The ramblings of a rookie

Very valuable insight on the topic to bear in mind in the future.

However I think this truck is going away. The flatbed division manager wants it off the fleet, as it has failed us repeatedly now. She will probably wind up back in the woods pulling logs, or get sold. Only time will tell i guess. Who knows maybe i will wind up keeping it but it doesnt sound like it

 

I just put a roll of duct tape on the floor and used the center to hold my cup. No more spillage.

TRUCK UPDATE: still dont know whats up with the 600. It got limped home derated to 1300rpm max. Boss says if and when they get it going, it will not be part of the flatbed fleet any more, and will likely return to the woods due to reliability concerns.

I have mixed feelings about this. The boss said yesterday it is "highly likely" I will be getting a new truck. I pushed for some detail and found that I am most likely going from the 18spd 600 cummins sexy beast (to me lol) into a brand new cascadia with the dt12 automatic. This will be our first auto, as part of a push for better fuel economy.

A positive to this is that i am likely going to be running further than we have been if this truck situation goes as expected. Things change fast so who knows.

Anybody got anything nice to say about the dt12? Or the cascadias in general?

 

Just a quick update...

Not dead yet! Lol

Been busy as can be, working my full 14 pretty much every day with weekends off, remained in the daycab until this monday then got put into a 2016 eagle, which i am not a fan of. Its nice to have a bunk again though, so there's that.

To go with the theme of everything goi g wrong for me as it seems to, there was some fun getting this truck.
Boss gives the truck assignment, I walk to the truck, and the bunk door is open. Not thinking, i go to smack it closed on my way by not realizing it has a locking proprod thing. Almost ripped the door off the hinge (1 rivet left, you have to hold the door while you open it or it swings all goofy). Do my pretrip, low oil, took 2.5 gallons. Get that taken care of, and go to get in, and THE KEYS ARE LOCKED IN THE TRUCK! Luckily the boss had a spare and was right there. I wasnt the last person to get in the truck so im not taking the blame there. Then just to add on... I can hardly drive this thing. This truck shifts soooo different from anything ive driven. But im gaining on it.

Pretty consistently running back and forth from maine to western mass/Ct/Ri. Having a sleeper now ive only been home one night this week. The wife and the little one are taking it well.

Todays adventure consisted of bringing engineered wood product from maine to brookfield, MA , then going to windham, CT to load to go back to maine with. I was on track to make it to my destination and sleep there, then Mass happened lol. Cruising up 395 CT into MA, traffic stops, 2 miles of creeping along and it ends with what appears to be daycab Volvo burnt to the ground. Things start to roll good again, up 290 to 495, then my gps starts dinging, 72 minute delay ahead. ####. I was barely within minutes of making my goal for the night on my log. When i come to the backup, its right at the exit for us3 south towards 95. Google says 95 is flowing good, so i took my chances and took 3 to 95. Which also turned out to be bricked for like 20 miles. So i didnt make it. Im about 2 hours shy of my destination, resting comfortably at the kittery, ME truck stop

All in all everything is going well. Ive got pictures to upload but i havent had a chance to edit the company name and dots off the trucks, so ill put them up later.

Just wanted to touch base and say im still at it, still learning, and still loving it.

And everything still seems to break when i touch it lol. But only some of that is my fault...

Ok. Ramble over until the next update haha

 

Still at it. Learning more every day. Loving the job.

Been in the truck since monday, managed to slide home for the night. Gonna start staying out for the full week here shortly, once my pay rate switches over to percentage (still in my hourly probational period).

Got lost today in mass. Sort of. Took directions from a guy at my 1st stop to get to my 2nd, only 20 miles away. Misunderstood and made a wrong turn early on. I saw an entrance to a bjs distribution center, and made the incorrect assumption that it would be a good place to turn around. Pulled in and around the corner to find it was all one way traffic to the guard shack, and there was a line. So i got to wait my turn to tell the guard im an idiot and turn around. So i learned not to do that again lol.

There is a brand new international prostar 10spd auto at our shop for me. Its a loaner until the new cascadias we ordered come in. Im looking forward to the automatic experience to be honest. The eagle I have been in the last 2 weeks is miserable to shift in traffic.

I'll have more later

Stay safe out there