You know for all the bad rap that the swift drivers get.....I have NEVER ran into a swift driver who was mean or nasty in any way. they are ready to help you if they can and I like parking next to swift trucks cause alot of them dont idle all night.

we met a really nice swift driver in MO the other week. We talked to him for a couple of hours so i would not say bad things about swifty.

Now clint.....how are ya doing. We try to call ya but your busy!! :wink: be careful out there and we will see you sometime.

tootie

Cool pics.

Here is one of mine that I got last Sat.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...tDuskNB395.jpg

You seem to have found a flatbed diamond in the van ruff of Swift. I've known some hard working guys who had bad experiences with Swift; but they were all on the van side.

Ian

Hi Ian!

Thanks. I shoot ‘em when I can, but it is getting more difficult to find the time to play with my camera. Too, it has been difficult to find the time to keep writing. So my posts may be a bit less frequent.

Suffice to say, I’ve been extremely busy. The mileage is staggering. (At least to me, anyway). I’ve been needing to get Miss Betty in to the shop, and can’t. I have been QuaalCom-less for a week, and it’s really a drag. But, the show must go on, as they say. And we’ve been killin’ it.

One very nice benefit of having to do things the “old fashioned way”, via telephone, is that I’ve had the privilege of getting to know my *peeps* mo’ bettah. The gang that makes flatbed tick at Swift is so cool. Everyone is so enthusiastic about moving freight. Everyone is so genuinely interested in being helpful. “Diamond in the ruff” you say? A well-polished jewel would be a more fitting descriptive.

My trips over the past week have faded into a blur, so I won’t carry on too much about them. But on to more juicy news.

I’m in Fontana at the moment and awaiting routing back into PHX. I picked out my truck yesterday. I have yet to decide if the W9 is a female or not, but I don’t think so. It’s a 2005 with 189,000 miles. It’s the youngest one on the available list, in terms of mileage. In looking it over, it was readily apparent that the previous tenant took very good care of it. And judging from the odometer, it doesn’t appear that he/she did too much driving.

The engine and frame look brand new. The steers are new, but the drives need fresh hoops. The interior is immaculate and so is the body. Everything that I could see shows a very clean tractor. I have been assured that it will be all freshly serviced before delivery.

I missed the boat on the red ones. Wahhhhh……

This one is that rather dull Swift metallic blue with gray interior. ISX under the bonnet and coupled to a 1600 series E/F 9 speed. I don’t know the axle ratio, but I suspect 3:55’s.

If the stars align correctly, I should be in my ride by the weekend. Much of it rests in the hands of the service department. A bunch of phoning today made it look like a good possibility though. Just gotta get a headache rack bolted up and we are off to the races.

My accountant did a budget projection based on the information furnished by the leasing office and things look much better than I had anticipated. Angie figures that by the time the lease comes to term, I should have a substantial chunk of the buy-out stashed in savings. It would seem that this is something lacking in most of the fleece-purchase scenarios. A good accountant with a vision of prosperity....

I suck at money management. And I know it. That’s why I have an accountant managing my bills and my check register. She kicked me back an Excel spreadsheet today that really made it all clear. I know everything about my money and estimated taxes. Everything. And I would not have understood it without her good work.

I made it perfectly clear to her from the onset, that I knew how to make the money; I just don’t know what to do with it other than piss it on sushi. I told her to give me enough for food and pleasures and bury the rest of it. And she knows that I am looking to retire to a yacht by the time I hit the double-nickel. It is a do……

I went on blind trust in coming aboard with Swift. Everything has been under-promised and over-delivered regarding work. I have to pat myself on the back as well, because they, I am sure, got way more than they might have anticipated when they hired me. I’m very old school when it comes to principals and ethics regarding work. I never let my mouth write a check my a*s can’t cash. And in this business, nothing could be more telling about a driver than his hit ratio with ETA/PTA. My Word is my seal, and through my actions, I am Known.

So, Fu*ckin’ A, kids! I worked my way out of the company-driver pool and into a Big-Boy ride! How ‘bout them apples at 3 months of Swift-ing? Jeepers.

Would I recommend the flatbed division as a viable $$$ generator? Most affirmatively… 10 4 Roger, roger bsht, echo… bleep (country music/static) belch.

BTW: I’m not going to re-locate the further adventures of Clint to the O/O board as to do so would be disruptive to the continuity of things already established here. So there. Nyahh.

Congratulations Clint! Best of luck with your new endeavor!

Goin Fer It's Wife

Congrats Clint!!! Now you know we are all chomping at the bit to see pics of her/him.....so as soon as you can, get um posted. :D Oh and btw, by not moving your post, you're already showing signs that you have not or will not forget "where you came from" :lol:

Laaaddeeees and Gentlemennn,

Let the games begin!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Clint! Of course you know that pics of the new ride will be mandatory.

...and I think she needs to be a she no mattah what. "She" is ship that just happens to transit terra firma vs oceanus...

I dunno, Geo.... It looks like a Butch to me. Perhaps it will reveal its more she-like qualities to me once I've been in it for a while. We shall see.

Yes: My roots. You are correct and by maintaining this thread, new readers will see the progession of things. This is certainly a different ride than with the two previous companies.

This is the first time in three months of running sitting without a load plan. I just got off the phone with a load planner in PHX, gently nudging her to get me back to PHX. She threatened to deadhead me back, if all the powers that be will agree to it. I offered to just rent a car so I could get the mandatory class taken care of, then let frieght move me back to swap tractors. And in their kindness, they are seeing if that expense can be avoided.

This is all so very exciting 8)

Be assured, dear readers, that I will clean all my lenses before taking truck shots. My 1D Mark II needs a little TLC anyway, and this is a great excuse to go through it. Photos will be forthcoming.

Oh, vanity. While twiddling away the time here in Fontana, I stopped in at the local <hehe> KW dealer and bought a hat. They were out of signature key chains <damn>. Oh well. I am sure I will find my way to the K-Dub shop in PHX anyway. K3501 is the part number for the top splitter kit and they have two in stock.... (oh, boy.... here we go).

The Swift body shop tells me that they have a few used headache racks as well, so I will take a look and see what is available when I hit the yard.

Now, to just get out of this place...

'Til next

Oooch the waiting is the hardest part. Good luck..

OK, she's a she
 

http://www.pbase.com/ckapp/image/78227865.jpg

More coming........

Sha....... :twisted:

I for one am personally shocked at how well Swifts flatbed fleet worked for you...I always just assumed that there would be no reason whatsoever to ever look at running flats for Swift with some of the very good flatbed companies that are out there...I am just plain surprised at how good it seemed to work, Swift flatbed just always seemed to be an after thought for some reason