STARTING A NEW CAREER WITH JBH

Still on my Missouri run basically KC then East St Louis. Almost done with my 2nd 10. Have about 200 miles to home. This is a huge part of the learning curve. As it turned out 2 stops and 650 miles to first location so reachable but barely for me with no wrong turns or even traffic delays. I wasnt given that great of advice on where to stop so as I was nearing my destination on the way there I took my first 10 with 20min. remaining on my 11 and about 30 miles from my destination just to be safe. My GPS also cost me at least 25min.

 

This is gonna be close to 1300 miles round trip and could give me close to 2800 miles for my first week and 7 deliveries but my payroll is sat 12:01 to following sat so not sure if I get paid based on time delivered or dispatched time? If I get this run again I think I can do it with only one 10 hr layover.

 

You guys that do OTR are pretty amazing. So far my runs have basically been driving to destinations then make the delivery then head for home. Make it most the way, take a 10, then finish the drive home and relax in my own bed befor next run. On this trip that second day was brutal knowin I wasn't gonna reach home and gonna have to take another 10. This morning in that 4-5:30am time frame was as bad as its been so far. Had dense fog and rain on top of all of it too. Had to get out of the truck and walk around to make sure I didn't get too tired. Didn't even care that it was pouring. So far that 4:30am hour is the scariest.

 

Did a 420 mile one stop run and done with my first 70 and on reset. Once things get ironed out a bit I'm hoping my reset will be sometime between fri and sun. That's what I was told to begin with. Figured out the long run I did to Missuori will be on this current weeks payroll so my first week on my own will be only 1500 miles and 5 deliveries plus one spotting day. This week I already have 1500 and 3 then so off too a real nice start.

 

Also i have my first legit gripe. On that long St Louis/KC run it only paid 1102 miles when the people net gps took me a route that was 1300. I new going in i could choose my own routes but didnt think if i stuck with the gps i would get shafted that bad. Im not super hacked off and its not like im gonna quit or anything i just wish somebody would have brought this too my attention. Guess it is my fault for not asking how much the route paid and not doing my own research. Chalk it up to one of those valuable lessons you learn by losing money out of your own wallet. We do get paid zip to zip but i think they said center to center also. As it turned out on that long run if i would have just followed the Mississippi basically i could have saved a ton of miles. Think basically 52 to 63 down into Iowa then go east and south instead of the route i was taken thru Wisc, and Illinoise.

 

I saw a bad accident out in northern wisc. Some poor driver was jacknifed up in the woods about 75 to 100 feet off the road. At first i was figuring he must have fell asleep but as i got up closer i saw a cadillac with its back end caved in also. This was on a highway nowhere near a intersection or turn off and weather not a factor so im guessing a deer probly ran out in the road and the cadillac slowed and the rig drilled him. Finally i found a good reason for my truck being governed to 62mph. Its tough for me to follow too close to all but the grampa's out there. Pretty sure since ive started driving here you could count the vehicles ive overtaken on one hand.

 

Had a 770 mile 5 stopper to Iowa. Rough trip. 26 pallets but half were loaded sideways and up in the nose row 2&3 were giant tall and row 1 in the front was maybe 2 feet tall so guess where rows 2 & 3 fell too? Just boxes of chips but still a mess. Trip went bad after first delivery and was a constant struggle. One of those if it could it did trips. Really not sure how much was self inflicted. Say that cuz I know there's gonna be these trips and how to cope with them is gonna be the key.

 

Had to report something to safety. Middle of night and I'm lost looking for location. Ended up in a parking lot (daycare) too small to turn around so I ended up doing a 3 point turn. When finishing the 3 point turn I pulled the trailer over a curb island with some grass on it and left tire ruts in the grass. Didn't do any damage to property other than the grass. Doesn't just about any truck driver do that at some point? Anyways I was worried about being somewhere I wasn't supposed to be and video surveillance so I got in front of it and called it in. Not sure how bad the fallout will be but not looking forward too it. G.O.A.L.- get out and look- is on every piece of literature and sign you see. With that thinking and action I'm gonna come off best case scenario stupid or worst case dangerous for putting myself in that position. Only thing that looks ok is getting in front of it.

 

Other than that trip I'm on track for a nice week. Got a turnable 1 stopper to Iowa tonight so for this pay period I will have 2775 miles and 9 deliveries. Then scheduled for a 5 stopper to Ill. and Ind. tomorrow so nice start too next weeks payroll.