Penciled In....

OK... to continue......

Got unloaded in Sacramento... since we were stuck in Reno for 2 days we now have an "urgent load" and get moved to the front of the line (of about 20 trucks) for a door... Want to be unloaded quick at Safeway in Sacramento?... be 2 days late... that seems to be the trick

We knew the light loads couldn't last.... sure enough... a beer load from Chico CA to Durham NC... I'd figure they make enough hooch in the backwoods of NC that they wouldn't neeed to import any booze... Run went OK for the most part.... As I was nightshifting it coming down the mountains out of TN into NC on I-40 I was 4th in a line of about 7 or 8 trucks... guy up front apologized over the CB about being slow as his load was top heavy... those of us behind told him don't worry about it take it how you can get it & the whole bunch of us were yukking it up on the ride down when almost out of nowhere just after the 2nd tunnel Mr. Supertrucker in an old longnose Pete comes blowing by the whole line of us doing about 70.... One of the guys in our line got on the radio & asked the guy if he knew trucks were "right lane only" and the speed limit down the hill was 50MPH... of course Mr. Supertrucker comes back laughing, telling the guy to "f off", etc, etc.....

Well, we finally all get down the hill where it turns back to 65 & one of the group hammered on out ahead.... about 10 minutes later he comes back over the CB telling us all to watch the breakdown lane... says he won't spoil it for us, but we'll all love it.

Well... sure enough, just outside W.Ashville there sits Mr.Supertucker having a nice chat with one of North Carolina's finest.

After I get through Ashville, make the climb on the other side, & make the obligatory stop at the top, it gets so d*mn foggy once I roll off the onramp I'd swore someone threw a sheet over the windshield... I go up as far as 8th & ride the jakes all the way down at the blistering pace of about 25MPH 'cause about the only thing I can see is the lines in the road for about 2 feet in front of the bumper.

So we get Durham's beer supply offloaded & head down the raod about 30 miles for a load of sweet potatos (another 40Ker - of course) & head to Lousianna... Get the 'taters unloaded, clean the mashed 'taters out of the trailer & head a half-hour down the road for a load of frozen sweet 'taters going to Washington.

Ahhh the joys of I-80 & Wyoming.... We fuel up & grab a shower at Sapp Bros. in Cheyenne... I take over & we head out of there at about 2300-ish... High wind warning & no light trailers warnings are up... gee, where have I seen THAT before????.... 40's our lucky number it seems as we've got another 40K in the box... so "light" we ain't. (still)

I get just outside Rawlins and it starts changing from rain to snow... by the time I get to Elk Mtn it's all snow... & blowing so bad everyone's down to about 35-40 MPH... road wasn't bad, not slippery... but visibility is pathetic... ran 2nd in a line of 4 at that speed all the way to Rock Springs... Pulled in to the Flying-J in Rock Springs for a cup of coffee & figured I'd take a 20-30 minute break from the crap conditions... as I get back the truck with my coffee word comes over the CB, I-80 shut down from the state line to Exit 39... so, shut down on 80 in WY... haven't we seen this movie before recently?

 

Been a while since I've updated this... but then... I've been kinda busy.

Closing in on the halfway point of my 60K though... that's the good news.

Dropped the above load in WA & head a few miles down the road for a load of processed frozen 'taters for PA... we've hauled so many d*mn 'taters lately we're seeing 'em in our sleep.

Get that to PA... since it's late friday pickins are slim on loads I guess... after a couple calls to our travel agent we take one out of OH bound for Denver... get to Denver way early & drop it in the yard... do a quick Sam's Club/Walmart run down to Pueblo & head out for Dodge City NE.... almost....

Night dispatch calls us... has a guy about 3 exits up from us with clutch issues & wants to know if we'll take that up to Denver real quick... oh, what the heck... Dodge City is a long deadhead anyway.

Get that to Denver on time... then get another Sam's Club load to Idaho for the trouble... maybe we should have kept going to Dodge City... now, what do we get out of Idaho.... more processed 'taters of course

Dropped the 'taters in Jersey last night... currently sitting just south of Philly waiting to get loaded up for a short run with some produce bound for VA that'll get my trainer a chance to run over to his accountant & sign his income tax forms.

 

OK... quick update to the story.... training's over... I'm an official "A Seat".

My 1st trainer ended up turning in his truck as he ended up needing extended time off for a back surgury (it went well, he's currently recouperating & doing well).

For my last 30K I (again) got REAL lucky.... my 2nd trainer was a lease op with 14 years OTR experience... & D*MN what an education that was.

Don't get me wrong here... 1st trainer was a great guy & willing to show me anything I wanted to know & then some... but the 2nd was not only a great guy, & one heck of a truck driver... but a 1st rate businessman to boot.

About a month ago we had a little downtime in Springfield so he went up to payroll and had them print out his last two months worth of settlements... we then sat down out in the courtyard & went through a half-dozen cups of coffee & half a pack of cigarettes each going over the fine details of leasing a truck & running it as a buisness.

By the time my last week of training came around he was comfortable enough with my abilities to get approval through our FM & safety to allow me to run the truck as a solo (a brand new 2011 Cascadia).
(see the "Current Prime Lease-Operators:" thread for details)

Well, more than comfortable actually to hear him tell it... I guess he actually thought I was a setup at first when I got on the truck... in other words, a Prime driver posing as a trainee to evaluate him as a trainer... 'cause he didn't believe at first that I was a "trainee"... but that's another story.

To make a long story short... my 60K mile "training period" with Prime that started back on the last week of Feb has been great... I've got my "A Seat" status, met a TON of great people in the process.

& once again, I want to thank IronPony, Sazook, U2, Emton, et al, for all the help back when I was a mere recruit with zero seat time.