Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

No, I don't think the two days wait was due to putting my notice in. My terminal mgr. was supposed to call me today about some local options out of the Richmond terminal. I never did hear from him but I did raise a nicotine-deprived rant about sitting so long.

Supposedly my terminal mgr. pushed out my PTA on Friday to Sunday. I wasn't aware of this since I don't usually do mac 34 PTA checks. Usually I set my PTA when I send my empty call. Apparently this may not be the best way. So they told me today that my PTA was set for Sunday afternoon. Still don't know why it was blown out. I didn't need a 34.

I would like to hear their options with the local driving out of Richmond. But I still need a sleeper cab to reside in and this sounds like a day cab position.

Currently it looks like I'm going with Epes Transportation doing that route from VA to PA and then back to VA. I'm pretty sure this is going to get repetitious but for the money I think I can do it for now. I may go back to OTR later because I honestly do love this lifestyle of being everywhere in this great country.

 

I had to give my notice out here because if I gave it once I got to Richmond then I wouldn't really be giving 2 weeks notice. I would guess I would get really crappy runs for those 2 weeks, if anything. I figured if I give it out here and let them know I need to be in Richmond at least I would get the miles back across the U.S. I was keeping my fingers crossed they won't maroon me out here. Looks like they won't.

I did get a 11 miles load today, delivery tcall from this terminal to a live unload. Lovely. 7 hours later I was leaving the gate with my paperwork. However, they did give me a 2500 mile load picking up nearby tomorrow, live load, and going out to TN near VA. So that is good.

 

I would have done this if they abandoned me but I stacked all the junk from my storage unit up on my top bunk (securely with the mesh netting thing) to take back to VA with me. The rest went into the dumpster and to the Goodwill Store.

Speaking of which, I had to make some hard decisions last time I was out in WA at my storage unit. It was too expensive to ship my storage unit things. It was too expensive to rent a U-Haul to move it back east (about $2500 with truck, gas and lodging). And I couldn't just leave it in storage because I don't know when I was going to be back there. So some hard decisions needed to be made.

I gave Goodwill my collection of books I've been collecting for over 20 years. It's probably the only thing I collect other than heartache and ex-women. It pained me to turn over 1000 hand picked books to them. I kept some of the older 1st editions, some autographed books and some that meant something to me. The rest are going to be bought for a steal at Goodwill. I'm becoming more ok with it day by day.

The rest of my crap is stuffed up in the top bunk waiting to be unloaded in Richmond and stored in my parents attic.

I checked on the status of my bike today and it will be at my parents house tomorrow!! How is it possible? These guys did awesome. Only 8 days from time of drop off to delivery. $715 door to door. The company I used was called AA Transport out of San Diego. They are brokers and were the cheapest I could find to ship my motorcycle from Tacoma to Williamsburg, VA. Other companies were north of $800 or $900 and couldn't allow me to bring it down to a nearby terminal. And the bike is insured for $5000. Not worried about scratches since it's not a garage queen and has been fairly beat up over the 10+ years I have owned it.

 

Women and life on the road...how do you do it?

I've been with Brandi since Easter. Two months doesn't seem like a lot of time but it moved fast. We are completely compatible and the chemistry was just right, nearly perfect even. I really didn't hold back in this once I could feel that she was the one. And it's not often that I get that feeling. As a matter of fact I can't even remember feeling like this before. Maybe it's been so long but she is "the one".

I know in the past I've caught some feelings for someone while out on the road. But they were misplaced. They were for the wrong reasons at the time and I mistook misguidance for infatuation. But this time it was different. The chemistry was there and we understood each entirely but it seems pride, miscommunication and just basic tension of being apart buried this. I don't know how you guys do it.

How do you spend so much time on the road away from someone that you honestly want to be around? I can kind of see, after many years of marriage or a lengthy and secure relationship, taking the opportunity of being out on the road as some kind of time for solitude and reflection. Reflect on those great things that attract two people to each other. Sometimes a break could be welcomed. What's that about absence makes the heart grow fonder? But what about when a relationship is new, it's just taking root and the only thing you want is to have a significant amount of time just one-on-one?

Brandi and I talked a lot. We talked everyday and not one day passed whereby we didn't spend hours on the phone, downtime texting, sending pics, talking about our future together. Once we got to that safe spot where we were comfortable, we recognized the uniqueness of our relationship, we committed ourselves to the relationship and our future we let our guard down. We had some arguments but they usually were based on miscommunication of phone and text conversations, the stress of being physically apart and just growing pains of two adults that had become accustomed to our two separate adult lives. But be committed ourselves to making it work because it was worth it. But I threw it away tonight. And we were so freakin close. And the kicker is that when we did see each other face to face, those few times in the past since Easter when we had some days or even hours to spend together, things were absolutely perfect. No exaggeration, when we are physically near each other we function and love each other like one solid being.

We were close because next week I'll be out in Virginia. I would have had a decent amount of face to face time with her before I left for orientation. From that point on, with this new job, I would have at least a 34 hour break off a week right near her. I would have been passing through the area 3-4 times a week to grab dinner with her, a movie, just some her and I time. I was so close to making this work.

We had an inside joke about the second time being the best. The second marriage. Her friends are also the close friends of my sister and she is my sister's best friend. This whole circle of friends is coincidentally going through engagements and 2nd time around marriages. We joke that the first marriage is just a practice for the real one, the second marriage. And Brandi and I have discussed this. Yes it is soon but we are both adults, we know what we want and what we are looking for. She has two boys from her previous and only other marriage. We both were reluctant to talk marriage or anything serious at first but we got to that point where it was comfortable and natural. It took a lot of lonely highway miles on the road to really think about what it would be like to enter into a premade family- her and her boys. I've never been in this situation . Never. I know that was monumental for her to even contrive the notion of letting me into to that tight family circle. And not only did I accept this but I embraced the idea of being a family with her and her boys. Of being the stepdad. Of being that adult for once in my life and doing something that I would never have really considered before. Coincidentally, if we married her kids (my stepkids) would now be cousins with my nieces. Those kids all grew up together as best buds - my nieces and her two boys.

But now, an argument and issue over something seemingly small, big to me at the time but probably to become more insignificant over time, things are done. I can't help to feel that this OTR thing, the physical distance that separates two people whom want nothing more than to be together, has caused the great divide and nailed this thing shut. It's more than unfortunate. In the small sphere of my life it's tragic and impossible.

I don't know how you guys keep it together, keep your relationships fresh and mostly worry-free while doing a job such as this but you are greater people than me. I have tried it and failed and just when I was about to cross into a much safer place.

 

Sounds a lot different than Swift but sounds like you are making it work. Seems like a lot of this is learning a new system.
I'm not a big fan of the "ride along" system but I understand how it is necessary to see how a new to the company driver drives and also just to learn the job. I'm sure I'll have something like that. Although not looking forward to it.

It seems like a lot of drivers switch companies for more home time, like the guy from El Salvador that switched to your company. I'm starting to see that myself.