumped up and called my DSR. I told here that if I do the calculations they way they taught us, I was going to be late, but if traffic was good, I had a chance of making it. Well I ended up getting there 15 minutes late. I was stressing about it and when I got there, they told me that I would have to wait until the truck that was in the dock was finished and I could pull it in there. I was worried about being late and ended up having to wait a little over an hour when I got there anyway. Well from there I went south to Lima, Ohio and pick up a relay going to Gary from P&G. I took it to Gary and after getting there, had some stuff fixed on my truck. Nothing major, my drivers side, side box door lost two of the four rivets that held it to the hinge and was hanging on only two of them. It took a few hours to get it in and fixed and by the time they were done, my DSR said I was too close to being out of hours to leave and I wouldn't get anything until the next day. I was fine with that. I went in and took a shower, surfed the net for a little while and went to bed. I got up the next morning with nothing on the qual com other than to call safety and explain the event at the turnpike plaza. When I called Safety, I told her everything that happened and even told her how he was upset about me calling it in. She told me that I did the right thing and it is his problem if he was upset. She said that nothing would happen since the trailer was not damaged, but wanted me to drop the camera off in the Gary office and they would send it to Marshfield and give me another one. I sat there until noon or so and decided to go in and call my DSR. When I called here, she told me that she was working on a relay that was coming into Gary and needed to be in Virginia on Monday. She told me that it was close enough to my house to go home when I get there and deliver Monday morning. I told here that I didn't want to mess up my home time on the 20th because that was my anniversary and wanted to be home to be with my wife. She stated that it wouldn't mess with my scheduled home time because the load that I am on isn't due to deliver until Monday anyway. Well I rolled into town last night around 9 pm and dropped the trailer at the Hampton Drop yard and drove the 3 miles to the house. I will pick it back up Monday morning and take it to the Consignee. I know that today's post is long, but I just wanted to relay my week to you all.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I know I will.

Pedy6Pak