Watkins shepard

Teams are the bread and butter at W/S. I left just after W/S bought that big batch of Strict and Hyundai trailers and it was my 1st time experiencing how simple it could really be closing a trailer door! I loved those babies. The older one's were always kept in road worthy shape while I was there. I remember waking up once in Missoula with a red tag on my truck pointing out to come get my trailer tires changed before taking off. They were still good and legal, but the co. was just doing their part on taking care of something before they became illegal a few months down the road. It was quick and nice to know those details are noticed.

 

I just finished the 10 day and flew up from Sacramento, it was definitely worth the extra few bucks to fly. Only issue was being a little more limited on the luggage, but it all worked out. Just got home and will post an update in a few.

 

Okay, well, here it is... Me and one other guy left on Wednesday the 12th with one of the drivers and headed to Vancouver, WA to pickup our trucks. The driver we rode with let me drive at 3am-7am through the severe rainstorms they were having in Washington in a 13 speed which I had never driven before, lol! That was exciting!!

We got to our trucks on Thursday night and were ready to hit the road on Friday morning. We were supposed to be routed straight home but there weren't any loads available right away to go down to Sacramento. I told the dispatcher I would rather run and make money than to sit there and wait, so I got a load of empty beer kegs to run to Ft. Collins to the Anheuser Busch facililty. Then took a maxed out load of beer up to Butte, MT. Got a lighter load of beer down to Elko, NV and then got some newspaper inserts to deliver to the Sacramento Bee in DOWNTOWN Sacramento! I ran right around 3000 miles from Friday (14th) through Thursday (20th) where I got to get home finally.

They definitely had the loads for me out there which was nice to see and overall my first week out was a huge learning curve, I was stressed out a lot trying to figure certain things out as I went along and learning things the hard way

I really enjoy it so far and actually look forward to getting back into my truck and head out on Monday. I have liked everything I have seen so far with W/S and would recommend them to anyone out there that is looking. There staff is very friendly and definitely ready to help you out as a newbie.

And good luck to you 30 dayers and congrats on getting your CDL's. I am in truck 1721 and hope to see you all out there on the road some time.

 

Buy a rabbits foot...hang it in the truck. It's made the rounds this year...for some reason.

 

Oh, really? that's good to know. The last guy that had it also had a dog in it. Nothing like stepping into your new truck to the smell of wet dog and fur all over... finally able to give it a good cleaning this weekend.

 

Like I said, WS treats their Lease Operators well. I ran 360,000 miles in 3 yrs leased to them. Took a Large Car to do it too. Ran lots of Aluminum and brass loads as well as hauling 60 ft laminated beams and scaffolding to constructions sites out of CHI. I sat one time for 4 days in LA over the 3 yr period. The terminals had bunks and washer dryers and kitchens and loaner vehicles sometimes.

 

Were you able to take the tractor home with you to clean it?

 

So did you have to pay for all the plane ticket or can you cash in the bus ticket and just pay the extra? and if you paid for all the plane ticket when do they reimburse you?
I am very broke right now is why i ask...

 

Yes, I am home right now with the tractor out in front of my house. This is not the norm though, I think I just got lucky to find a load that emptied here in Sacramento. Typically I will have to park it in Modesto and drive home from there.

You will have to front the money for the plane ticket and then they will reimburse you the amount of the bus fare. I don't quite know how long it will take for them to do this as I haven't seen the reimbursement yet. I figure it may show up on the first pay stub, so we'll see.

 

Yea ill have to ride the bus then.Need other things..
I am trying to sale some stuff so I can get a laptop before I go, I have a dell axim pda with gps that worked fine for tomato trucking but is not going to cut it for being gone weeks at a time for OTR...
I am even considering selling my head unit out of my dakota r/t but that hometime drive from modesto to home in sacramento is going to really suck with no tunes in my lil pickup!