Swift Lewiston starting Monday 8/1

Switched to team driving yesterday. Drove all day with mentor in the sleeper. Now at the Denver terminal waiting for a dispatch after getting an air leak fixed.

Sitting at 179/23, a bit behind schedule on hours because of repair down times. Almost have all my blind sides done though cause every time we pull into a terminal I do at least one blind side.

But I don't like terminals, driving into one means I'm sitting for hours . At least I got a Walmart run in though since it's just right across the field. And did get a free shower today. So I guess there's good to go with the bad.

Anyways having a great time when I'm driving.

 

244/48

That was an adventure.

Got home Saturday afternoon, taking a few days off. Heading back up to Lewiston on Wednesday to solo out, and rumor has it there is a truck already waiting for me. Was either come home or hang out in Lewiston all weekend doing nothing....yea I'll go home.

Went through two mentors. First mentor's house burned down so he had to go off duty for a few weeks. Was home for almost a week before I got a new mentor.

Drove west coast to gulf coast to east coast and back to the west coast. Drove every major grade that I know of except Grapevine. Ironically never hit Lewiston Hill till my second to last day.

Decided OTR long haul is definitely not want I want to do for too many years since I have a young family, but it's all I got for a while probably. Got REALLY REALLY home sick a few times. Maybe that will get better with time.

Got some information on some dedicated runs though that will keep me close to and home frequently. So with some experience getting on one of them will probably help.

Right now my major concern is food on the road. I was definitely spending WAY too much money for food. That is going to be priority when I get my own truck is figuring out a better way for food besides fast food and hot case meals. I can eat well on $5 a day at home but it wasn't happening on the road. More like $5 to $10 per meal.

Second priority is entertainment. SiriusXM radio is a must. Was driving me crazy finding a radio station and losing it within an hour and having to hunt the dial for another...anything...to listen to.

 

Cleared for solo! First truck is a Volvo with 500K miles on it. First load is same as first load with mentor, pickup paper here in Lewiston and take it to Las Vegas.

Supposedly this truck is to be retired so it's got to eventually get to Phoenix and I'll get another truck.

 

It's a 670. Don't like it. Front end is bent out of shape, makes a THUMP whenever I turn left (probably factors in it being retired), doesn't have cruise control, and the CB hookups are on the dash board.

Stopped at home for the night. Thing I love about this run is that my house is less than a mile off the preplan route, and there's truck parking.

And I LOVE my Sirius radio btw, highly recommended as one of first truck purchases.

 

More thumpy than grindy, and just does it once during a 90 degree turn. Feels like it's coming from the right side during a left hand turn. I'll take a closer look at the leaf springs in the morning. Not overly concerned with it since should be getting rid of the truck soon anyways.