Yes the Carrier unit may be about the loudest, but compared to an idleing trk, not so bad.... I haven't heard much about the Pete installed APUs.. Do they differ much from the Carriers and Thermal Kng??

The Rain...
yes we have an abundance of it.... but We had the State of Er and crunchy yard last 3 yrs... much better treading mud by far.... But Like most everybody ready for this ole world to get back to it's normal even-steven.. I Pray that it can...

Longhaul...
Yes they can get in every two weeks, But the Driver has to work His FM as much as the FM works Him..... Getting to know your FM and having a good working relationship with them is a great help.... But you have to stick to your word and not go back on it , as some ppl say Stick to you Guns.... Explain likes and dislikes, tell your FM what you are willing to Do and what You are not willing to Do... and if after a while you and FM just can't get comfortable with each other go to to the terminal you are dispatched out of and meet all the FMs. soon you will find someone you will be better able to work with...
and If that don't work Go to dispatch office with a Large steaming hot cup of Coffee an a Nerf :lol: Baseball bat, You will be sure to get all the attention you will ever want...

Re: Fred
 

I knew I could count on you! Too bad you're going the wrong way. Dang it!!! :twisted:

You just have to be firm with the Fleet Manager and make it plain that you must get home every other weekend. A lot of Longhaul guys like to stay out three weeks and take 3-4 days off. The load near the holiday are traditionally spotty also.

TMC Survey
 

Hey there TMC wives. There is a survey for TMC "significant others" on the Driver Connection site. Express your concerns.

Hey any of you guys deliver some water main pipe to Allendale,MI on July 11, and if so, sorry about the early morning wake up call.

Re: TMC Survey
 

I saw that, almost did it. I just don't want to be the whiny baby. Hubby hasn't been home in 3 weeks. He'll get in this weekend, for about 24 hours....160 miles away. At this point, I'm just ready for him to be done with training so I actually get to see and talk to him.

I generally aim for being home every other weekend. I have learned what loads seem to get me home so I can prompt my FM to "please ask for a load from where I am delivering on Wednesday to Boston for Thursday". And then I can prompt them the next day to reserve a load that will get me home from one of our dedicated accounts. When the Customer service people and Load planners actually listen to my requests AND act on them I can get home smoothly. Otherwise they end up having me wait most of the day and then bouncing home empty up to 300 miles.

Sometimes I end up being out for three weeks, simply due to the fact that living in Maine I have a long way to get home from the western third of the country. If I am farther west than Denver on Monday morning I know I can't get home for the weekend, so I don't try anymore.

Actually I have been having some luck lately trying to get home on Thursday rather than friday. That gives an extra day in case they drop the ball and I have to wait somewhere, and that gives me a chance to reload on Thursday for delivery Monday and still have two days at home.

Hey RAWLCO... we were broke down in Portland last weekend with a Lowe's load to Presque Isle. A Maine guy named Jack swapped out with us. Hoping it was you but was not...we will eventually cross paths

Wow! a run to Presque Isle, Maine - that's close to the outer edge of the universe!

What was the breakdown? Were you out of action for a long time?

Nope, last weekend I was running in Jbenson's territory Minnesota, to Iowa, to Michigan.

Picked up at Norbord in Solway MN to the menards in Waterloo IA. (Passed thru Minneapolis but didn't have time to stop and get a cup of coffee with you Jbenson, I'll make time next time I am up that way, promise) Had to run and deliver that on Saturday around noon, then head to Alcoa Bettendorf for a short run to Grand Rapids, MI. I thought it was odd that there was a load preplanned for me for 18:00 load time Saturday. I should have known that it was because ALCOA had a crane broken down for three days and planned to have it back up Saturday at 6pm. As it turned out they gave about 25 trucks the 18:00 load appt time, and mix that with the night weekend crew not knowing anything about loading trucks it took until nearly midnight to get out of there. I handled it alright being used to waiting sometimes, but I had my wife riding with me and ALCOA is a "NO PASSENGERS" shipper, so she had to wait in this tiny 5' by 8' room outside the gate for six hours. She about went crazy from boredom.

Well anyway, back to the original quote. I didn't know there was a Lowe's in Presque Isle, interesting. I hope they had a reload planned out of that neighborhood, since bouncing down to Lisbon Falls for that 95 cents a mile freight would really suck. Anyway, haven't you been broken down a lot lately? Wasn't it only a couple of weeks ago you were broke down in Kentucky? What did the trainee do to your truck this time, or is it still not recovered from the BND abuse? :wink:

I am in unit 91939 now by the way, not sure if I posted that after I got this truck.