Stevens Transport aviary

You obviously have to do what you feel is right, but three weeks, 7,000 miles, get it out of the way and move on... you will have a different DM in Grad fleet.

 

I got my Stevens post card today, and it states:
New freight= excellent miles
New dedicated division
More hometime
100% APU fleet
Alliance now offers 1 year lease.
Orientation for me will be the week of 12/02/12.

On the road again.

 

Currently scheduled a 11/25/2012 orientation date. What are Stevens grooming standards concerning beards and hair? Im a pretty clean guy, but occasionally I like to wear a ZZ-Top beard and longer hair. :smt020

 

Nowdays, pretty much anything goes. Except don't show up with swastika's all over and showing. After all, the owner's are of the Jewish faith and that wouldn't go over too well.
Long hair and beards are okay.

 

Ok, I am digging this current run... first drop and second for that matter... a mile apart... are within three miles of my brothers house... just had dinner and a nice visit with his family who I haven't seen in a year and a half or so.

 

Sometimes the stars align and good fortune befalls us. Glad you got yours.

 

Day one of "Trainer Classes" in the books ...and I'm still alive, lol.

I wasn't sure what to expect starting off today but find out after our 8am roll call that we had to do a road tests with Bill Cheney. Broke up into two groups of 5 and still had 3 extra guys so imo, that was a positive issue to have. I think there were 3-4 of us that were "new" trainers and the rest were in for re-certification. Bill made sure that the new guys were out with him in the morning, the second group out in the afternoon and the rest in the evening.

We took out one of the school trucks, I'm assuming to make us ALL look like we couldn't shift worth a #### or to throw off those who have never driven a 10 speed before, lol. There were more struggles shifting than I was expecting and even Bill made a comment to one guy "there are 10 gears, just put it into one of them..." lol... For anyone going though the school here or thinking about it, the school trucks have had very hard lives and are no way like the fleet of Stevens road trucks! Some "experienced" drivers were scratching gears as if it was their first time driving, lol. We got 4 of us around the circuit before lunch break.

After lunch we were turned over to the red shirts to help out with OR1. Red shirts broke us up into two groups, one for backing exercises on the hill and one to give road evaluations. I picked road evaluations due to not wanting to get soaked in the threat of rain, lol. For the road evaluations, we were instructed not to be too harsh and remember where our skills were at in this phase of training. Really we should be asking ourselves, "is this person trainable?"

There were four of us "trainers" taking groups out for road evaluations, we got our students and off we went. There were 5 students assigned per truck but one on my assignment was absent so I had 4. "okay, who is driving first?" lol. Asking for a volunteer, I figure that the most confident person in their skills would volunteer but turned out to be the opposite, lol. NONE of the students attended Stevens school so there was no familiarity with the company or the equipment. I won't get into specifics of each but I felt that all that I evaluated were trainable. Hopefully I made a positive influence on them and their skills as a driver going forward. Most importantly, ...I had a good time!

Ready for day 2...

 

Day two of "Trainer Class"...

Totally different day today. Till about 3pm, we were just listening to Cheney tell stories then after dinner we were up on the hill. Those senior drivers who were in for re-certification, the hill was optional but was required of all the first time trainers. Since I did road evaluations yesterday, I wanted to stay on the hill tonight and be involved in the backing exercises. I don't have to tell any of you but when we were all at this stage of training, we were all scared ######## and nervous as can be when ever we were on the public roads but a lot of that anxiety goes away when we were on the hill. It is no exception with these students, you could see it in their faces. Not once tonight did I have to remind a student to breath, lol.

Guys, just two days into this training and I'm having constant flashbacks from when I was in their exact shoes. I really enjoying HELPING them and teaching them what I've learned.

Anyways, I got to be stationed at my favorite exercise: the serpentine! This challenge was my first challenge when I was on the hill and I was just amazed at watching one of the red shirts back all the way down, circle the last barrel and back though again in the opposite direction! I was TOTALLY impressed! Unfortunately I don't remember his name but he IS STILL a red shirt here... Ended up with a total of 6 students at the serpentine challenge. Of those 6, only one was not able to get thought the challenge completely at least once and that was only because we ran out of time. I was very impressed with ALL of the students in their ability to take in direction (even when I was wrong, lol) and their attitudes! I was able to identify what each one of them were doing wrong and what I needed to have them do for THEM to correct their mistakes and it showed in their progress each time attempting the challenge.

All 10 of the students I've worked with to this point, I would not hesitate training. Honestly, my only disappointment to this point is that I only got to spend limited time with them ....but hopefully I've already given them just one thing that might stick with them that they can carry with them moving forward.

I forgot to note that I ended up with 2231 miles and 7.2 (qualcomm) mpg last week. Was a little short but I did get back here to the yard on Saturday late afternoon. Had I worked a full week, I probably would have ended up ~2,800 to even as high as 3,100 mile range.

 

What a pain!
Had a 1400 mile, one drop load I tried to find a truck for tonight. The load was on a truck that broke down. Found three trucks that were empty, but none of the three would respond to my phone or QC. Even tho I told them the details.
One truck decided he'd wait and see what he got from dispatch.
He got a trip to the meat patch.
The other three? they'll be joining him soon.
You can lead a horse to water....

 

Wow... just Wow

One thing leads to another... I was just fortunate to be able to visit with one of my brothers and his family that probably would not have happened had I not taken a repower over a week ago... I was in Ohio empty and took the repower to Cheyenne, which led to a load from Lexington to Ottawa and then Ottawa to MA...

The odds of me being empty in the vicinity of Ottawa to get that load had I not taken the Cheyenne load are pretty slim.

Karma people... there is usually a payoff somewhere down the line...