My DS, C1,and USA Truck experience

Trust me, 3 hours is nowhere near enough time to get loaded in jersey...lol

I had a load of recycled paper coming out of Jersey City that I waited 6 hours to be live loaded.

Depending on where you are in Jersey, you can usually plan pretty good for places to take your 10. North Jersey is dicey, but I did it no problem. Here's the trick. Run early enough where it'll be no later than 7pm when you figure youre gonna be out of hours. That way you can find parking at the service plazas on the turnpike. Also SNI had a drop yard in Kearney, whih was nice. Just up the road from that theres a truck stop at the first exit after you exit the turnpike headed towards the lincoln tunnel /jersey city. Then over on US-1/7 (i think) theres half a dozen small gas stations you could squeeze into. Southern Jersey is a little easier. Theres a petro with paid parking (just fuel before you park for the night and its free, awesome chicken dinners there too) and a loves. Easy access to the turnpike and the other interstate. Also I think theres a TA down there somewhere too. You just have to know the area and have a plan b, and for the hell of it, a plan c. Keep one of those books in your truck handy that show you all the places with truck parking organized by highway and mile marker. I think theyre like $5 at every truckstop, but they can save your butt sometimes.

 

Yeah, most places will understand what kind of knuckleheads you had to put up with there. I never even looked at Swift for obvious reasons...or Werner...lol

If they have elogs over there thats a good thing, since they cant force you to run illegal like USA. SNI had them and it was nice to run my hours without someone breathing down my neck. Im back to looseleaf again with this o/o but I don't take no crap no more either...

Best of luck to ya.

 

It can be. I've been through there so many times it's just another day in Paradise. As for the book, you'll never catch me running without it.

 

Eh... I'm not a fan of Pilot. Petro is my favorite. I like to sit down and eat my meals every once in a while. For some reson, payday steaks always taste great

I just like being comfortable on the road. No pressure, time to cruise, eat, and shower. Some companies will pressure you to haul tail, but I lay down the law early in my employment. If they don't like it then they can find someone else. I find that I am a much better driver when I slow down and cruise versus that gogogo lifestyle. I am much more focused, I make less mistakes, I make more miles and I'm just all around happier like that. I always said that if you spend your entire tour wondering "are we there yet", you're going to hate this job. Trucking isnt anything but "are we there yet". It's how you spend your time out there that will determine whether you make it in this industry or if you'll get burnt out and quit. But, I digress. Hopefully Swift will be a good fit for you. Just do what you can to make the best of it.

 

Ya see the problem here is that they ARE passing you up. I've never seen a pretty girl pull over and hop in my passenger seat just because I was looking at her

Find out if Swift has a "geographic premium" accessory pay. SNI did. I actually recieved a better payrate for being in the Northeast, which easily made up for the miles I lost sitting in trafffic waiting to cross the GW. I also liked their 3 loads youre out program where after 3 loads in the NE, they get you a load out. The problem came when I was running Ny, jersey, maine, georgia, jersey, jersey, maine, chicago, jersey...lol

 

Like I said, I'm usually in there every payday... and then some. Back when I was pulling $1000 dollar checks running team I would #### near live on steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and sweet tea.

Dangit, now I'm hungry!