Trans Am Still

jungHo, I will be praying for your mom. I hope all of the test results will be good for her. Buttermilk pie is a Deep South thing....one of everyone's summertime favorites.

The King never had any issues with TransAm being unwilling to fix a trailer. The biggest issue was the time factor and the frustration because most of the time it was something the last driver ignored. He did the same as Panhandle and passport, TransAm paid for the part and he would fix it.

The safety scores will always be high for TransAm. If you read the posts from some of the bashers you will understand why.... most of them were not cut out for OTR. It also stands to reason that a company that gives student drivers the opportunity for employment is going to have more issues than a company that only takes on experienced drivers. So to me it is not really a problem, do your job to the best of your ability and you might lose a little time here and there taking care of business and the trade off is that you are getting the opportunity to gain OTR and reefer experience and move on to something else if you wish.

My vote is on Dodge also, honeybadger. I think the only time he didn't go to Dodge after Ochaleta was his last day with TransAm and they had him take a swap to Pauls Valley.

I think passport and honeybadger both use the app for TransFlo with good success. Should be a link for it on the blog.

 

For you I think it would be more difficult, Pete.....your a tall fella. The King is under six foot and all bone and muscle....been trying to fatten him up for years to no avail. It's disgusting .....he eats healthy .... and twice as much as most people. He drives a Peterbilt ....and preferred the turning radius on the KW.....but likes the power of this truck. I guess we are narrowing down which tractor does what the best!

 

I can't do the caves. The idea seems cool and I would be up for it, but I have a crazy phobia of parking garages and can't walk under overpasses. I would hate to get down to Carthage only to end up having a panic attack and then having to wait for another load. So if that ever pops up on my satellite it's an auto-decline.

So they send me down here to the TA in Montgomery to give my empty to a guy going home. I got his Coke load from Auburndale. It doesn't deliver til Friday morning. Going to call my DM in the morning and see if they will turn it into another swap. I've had a crappy mileage week and can't afford to end with only 2200 miles. Plus I get here and the other guy wasn't here yet. The place was beyond packed. Told night dispatch they need to pay for the parking since they insisted I get here knowing my 14 would be up when I got here. I got night dispatch to give me money and they emailed my DM and fleet manager about it so I will work on an actual PO # tomorrow. Told them they could either pay for parking or else I was going into PC mode and they could send the swap driver to find me where ever I ended up.

 

Well after much much confusion I delivered my load not to Atlanta but to Elberton, Ga. Seems the guard gave my load to another driver and gave me his load. I asked him is this going to Atlanta and to that receiver and he said yes. I even asked dispatch cause the bills read something different and they said yes. I get a phone call asking me for my BOL# and lo and behold I do not have the right trailer or paperwork for my load so they assign me this load which was suppose to deliver on 7-31. I call Bubba Meats who are so happy to have me deliver 2 days early and now I am home. Will head out in the morning to Winstom Salem for a load to Tx. I forget where but I think Lowes DC. I need the rest as sometimes I feel this company does not like it when I sleep. LOL. Won't get great miles this week but should still do ok.

You guys have been busy in my 1 day I have been away.

Jungho I hope your Mom is going to be ok.

I am cutting in my carpet today so when I get up my feet do not touch that floor. It will be nice to get the truck up to my shape for me to work.

 

I have driven the 660, 2000, 700 and now the 680. I did not like the 660 but I am a big guy and I did not like that I could open and close the passenger door from my driver seat. It did turn nice but was just too small for me. My favorite to date was that 2000 when I was at Central it had an APU and I averaged 7.4 for the year(which isnt to impressive today but in 08 was something) plus I hauled the hills of the NorthWest. I do not like the PACCAR engine when I pay for fuel but this 680 seems to be getting a good MPG, this week 7.2 so far and 7.5 last week. The 700 for me rarely got above 6.7 for me. I am liking the 680 more and more but do miss some stuff the 700 had. I wish these were stick cause you can save fuel skip shifting and starting out in 4th or 5th. Then button up and skip a gear. Shifting through all the gears makes you slow and uses more fuel.

 

^ The T-700 & 680 are larger but ironically you have more leg room in a 660 as it has no cabinet behind the driver's seat, you can push it back further. That said, If TransAm gave company drivers a choice and since I don't have to worry about gas mileage and such, I would pick the T-700 as overall, I think it is a more comfortable truck.

 

Trying to make a delivery here in Oklahoma City. Refer repair held me up so I got here just in the nick of time, instead of early as normal. Receiver acted like I was a crazy person for driving right up to the gate at my appointed time. Since they don't have enough room to accommodate the trucks they set appointment for, they threw it back in my lap to solve their problem.

Ok, I can go wait at the closest truck stop for you to call me to come back when you are ready. Here is the real annoying part, they will not even let me in the gate to turn around, they tell me I have to pull a bone head maneuver and back out onto the public street and turn around, in the rain, with both car and foot traffic around.

 

That sucks they don't even let you turn around.

 

So were any of you driving a a nice pretty purple truck down I 75S in Bradenton this morning?

 

Amazing! Simply amazing! George arrived at designated truckstop in Birmingham for his "swap," and no other TA truck was in the lot waiting. He was about 40 minutes late getting there, no fault of his. He went to the bathroom, went back to truck and there were 4 messages on his Treq.,..keep on rolling to Duncan, Oklahoma! Like, what happened with the swap?

Mom's testing yesterday wasn't good. Her lungs are bad, so heart catherization wouldn't really benefit her any. Next she goes to see her lung doctor to see if they can modify or tweak her medicine to help with her breathing and maybe inadvertently her energy level. Getting old just isn't fun & games, is it?