My RBX journey Strafford MO

hey thanks bowhunter. Weird thing is I got a call back from Rob saying for no specific reason that they couldn't hire me which is a shame really as I was looking forward to coming there.

Sounds like a really good place to work for, be safe out there man!

 

Ok, From Sandusky OH I Went to Springfield OH to Tulsa OK to Okmulgeeola OK to Lincoln Il to Alton IL to the RBX yard in Springfield then home for the weekend. I had a few things to take care of. 2609 miles for the week. From the house I went to Bloomfield MO and picked up a load going to Fort Pierce Florida. That one run from home is 1239 miles. I deliver tomorrow morning then heading back to Springfield MO. I called my Fleet Manager and told him about an issue my family was having and I needed to get to the house and a few days off. He told I was doing a great job and that's not a problem, take what ever time I needed. Jesse my Fleet Manager is a very professional man. With his mindset he, and I'm sure the other Fleet Managers understand that if your mind is on issues at home then its not on the road were it should be. There going to book me a load back to the yard. If it weren't for the issue at home I would have stayed out for another week or so.

Traveling around I have seen some stupid people and dumb behavior. A Truck Driver texting while driving. He was weaving from left to right across the lines and not a care in the world. A driver almost lay his flatbed over. He either fell asleep or doing something while driving and he went all the way off the shoulder into the dirt but he managed to get it back up on the highway. A Driver reading a magazine and another reading a book while driving. A woman if front of my was putting on that stuff for eyelashes. I felt, she's going to do something stupid so I backed off her a safe distance and sure enough she locked her breaks, stopped half way past her turn, they made her turn into the wrong lane. Seen a few drivers pass others with only 5 to 6 feet of room between their trailer and the car their passing. Seen Truck Drivers try to intimidate 4-wheelers which is stupid, unprofessional and an unnecessary rick to the families in those cars. Over all I would say 98% of the Truck Drivers on the road are very professional. The other 2% need to have their license taken for life. As far as 4-wheelers are concerned, well I understand these people are Doctors, Hostess, Technicians, Business Owners, Cashiers Mothers, Fathers ect, ect, but I really do believe when a lot of people get into their vehicle their brain turns to some sort of mush with zero common sense. A lot of them have no idea how close they may have come to loosing their life out on the road or causing others to loose their life when they cut off Truck Drivers or their in a rush and pull out in front of an eighteen wheeler and the Driver is having an Oh ##### moment standing on their brakes. That's enough negativity.

On a good note, I'm still enjoying myself. I've got trip planning pretty much figured out. At least a set of steps in my brain to make it go much faster. Know I'm going to start working on slowing down a bit and increasing my fuel mileage. I've lost everything I had because I spent to much time trip planning and felt I might be late for any appointment I may have. Go figure. After all the years in the Army being late is anything less thing less then 15 prior. Just a habit of showing up early.

Well I'll update next week. If anyone has any questions just post them here. I'll receive an e-mail notification which I check about very other day. Everyone be safe.

 

hey bowhunter Mark just curious if you're still doing the recap vs reset experiment and if you have come to any conclusions yet. Scrolled back through the posts and if I missed one where you summed it all up I apologize. Thanks in advance.

 

I've always been curious, RBX has a pretty decent starting pay at 38 CPM. What is it like when you include accessorial pay?

 

Still messing with it. Recap will work if your able to run line 3 driving and line 4 on duty not driving at least 8.5 to 9.75 hours every day. That way after you have been out for 8 days the 8.5 to 9.75 hours you worked 8 days ago are added back to your 70 hour clock. Example, if I only have 9 hours left on my 70 hour week when I wake up in the morning and I spend 8.5 hours on duty today that will only leave me with .5 or 1/2 hour left. Then after midnight I would pick up 8 or 9 or however many hours I had worked 8 days ago. So it is possible to continuously run day after day. But what can and will mess you up is if something goes wrong on one of those days. For example, the day before the nation wide DOT inspection a couple weeks ago someone stole one lug nut off of my tandems. I was in the middle of Ohio at a small truck stop away from any big cities. Took 6 hours to correct the problem. Our maintenance found a place 20 miles away fairly quickly, but when I arrived there I had to wait for a mechanic. Murphy's Law usually travels with me most of the time, LOL. That's means that 8 days later I would only have 3 hours available for on duty time to add to what ever was remaining on my 70 hour clock. If you have 2 or 3 Murphy days in a row you might be better off sitting for a 34 hour restart. Hope this helps.

 

RBX has accessorial pay, however I haven't ever been held over long enough anywhere to receive it. I think the longest I've sit was at a Wal-Mart D.C. twice. At the first one I was there for 2 hours but I had to do an 8/2 split to get there because my 70 hour clock was messed up. So I had to take a 2 hour break when I arrived anyway so it all worked out in the end. At the second one was unloaded within an hour after arriving.

 

Look like I'll be coming over to RBX in July how does the fuel bonus work and what is usually the amount you will make thanks ..

 

And how often do you travel 44, I lived an hour away from RBX. 2 mins off of 44 in St Robert MO

 

This is the fuel bonus info.

 

Jarhead63, If I'm running the Midwest then I pass by the house often. If I have time I will do my 30 minute break and my wife will meet me for lunch. Last week I think it was or maybe the week before, my wife, daughter and both grandchildren came out and we had a little 30 minute picnic. Three weeks ago I came down I-44 4 times. There have been a few times I have made it to Waynesville and did my 10 hour break at home. You live in ST Robert? I live in Laquey just past the Buckhorn exit.