i think the policy is every 21 days but it depends on where you live. If you live near Tulsa or in the running lanes you could get home more often.

tootie

 

Hey All......

Rockaholic: They want you to run three to four weeks if you are on line-haul. You earn a day off for every seven days worked. If you are on the regional board, then those folks get home more often. From what I've heard around the camp fire, the mileage is similar, but in the end, the line-haul board gets more miles. BUT, the regional drivers are paid based on percentage of profit per load as opposed to CPM. AND, I have yet to hear anything negative about the company from any of its drivers. While awaiting the issue of my truck and going through all the procedures in getting set up, I've had many conversations with other Arrow drivers, many of which were 10 years +. Very reassuring...... and generally a very welcoming group of people; quite a contrast to my experiences in the driver lounges at good ol' W/S.

Yeah CB Jr. She's just a baby at 281k. My long-lamented Red Betty was delivered while in her "golden years" with 749k on the ticker. Surprisingly enough, I find myself being rather pleased with the Freight Liner. Not much wow-factor inside the cab, but so what.... I hooked up my CB, my XM, got my bunk made and it feels like home. Shifting an Eaton Fuller is glorious compared to the Meritor slush box I had in the Volvo. Much more precise in feel, much more positive in its engagement, much smoother to float. No power windows.... really!?!?! Gosh. Oh well...

I got a repowered load yesterday afternoon. A big industrial A/C unit already secured to a steel-framed aluminum-decked spread axle trailer. 15,885lbs. A nice feather-weight first load. Good thing too, because it's my first time pulling a spread axle anything. One thing's fer sure, dat biotch don't wanna turn much ops: They were extremely clear in orientation about trailer angles with a spread-y. NO MORE THAN 45 degrees, PERIOD. Tire considerations aside, they stressed the fact that a flat bed, unlike a van will just fall over, all by its self, with steeper jacking angles.

Thursday evening and Friday were fun. Me and a couple of buddy's from class bobtailed it out to a truck stop on Friday night to get some money off the com data cards. Then we hit Monterey; a very good Mexican restaurant. Friday, me and one other guy bobtailed it over to a mall in Tulsa. This made me feel much more "back to normal", with regards to my driving skills. I was having freakin' arrhythmia driving with the teacher-dude.

Yesterday when we got back, the guy who hauled the A/C unit had dropped the trailer in the yard and left it secured, so all I had to do was turn in the appropriate securement, couple up and go. Nice too was my short run back up to my house. Just two hours, but enough to get back into the swing of things with out being too, well, too..... And this thing really holds its road speed on the rolling hills through Oklahoma and MO. 500hp as opposed to 400 in the Volvo makes a big difference. The engine management system watches fuel consumption, so if you keep your foot out of it and don't idle the truck much, you can get 70 mph out of it. But, once you hit it too hard, she defaults back to 65. Good driving has its rewards.

I got up to Neosho around 1930 and dropped my trailer at Wal-Mart. I drove my tractor straight home, jumped in my wagon and ran up to my friend's house to go get Bob. Boy, was I glad to see him!!!!!!! We had a great evening hangin' on the sofa and watching TV, just like normal.

Today will be spent douching the inside of the tractor (once it warms up a bit) and doing something about the stereo situation. The stock system has no balls to speak of. Fortunately, I'm only going to use either my iPod or my XM, so I could care less about the stock head unit, aside from the clock, and speakers. I have a nice pair of B&W bookshelf 2-way boxes and a funky old Radio Shack solid-state amp I bought off of eBay for like, ten bucks. This will run easily off the small inverter and power strip which I have up near the dash. I'll be putting in my 1000 watt Cobra inverter back by the bunk today as well.

My load assignment has me running to somewhere in Minnesota, delivering on the 28th. I'll have it there on the 26th. My thinking is that I'll get it there early and get dropped and loaded in time to run through New Year (Hopefully). That will make for a very nice first week of work. Add to my juicy 34 CPM, the first $250.00 installment of my sign-on bonus, and I will be one grinnin' mutha trucka! Put that in your pipe and smoke it, W/S!!!!! :twisted: Pffffffftt......... Cest la Vie.

I am really pleased with my decision to drive again. This ear-marks a major change in the nature of my life since getting out of a truck back at the end of May. I am a confirmed Type II diabetic. Unbeknownst to me at the time of my quitting, my symptomology was escalating during my first turn at the helm. In hindsight, the disease had contributed heavily to the burden of driving. Frequent thirst, frequent peeing, irritability, insatiable appetite and substantial weight loss makes for a rather unpleasant time in the seat.

Virtually incapacitated with elevated blood sugar levels in excess of 550Mg/Dl, (This is approaching coma-ville for the edification of the un-initiated) I got myself to the doctor. After weeks of fiddling oral meds and insulin, my decision to drive again popped into my head. But in doing the research on insulin-dependent Diabetes, the Big Red Flag went flying up the mast.

An insulin-dependent diabetic is required by federal (FMCSA) law to file for an exemption review, which can take up to 180 days. Well, phooey, says I.... In speaking with a state investigator at MODot, I leaned about Byetta, which you can Google on your own. I was already on 10Mg of Glipizide, twice daily and 500Mg of Metformin, twice daily and my BS numbers were still too high. Figures.... Me being me, it was no great surprise that my body was being resistant to **control** <hehe>.

Byetta, it turns out, was a very lucky find. Both Byetta and Symlin are the only two industrial-strength injectable drugs approved for use by the FMCSA without having to apply for an exemption. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Yours truly has done all the leg-work for you. As neither of these two shooters are, in fact, insulin, they are legal. And boy, does Byetta do the trick. That, in combination with the orals and one aspirin a day, and this author is good to go.

I bring this sensitive issue to the forefront for the simple reason that Diabetes is running rampant in the USA and most good folks don't know that they have it. But, if you can identify with the symptomology as described in the previous paragraph, then I would suggest marching into your doctor's office to get an A1c blood screen done asap.

That guy running to the bathroom on the commercial at the Flying J might have had an enlarged prostate, but in my case, those vitamin supplements didn't do diddly..... And the frequent thirst/frequent peeing came from elevated blood sugar levels; Diabetes.

The lifestyle changes, at first might seem cumbersome. You have to check you BS levels all the time, you have to change your diet and you have to make a commitment to get off your ass and walk every day. It's sort of a mandated effort to actually live a healthy life. The Byetta will kick your ass if you don't eat a fairly fat-free diet. I found myself donating dinner to the porcelain god one night after eating the wrong thing. BUT, the interesting thing is that a major-league paradigm shift came about, with regards to foods and eating. Nausea is a powerful motivation in re-thinking foods. None of the junk that we've grown accustomed to eating has any appeal, once you've been at it for a while. It just looks bad. It is no longer attractive, at least to me anyway. Sometimes I just gotta have chocolate, or some ice cream, but in small doses.....

The upside of this rant is that I am back on track, in terms of my health and my psyche. In fact, I feel better than I have in quite some time. My mental acuity is way up, my energy is up, my self-esteem is borderline fat-headed and I feel well up to the challenges of flatting.

I hope this post moves you. For those of you who can relate to the feelings, but didn't know why you had them, merry xmas. For those of you who can see this in someone you know, you now have the fundamental information to help them *get help*.

My physical at Arrow was extremely positive. The doctor knew about Byetta and that it is made from Gila Monster spit (no kidding). It obviously gave him great joy to sign off on my medical card knowing that someone, through due diligence, kicked this beast's ass and showed 'em who's boss.

Happy holidays.

 

Gee. Sure hope I didn't scare anyone with that last novel....

Anywho: It was a very gentle return to moving the truck on my own. I left Neosho yesterday at around 1:00 pm and ran to Des Moines, IA and parked at the FJ. What a nice cruise! No traffic, no worries, nuthin'. Just like old times. It felt marvelous to be moving again. It's true what they say: Once bitten....

Maneuvering a spread axle trailer takes some getting used to, that's for certain. With the "no more than 45 degrees jacking" swirling around in my head, I found myself being much more limited in my options when considering parking spaces. I had to anticipate the exit as well as the entry, because with out enough room on either side with which to exit, I could have been stuck. And the consequence of too much jacking angle is "the soft roll-over". Now wouldn't that make a nice mess in the middle of the FJ parking lot!?!? Fortunately, being a holiday weekend, the lot wasn't all too full. Had it been a busy night, I might have just picked up some munchies and found a nice ramp to camp out on.

Me and Bob-dog are parked in a wonderful space at the TA in Rogers, MN. Just within 20 minutes of the drop site. I am crossing my fingers and toes that they will let me unload early tomorrow so I can get loaded and gone by the evening.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday with their friends and fam. I will be sure to update as dispatch and time permits.

 

Arrow has a terrible safety record don't know how much longer they will be around.

Inspection Selection System (ISS-2) Recommendation*
(As of December 01, 2006)
Carrier Name: ARROW TRUCKING COMPANY
US DOT #: 34180 MC #: 5623
ISS Inspection Value: 99
ISS Recommendation: INSPECT
Basis for Recommendation: Safety
* The ISS-2 monthly run evaluates carriers' recent inspections activity. The ISS results are generated along with SafeStat on a monthly basis and are posted on A&I Online.

A score of 100 is a bad as you can get, and they are at 99.

 

They're bashing you already! Dont give in and keep posting. Though people dont respond to your novels, the minute you stop is when you'll be getting all the "where'd he go responses?" Just look at the million paged May post. Good Luck tomorrow bud.

 

I am starting at Arrow next Wednesday,hopefully this old,fat person can do the job,if not then I am going to work at it until I can.I have never done flatbed before but I got a family to feed and crying that the job is too hard won't put food on the table.
Wish me luck and hope to see ya'll on the road

 

I hear ya and good luck doug33

 

Keep posting....I love reading your stories.

As far as safty ratings go....yes our saftey rateing went down this las quarter. We as drivers for Arrow are working hard to get it back up.

Arrow does have alot of moron drivers though so until they get more picky about who they hire....it will be tougher to get better ratings.

tootie

 

I noticed on the trucking company board, they allow wives and pets. Is this true? anyone???...lol

 

Yes, they alllow wives and pets. Our minpins travel with us all the time.

If you are experienced they can ride right away if no exp then you have to wait 6 months for riders but not pets.

tootie