My new career with Superior Carriers begins!

That could be it. I really am not worried about it. It can only help me in the long run. I am just glad to be there

 

Took a loaded trailer to a customer in McDonough this morning. Got emptied about 1pm. Ran the empty tank back to Morrow terminal for tank wash. Ate a quick bite and bob tailed to Bremen to pick up an empty tank from a manufacturing plant. Managed to beat traffic coming back. Got back at about 5:15pm. Drove back to the house for the night.

Will get to sleep in tomorrow for a bit. Have to be back at the terminal at 7:30pm to take a clean empty down to Milledgeville for a live load 10pm appt. Then take it down just south of Savannah to Riceboro for a Wednesday morning delivery. Set for 9am but I suspect we will be there way before then so hopefully they can take it early and we can do a 10 hour break and catch a load going out to who knows where just yet.

Having fun so far. Be safe out there everyone.

 

Well the first week of OTR is down. Been interesting to say the least. Quick story here. I am currently sitting in Springfield Ohio just outside of Cincinnati at the company hotel. I will be here all weekend due to a layover. Well, boredom set in and I used my phone to see if there were any Best Buys around the area. Sure enough, there was one 3 miles from here. It was a nice morning so I figured I would walk over there. Left the hotel around 11am. Not too bad of a walk. Caught some Cajun food on the way. Got to Best Buy and they had a decent lap top computer for $329. So I bought it. Then I had to walk back to the hotel. Yeah I could have grabbed a cab but it did not seem too hot when I got started back. Boy was I wrong. That felt like the longest walk back to the hotel. I swear the heat index had to be 110 or better. Got back to the room and chugged a boat load of Gatorade and water and took a cold shower. Sat down and set up my lap top. Now I have something to do the rest of today and tomorrow.

Here is a recap of the week:

Tuesday June 26- Took an empty from Morrow and picked up a load in Milledgeville at 10pm. After getting loaded headed off to Riceboro GA for a 9am delivery but we got there at like 4:30am so they took us in at 5. Got unloaded about 7am Wednesday and headed back to the Savannah terminal for our 10 hour break.

Wednesday June 26- Spent all day in the company hotel in Savannah recovering from the night run. Got up around 4pm and checked the qualcomm. Had a message to pick up a load on Thursday at noon and run it up to Columbus Ohio for a Friday delivery whenever we could get it there.

Thursday June 27- Load going to Ohio was ready for pickup in Riceboro at noon. We ran and grabbed it and headed for Ohio. Had a small safety equipment snafu. Trainer called safety and they routed us through Greer SC to pick up some for me. Made it to Greer for the night and camped out in the company hotel down the road from the terminal.

Friday June 28- Headed out from Greer SC for Columbus Ohio for an evening delivery. Got halfway through the trip and got a qualcomm message that the delivery had been bumped to Monday 6am delivery. Not sure what happened. So we hooked over to Cincinatti down the road from the terminal and got a couple of rooms at the company hotel for three nights. Currently sitting here playing on the computer.

I am learning a lot about hauling these loaded tanks. There is a lot to know and be aware of when hauling them. I have a good trainer and we get along good. He has a lot of years driving experience so I am learning a lot from him.

Be safe out there everyone.

 

We finally delivered what I deemed the load from hello Monday am. After we got unloaded, had a message to pick up a load in Cincinatti that evening. Dropped the dirty tank at the tank wash place and boogied back to the same hotel we were staying in all weekend. Took our 10 hour break and went and picked up the load at 10pm. After loaded, we headed to Chattanooga TN for a 8am delivery. We got there at a little before 7 and I think they started unloading us around 7:30am. Got finished at around 8:15. I had a full 11 hours on my clock since the trainer pulled the load down there. He does not want me pulling loaded tanks at night yet. I used my 11 hour clock to get us back to Morrow terminal. It only took us about 2.5 hours to get back.

We were supposed to pull an empty to Winder but got sent on a mission to pick up a trailer from a broke down truck and take it to Winder. After we left we got a message on qualcomm to cancel that. Roadside repair apparently got the broke down tractor back running. Turned around and came back to the terminal and got in the car to come home for the rest of the day and the 4th of July. Will head back out on Thursday around 11am to pick up a load in Doraville GA and take it to Nashville for a Friday delivery.

I have a question for any of you that drive these new International Pro Star Max Forces. I am having major problems downshifting. Can anyone give me some tips and techniques on how to down shift properly and smoothly on these Max Forces? They shift different than the Internationals(not Pro Stars) we had a technical school.

 

I know what you mean. The truck I am driving is starting to make me look like a real horses arse. I told my trainer I did not have that much trouble in school. I don't know if he believes me or not. He has been very patient with me though thank goodness.

The gears giving me the biggest problems are 6, 5, and 4. I can hit 6th most the time but it is usually pretty rough. 5th and 4th are about a lost cause. I will get more practice come Thursday.

 

I clutch out of gear then rev up to get in a lower gear. I have not tried double clutching on down shifting. Can you do that and it will work?

 

I use this method and it works for the most part. But these Max Forces are designed for low rpms. I think I just keep over revving on the down shift because I am used to bringing it up to 1500 rpms (from school) and letting it drop until it hits the sweet spot. These trucks don't take much rpm's to downshift. I seem to get too excited with the gas pedal. I have four more weeks with my trainer so I should have it down by then only to get thrown into an older truck and have to learn the shifting all over again!