Fine business Terry. Never been to Laredo, I have only heard the stories. I wonder what happens when the Mexican thing goes through and how that would affect the Laredo freight.

You should like the 379. Turns a little better and you almost never have weight/fuel problems. I think it's the same motor.

Remember to take that Texas flag plate out and put the TMC plate back when you go into the terminals :wink:

 

Terry, sounds like Yoopr is giving good advice on this one. I would stay down south. :P

 

Damn! The snow is BACK!!! Driving in this stuff is FUN!!! Hey, is my trailer SUPPOSED to be up along SIDE my tractor like this??!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Well I now have my shiny new CDL's and have gotten the final word from Jason in recruiting, will be in Columbia on the 5th, can't wait. Now just have to manage to graduate from school this week start testing out in the morning 4 more days and I'm on to bigger and better things.

TMC here I come!

 

That's right RoadKing2525-oops-I mean Peterbilt379 :roll:

 

Well I made it home once again. On Tuesday I unloaded a load of haz mat barrels in Council Bluffs, IA at a warehouse across from Griffin Pipe. I was expecting a load from there, however, I still had that heavy stepdeck so I got a nice pre loaded trailer at John Deere in Des Moines. Cool a green paint load, :lol: Only 177 loaded miles and a decent pay rate for that short a load. Then I notice OverDimension: Y on the load screen. My first oversize load. I started to wonder if I was ready but then I looked at where the load was going. Just one exit into Illinois on I280. All highway driving through mostly rural areas I decided that I could handle it.
During my bounce my fleet manager calls and says that there is a preloaded trailer in Davenport for tomorrow, with stops in IL, MI, NY, CT, NH, NH, and destination Maine on Friday, do I want it? I consider if I think I can make it and decide that I can, so I have him lock me in on that load, I was planning on running this weekend to make up for the previous miserable week with an entire $91.00 paycheck after deductions. :lol:
I had to stop by the Des Moines terminal again for fuel and my oversized banners/flags/ light etc. Then I had to figure out how to secure this eleven foot wide disk harrow that was loaded at the very front of my trailer. Normally they load two with one at the front and one at the back with all the extra stuff in the middle. I really didn't like the fact that I only could use one strap on the front half of the machine since the winches don't slide far enough forward. I had to use a couple of two inch straps as well. The entire load only weighed 15,000 pounds so I had plenty of securement on it but it just didn't look adequate to me. To cut a long story short I ran out of daylight too soon that night and had to park before really getting started. I started before sunrise the next morning and arrived at around 9:00 am and parked behind another TMC truck with one other truck inside the fence being unloaded. One hour passed and they were still unloading the first truck. Two hours passed and they finally finished with the first truck and brought the TMC in front of me in. They took another two hours to unload the three machines from his truck. During this time I counted four RGN trailers with motorized equipment being unloaded and departing. Finally four hours after arriving I got to go inside the fence and finish unstrapping my load. They unloaded what they could with the forklift and then were unsure how to proceed with the "big green thing" as they called it, the frame to the disk harrow. They hemmed and hawed for half an hour before telling me to strap it back down and back into the dock where they could pull it off the back. Finally I was empty at 2pm, having lost 5 hours and having spent a total of 26 hours for a load with 177 loaded miles. :x After my bounce of five dispatched (20 odometer :lol: ) miles I am getting another load of John Deere equipment. Including 4 of the rotary cutters (oversized lawnmowers) loaded vertically so they are 8 inches wide and six feet tall, One MoCo that was easy to secure, one medium sized tractor weighing 12,000 pounds, and one bucket loaded attachment for a similar sized tractor. I was not entirely sure about the securement of the vertical mowers since it looked like a strong breeze would knock them over anyway. I spotted a Yellowstone driver who had a similar load and went to check his load out. He offered me advice and then struck a deal, I'll help you with your load if you help me with mine. It worked for me since two people can get done faster than one. It probably would have been even faster if we had spent more time working and less time talking but it didn't matter to me since there was no way I was going to make my first delivery that day at that point.

Once I got all loaded and departed I got something to eat with the Yellowstone driver at the Flying J accross the street. I started to work on my route plan, really appreciating my Delorme GPS software. I started realizing that unless I could drive accross some water that I had a slight problem. Miles to first stop about 150, easy, if I had gotten empty before noon I would have unloaded that stop the same day and been at my second early in the morning, so instead I was waiting for my first stop to open at 7am so I could run hard 300 miles through Chicago morning rush hour traffic for Saint Louis MI, 50 miles north of Lansing. I came upon stopped traffic on I294 one exit past I55. A truck had lost the container it was carrying, blocking 3 out of 4 lanes. I chose this way because the route I was going to take onto 290 was also backed up. According to the CB I55 North was also at a standstill just past the 294 junction, so there seemed to be no good way out of the mess. I took a look at the map anyway just to see what I could find. If I took the exit that I was next to I could flip around and take 294 back north. The First exit would be I55N, The first exit from that would be US12. I could take US12 East and it would join back up with I294 in about 10 miles, hopefully after this wreck. After double checking that it was a truck route and no restrictions or low clearances I sprung into action. My plan worked beautifully because I never had to merge with traffic since the on ramps turned into exit only lanes and I was taking those exits. This was good since I55N was also at a standstill. I love when things work out like that. :lol:

I made my drop in MI and made it to the MI/OH border before being out of logbook. Now I had a slight dilema. 600 more miles to my next drop in Canton NY, which is about as far north in NY as you can go, 340 miles after that to my drop near Bridgeport CT, 150 miles to my next drop in NH, and 70 miles between the NH drops. Hmm 1200 more miles in 24 actual hours needing a ten hour break. I had been chewing on this all day and it didn't help that my fleet manager was out sick so I was stuck with his useless substitute. I took matters into my own hands and called to reschedule the drops. My next drop in CT was the best. His broter lives accross from the business, and he could be available anytime, Like Friday until 8pm or Saturday after 7am. I could just make Saturday 7am on my logbook, that would get me to within 250 miles of home Saturday. The next stop was also quite functional, with hours on Saturday 8am to Noon. The second NH stop hesitated for a minute but said that they would try to get me unloaded but if they were busy it might take while to get me unloaded. I was very happy that I could actually get home on Saturday with a legal logbook and all my stops satisfied.

Canton NY stop was uneventfull, except for the directions. The TMC qualcomm directions read: "11N, 9S, LHS" So I went all the way through town looking for a route 9, or 9th street or something since My GPS wouldn't lock in their address. I finally stopped at a strip mall on the north side of town and called them. The lady on the phone was quite helpful and told me " There is a light in front of that shopping plaza, at the next light turn left onto Park Street/ AKA County Road 27. We are about one mile on the left hand side." I don't know where this "9" business on the qualcomm came into play but I did send in the bad directions macro to correct the issue.

As I was there in Canton my fleet manager called me. I left him a voicemail to call me when he got in at 6am. This was of course Friday but it was already 3:49 CST, and he usually goes home at 3:00. Kyle ALWAYS calls me within 20 minutes of leaving him a message, so he was about nine hours late, which told me how far behind he was after being out one day. He was concerned about the other drops and the fact that I wouldn't make it home for the weekend. I told him not to worry I had contacted everyone and made arrangements, and would just take Monday at the house to make up for it. He complimented my resourcefullness and we wished each other a good weekend.

I did make the CT and two NH stops on Saturday by the skin of my teeth. On the way to my First NH stop I made a critical Error. I followed the signs that said "to 5" rather than continuing to the actual "5" I came to a 12'2" low bridge, about 1 mile short of my drop. I had to continue on the road following the river south away from my drop for at least 10 miles looking for a place to turn around. I called the place for actual directions, and it turns out that the qualcomm left out one street. I needed to take Bridge Street to get from 12 to 5, not follow the signs. Don't you just love trying to get from Vermont to NH? I made my drop with 10 minutes before they closed. People sure do unload you fast when it is close to their quitting time. :lol: The next problem was that I had 65 miles to go to get to my next drop, and only one hour and a half before they closed. For the first 20 miles most of the road was posted at 35 MPH so I bent that a little and made it with 7 minutes to spare. They grumbled a little, or rather a lot, but still unloaded me.

All together I had 1950 miles and 6 stops in 72 hours flat, not bad. This paycheck will be good with this trip to start the week, when you average it out it still comes out about the same overall, between $700 and $800 in my pocket each week, after deductions, taxes, etc.

 

Just bid it a fair adieu, mash the gas and get on down the road!

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: That's EXACTLY what I DID!!!!

 

You guys are scarin me!!

I'll be CDL testing in about 2 more weeks, man that is one long school I signed up for. Anyway I'm getting closer ever day to the big black pete.

Hey I heard a nasty rumor from a guy who left TMC after orientation that there is an alley dock maneuver required at DSM school, where if the student hits the barrels on either side while backing in, with 4 inches of clearance on each side, the incident is reported as an accident and goes on the permanent driving record. Im' getting really good at the alley dock but I dont know if I'm ready for 4 inch clearance. do I need to sweat this one?

 

NOT true. You are taken out back and shot.