Life After Roehl

I might post here in the future....



Bwahahaha

 

Rumor has it you just posted here in the present....wait now it's the past.

But seriously, hope everything works out for you.

 

KAG

He delivered to the Harbor Creek TA earlier this week...

 

I will have to watch out for him! I'm usually in the other direction now. Get my fill of Cleveland. Don't get to the TA in Harborcreek much since we have fuel at our yard. Hope he likes it and I know you'll like him being home more!

 

He just finished his first week and really likes it so far and yes I really do like him being home. The princesses are happy as well, so it's all good.

 

The guy that trained me at Roehl left and went to KAG out of Columbia SC. He loves it and does local work out of there. He did a trip this week from Columbia SC to WV. 2 days out they put him in a hotel and paid him very well to do that trip bc no one was available. But for the most part he does local and really likes it there and makes good money. He does propane and plastic pellets mostly.

 

When Chris talked to his FM a few days after giving his notice, Bob told him they had lost 5 or 6 drivers to them. The pay is hourly, benefits cost about the same and the hometime is way better.

 

Hauling Fuel or Chemicals for these companies is a pretty good gig really. I did it when I left Roehl for 8 months then took a job working in Dispatch for the company and after march I will be Safety Coordinator for the terminal. KAG is a good Company for Drivers.. their office personal sucks lol.. but good pay for drivers. ( We haul alot of their overflow that they cant do)

 

Well, I survived my first week of extreme mountain driving in the snow. Our trucks and how they are equipped make the job not as bad as it would seem. All our trucks have "retarders", (it was explained to me that it's a mechanism that uses oil pressure through a turbine to slow the engine speed), in addition to engine brakes. If the road conditions are not too screwed up, I can hit the hill coming East down into Denver at 1500 RPM and 30 MPH, set the cruise control, and the truck stages the engine brake and retarder perfectly. I will never break the 35 MPH speed limit coming down into Denver and never touch the brakes. Speaking of brakes, I can drive from Denver, over Eisenhower and Vail passes, and all the way to Grande Junction, without using my brakes. I'm learning so much about how to use the trucks engine to control speed it's absolutely blowing my mind. It's a little freaky at first, but once you get used to the idea that the brakes are only there to actually STOP, you can really start to relax and enjoy the ride, just be in the right gear when you roll over the top of the pass.

As for traction control devices, our trucks have sanders we can use instead of chains. Sanders work in up to about 6 inches of snow, after that, they aren't very useful. Then it's time to throw chains.

The actual job is really easy. I just pick up a loaded trailer at one of the two huge Kroger (King Soopers) grocery warehouses and drive to whatever store it is loaded for. I get to the store, either drophook, or the store people live unload me, then I go back to the warehouse. Pretty easy. The toughest part for me is the 1700 start time and running 12+ hours every night. On Sunday - Monday I ran my 14 to the limit. I had 5 minutes left when I parked. I was also beat to hell tired. I ran Colorado Springs and back, Bennet and back, and then Cheyenne, WY and back. I was pretty wasted by 0700 Monday morning. I can bid on a better start time next October. I'm really looking forward to that!

Anyway, I had Monday and Tuesday off. I'm back at it tomorrow evening. Paid by the hour. Home everyday. Big money. Did I mention that I'm really looking forward to getting a better start time. For now, I'm just NightRanger. Oh well.

 

Thought I'd bump this for you.