My Journy with Swift

dodgeram, that truck is not one of the ones that we picked up. I hope you are doing well and can get back on the road quickly.

I just realized that most people talk about their trucks and that I have neglected to so allow me to remedy that oversight. I picked up 2007 Volvo 670 with 285k miles. As with all things I tend to prepare for the worst, so when it wasn't as bad as some things i have heard I was pleasantly surprised. It was fairly clean and is in decent shape. I will need to detail it to my liking when I get it home but it isn't the trash heap i was expecting. Everything in it works and it seems to run pretty good so far. There are only a couple of screw holes in the dash and small piece cracked on the front bumper. Overall I am happy with it and hopefully it will see me through some good miles in the very near future.

I will say that I was slightly concerned when I picked up the qualcomm and found about 40 messages on it from the previous driver. Many of those messages were about the truck "not running right" and wanting a different truck. After seeing that the previous driver seemed to complain about everything and not just the truck I decided to take it with a grain of salt and moved on.

I am still sitting in Columbus waiting to get a plan back to my terminal. I have made some phone calls and sent some messages but no luck so far.

 

I made some phone calls this morning and was told they were working with planners to get me back to my terminal in MI. A few minutes later I get preplan that is going to NY. I ended up on the phone with my new DM and he said that there wasn't anything coming to MI until tomorrow. I could go to NY if I wanted and he would try to get me back from there or I could sit.

Not being too interested in sitting another day I accepted the load. I had just been joking with one of the drivers that my first load would be to NY. Oh well, I got hired to drive their freight where it needed to go. It was a long trip just because I was routed on mostly secondary roads but it still felt great to be behind the wheel of my own truck. This time I was actually getting paid to haul freight which somehow felt better. Deadheading and trying to get home just didn't feel right for since that isn't exactly what they hired me for. I will try to update frequently and post my miles and such. Drive safe.

 

I received a preplan going from buffalo, NY to detroit, MI. To meet the appointment times I would need to pick it up around 10pm and drive through the night to make the appointment. I was on I-90 in OH at around 3am just driving down the road with almost no other traffic. About this time I just started laughing. I can't believe I am getting paid to do this!

I made my delivery in Detroit and deadheaded down to the terminal to meet with my DM and put the trailer I picked up in the shop since it needed a new tire. I got a load offer for the following day that would deliver in Grand Rapids, MI so I could get home and get the rest of my stuff.

Made it to the reciever and got checked in without a problem. I started talking to some of the other drivers and realized that one of them had been sitting for 7 hours waiting to get a dock and another had been there yesterday and sat for 12 hours. I guess I was lucky since after only 2 hours they got everyone in a dock including me. Another 2 hours later I get a knock on my door and they ask me to come look at something. A 2000lb bag of rice was laying on the floor of the trailer and there was nothing they could do with it. After talking to claims I was instructed to return to my terminal so the load could be fixed.

I guess I won't be going home tonight. I made it back to the terminal with 3 minutes to spare on my 14 hour clock but it was too late to get the load fixed. First thing this morning I show them the load and they just laughed. They have no idea what they are supposed to do with it. I got it T-called and now have a new load to get me by the house. I should get in late tonight with a load that delivers Monday morning. Until the next update stay safea.

 

I finally got home for the weekend to clean my truck up and get the rest of my gear. I picked up a coleman cooler that plugs into the DC outlets and loaded with sandwhich meats, drinks, fruits and veggies. Time to save some more money while out on the road. Had myself ready to go early this morning to deliver the load I had been sitting on. Made it to the reciever about an hour early as planned and was parked at a truck stop across the street waiting on a load an hour later.

As soon as I had stopped I got a message from my DM telling me to call claims about my earlier load refusal and that I had been put on safety hold. Talked to claims and explained everything to them and they promptly pulled me off of hold and within an hour I had a pre-plan. I quick glance revealed that it had a delivery appointment 4 hours after my 14 hour clock would expire so I turned it down and waited.

A little over an hour later I had another pre-plan. This one picked up at the Gary, IN terminal and delivers in NC anytime tomorrow. This one I could do and had a total of over 750 miles on it. I headed over to Gary and picked up my load. Took me a few minutes to get out of there since I had to track down someone to take a lock off of the trailer. Turns out that whoever dropped the load is now missing their enforcer lock.

I left Gary with plans to stop for the night on the east side of Indianapolis. All was going well until 1/2 mile before the I-70 interchange on 465. I was driving in the middle lane when I heards a pop, followed by hissing and what felt like a total loss of power. I quickly manuevered my vehcile which was quickly dying in the middle of the highway onto the shoulder. A quick assesment revealed that the tractor brakes had applied themselves and would not release. The wheels did not lock up but I wasn't going anywhere.

I called on-road and about 2 hours later a repair guy showed up and got to work on replacing the faulty brake chamber. About an hour later he was finished and I was free to go. The good thing about this was that I didn't loose too much time since I was planning to stop shortly anyway. The bad part was that I was now 2 hours past my 14 and I was slightly concerned about finding a parking spot.

I did however find a spot at the Pilot just a few miles down the road. I should still make the delivery on time tomorrow although it will now be a few hours later than I originally planned. All things considered I can't complain. Things are going to break on occassion and in this situation it didn't really cost me anything. Just another learning experience. Now it is time to make a sandwhich and get some sleep. Take care and stay safe.