Headed to Lone Star

[catalinaflyer]

Well I doubt I will be as good a narrator as DD but I have arived at the Quality Inn in Gainesville, TX and begin orientation with Lone Star Transportation tomorrow morning.

This was almost a no-go for me, I got a call from LS earlier this week telling me that they have no trucks available and would need to push me back to Dec 1st. I was pretty let down by this news because I didn't need to be off work for a month right before Christmas. I told them that I would have to be working before then and thanked them for thier time. The lady I have been speeking with was very gracious and told me to keep in touch and they would keep me on file if I decided to change my mind.

I hung up from LS and immediatly called another heavy-haul company who had offered me a position the day before up in the frozen -waaaaay- north that I had turned down in favor of LS. While I was on the phone with them LS called me back and wanted me to go ahead and come down on the 10th and attend orientation then they would just put me up in the motel and pay me $150 a day till they get me a truck so here I am.

So I am here and getting ready to turn in for the night.

BTW, I chose to drive my personal vehicle down instead of riding the dog for a couple of reasons. I carry a lot of personal tools and such and I can get back here to the main terminal easier than Kansas then just a 4 1/2 hour drive and I'm home with the truck safely parked in the company's yard.

[dobry4u]

Well I doubt I will be as good a narrator as DD but I have arived at the Quality Inn in Gainesville, TX and begin orientation with Lone Star Transportation tomorrow morning.

This was almost a no-go for me, I got a call from LS earlier this week telling me that they have no trucks available and would need to push me back to Dec 1st. I was pretty let down by this news because I didn't need to be off work for a month right before Christmas. I told them that I would have to be working before then and thanked them for thier time. The lady I have been speeking with was very gracious and told me to keep in touch and they would keep me on file if I decided to change my mind.

I hung up from LS and immediatly called another heavy-haul company who had offered me a position the day before up in the frozen -waaaaay- north that I had turned down in favor of LS. While I was on the phone with them LS called me back and wanted me to go ahead and come down on the 10th and attend orientation then they would just put me up in the motel and pay me $150 a day till they get me a truck so here I am.

So I am here and getting ready to turn in for the night.

BTW, I chose to drive my personal vehicle down instead of riding the dog for a couple of reasons. I carry a lot of personal tools and such and I can get back here to the main terminal easier than Kansas then just a 4 1/2 hour drive and I'm home with the truck safely parked in the company's yard.

BOL on your new adventure, catalinaflyer !!! Be safe!

[catalinaflyer]

BOL on your new adventure, catalinaflyer !!! Be safe!

Thanks dobry4u

Day 1 of LS Orientation
Well much like DD had said, it was a ***** load of paperwork and a wizz-quiz. I'm sure thankfull for the nice duffle bag they gave us but it could use some wheels to tote the 20+# of paperwork back and forth.

We started with 10 in the class this morning (3 company drivers, 2 lease drivers and 5 O/O's which changed to 3 lease and 4 O/O's because the one guys truck needed way too much work to bring up to LS's level).

The head of recruiting came over for an q&a session right after lunch and I found out that as of right now they have no driver openings till the end of January. Not bad for a company with 300+ company owned trucks. They have 3 to 4 new company drivers going through orientation each session till then just to have a pool of available drivers to fill trucks when someone leaves but they have all the spots filled through Jan. They are very up-front about everything right off the bat, home-time, pay, benefits etc. just so there are no missunderstandings down the road.

One of the company drivers in with me is a former driver who left and said it was the biggest mistake he ever made and is coming back. The other driver is a former O/O who sold his truck and became a pilot car / steering person only to decide he missed the driving thing too much.

I was a little deflated because the recruiting department had talked about bringing me in as a level 1 or 2 or possibly a 3 because of my specialized experience but the safety department said that my experience isn't recent enough so I will be coming on as a 0 and moving to a 1 after 30 days. Not the end of the world and from what I hear from the current drivers, moving up through the levels happens pretty rapidly.

Not much else exciting, it's pouring rain here and we have some home-work toget done tonight.

See ya'll tomorrow.

[ELGAUL]

so they are going to put you up in a motel and $150 a day until the first of jan? did i read that right???

[catalinaflyer]

so they are going to put you up in a motel and $150 a day until the first of jan? did i read that right???

Lord I hope not ----- They are putting us in the motel at $150 a day after orientation till they get us a truck. They managed to get the three drivers from last week out today so we should all have truck by the first part of next week.

They are only turning 3 to 4 trucks a week and as of right now they have drivers scheduled at a rate of 3 to 4 per week for orientation through January.

[Jackrabbit379]

Best of luck. From what I've always heard, Lone Star is a good company, with good equipment.

[catalinaflyer]

Day 2 of LS Orientation
Well today was another fun filled day in the classroom. We did get out an hour early so two of could go get physicals. I passed that test too along with all the other tests we took today. We had the head of safety in this morning for an hour and basically he re-enforced the policy that LS pays well enough that we can make a really good living and run legal, if we don't want to follow the rules in the little green book then we were free to leave. He discussed carrier ratings and what we have to do as a company to maintain our good rating. I think these guys are really f-ing serious about running legal, they don't play games especially with the customers they have, you choose to push the rules and you will find yourself on the other side of the gate looking in. I for one like the idea of that, run legal - log it like you run it and make a good paycheck plus get to drive excellent equipment. I for one don't understand why someone who went through the whole process of getting a company driver position with this company would want to take a chance and ruin it by not running legal. The owner of the company holds dispatchers responsible just the same as drivers and they won't hesitate to fire a dispatcher if they find out they "force" a driver to push the rules. They did say that we all make mistakes and they won't fire a driver who makes a mistake but if you intentionally falsify a log or supporting document they will not hesitate to make your truck available for a new driver, no ifs ands or buts about it!

I'm liking this decision more and more every day!!

No news on when we might have trucks but we are supposed to be finished with orientation by Thursday afternoon so I will have my fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another fun filled day in the classroom and possibly some RGN training if they can find a truck to use.

Till tomorrow, good lord willing and the creek don't rise, goodnight.

[catalinaflyer]

LS Orientation Day 3
Well again another uneventful day. We spent the first 3 hours in class again this morning. We headed outside to practice securing a load of pipe and an old vessel. That all went fairly quick, no surprises there as all but two in our class have flatbed experience.

We the learned how to work an RGN, again fairly quick since a good share of us also have RGN experience. Then our instructor took us on a walk through the yard looking at all the different specialized trailer they have around there. Some really interesting stuff, especiall the old cable steer flats that are about 100' long. Our instructor says they still use them from time to time.

After lunch we took road tests and everyone passed so we still have a class of the initial 10. Then it was back up to the classroom for some defensive driving training. That took us till the end of the day and we have a little more to finish on that program in the morning.

Still no news on trucks but maybe we will get some idea tomorrow after we are "officially" hired.

Till Tomorrow-----

[dobry4u]

LS Orientation Day 3
Well again another uneventful day. We spent the first 3 hours in class again this morning. We headed outside to practice securing a load of pipe and an old vessel. That all went fairly quick, no surprises there as all but two in our class have flatbed experience.

We the learned how to work an RGN, again fairly quick since a good share of us also have RGN experience. Then our instructor took us on a walk through the yard looking at all the different specialized trailer they have around there. Some really interesting stuff, especiall the old cable steer flats that are about 100' long. Our instructor says they still use them from time to time.

After lunch we took road tests and everyone passed so we still have a class of the initial 10. Then it was back up to the classroom for some defensive driving training. That took us till the end of the day and we have a little more to finish on that program in the morning.

Still no news on trucks but maybe we will get some idea tomorrow after we are "officially" hired.

Till Tomorrow-----

Sounds like everything is going as expected. Very good!

[catalinaflyer]

Final Day Lone Star Orientation-
Well we made it through the final day, got our company ID badges and are fully employed without trucks. They have one coming in today and since the list was printed by first name I'm number 2 on it so I still have no truck.

Not much exciting happened, we finished up with our defensive driving class and then went over the Qualcom operation.

After class was over we went to lunch with the Ft. Worth terminal manager who will be our boss and spent the afteroon with him. Again I was impressed, these people are, for the most part, old drivers that moved into management and safety. Joe Byrd, the terminal manager from Ft Worth is a real straight shooter, he told us how his terminal operates and what he expects of us but he did it as one driver to another and not as a big boss talking down to his pee-on's. I liked the way he handled everything and am proud to be going to work for him.

As for now, two of us still don't have trucks but we're hoping to get into one early next week. They are having us check in at the shop every morning to see if the shop needs any help and if they have nothing for us to do then we're on our own.

Will let everyone know when I get a truck and get my first dispatch.

[devildice]

catalinaflyer......I just came across your thread. I knew you were going to start it but just haven't had time to check until now. I will subscribe to your thread so I can hear how things go for you. Anyways, I want to start off by saying CONGRATS

Sorry to hear about the level issue. L.S. hauls a LOT of OD stuff so I am sure you will advance up the levels quickly. I am a little over 30 days into the 90 day waiting period to be bumped up to a lever 2.

A couple of friends I made while in orientation both received the $150 a day that was promised while waiting on their trucks, so rest assured that L.S. is true to their word.

So which terminal will you be assigned to? If our paths should ever cross, dinner is on me.

[catalinaflyer]

Hey DD, I've been keeping an eye on your thread as well.

Been hold up in the motel all weekend and it sounds like I may have a truck tomorrow (Monday) morning. There are a few trucks to be shuttled to Dallas to the shop so they will probably have us doing that first then I'll have to see if they have my truck ready.

As for terminal's, I'm already assigned to Ft Worth but I don't have a DM till I actually take possession of the truck. I hope to get up through the levels pretty quick; I have my eye on Vestas projects. I have to give LS credit, they pulled me aside on Thursday and said that they had talked to my previous employers and that I had excellent experience and if it had been recent enough they would have put me on as a 2 or 3 but I'm just outside the 2 year period. I told them that was fine, I'll take my licks and work up from the bottom.

There was a couple of projects that finished up this past week and all the trucks started rolling back into Gainesville on Saturday. There was at least a dozen blade trucks that pulled in while I was there yesterday morning. There was also a T-800 4 axle day cab that rolled in with a Schnabel and pulled out a little while later with a 3+3+2 rgn. I have no idea where it was from or where it was headed but it left with a company pilot car.

I'm excited and hope tonight is my "last" night at the Q-inn. I know one of the other company drivers I was in orientation with has been assigned a truck but they thought it had to go to the shop first for some routine maintenance. So even though I was number 2 on the list I might get out first.

I will keep in touch and hopefully our path’s will cross sometime soon.

[catalinaflyer]

LS Update
Well today was spent hanging out at the office. I did finally get a truck assigned to me but they are doing their annual maintenance stuff to it and let me tell you these guys are thorough. They replace the fan hub, AC Compressor, pulleys and belt along with a grocery list of other things EVERY YEAR. Basically if it's something that can fail in a years time it gets replaced or rebuilt.

I talked to my Driver Manager today and she said as soon as I get moved into the truck to give her a call and she'll have me moving. From talking to the other drivers around the shop it sounds like I got one of the best ones for a DM so that makes me happy.

Not much new or exciting, we watched them load a crane from the yard today headed to south Texas on about 15 trucks.

[dobry4u]

Sounds like you are ready to roll, catalinaflyer!

BOL and be safe, driver!!!

[devildice]

LS Update
Well today was spent hanging out at the office. I did finally get a truck assigned to me but they are doing their annual maintenance stuff to it and let me tell you these guys are thorough. They replace the fan hub, AC Compressor, pulleys and belt along with a grocery list of other things EVERY YEAR. Basically if it's something that can fail in a years time it gets replaced or rebuilt.

I talked to my Driver Manager today and she said as soon as I get moved into the truck to give her a call and she'll have me moving. From talking to the other drivers around the shop it sounds like I got one of the best ones for a DM so that makes me happy.

Not much new or exciting, we watched them load a crane from the yard today headed to south Texas on about 15 trucks.

They did the same thing to a friend of mines truck. He was assigned to it and then spent 3 additional days in the hotel while they worked on it. Can't remember off the top of my head all that was done, but do remember him telling me he drove away on brand new virgin rubber all around.

Anyways, good luck and looking forward to hearing where your first adventure takes you.

[catalinaflyer]

LS Update - Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!!!
Well it's now 1:30am Thursday morning and I'm back at the Quality in with all my ***** and you'll never believe how I wound up in this situation.

I finally got my truck at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, called my new Driver Manager to let her know I was ready to go knowing full well I would be spending another night in Gainesville given it was so late in the day and there were a couple of other drivers there as well.

Well 10 minutes later while walking over to my pickup to begin loading all my stuff and my cell rings, it's my DM and she has a load ready for me right here in the yard going to Enid, OK for delivery @ 07:30 the next morning. I was happy and hurried up and threw all my stuff into the truck, grabbed a step-deck and loaded 4 tracks.

I arrived in Enid about 10:30pm Tuesday night at the customer and went to bed. I got up about 6:30 yesterday morning and the customer pulled me in right away and took the 4 tracks off. I was empty by 7:00 and knew my DM wouldn't be in yet so I sent my empty call in on the sattelite and headed out to the east side of town to the old Gateway Truck Stop to get a cup of coffee. Once I arrived there I realized it was closed down so I went ahead and pulled around the back and pulled in between two trucks. Since it was still early I went ahead and laid down figuring I would get up about 9:30 and give my DM a quick call. Well at about 9:30 I was rudely woke to the sound of my truck getting run into. I jumped out of bed and sure enough, the truck to my left was up against my fender. I sat back down on the bed and began to put my shoes on and sure as hell, the mf'er put it in low gear and tried to leave ACROSS THE HOOD OF MY TRUCK. So I bailed out the passenger door with one shoe half on and no shirt, ran out in front of his truck and finally got him stopped but the damage was done, the hood on my truck was hanging off the right side and oil and water were running out from under it.

Now, if this guy had stopped when he first bumped into me it would have been a dented lip on the fender and slightly bent pogo stick but I guess since he didn't see anyone jump out immediatly he must have figured that there was no one in the truck so he decided to leave a really good mark as he pulled out.

I called the police first because I was ready to kill the MF'er then called our safety dept to tell them that my first day on the job was going to take a tow truck to finish. Just as the police arrived this stupid MF'er had the balls to walk over and tell me that I shouldn't have parked along side of him. Thankfully there was a police officer standing there or I would be sitting in the jail with man slaughter charges against me. I explained to the driver that when I pulled in there was a truck on his left and two on my right, the one to his left was gone and he still has his hood in tact, the one to my immediate right was gone and the one to his right still has his hood but for some strange reason my hood is a mangled mess laying next to the truck.

Anyhow, this guy then began to whine because he was going to loose his safety bonus which his family was counting on for Christmas, then went to saying he just couldn't understand why he didn't look in his mirror (because the giant red hood alongside his passenger window was obviously too difficult to see). I finally calmed down but what a f-ing way to start off a new job (120 miles from my home to boot) and no coffee within walking distance. 19 years of driving and I have never had so much as a minor incedent but now I have DOT reportable.

Well 75 phone calls later and a bob-tail showed up from Tulsa to pick up my trailer. I'm glad he arrived when he did, I was getting a little bit hungry by 5:30 in the evening and really REALLY needed a bathroom. That driver took me into town to eat and then we came back and got my mess unhooked from the trailer so he could get going. About 7:45 one of our Heavy Haulers from Ft. Worth pulled in with a 4 axle RGN and we loaded the mess onto his trailer and headed back south so here I sit back at the Quality Inn waiting again. My truck is going to be delivered to the body shop @ 7:00 this morning and hopefully I will hear some good news from them and it wont be tied up for too many days getting fixed.

If there is a down side to working for a company that has no driver turn-over it's the fact that when something like this happens they can't just put you in another truck and send you back out.

I have to give credit to everyone at LS, they all had thier A-game going today throughout all of this. I didn't get one single voice mail in all of the calls I had to make and there were times I was on the phone with people in Ft Worth, Gainesville and Abilene all at the same time and there was no lack of communication between all these different departments. I have worked for companies in the past that have departments in different locations and one has no idea what the others are doing or saying but I would tell someone in Abilene something and less than 2 minutes later be on the phone with someone in Ft Worth that knew everything that was said with the office hundreds of miles away. The terminal manager was a little wound up but his main concern was my welfare being stranded outside of town. He spent more time worrying about how I was going to get to food than anything else. That my friends says more for a company than all the pr hype in the world. When they tell drivers that a trucking company is nothing without it's drivers, these people practice exactly what they preach. At least in my case!

Sorry about rambling on, I finally got that first cup of coffee 20 hours late but by darn I got it.

[Orangetxguy]

LS Update - Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!!!
Well it's now 1:30am Thursday morning and I'm back at the Quality in with all my ***** and you'll never believe how I wound up in this situation.

I finally got my truck at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, called my new Driver Manager to let her know I was ready to go knowing full well I would be spending another night in Gainesville given it was so late in the day and there were a couple of other drivers there as well.

Well 10 minutes later while walking over to my pickup to begin loading all my stuff and my cell rings, it's my DM and she has a load ready for me right here in the yard going to Enid, OK for delivery @ 07:30 the next morning. I was happy and hurried up and threw all my stuff into the truck, grabbed a step-deck and loaded 4 tracks.

I arrived in Enid about 10:30pm Tuesday night at the customer and went to bed. I got up about 6:30 yesterday morning and the customer pulled me in right away and took the 4 tracks off. I was empty by 7:00 and knew my DM wouldn't be in yet so I sent my empty call in on the sattelite and headed out to the east side of town to the old Gateway Truck Stop to get a cup of coffee. Once I arrived there I realized it was closed down so I went ahead and pulled around the back and pulled in between two trucks. Since it was still early I went ahead and laid down figuring I would get up about 9:30 and give my DM a quick call. Well at about 9:30 I was rudely woke to the sound of my truck getting run into. I jumped out of bed and sure enough, the truck to my left was up against my fender. I sat back down on the bed and began to put my shoes on and sure as hell, the mf'er put it in low gear and tried to leave ACROSS THE HOOD OF MY TRUCK. So I bailed out the passenger door with one shoe half on and no shirt, ran out in front of his truck and finally got him stopped but the damage was done, the hood on my truck was hanging off the right side and oil and water were running out from under it.

Now, if this guy had stopped when he first bumped into me it would have been a dented lip on the fender and slightly bent pogo stick but I guess since he didn't see anyone jump out immediatly he must have figured that there was no one in the truck so he decided to leave a really good mark as he pulled out.

I called the police first because I was ready to kill the MF'er then called our safety dept to tell them that my first day on the job was going to take a tow truck to finish. Just as the police arrived this stupid MF'er had the balls to walk over and tell me that I shouldn't have parked along side of him. Thankfully there was a police officer standing there or I would be sitting in the jail with man slaughter charges against me. I explained to the driver that when I pulled in there was a truck on his left and two on my right, the one to his left was gone and he still has his hood in tact, the one to my immediate right was gone and the one to his right still has his hood but for some strange reason my hood is a mangled mess laying next to the truck.

Anyhow, this guy then began to whine because he was going to loose his safety bonus which his family was counting on for Christmas, then went to saying he just couldn't understand why he didn't look in his mirror (because the giant red hood alongside his passenger window was obviously too difficult to see). I finally calmed down but what a f-ing way to start off a new job (120 miles from my home to boot) and no coffee within walking distance. 19 years of driving and I have never had so much as a minor incedent but now I have DOT reportable.

Well 75 phone calls later and a bob-tail showed up from Tulsa to pick up my trailer. I'm glad he arrived when he did, I was getting a little bit hungry by 5:30 in the evening and really REALLY needed a bathroom. That driver took me into town to eat and then we came back and got my mess unhooked from the trailer so he could get going. About 7:45 one of our Heavy Haulers from Ft. Worth pulled in with a 4 axle RGN and we loaded the mess onto his trailer and headed back south so here I sit back at the Quality Inn waiting again. My truck is going to be delivered to the body shop @ 7:00 this morning and hopefully I will hear some good news from them and it wont be tied up for too many days getting fixed.

If there is a down side to working for a company that has no driver turn-over it's the fact that when something like this happens they can't just put you in another truck and send you back out.

I have to give credit to everyone at LS, they all had thier A-game going today throughout all of this. I didn't get one single voice mail in all of the calls I had to make and there were times I was on the phone with people in Ft Worth, Gainesville and Abilene all at the same time and there was no lack of communication between all these different departments. I have worked for companies in the past that have departments in different locations and one has no idea what the others are doing or saying but I would tell someone in Abilene something and less than 2 minutes later be on the phone with someone in Ft Worth that knew everything that was said with the office hundreds of miles away. The terminal manager was a little wound up but his main concern was my welfare being stranded outside of town. He spent more time worrying about how I was going to get to food than anything else. That my friends says more for a company than all the pr hype in the world. When they tell drivers that a trucking company is nothing without it's drivers, these people practice exactly what they preach. At least in my case!

Sorry about rambling on, I finally got that first cup of coffee 20 hours late but by darn I got it.

Well...They didn't fire you for parking at a closed truckstop and then getting hit. That is a good thing. Hopefully you have had the big FUBAR you needed to have! It's also great that you were able to get the DUMMY stopped and the police out there. Makes you shine in Lonestar's eyes. If you had sat in the sleeper and watched DUMMY drive away, it might have been bad for you.

What this shows...You never know when your gonna wind up parked next to a DUMMY. 19 years was a good stretch to avoid them. Hopefully 19 more will pass before you get close to the next one.

[Jackrabbit379]

Sound advice, Orange, sound advice!
Yeah, good job of getting the local PD out there, and getting everything done. Glad to know that you still have a job with Lonestar! Just glad to hear that nothing bad happened to ya!

[devildice]

I am sorry to hear about your bad luck the 1st day on the job but glad to see you and everything is fine.

[catalinaflyer]

Well Orange, I must admit that in reflection I shouldn't have parked there but you have to admit that 99% of us have pulled into a place that is closed/abandoned etc. and parked because there were other trucks already parked there or there were the sign's of other trucks having used that area as a parking place. and 99.9% of the time nothing bad ever happens. In my case I could have got hit no matter where I was parked and in fact had I parked somewhere where trucks were not allowed and there were no other trucks I probably woudn't be setting here right now. Throughout the day there were probably 25 trucks that came and went, one of the freight companies came in, broke down a set of triples, made deliveries, put them all back together and left. Another company came in with a reefer and met three straight trucks and off-loaded onto them. There were no signs saying it was closed other than the small one on the front door. They even had all the lights on inside and out.

LS has said nothing to me about parking there other than at one point my terminal manager asked if there were other trucks there besides the one that it me. I did meet the owner of the place right after it happened, he was there doing some work to get it ready to re-open in a couple of weeks and had no problem at all with people parking there, said that's why he bought it and is re-opening it because he's an old driver and admitted that there really isn't any place close by for trucks to go.

I did hear from the main office last night and my truck won't be ready till Wednesday so now I'm just hanging out at the hotel waiting to see what the terminal manager wants me to do.