Dr. Zebra: Life on the Big Road (and a few not-so-big roads)

This blog has moved...

2009-02-15T21:48:00.003-06:00

My new home is http://drzebra.primedrivers.net

See you there!

Attention:

2008-12-18T17:18:00.000-06:00

I FUCKING HATE ICE!!!!

That is all.

Live (Dead?) Unload in Portland, Oregon

2008-05-09T15:42:00.001-05:00

So here I am in Portland, 30 minutes past an appointment time that I arrived 2 hours early for. No big deal, except that they just started unloading trucks, one at a time. Smells like some detention is coming my way, but it's still a pain in the ass.

One of my PrimeDrivers.net friends asked why I chose to take the very northern route of I94 across instead of I80. Here is why:

Billings, Montana

2008-05-08T03:02:00.001-05:00

This place is just as exciting as you'd expect, minus any excitement. I did get a few pictures in North Dakota and Montana, though. Nice country, just not much population. Of course, knowing how cold it gets up here in the winter certainly keeps me away, too.

This is a duck lagoon in North Dakota next to a rest area. Supposedly some waterfowl habitat paid for by "duck stamps". Hey! The posted signs said it, not me!

My truck parked at said rest area.

View from the Rosebud rest area in Montana, westbound I94.

A Stupid Route To Take...

2008-05-07T21:14:00.001-05:00

...but it was on purpose. You see, I was driving from Wilmington, DE to Shelbyville, IN and wanted to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Qualcomm says to take I68 across Maryland to US40, up through southern Pennsylvania to I70 and then across.

In the past, I always assumed that the Qualcomm routing is on crack because US40 looks on the map like a little 2 lane highway going through some pain in the ass Pennsylvania mountains and would just proceed on to I79 and go up to I70 from there.

This day, I had a little time to spare and was feeling adventurous and decided to see what US40 was all about.

In reality, US40 is a little 2 lane highway going through some pain in the ass Pennsylvania mountains. In short, my reasons for avoiding the route were well-founded. Now, to be fair, US40 is a far cry from the worst roads I've driven on, but it is still a time waster. The terrain dictates slow speed through a lot of it.

Here are some photographic highlights of the route:

9% downgrades are always fun!

Woohoo! "Dangerous Mountain"! Could they have been just a little less specific?

10mph truck speed on this downhill. Yes, it was steep and curvy.

If your driving day didn't end in one of these, then your day didn't go so badly after all!

A Rookie Mistake...

2008-05-07T20:24:00.001-05:00

Last week I had an opportunity to be pissed off at myself. I did something incredibly stupid. Unbelievably stupid.

I decided to heed the Qualcomm's routing advice and take I895 through the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Not really a problem except that only trucks 96" or less in width are allowed there. My truck measures 102". Somehow, some way, I missed the sign announcing the width restriction and I just don't miss signs and get pissed off at people who do.

So, the Maryland Transport Authority police were kind enough to pull me aside AFTER getting my $8 EZPass toll deduction. The officer scolded me a little bit and proceeded to give me a level 3 (paperwork) DOT inspection. Nothing else being wrong, I left with a only a warning.

Seriously, I can't believe I did something that damned stupid. Ugh.

A New Camera

2008-04-29T12:42:00.001-05:00

Not really much interesting happening, except that I finally got the hell out of the northeast for a bit. I bought a new camera at a Meijer in Lima, OH and have been trying it out. Too bad there's not a lot worth photographing out in this area of the country.

Battling An Old Enemy...

2008-04-29T12:12:00.001-05:00

On August 22nd last year (click here for a refresher), I mentioned a rather painful run through Ohio on two-lane highways. The other day, I got to re-experience that in daylight, without the fog and deer. Man, that made it a lot easier, and even more so because I was empty and didn't have to keep downshifting to make those hills.

Even better, I have some photos of OH-93:

Not nearly as fearsome as I remembered it, but the 55mph speed limit still seemed awfully optimistic. The frequent 25mph curves kept me down to about 45 max. Very pretty country, though.

A Couple of Good Days

2008-04-23T07:07:00.001-05:00

Monday and Tuesday were good days.

On Monday, I made my delivery in Milton, PA and just as I was getting back onto I80 to head back to the Petro, a TriState straight truck passed me that looked suspiciously like some photos I've seen on Pumpkindriver.com. I made a phone call, and sure enough, it was Wolfeman, who I'd been hoping to meet for a while now. Had a good breakfast and good conversation with him.

Tuesday was even better. I got a load assignment that delivers in Fredericksburg, VA this morning. Greg, a friend of mine from high school lives in Ruther Glen, about 20 miles south. Haven't seen him since around New Year's 1995. Even better, he invited ANOTHER friend of ours (Scott) so I got to chill with TWO relics of my high school days for an evening of pasta, beer, attempts at trombone playing, and other old fuddy-duddy debauchery. Lots of reminiscing, and Scott brought along some artifacts from Frankfurt American High School that he swiped when the school closed in 1995.

The shame of it all was that I left my camera in the truck. We had almost half of the 1993-1994 Frankfurt American High School advanced band trombone section reunited (missing Jason, Alaine, Raymond, Doug, and Joe) and I couldn't even get a picture. Oh well. A good time was still had by all.

And who says truck drivers don't get good benefits?

The Pennsylvania Trap or Dr. Zebra is a Produce Bitch

2008-04-19T19:59:00.001-05:00

Something about Pennsylvania this week. I can't stay out of here. In fact, this weekend, I can't GET out of here.

Just a couple of pictures of splattered bugs set against the backdrop of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

So after delivering the HazMat goop in Winchester, VA, I pull some dead chickens overnight to Vineland, NJ. Thinking I was clever and positioning myself better to get to my next load, I drove out to Carney's Point and awaited my next dispatch. "Get Thine Ass Back To Vineland," sez the Qualcomm.

It's a load of produce bound for Bedford, PA and Washington Court House, OH. Made those deliveries and got ANOTHER produce load from Springfield, OH to Pottsville, PA and delivered it this morning. That load paid $2.48/mile. Great!

The problem is that this IS Pennsylvania, and it IS Saturday. Nobody ships on the weekends in the northeast, and even more so since Prime is in negotiations with shippers working on getting better rates.

Got my next load assignment, and it appears that I wont' be leaving the state for a while yet. Joy!

Meeting New Friends, or Fun With HazMat

2008-04-15T20:13:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a fun day. I delivered the last of my tomatoes in Taunton, Massachusetts and get caught up on a little sleep. "BZZZZZ!" goes the noisy Qualcomm, several times over as my next assignment comes in.

Pick up a load in Nashua, New Hampshire. Ok. Pick up the rest of the load in Wilmington, Massachusetts, a whopping 26 miles away. Ok. Deliver it to Winchester, Virginia. Ok. It's HazMat. Uh, ok. I guess that's why it paid $1.48/mile to the truck even though it originated in an area notorious for crappy freight rates.

I accomplish the pickups with little fanfare (though the locals there sure do swear a lot. not because they're mad at me, but because it's punctuation to them) and zip off to the great unknown.

After I get onto the Mass Pike, I start feeling insanely hungry. No problem, I've got a fuel stop in Sturbridge, I'll just eat there. At that moment, I see the Westborough Service Plaza ahead and they have a d'Angelo's, and a Philly cheese steak is sounding mighty good.

I pull off and park (who is the dumb shit that designed the truck parking here?? do they have any clue as to what size a truck actually is?) , run inside, and get my grub. While going back to my truck, I notice another Prime truck parked out front that looked like I should know it somehow. So I sneak up on it and grab the number (69035) and note that it is REALLY familiar and I have a hunch as to who it belongs to.

I go back to my truck, fire up the ol' laptop and aircard and confirm my suspicions. It belongs to TNet and DrJoe, newly annointed Prime drivers from the Pumpkin world. I forget my food, run over to their truck lest they drive away and squandor this historic moment, and start banging on their door. Hmmm... the only answer is this dog inside barking and generally trying (failing) to be threatening. I decide to wait it out.

Sure enough, a guy comes out of the plaza with the "What the hell are you doing around my truck" demeanor and I stop him dead in his tracks asking if he is Joe. I introduce myself and it's just a party from there on.

Very, very nice people. And it was fun to be a stalker, if only for a little while.

Oh, and I delivered the nasty HazMat this morning, too.

A Post Without A Point...

2008-04-13T20:15:00.001-05:00

Why yes, folks, that is really a picture of the George Washington Bridge going into New York City, taken by me today. Amazingly enough, NYC was easy to get through. You see a little backup in the picture because the Port Authority Fire Department was doing something that required the right hand lane to be blocked off. What it was, I have no idea. It looked like they were just standing around talking to me.

The good news is that I didn't actually deliver in New York City. In fact, I never deliver there. And I never will. Not my cup of tea. But I had to endure the drive through to get to Massachusetts for the last two stops of this load.

There was actually going to be a point to this post, but I'm too tired to remember it and can't be bothered to care. So here's a picture of a Wyoming sunrise that I took a couple of months ago:

The Respect That Truckers "Deserve"

2008-04-12T20:30:00.001-05:00

It's another day and another time for me to rip the trucking world a new asshole. Well, I guess that's what I'm doing. I don't think I am, but that's how everyone is going to take it, so who the hell am I to argue?

"Respect" is a word that is increasingly bandied about by truckers. Mostly when they bitch about not getting any of it. I guess everyone's a Rodney Dangerfield these days. It's really getting irritating because nobody seems to understand what it actually means, or why they should or shouldn't be getting it.

My question to you, my select group of truckers who don't get no respect, is this: what are you doing to earn respect? Do you think you deserve respect just because you're a trucker or even just because you're alive? La-de-fucking-da, guys. I'm a trucker too, and I'm also alive. But I don't whine about not getting respect. I don't demand that everyone kisses my ass simply because I haul consumer commodities.

I get respect because I give respect. I don't go screaming at the poor clerks in the shipping or receiving office because the loaders/unloaders aren't working according to my schedule. I take the time to understand that the world is larger than my and my piddling little needs. I don't regard customers as enemies. I do my damnedest not to inconvenience or endanger people. I bathe regularly. I don't get mouthy on the CB.

You want respect? Then tell me this: what are you doing to help make the lives of the people you interact with today a little easier?

Old Friends...

2008-04-12T20:19:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday, I had a great opportunity. I passed through Charlotte, NC on my way to Pennsylvania and had a lot of time on the load. That meant that I could stop and see an old friend from college that I hadn't seen in 13 years. Holy crap, that is a long damned time.

Got to hang out for a couple of hours and shoot the breeze, catch up on events passed. Tommy, if you ever read this, it was good seein' ya! Hope we can do it again sometime.

Now to dig up some other friends I haven't seen lately.

Oh, Jessica, if you read this, don't get offended because I came through North Carolina and didn't see you, sis. I just saw you a couple of months ago. Get over yourself. (My family is such a loving bunch)

Another Departure, Another Fustercluck

2008-04-04T23:08:00.001-05:00

Seems like every time I leave the house, I get saddled with some crap that another driver couldn't be bothered to get fixed. I was dispatched to pick up some dead cows today, which is a nice and easy drop and hook at the dead cow factory.

I inspect the loaded trailer. Hey, not one, but TWO flat tires. Whee! And the only shop in the area is 20 miles in the wrong direction. Seriously, one of the tires didn't even have the bead seated. What the hell is wrong with people?

Home again!

2008-03-31T11:52:00.001-05:00

I deadheaded home from Ogden, UT on Saturday. After taking a brief detour to ditch my trailer in Greeley, it ended up being just over 500 miles.

Normally I don't like deadheading home, but I have stuff that I have to get done here this week and my options for getting here were limited due to a weekend delivery. I could have taken a load from Salt Lake City to Sparks, NV for a Monday morning delivery, but that wasn't acceptable. I also could have waited until Monday for a load heading home, but again, I needed to be home.

Such is the fun of being a trucker, and more so being an independent contractor. I'll end up being $300 or so in the hole this week. Oh well.

Once a reefer driver, always a reefer driver

2008-03-27T07:47:00.001-05:00

Oh hell. I forgot to update my situation in my last post. I guess I got too excited in my rant or something.

I'm back in the saddle as a reefer driver, with a brand new 2008 Freightshaker Century. The flatbed gig was ok, but through the training I just had a horrible feeling that I would regret it if I did it. Whenever I go against my gut feelings, I lose.

Here's a picture of the new truck:

A Trucking Strike?

2008-03-24T12:32:00.001-05:00

Seems that some people are calling for a trucker's strike to protest high fuel prices and/or pressure government to intervene in the hopes of providing relief.

I'm going to be blunt. These people are morons.

"Wait, wait, wait", you say, "that's not really fair to say. These people are just trying to earn a living!"

I repeat. These people are morons. The reason that any driver or company is going under in these economic times is the unwillingness to adapt to the current marketplace. See, we have a free market economy here, and as such, it's a consumer driven economy. That means that if your business is going into the shitter, THEN YOUR BUSINESS IS NOT IN DEMAND.

As a business owner, your function in life is to satisfy your customers in a profitable manner. You do not render services to customers for less than cost, and you do not keep offering services that are not in demand. You're trying to make money here.

"But what about the unscrupulous brokers? If I don't take their crap freight with no fuel surcharge, someone else will!"

So what? Let that someone else haul that freight and lose money on it.

For that matter, owner/operators and independent contractors need to learn to cut their expenditures, especially in fuel. Slow your ass down and quit idling so much. At $4.00/gallon at 1 gallon/hour of idle time for 10 hours, you're spending $40/night to idle that truck. How much pain are you willing to endure before you learn that lesson? Driving slower is even more of an impact. Saving 8 cents per mile over the course of 120,000 miles (about 1 year of driving) gives you an instant $10,000/year pay raise, with zero increase in revenue!!

Strike, my ass! How about I just come out and slap the stupid out of you? Or even better, keep putting forward that myth that speed = money, run yourself the fuck out of business, and leave more freight for the smart and business savvy drivers to haul.

You're not entitled to a profit in this country, and if you won't effectively manage your business, you don't deserve to earn a profit. Quit asking the government to reward your shortcomings as a businessperson.

Pop Quiz for Oklahoma City Residents

2008-01-24T21:04:00.001-06:00

You're on an onramp merging into another onramp that will merge onto an interstate highway. At the end of your ramp, there is a "yield" sign. There is no traffic coming up that will interfere with your merge. Do you:

Come to a complete stop at the end of the ramp
Double check for traffic, maybe only slowing a little as you do so, and then GET YOUR ASS MOVING

Oklahoma City drivers kept choosing option 1 and failing the test this afternoon, at rush hour. Let me explain this once. A yield sign means to let traffic already on the road go ahead of you. But if there IS no traffic, you keep going. You'd think that this is a simple concept, but I guess not...

Still Truckin'!

2008-01-24T09:27:00.001-06:00

I'm still around, folks. It's been busy, busy, busy. There are some developments since my last installment.

Another driver and I founded Primedrivers.net, a forum for Prime drivers and possible future Prime drivers. Trolls and exclusive naysayers need not bother registering.
MY LEASE IS ALMOST DONE!!
After my lease is up, I'm going to try my hand at flatbedding.
I'm a Trucker Buddy

Heartwarming, ain't it?

Holy hell! You're still here?

2007-12-01T19:29:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know I haven't updated in a long time... again. But I've been BUSY!! By shutdown time, I've been too exhausted to even think about putting together coherent sentences.

Anyway, I was going through my comments and came across one from "anonymous" back in August asking for a retrospective since I've been doing this for over a year now. Here goes:

It's been a LOT of learning, a LOT of mistakes, and a LOT of growing. Not so much my body. I think I've gained a little weight, but I'm not needing new clothes yet so I think I'm ok for now.

The biggest thing to understand is that when you're getting started, the money isn't there. It is very discouraging at time. VERY discouraging. It takes time, patience, stubbornness, and an OPEN MIND to get this job. An open mind is the most important thing because if you're not willing to change anything, you're going to keep screwing up and keep flushing the dollars down the toilet. The day we stop learning is the day that we die.

Advice to newbies: watch everything. Watch how truckers conduct themselves in all situations. Listen to the CB chatter. Listen to them talk. Watch how they back in to docks or parking spaces. You will learn much by doing this.

For the talk, you have to understand that 99% of everything that truckers say is pure BULLSHIT. The important thing is to learn to not only recognize the bullshit, but to understand WHY it is bullshit. They brag and boast but the reality is that they're not doing any better than you are, and quite likely worse.

For general conduct, you will learn what to do and what not do to. Don't piss and moan at your shippers and receivers. I don't care what they tell you to do. Just smile, say "ok", go back to your truck and scream there. I have plenty of shippers and receivers that I despise, but THEY will never know that. Also watch for general etiquette and PLEASE remember to avoid getting in people's way whenever possible. Fuel islands, parking lots, docks, etc. Don't block stuff unecessarily.

For parking and driving, watching the veterans and beginners is a very good habit to get into. You'll learn little tricks to try (and some to NOT try!). Even watching newbs back in is good because you can watch them make the same mistakes that you make and see why they're mistakes.

Anyway, that's enough posting for one night. Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day!

Massive Stupidity in Louisville...

2007-09-10T23:46:00.000-05:00

This has got to be by far the stupidest thing that's ever happened to me at a shipper or receiver. Actually, in this case, this consignee just happened to be my next shipper. Zero deadhead miles. Woot.

So I got this load on Saturday to pick up at our contracted drop lot in Bensalem, PA. Delivers Monday at 0200 in Louisville, KY. No problem. I pick it up and drive down to the TA in Elkton, MD to call it an early day on account of laundry.

No sooner did I get my clothes in the wash than dispatch called me asking how soon I could get the load to Louisville, preferably in the morning. Uh, no. Still 650 miles to go, clothes in the wash. Try 1700-1800. Reason he was asking was that the consignee has a load ready to go (pick up no later than 1200) bound for Romulus, MI and it would be good to get the load squeezed in and get another one in after that before payday cutoff. He tells me that 1700-1800 will work ok, and that it will be a drop and hook. Well, it would have been ok, but...

Next day, I haul ass to the consignee. Get there at 1730. There is ONE person working the entire building and the full crew isn't due to arrive until midnight. They can't unload me until 0200, the appointment time.

Me: "But I was told it was going to be a drop and hook!"

He: "Uh, we don't do drop and hooks any more. All unloads are live. And I'm not showing a load to Romulus as being ready yet."

Fine. As I was heading back to my truck, I noticed a flammable placarded Prime trailer sitting in one of the ready pads. I walked around it and saw that it was all sealed and everything. Nothing unusual, but I just had "that feeling" that my destiny would be intertwined with this trailer somehow later on.

Now the story starts getting good.

So I come back at 0-dark-thirty as instructed. Check in, assigned door, open trailer, back into door. Unloading commences. Unloading finishes. Check out, ask for next load, and HEY!! It was loaded all the time on that trailer that I noticed earlier and rather bluntly foreshadowed for you.

That's not the good part. Here is the good part.

In order to hook up to the loaded trailer, I had to drop my empty one. Drop and hook, which the consignee doesn't do for incoming loads for some reason. So when I backed to the door, I had to disconnect from the original trailer while being unloaded (safety reasons), wait to get unloaded, hook back up, move the now empty trailer to another spot in the yard, drop it, and hook up to the new loaded trailer.

You mean to tell me that I couldn't have just left the loaded trailer in the door, hooked up to the new load and been on my way? They had yard goats, for crying out load! Basically, I was sitting around waiting to move an empty trailer for them.

Ugh. Needless to say, ontime delivery in Romulus, MI was no longer possible, and had to be rescheduled for tomorrow because they can't take loads after 1200.

This is not a job for hotheaded people, that's for damn sure. Ugh.

Getting fingered in Slowhio... (coarse language!)

2007-08-29T20:07:00.000-05:00

The following is a letter to an asshole:

To A Gentleman in a Grey Pickup Truck Who Passed Me Near Cincinnati This Morning:

I was in the passing lane doing 63 (in a big rig, that's speeding in Ohio!) going around traffic that was moving just a little bit slower so it took a little while. Should have been pretty easy to understand. After I overtook the vehicles, I moved over to the right lane and watched traffic pass me. You were second in line, and you flipped me off as you drove past.

There really is no delicate way to put this, so I'll be blunt: WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?? If you're pissed off because I was holding you up by only going 63 even though my truck will certainly exceed that speed, might I remind you that your beef is with your idiot Ohio lawmakers who mandated that the speed limit for trucks be set at 10mph below the rest of the traffic. That is, 55mph when everyone else gets to go 65mph. I was doing 63mph, which was pushing it. Given Slowhio's reputation for harassing truckers, I wasn't going to risk a speeding ticket just for your convenience. I was also not about to sit behind traffic moving slower than me.

In addition to this, was that two or three minutes really that important to you? Were you that late to be somewhere? If that was the case, I have no sympathy for you. I did not cause you to leave home without ample time to get to your destination. If you were running late, the fault lies entirely with you. So again, don't pin your idiocy on me.

I'm a professional driver, and I do my best to be a courteous driver. You could certainly help out my cause by being a little more patient and willing to share the road. Instead, you chose to be an asshole. For that, I pity your parents. Fuck you.

Love,

Rodger

Delivering in Delaware...

2007-08-25T09:16:00.000-05:00

Here I sit, waiting for this Wal-Mart distribution center to finish unloading my trailer. The drive through Maine yesterday was quite pleasant and relaxing, and everyone at the shipper sounded like comedian Bob Marley. I'm not kidding there.

Of course, things turned crappy once I got back to Massachusetts and got worse in Connecticut. Friggin' Northeasterners need to learn how to drive. They don't seem to understand a few basic concepts such as:

Every lane change contributes to backed up traffic. Multiple lane changes by the same care compounds the problem.
When entering the highway, you're supposed to be a freeway speed BEFORE you get to the end of the ramp.
Traffic already on the highway has the right of way. These bastards push their way in like you wouldn't believe. Again, adding the backup.

Things deteriorated really quickly as I approached New York. Apparently, a tree decided to fall on the highway and this caused a nine mile backup to the last service plaza in Connecticut. Joy.

I took my break in New York's retarded, evil brother, New Jersey. Actually, New Jersey wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the people living there, but that's a whole other essay (or rant). In any case, I stayed at the Vince Lombardi service plaza. If I had more time, I would have taken a shuttle into NYC to poke around a bit because there's a LOT of truck parking there and I've never really seen NYC in any meaningful way. Just I95 and JFK airport. Some other time, though.

I'm preplanned to go to Chicago next. While I'm no fan of Chicago traffic, it beats the crap out of what I've been dealing with this week. This load also is another piss-poor payer, not even $1.00/mile. But there are two things that are making up for it:

My expenses are already paid this week (and then some!), so all the profit goes directly to my bank account
I'm getting the HELL out of the northeast!!

The bad news is that unless my fuel optimizer has a better solution, I have to go brave Washington, DC. Ugh.

Maine...

2007-08-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Delivered my load in Lewiston, Maine tonight. Created myself a parking spot at a nearby truck stop, and hopefully they won't bother me about it while I'm sleeping. I'm past my 14 hours for the day and I'm exhausted. I really don't need to be hunting up another spot in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I'm preplanned to pick up a load of nonrefrigerated goods in Wilton, ME for delivery in Delaware on Saturday. The pay sucks for this load, but that's the freight in Maine for you. You get paid well coming in, crap on the way out.

By the way, I still hate driving in New England. What's the deal with all those toll roads? What are they doing with all the money they collect on those? I know what they're NOT doing - paving the roads. Or even modernizing the cash boxes so that they don't create traffic jams. Open road tolling a la Chicago would be a really nice way to use some of that money.

New England...

2007-08-22T19:48:00.000-05:00

Driving in New England sucks. I don't know how people do it day in and day out. I'd refuse loads in an out of there, but they pay too well. I wish freight rates would switch for the northwest and the northeast, because driving out there is far preferable. Oh, and you haven't seen traffic jams until you've gone to Pennsylvania, New York, or New Jersey. Traffic jams of breathtaking scope. And lots of road construction. Just resurfacing. They're not doing anything useful like widening the roads like everyone else is doing. Basically, they're just making sure that you crawl along slowly on somewhat smoother roads.

That's my rant for the day.

I start today in Zanesville, OH after a murderous run on little two-lane state highways through southern Ohio. Get to Pittsburgh, PA, where I faithfully follow Prime's fuel optimizer and take PA28 up to I80. It was fine until it went down to two lanes, and then it degenerated into another twisty turny hilly mess. Like Slowhio, but more road construction. Finally, I make it to I80 and crawl through its various traffic jams. I got fuel at the Sapp Bros. in Clearfield where I was surprised to find that they were having a barbecue for truckers. For trucker appreciation week, apparently. Whatever they're calling it, it was free grub. Much appreciated, y'all.

Tomorrow, I get to blast through New York (thankfully not the city this time!), Connecticut, and a couple of other states on my way to Maine.

Posting Again!

2007-08-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah. Once again, I've become lazy and haven't kept this thing up to date. Still going strong with Prime.

Started out in York, NE this morning and got a "check engine" light and the engine started running crappy in the middle of Omaha. Nice. Got it to the TA in Council Bluffs and found that my fuel filter is clogged and I'm getting EGR codes from the engine. The fuel filter got changed, and now the engine is running better. I'll have the EGR fixed later when I have time.

This fiasco put me about 2 hours behind, so I rolled up to my consignee in Valparaiso, IN about 1.5 hours late (had the appointment changed, so no service fail!). Was a long and rough day, and I'm done. Should get a load home tomorrow.

Fun With Reefers

2007-06-16T21:24:00.000-05:00

I finished my hometime this morning and drove out to the Budweiser plant in Fort Collins to pick up an empty trailer. After a while, I found the trailer, and it was certainly empty. Of fuel. And battery charge. I call my dispatcher who sends me to road repair who tells me that my dispatcher needs to decide whether to have me get the trailer fixed now or go find another one. This is the fun part. For over an hour, I send messages over the Qualcomm asking for a solution. I also called a lot, but got an automated message saying that my dispatcher is "away from their [sic] desk".

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!

I finally call the Prime "all purpose" number and get transferred to the supervisor who discovers that I'm being dispatched from Salt Lake City today (my normal dispatchers get days off?!) but the phones aren't transferring properly.

After all this is straightened out, it is decided that I am to go get this trailer fixed. First, I go to Johnson's Corner in Loveland since it is close and not far out of route. I get the trailer fueled and find that the shop doesn't open for another hour and decide that instead of waiting, I'll just drive down to another shop that's near my pickup. Great idea, huh?

Fast forward to the Tomahawk Truck Stop in Brush, Colorado. One guy is working the shop. Needless to say, this takes a while.

So after waking up at 4 am to get a trailer and get my load, I finally roll into Fort Morgan and grab the load at 3PM. Great start, huh?

Headin' HOME!!

2007-06-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

Finally, I'm on my way home. I've earned it, having been out for over a month now.

Anyway, things have been going well at Prime so far. The last week wasn't so productive because your options get VERY limited once you have to go in a particular direction. But that's ok.

I spent the last week driving around New England, delivering frozen vegetables and picking up and delivering ice cream. Had a four-stop load of ice cream treats to Ohio to supply the ice cream trucks. Man, talk about some messed up backing situations at those places.

I talked to my ex-codriver tonight. He had found a new codriver, but that arrangement lasted only about a week before he got fed up with the guy. Since then, he's been back at the Ford account as a utility driver and is starting Monday morning at Knight Transportation. Good luck, dude.

You want me to drive WHERE?!

2007-06-02T07:04:00.000-05:00

Prime wasn't able to get another truck to take my load before I took off yesterday, so I just started driving as hard and fast as I could to gobble up some of those high-paying miles on the load, planning to stop at Glade Spring, Virginia. Late in the day after I passed Knoxville, Tennessee, I received a message on the Qualcomm: "Can you make it to Hagerstown, MD"? WTF? As in, 300 miles past my planned stopping point? Do remember, I started out near New Orleans.

Umm... I don't think so. Almost 1100 miles in one day is way too much, and I don't have millions of dollars to spend on any negligence suits that may crop up if I were to crash and take someone with me. Needless to say, they found me a swap. And the driver I swapped with brought me a gift: a two stop load to Delaware and Vermont that pay $1.91/mile to the truck. And the first drop (Delaware) doesn't drop until 6/4! That means I really don't have to start driving until the afternoon!

Now to get a PM busted out...

Fun with Haz Mat and The Value of a Good Post Trip Inspection...

2007-05-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

I ended up spending a second night in Springfield and earned a 34 hour restart for my 70 hours. I woke up, drove out to the yard to find my trailer, found it, and did a pretrip. The trailer had a flat tire. Now this just pisses me off because tires just don't go flat in such a short amount of time unless they blow out. Never mind that, being a Haz Mat load, the person who brought it in should have been checking the tires (pressure and temperature) every 200-250 miles and logging said tire checks. It's a DOT requirement. Never mind that this trailer is equipped with the nifty TIREMAAX autoinflation system. When a tire is 10psi below optimum pressure, the trailer shines a BRIGHT ASS light in your driver's side mirror.

This was just pure laziness. The fact that this jackass couldn't be bothered to spend 10 minutes post tripping the trailer and turning it over to the shop to get the trailer fixed ended up costing me about 3 hours. See, not only was the tire flat, but part of the rim was bent around the brake drum which meant that the rim had to be CUT off and the brake chamber had to be changed. This could all have been done while I was sleeping last night. But no, this dipshit was too lazy to bother. Cost me three hours to save himself 10 minutes. For those of you who read this, do your post trip inspections properly! And even more importantly, if you find something wrong, GET IT FIXED!! I promise that it will cost the next driver more to take care of it than it would have cost you. Don't be an asshole. Please.

Even worse? It meant this genius was dragging around 41,000 pounds of hazardous material with a flat tire. This is dangerous.

After I finally left the Prime terminal, the rest of the day was just driving. Found a little rest area south of Dallas to park in for the night.

My fleet manager messaged me on the Qualcomm practically begging me to take a load out to Jersey for delivery on Saturday. Problem is, I'm supposed to be at home on Sunday for my wife's birthday. Well, the load is 1540 miles, paying at about $1.42 per mile, plus fuel surcharge. The minimum fuel surcharge this week is $0.25/mile, so I'm looking at $1.67/mile minimum, maybe as much as $1.72/mile. I called my wife and we decided that I should go ahead and do it so that I don't have to struggle to break even this week (this dumb load to Houston is only $1.o7/mile, INCLUDING fuel surcharge!) and actually should be able to turn another tidy profit. That'll probably put me home late next week since it'll take 2-3 loads to get me home from Jersey. Shorter loads out of there pay MUCH better than longer loads.

The Great Rigmaster Install and a very twisted road

2007-05-29T01:55:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning bright and early to deliver a load of cut fruit and vegetables to Wally World in Clarksville, AR and prepared myself for the "short" drive up to Springfield, MO to get my Rigmaster generator installed. To shorten the drive and make it interesting, I chose to take state road 21 to US412 to US65. Well, I did succeed in making it interesting...

I wouldn't dare compare Arkansas SR21 to the likes of "The Tail of the Dragon" (www.tailofthedragon.com), but taking a truck through there wasn't wisest of choices. I'm not stupid. I knew what taking a little state route through the Ozarks in Arkansas would entail. And for the most part, it wasn't THAT bad. Just a couple of 25-35mph stretches which were really twisted and one curve that was posted 25mph and became VERY apparent once I was in the curve that the 20mph I was going was about 10mph too fast. And I got to climb a long 11% grade. And the atlas has the route marked as a designated route and no restrictions are listed. So imagine my surprise when I encountered a 34 ton bridge. I drive a truck with a gross combination vehicle weight rating of 40 tons. Let's just say that: 1) I was empty, 2) no cops around, and 3) there was no where to turn around at this point. I'll leave my solution to the problem to your imagination.

I finally arrived in Springfield after fighting strong temptation to run over some of these Missouri drivers who absolutely refuse to drive any faster than 50mph in a 60mph zone. With the amount of traffic on the road, it's dangerous to impede the flow of traffic like that, but I guess that they don't care and never will.

My truck gets to spend the night in the shop getting the generator installed while I get a bunk room at the terminal. A bunk room is essentially a scaled-down motel room. It has a double bed, a couple of nightstands and lamps, a chair, and a tiny tv with basic cable. It's not the Hilton, but it's comfortable. And it's free.

sniff Farewell, load!

2007-05-22T20:53:00.001-05:00

Here I sit at a tiny truckstop in rural Mississippi on my 10 hour break waiting for another driver to come by to repower my load. See, I can't legally deliver this load on time anymore. I pulled into our terminal in Springfield to get fuel, the trailer nazis found some stuff that they wanted to fix on the trailer and wouldn't let me leave until it was done. Only took four hours. Two hours ahead became two hours behind, and my fleet manager was unable to reschedule with the customer. So, the options are to repower the load with someone who has the hours to do it or let me be late, get worked in, and probably be late for the last two drops as well.

No worries, though. We're still early in the pay period, so there's plenty of time to make money.

Wasted Day

2007-05-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

I delivered my load of cooking oil in Cheyenne, WY, this morning and immediately got a new dispatch. Woohoo! It's a little longer than I wanted because I was hoping to get a quick one done before Tuesday to fatten up this paycheck, but that's ok. Next one will be all the more fatter.

Anyway, I get to the shipper and find out that they haven't yet killed enough cows to fill my trailer. So I wait. I finally get called in at 1700 (A whole 2.25 hours before I HAVE to shut down). They tell me which trailer it is and where to find it. I hop into my truck, search the lot twice, and go back to the guard shack and tell them that it ain't there. After some confusion, they get someone to finally drag it out for me. I hook up, pretrip it (there's a hole in the side that road assist told me to get fixed at a TA, Bosselman's, or Petro as soon as I can. it's not penetrating the insulation or leaking cold air, so it's ok for a day or so). I also take pictures at road assist's request so that they can bill the shipper for the repair. I haul the trailer over to the exit, wait for the guard to finally decide to check me out, and he discovers that the seal number is incorrect. ARRRRGH! (No, I couldn't check it because they don't give us the bills of lading until we're checked out) An hour later, someone FINALLY comes out and fixes it. Great. I have just enough time to scale and shut down.

They can't all be good days, I guess.

Sleeping in!

2007-05-16T13:15:00.000-05:00

A rare treat today. I got to sleep in! My next load isn't scheduled to be picked up until 1600 EDT so I didn't set my alarm and just woke up whenever. When I did get up, I called over and they told me that the load would be ready in an hour. I pull up a little over an hour later and they're still not done. No worries, I still have plenty of time.

Not all loads have "plenty of time", though. I had to bust my ass to deliver my load last night, and I was still 2.5 hours late. You can thank the orange barrel crews in Ohio and Pennsylvania for that one. I mean, no sooner does the snow melt than they start shutting down half of the traveled parts of the highways. I'd probably be a little more forgiving if the freshly paved portions in Pennsylvania didn't feel like I40 through Oklahoma City. (BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!) Granted, I should have taken a little more time in planning the trip and noticing the lack of time immediately, but I'll live and learn. The consignee got revenge by making me back into their most difficult door, so I did my penance. Only one pull up, too. I'm not sure if I could do that again.

2007-05-13T20:24:00.000-05:00

Holy crap! I've been keeping track of the comments that I've been getting and I'm astounded that this blog is attracting a bit of a following. It's nice to know that I'm not typing to nobody at least. Oh, and the comments are always appreciated.

Tonight I shut down about 45 miles from my first delivery. I have to go on a rant about my least favorite place to drive thus far: Pennsylvania. See, Pennsylvania is a VERY pretty state and the people seem nice enough, but driving around it in a truck is a major pain in the ass. A LOT of people live there, which means that there are a LOT of cars on the road. Nevermind that the Pennsylvania turnpike feels rather cramped in a truck WITHOUT the extra traffic. And there are only two types of drivers on the turnpike:

Those who will go 10mph above the speed limit and no slower
Those who will go 10mph below the speed limit and no faster

I friggin' HATE driving in Pennsylvania. I won't even get into the other highways. Yeesh. And don't tell me all about its history and how it was built back in the days of horses and buggies. I know that, and it does nothing to change the fact that it's still a pain in the ass to drive through.

Eastbound and down...

2007-05-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

I didn't post for a couple of days because things were sensationally uninteresting. I was deadheaded back to my house to wait on a load that wasn't ready until this morning.

Other than that, this is a typical "drag some product across the country" load and nothing noteworthy has happened.

One Load Down, Many More to Go...

2007-05-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

I promised my fleet manager that I'd get that load delivered by 1500 today, and damned if I didn't come through with 30 minutes to spare! It took some seriously hard running to get it done, but I did it.

I make it to the consignee and see where I might have to pull it, but it looks TIGHT. Instead of getting stuck, I went in to see where they wanted me. Sure enough, that's where they wanted me, and a closer look showed that I could fit in there if I lubed up the truck enough. The lot wasn't particularly small, but they had their stuff all over the place, making it into one of those "you want me to put this truck WHERE?!?!" yards. Ok, I'm exaggerating. It really wasn't that bad, but it was still pretty cramped and took some serious wiggle work to get the truck aligned with their "dock". Oh, and backing up a hill sucks. Thankfully, they were nice people and unloaded me quick. In an out in an hour, including the backing exercise.

Afterwards, I took my truck down to Prime's Salt Lake City terminal for more repairs. My power steering pump was making a racket trying to steer when the truck was stopped. The stereo speakers in my passenger door were cutting in and out, too. Got a new power steering pump and the guys fixed my stereo's wiring. Believe me, I'm being NITPICKY with this warranty. The power steering was a must, but the stereo was just gravy.

The repairs put me pretty much at my 14, so I'm taking the night off and am starting again in the morning. Besides, the stress of the last couple of days really wore me out. The terminal has wireless internet access, so I'm good to go.

On the road... FINALLY!!!

2007-05-06T23:26:00.000-05:00

My load FINALLY arrived at the terminal at about 1000. No worries, still plenty of time to deliver on time. I grab the trailer, get my tanks topped off, and then run across the handy scale at Prime's terminal. 35000+ on the drives. Crap. Ok, so I decide to slide the tandems forward. Except that the trailer brakes don't hold and the just roll. Crap. And my air conditioner quits blowing cold air. And smoke is coming out from under my hood. I open the hood to find that the air conditioner compressor has seized up and is in the process of melting the belt. CRAP!

So I drag everything over to maintenance. Of course the shop doesn't have time to deal with my air conditioner, so I just have the trailer fixed and got it legal. I drive down the road to a TA and they get my truck right in. The replace the compressor and belt and it's still not blowing cold. Needs a new air dryer and expansion valve. They don't have the parts and have to go to Springfield and get them. CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!

My truck is FINALLY done at 2000. Man this was expensive in terms of time. Doesn't cost me a penny, though, because I've got a 60-day bumper to bumper warranty on this thing which Success Leasing extends to everyone who leases a used ride. Now I just have to get my VORAD fixed (headway is having problems, and the people at the TA looked at me like I had antlers when I mentioned "VORAD").

Redid my trip plan, and I'm gonna be LATE. Late enough to miss the pay period cutoff on Tuesday. Sheesh. Great way to get started, huh? Oh well. It just means that next week's settlement will be that much larger, and missing a week isn't going to starve me.

And now we wait...

2007-05-04T19:27:00.000-05:00

Here I sit at the terminal, waiting for my first load.. and waiting... and waiting. Actually, I haven't been waiting that long. I only became available about an hour ago.

Orientation today was spent doing fun stuff like permits, security, lease orientation, and getting my truck ready for the road.

That last part was EXPENSIVE... wow. Here's what I spent on that:

1 tire gauge: $14.87
2 load locks (need to minimum to prevent load shift): $30.00 ea
1 3 pc security set (air cuff, big padlock for trailer doors, little padlock for inspection door): $115.13
2 sets of link chains (remember, I live in Colorado!): $50.94/set
1 set of cable chains (for retarded states who like chains on trailer; Oregon and Washington): $42.19
1 digital thermometer (I work reefers, remember?): $11.00
4 Nev-R-Tips (for blocking and bracing w/ load locks): $12.50 ea
1 flashlight (didn't bring one thinking I was b-seating): $7.98
1 accident camera: $7.34 (yes, I should have bought one at Wally World, but oh well)

Grand total of $410.39, spread out over the next few settlements so that I can build up positive cash flow. And all tax-deductible.

After that, I still had to spend more of my money because I was a moron and left BOTH of my truck atlases at home. Can't work without that, so I had to buy one. That was completely my fault, so I take a little business loss for being an idiot. I did have some extra money set aside for buying a few extras and not-so-extras, so I bought:

1 logbook cover that fits these Prime logs
1 400 watt inverter (my other inverter is sitting uselessly in my car in Denver. but it sucked anyway)
a couple of hand tools
inexpensive boot mats for my steps ($6 for 2 of them - haven't seen a better price yet)
Prime's alternative to the Pumpkin book, just packaged fancier
lanyard for my Prime id/fuel card because it has to be visible when I'm on Prime property and is also the access card to all the doors. The free one sucks.
Zip ties (mats didn't come with any. still cheaper)

Also, I noticed that these trucks don't come with the privacy curtain that goes around the windows. I didn't HAVE to have one, but I like them to help keep out the sun and the yo-yos who like to stare into my windows. So I got one. No big deal.

Now I get the fun of dealing with Opti-Idle. It's kind of a neat feature, and yet kind of annoying. See, you set a temperature range on it, and the truck will turn on and off to maintain that temperature as well as keep its batteries charged and whatnot. It's annoying because the thermostat makes a loud BEEP! when the truck turns on. That will probably get old fast. I'm not really worried because I'll quit using it once I get an APU installed on this puppy. In the meantime, though, it will be cheaper on fuel that running the truck all the time.

I need to devote some time to talking about the truck a bit. This is VERY much not the same Freightliner Century that Schneider uses. It has more gauges. It has better quality and more comfortable seats. It has a cruise control on the shifter. It has a very different Qualcomm. It has a thermos holder on the floor. It has Sirius satellite radio installed (damn it! I'm an XM person!). It has VORAD on the passenger side and front. It has another mirror above the passenger door. It has no passenger side sidebox (damn it!). It has a better mattress. It has no fan above the driver's side vent. The CB mounts above the driver's head instead of on top of the dash. It has a panic button. It has 515 horsepower. Man, it tries to get away from you if you're used to Schneider's eunuch trucks. I have to relearn at what speeds the gears like because the ones that I got used to at Schneider just grrrrrind like crazy on this thing.

Now for the Millenium Building, which is the crown jewel of Prime's operations. All I can say is "wow". Talk about a contrast to Schneider's dull grey operating centers. This place is colorful, full of fountains, and a little hard to navigate if you're not used to it. The fuel pumps are full service. As in, you're not allowed to pump your own fuel. There are a few posters around featuring Robert Low (at Prime, you don't get any higher than him) practically DARING you to play basketball with him and others at lunchtimes Monday-Friday. I haven't seen this spectacle yet, but the word is that he used to play college ball and he is GOOD.

Now for those of you who have been through Schneider's training and are looking at Prime... or those who have READ about Schneider's training and are looking at Prime, let me explain a few things that I've learned here. Prime is a LOT less hand-holdy than Schneider is. If you don't understand anything and don't ask, nobody is going to help you. There are several different groups all doing different things commingled together, so don't rely on other students or new guys. You have to ask the instructors or others who have been around. Those of us who came from Denver had COMPLETELY different itineraries from those who have been here, and I had a different schedule from the b and c seats who came from Denver with me. You've got to be paying attention. Also, I was CLOSE to taking off without any Transflo forms (no Trippak here!). That would have sucked painfully come time to scan my stuff to get paid. Nobody was going to remind me. Especially if you're not with the main group.

Now I just get to wait for my first load...

Still going...

2007-05-03T19:47:00.000-05:00

After a boring day of sitting around in the hotel room yesterday, I rose at 0530 to eat breakfast and make it to the 0700 class. The problem is, our schedules were wrong and they didn't need us folks from Denver until 1015. Wow. I could have slept in. Ah well.

I killed a couple of hours by walking down to Wal-Mart and buying some bedding for the truck so I don't have to use my sleeping bag. I would have brought bedding to start with, but I didn't plan on being an A seat and going right out on my own.

At 1015 we did our benefits orientation and I made my first business decision. Other than the basic life insurance, I'm staying away from Prime's contractor benefits. I guess the truckers are a piss poor risk group because those premiums are awfully high for awfully mediocre benefits. I've already got a couple of quotes for less than half the price - without the three month waiting period.

So now that I decided not to shell out $70/wk for health insurance, we went to our logging class. Logging is still logging, but Prime allows its drivers to split a 10-hour break and use all those complicated rules. Schneider expressly forbid that as a matter of company policy. I can see where the split can be handy, but I'm not sure that I'd use it often. Also, Prime prefers that we log at least 15 minutes for a Post Trip Inspection, and just flag the Pre Trip. That's completely the reverse of Schneider. And actually, I think I prefer the Schneider way. Prime's log forms are CLUTTERED, too. It's going to take some getting used to.

Once that was out of the way, I was shuttled off to the terminal to pick out my truck. I had seven to choose from: five 2005 models, one 2006 model, and one 2007 model.

Three of the 2005 trucks didn't pass the appearance test. One was yellow, and I *HATE* yellow as a color for vehicles. Another was "twilight royal plum" and was a little too beat up for my tastes given that there were available trucks in better shape. The same went for the dark red one.

Of the two remaining 2005 trucks, one was "radiant fire". I fell in love with that color and took it for a test drive. I was almost heartbroken to find that it drove like crap. WAAAY too much freeplay in the clutch (almost to the floor to get in the working area!) and a heck of a sloppy transmission. I had a hell of a time finding gears in that thing. After that, I tried ANOTHER "twilight plum" (purple to the rest of us) truck. It drove beautifully. Just over 300,000 miles on it, and the lease would be up in February 2008. Definitely worth another look. The problem I had with it is color. I don't have anything against purple per se, but it is a very common color at Prime and I was hoping for something more distinctive and "me".

Next I drove the 2006 blue tractor. When I first looked at it, I disliked the color. It's a lighter blue of a shade that gets on my nerves. Even so, I tried the truck and it acquitted itself well. 240,000 miles. Lease would be over in September 2008. $20 more per week. I disliked the fact that it only had a hood mirror on the passenger side. I got used to having both hood mirrors at Schneider, and I'm not really ready to give that up.

I then went to get the keys and maintenance records for the 2007, but someone else was already trying it and then he decided to grab it. No worries though. I don't think I wanted to go up to that high of a payment and that long of a lease to start with.

In the end, I decided to get the "twilight plum" 2005 instead of the 2006. The 2005 truck was in just as good shape as the 2006, had only 60,000 more miles, and wouldn't cost me an extra $20/wk. I just couldn't find any value in the 2006 truck. Besides, I hated the color and the fact that it only had the one hood mirror.

After all the running around Prime's lot, I had to inspect this truck. Unlike Schneider, Prime wants detailed damage inspections. I had to go around detailing every nick and scratch on this thing. The only thing I found that needed immediate repair was the passenger side running light, which wouldn't turn on unless the turn signal or hazard lights were on. Tires look to be in good shape, and they credit my tire fund for the amount of tire already worn.

All I need to do now is make an appointment to get a generator/APU installed and all will be well. The truck comes with Opti-Idle, but I really don't want to use that any more than necessary.

Well, I'm absolutely beat. I'll just close with a couple of quick pics of my new ride.

Prime Orientation, Day 2...and then some..

2007-05-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

Springfield, MO 8:09AM

Didn't get to post anything yesterday because we went from orientation straight to driving out here.

We got to sleep in yesterday as they didn't want to start us until 0900. The day was spent watching videos. I'm apparently getting another Highway Watch number. The video was interesting the first time with Schneider, but watching it again was not fun. After that, we watched a long, drawn out sexual harassment video and two even longer, even more drawn out maintenance/inspection videos. For those of you pumpkin drivers who read this, the maintenance videos made Schneider's "Three Points of Contact" video look Oscar-quality.

Speaking of Schneider, the pumpkins got razzed in these orientation videos. They were talking about accident avoidance and mentioned watching out for all those "orange trucks you see in the truck stops." And of course, Schneider was used in the example of what to do when a truck rips off your hood when you're parked. Bastards. The maintenance guy DID have a good idea, though. He strongly suggested that when we park, we write down the company names, tractor numbers, and trailer numbers of the trucks parked on either side of us in case bad stuff does happen and they don't have the integrity to own up to it.

FINALLY, the videos were over (about 1600) and we were stuffed into a rental minivan with a third guy who started orientation last week but had a family emergency that forced him to wait another week. After a long 12 hours, we're here at this hotel which seems to house Prime applicants and drivers and not much else. Seriously, the parking lot is secured and all the spaces are large enough to accomodate bobtails. There are a bunch of classrooms for the various training classes that they have here. The rooms are decent. Nothing fancy, and unfortunately no internet access. Thank goodness I have other ways of getting that access. We get three meals a day at the cafeteria here.

Well, I'm absolutely beat. We have the day off to rest, and I intend to do just that. We start tomorrow morning at 0700.

The orientation begins...

2007-04-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

Just as I predicted, a simple conversation with the Denver recruiting and orientation contact (Tammy) fixed my hotel problem. So all is well there.

Breakfast was unexpectedly good here. Instead of the standard continental fare, we actually had a buffet consisting of biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage links, french toast, and the like. Continental-style eats were also available, but I wasn't interested. No juice though, which was a bit of a bummer.

Since my reservation was messed up, I thought it might be a baaaaad idea to trust that a shuttle would show up and decided to drive myself. It also seemed a bit ridiculous that they'd commit a shuttle to pick up just one person. On my way out the door, I ran into a guy who was starting orientation with Navajo (their terminal is just across the street from the Prime terminal) and he claimed to be a former Schneider driver. A bit bitter, though. Before I was able to get away from him, he had told me how he'd lost his house because of Schneider and whatever other sob story he had.

I'm going to digress now. I've noticed a pattern developing among truckers, and the defining characteristic is attitude. If your attitude sucks, you don't make much money in this career. It's that simple. All the truckers I've talked to that are going broke do nothing but friggin' BITCH BITCH BITCH. And their monetary difficulties are never their fault. I'm sorry, but in a career that requires you to be almost completely independent, you are entirely responsible for how you do. If things start going south, it's up to you and you alone to fix it. Nobody else is ever going to babysit you here. Excuses don't pay bills. If your carrier REALLY and TRULY doesn't have the freight base to keep drivers moving, then move on. If you're not making money but everyone else around you is, then you're doing something VERY wrong. I could go on and on here, but I should probably get back to the subject at hand. Just be positive and have an open mind. Trucking is what you make of it. No more, and no less. It's all YOU.

I drove down to the Prime terminal and was confronted by the locked gate, a keypad for entering the code, a speaker for talking into, but no call button or phone to plead my case for entry. After sitting there and trying a few different code combinations in hopes of someone calling out to me, I drove to the parking lot next door and called Prime's general purpose line. Yes, I should have called the Denver terminal directly, but I left that number back at my room like a moron. Luckily, Tammy is the one who answers and she lets me in.

Now, when I say that this place is small, I mean it is SMALL. There is no fuel there. There is a small row of back-in parking that fits maybe 20 trucks. Not much activity. The building is one of those portable modular things with all the usual safety propaganda featuring pictures of crashed trucks hung up on the walls. There is one shower - in the men's room. Functional, and not much else. It seems to be all they need for the traffic they get there, though. Only a couple of trucks came and went during orientation today.

Just when I thought I'd be by myself this whole time, another fresh face shows up. He's experienced, but less so than me. In fact, I noticed that I was classified as a B-2 seat (3-4 months experience, requiring 60 days of training instead of the 30 days that I was promised!) and I asked the WTF question about it. Tammy promptly reran my motor vehicle, DAC, and employment history and came back with good news: instead of being B-1 (30 days training) like I was promised, I now qualified as an A seat and get my truck immediately following orientation. WOOHOO! I tell you, there's a lot to be said for paying attention to your paperwork and asking questions. Like I said in the last paragraph, you've got to stay on top of this stuff because nobody else will do it for you.

This morning was pretty much consumed by the medical clinic. We went down and got new DOT physicals and drug tests. Pretty standard stuff; was poked, prodded, and molested by the doctor. And thanks to the coffee and water that I started drinking early on, fessing up the urine sample was a breeze. In fact, I was getting rather eager to donate.

After that, we went back to the terminal, watched a couple of "welcome to Prime" videos, ate lunch (they sent out for sandwiches), did a ton of paperwork, and had our integrity interviews. Pretty simple, and really informal seeing as how it's just two of us. We concluded at about 1500 and were told to show back up at 0900. Woot! Sleep in!

That's pretty much it. Tammy gave me a voucher for $8.50 worth of food good at the hotel's restaurant, so dinner is taken care of.

On my way to Prime, and not without complications...

2007-04-30T00:20:00.000-05:00

Here I sit in the adequately appointed Best Western of Central Denver. Actually, it's a pretty nice room (much nicer than the Best Western Ontario Airport that Schneider likes to use in California!). It's just in a questionable area of town, but that's just the trucking life. We don't get to see the nice parts of cities very often.

I encountered a problem at check-in; they didn't have a reservation for me. Or for Prime, Inc. Hmmm. I'm guessing that since I'm the only new employee this week in Denver that it slipped their minds. A quick conversation in the morning should rectify this and make sure that the authorization for $80.38 on my bank card doesn't actually get charged. This will be a good test of how Prime handles odd situations. I guess I could be pissed, but I just don't see the point until I give them a fair chance to set things right. Things never go exactly as they should anyway.

During my long and meandering search for food around here I accidentally found Prime's facility here in Denver. Wow. It's SMALL. Very, very small. Again, not really worried because it's my understanding that I won't see this place very often.

Now it's time for bed so that I can stay awake for this orientation.

Goodbye, Schneider!

2007-04-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

I got home last night after my codriver dropped me off on the way to Denver. I cleaned my stuff out of the truck (holy crap I accumulated a lot of stuff!) and went for a little welcome home dinner with my wife.

It's a couple of days early, but that's the nature of the business and freight is shaky these days. And I'm glad for the extra time at home with Jill because I'll probably be gone for over a month on my first trip out with Prime, Inc.

Today was fairly productive. I touched base with Tammy, the person in charge of the orientation in Denver and had her e-mail me all the information I need for getting started. Where the hotel is, when to be there, what to bring, etc. Pretty standard stuff.

I also went down to the DMV and picked up a hazmat endorsement for my CDL. I just got my letter from the TSA last week declaring that I'm not a terrorist. (FINALLY!) It only took a month and a half. Gotta love the goverment.

And now for a few pictures from my last run with Schneider...

Me, the truck, and the Rocky Mountains (Vail Pass rest area)

Big mistake. Got stuck in a muddy truckstop parking lot in Oklahoma.

Another view

And another

An attempt to photograph the Rockies in Montana

10,000 Silver Dollars Casino/Restaurant/Gift Shop/Truckstop in Haugan, Montana

Killing a day in Wisconsin

2007-04-10T20:33:00.000-05:00

So I wake up this morning at the weigh station on northbound I94 at the Wisconsin/Illinois border. Just another 90 minutes of driving to get to the consignee. In the meantime, our replacement load comes in; a nice load to beeeyoootiful Laredo, TX. Ew. But it's certainly nice to have a load that actually moves over 1000 miles for a change, so I won't complain too much.

Anyhow, I get the load delivered ok and have some time to kill because it's a live load at 1500 and it's about 1000. I start bobtailing south toward my empty trailer pickup and what do I see? Held's! Yes, it's a Cheese/Sausage/Jerky seller with a handy truck turnaround on US41, exit 64. I went in there, lost my mind, and spent a good amount of money on cheese and jerky. It's going to be hard to hold onto some of the cheese until I get home, but my wife will kill me if I eat it all. Very highly recommended.

Anyway, after I part with money and put my newly purchased dairy treats in my power cooler, I finish the bobtail run to the Kohl's distribution center in Menomonee Falls, WI. I grab the empty, sweep it out, and check the lights. Whoa, missing a license plate light bulb. Thankfully, I carry extras. Snap 'er in, and I'm good to go. Haul it down to South Milwaukee for a live load, arrive an hour early, and find that the good folks at the shipper have already loaded a trailer for me and just want me to drop and hook. Darn the luck!

So I pretrip it, close the doors, lock and seal it, and slide the tandems to what I think would be a good legal place for 34,000 lbs. 7th hole should do it. I swing by a Pilot 1 exit south, scale it, and of course I was right. I'm always right. But I also always scale, JUST IN CASE. I just have to be caught wrong once, you know.

So after I get my scale ticket, a horrible thought enters my mind. In the hubbub of getting the paperwork, sliding my tandems, and getting out of the next guy's way, I totally forgot to check the tires. So I did. And of course, one's flat. I called Schneider Emergency Maintenance and experienced a miracle: no hold time. At all. As in, someone answered the phone immediately. This must be my lucky day. Even luckier, we had a tire bank just across the interstate. So I limp it over there, perform a harrowing blindside back off a public road into Wingfoot's driveway (there was absolutely no other way to do it, and the Wingfoot guys helpfully blocked traffic and spotted me), and watch this tiny little guy change the tire. I was amazed that a shrimpy guy like him changed the tire so quickly. I mean, this guy couldn't have been more than 5'4" and couldn't have weighed more than 110 pounds soaking wet. But he got me on my way, and I was definitely grateful.

Finally, late in the day, I'm actually ready to put down some miles. Yeah, just in time for Chicago's rush hour. I made it through, but I'm done. Killed my driving output- only 395 miles for the day. Should have a better day tomorrow. We'll see.

I thought that this was supposed to be spring...?

2007-04-09T20:19:00.000-05:00

We took last night off because our shipper wasn't open until 0800. So I wake up and cast my eyes over northern Pennsylvania and am stunned to see how brown, cold, and.. well.. wintry it looks. After picking up the load and getting it scaled, I proceed west on I80. And hit snow. On and off all the way to the Seville OC. WTF?? Why won't winter just die this year?!

In the meantime, we got our next load assignment. A high-value expedited load in which we do FedEx Ground's job for them and deliver a trailer full of packages from one terminal to another. Problem is, it's an 0700 pickup. Uh, we're not going to make it until about 0900. I send in the appropriate macro on the Qualcomm saying 1000, just to be safe. 45 minutes later, the Qualcomm beeps. Imagine that! We've been removed from the load. No worries, though. It was short, and we'd done that exact run before. We'd like to finally get a 1000+ mile load, but 900 is the most they've given us thus far, and it's really wearing us down because we can't get into a rhythm with all these stupid short lengths of haul.

Now it's time to go to sleep and let my codriver deal with Chicago. I got us out of Pennsylvania, and that was PLENTY.

On the road again...

2007-04-08T20:19:00.000-05:00

I'm back on the road for the final time with Schneider. I sent in my notice via Qualcomm. So far, this trip is shaping up much like the last one - plenty of miles, but all in short trips. It's really getting tiring because when you're picking up and dropping off every day, you can't get settled into a good routine. I can't get a good, long sleep because when I'm done driving, we're only maybe 100 or 200 miles from the consignee and I just can't sleep through the starting, stopping, coupling, and uncoupling.

I'm also getting really tired of bouncing around the midwest and to the east coast. I don't know where all the westbound freight is, but we really need to pick up some of that.

Other than that, there's really not a whole lot to post about.

New developments... and there are many!

2007-04-03T23:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we finally got back on the road soon after the last post. And we got to keep the original truck, meaning that we cleaned her out for nothing. Oh, and our dedicated STL never changed us to the system board. His boss ended up having to do that for us.

Anyway, we've been on the road and things improved greatly. It wasn't a great run because it was loaded with short runs between high value expedited runs. But decent money came in and the working conditions are much better.

Well, last week I had a message come up on the Qualcomm asking me to call our STL. I did, and he asked if we wanted a new truck. As in, brand new. 2007. Of course we did. We picked up her up last Wednesday in West Memphis.

The fun part of all this is that I'm giving three weeks' notice of my intent to resign to Schneider on Thursday, when we go back out. You see, I accepted a position with Prime, Inc and start orientation in Denver on Monday, April 30th. I'm going to try my hand at leasing a truck and working for myself.

I went into this after much thought, soul searching, and quizzing of Prime drivers and Schneider independent contractors about how they run their businesses and how to succeed. There is a LOT of bad sentiment on the internet where leasing is concerned, but the vast majority of it is rants by people who can't compose a sentence. Makes me question their business sense. The rest appears to be the opinions of those who have never even tried it. All the Prime drivers that I talked to said that there is a lot of money to be made, but you HAVE to control costs and treat it like a business.

I'll give it a shot. If you disagree with my decision and wish to tell me so, I'll thank you in advance for keeping your comments polite if you absolutely can't keep them to yourselves. I'm doing this and will update the blog accordingly - both good and bad.

AAARRRRGGHH!! Frustration, frustration...

2007-03-05T22:58:00.000-06:00

Ok, I last posted that we were trying to get out of our Ford dedicated account. Last week was finally our last week at that, and we're set for 10AM availability tomorrow. Sounds good, right?

Riiiiiiight....

First, we have no truck. We cleaned it out on Saturday and it went to the shop today to have a cattleguard installed (EWW! Poor girl, now she's going to be hideous!) so she can run on a more elk-prone route. We're supposed to be assigned to some beater truck that needs to get taken back to an operating center for trade, and then we're supposed to pick a more appropriate truck for teams. Sounds good, right?

Riiiiiiiiight....

Our STL from the dedicated account told us to call our new STL today to find out what's going on with the truck situation... like which truck we're taking. So I called and found out two things:

1) We're still assigned to the dedicated board
2) We're assigned to a load (WTF?!)

So, last call to our new STL had him telling me that he'd call our old STL, get it straightened out, and give me a call back. Well, about 3:45 (Pacific Time) I called back and was informed that the new STL had gone for the day.

WTF? WTF? What the f---?! We just want to run and make money. It would be nice to have been able to do that without someone botching the transfer. This is the first time that I've been disappointed and pissed at Schneider. Hopefully, it'll be the last.

Whew! What a month!

2007-02-11T15:21:00.000-06:00

Once again, I promised that I would keep up on this better, and once again I have failed in that simplest of tasks.

Anyway, it's been a rather eventful month. A few weeks ago, my codriver and I got a message on the Qualcomm practically begging us to come drive for Schneider's Ford dedicated account in Denver. It promised a salary (no more mileage pay) and more home time... well... it would have been more home time if I lived in Denver. Which I don't. Well, that's ok because I at least get to go home for the weekends. But...

I really don't mean to rant and rave and make Schneider look bad, because there was no lying involved. They didn't misrepresent the situation. It's more of a distorted look at the realities of living 60 miles from work that got me. Hell, I even thought that I could live with just the weekends. It certainly seems logical. The problem is that I just barely have enough time to start relaxing before I have to get up and drive back out to Denver to start the whole thing over again.

It's like living OTR with none of the benefits. At least over the road, my time at home would be at least 3 or 4 days. That means that I don't have to rush around as much during my time off. I also liked having more options as to how to run the loads. The set schedule going around the same route over and over and over again got old a lot quicker than I thought it would.

Anyway, my codriver is not enjoying it much either, so we're in the process of going back to 48 state system. More money + less hassle = happier drivers.

Oh, and our Coleman cooler died. The 12v plug melted. RIP, Coleman.

F--- you, winter!

2006-12-19T22:05:00.000-06:00

So here we sit at a truckstop, no point in continuing on because the highway ahead is closed until tomorrow morning (we hope). Granted, the point of closure is still several hundred miles away, but fog is bad in this area and we're still dealing with a bit of a winter storm. We stopped while we could still find parking at this here truckstop.

So, our hopes for a stellar earnings week are pretty much shot. We're not going broke by any means, but we were planning on running our asses off and sending home even better coin than we'd been making.

Such is the life of the truck driver. We've got to take the good with the bad. The good is that we found a nice place to park and that we get to sit on our asses and watch movies in our "Ghetto-piece Theatre". We slapped a tape adapter onto my laptop and plugged it into the truck's sound system. Works pretty good as a quasi-surround sound system. It won't be putting Bose out of business, but it sure beats the crap out of my laptop's speakers.

The great part of this - it will be my second 34 hour restart in three days!!

On the road again...

2006-12-17T14:56:00.000-06:00

I'm back on the road. We're taking this weekend kind of slow so that we can ease into things. See, we're still on guaranteed pay ($500/wk minimum) and the way our load turned out to be structured makes it next to impossible to grab enough miles this weekend to top it. So, we can either run our asses off and make minimum, or we can take it easy (lots of time on this load) and make... minimum.

Besides, I'm trying to fight off a nasty head cold.

For those who are curious, I will not divulge my location, route, destination, or load info while I am actually under the load. This is for the safety of my cargo, my teammate and (most importantly) me. I'll talk about this load later, though it's really nothing special.

I will talk about food, however. We have figured out a few good recipes for good eating. In fact, once we bought our two lunchbox ovens, a whole new world of possibilities opened up to us. And after spending the first run eating cold sandwiches, it was very welcome.

Excellent food choices that we found:

canned soup. The chunky kind. Don't skimp here.
Hot sub sandwiches. Wrap in foil, cook for 30 minutes. Yum.
Baked potatoes. Hell yeah!
Chicken breasts. Wrap in foil, season, add a little butter.
Hot Pockets. Believe it or not, the lunchbox cooker actually does these well.

Here's a picture of last night's dinner (chicken breast and baked potato):

Where the heck have you been hiding?!

2006-12-13T10:39:00.000-06:00

Ok, I've been catching hell because I haven't updated this blog for a while. I'm sorry, but internet access has been almost nonexistent on the road and I've been busy, busy, busy while at home. I promise to be more diligent with this in future.

I'm not going to go into the first run because I really don't remember much about it since I didn't record any details. Believe me, you'll be amazed at how much these runs start mashing together into a blur.

I purchased a laptop during my first time at home period, so I was able to keep records. In fact, I keep a spreadsheet tracking paid miles, out of route, and a guesstimation as to what pay for the week will be. It's actually been pretty accurate, with Schneider's mileage calculation always being slightly higher than mine (no complaints!!).

I'm not going into my actual pay for privacy reasons, but you can approximate it knowing that new teams get 31 cents per mile.

First week:

Denver, CO to Macon, GA: 1497 paid
McDonough, GA to Mount Vernon, TX: 777 paid
Coppell, TX to Ogden, UT: 1353 paid

My half of the miles came to 1814. It was a short week due to TAH, after all.

Second week:

Carson, CA to Macon, GA: 2229 paid
Atlanta, GA to Paris, TX: 793 paid
Paris, TX to Hazleton, PA: 1352 paid

My half came to 2187. I also missed the miles between Ogden, UT and Fontana, CA. Monday was wasted due to Safetrack. It was yet another Schneider test to determine whether or not I had picked up any bad habits. My teammate couldn't knock his Safetrack out because he was out of hours. We're going to have to sacrifice another day to that sometime in the near future.

Third week:

Aborted run from Wilmerding, PA to Alpha, IL: 243 paid (more on this later)
McCoole, MD to Sauk Village, IL: 658 paid
Chicago, IL to Roanoke, TX: 971 paid
Haslett, TX to Statesville, NC: 1115 paid
Charlotte, NC to San Bernardino, CA: 2382 paid

Monday was a waste again. We had to drive almost all the way across Pennsylvania to pick up a load in Wilmerding - NOT easy to get to. We finally get there only to find out that it's a Haz Mat load. We don't have Haz Mat endorsements yet. The shipper neglected to tell SNI that it's a Haz Mat load, so I can't really fault Schneider for that. But it still sucks. We get the replacement load and have to go down to Maryland. That region SUCKS for truck traffic. After we get that delivered and pick up the new load in Chicago, it's a race to Texas to beat the ice storm. I made it to Joplin, MO just as the rain starts pouring down. My poor teammate is left to brave the deteriorating conditions in Oklahoma. By the way, it's HARD to sleep when you know that you're being driven through an ice storm.

The next load is expedited - less than 24 hours to make it 1115 miles from Texas to North Carolina. During an ice storm. We manage to make the pickup about 30 minutes late because we were assigned to pick up a trailer from a place that didn't open until 15 minutes before our pickup deadline. We make the drop in NC - only 15 minutes late. Talk about pulling some miles out of your rear. By the way, safety was NOT compromised and we never drove too fast for conditions.

My half of the miles was 2684.

Fourth week:

South Gate, CA to Winchester, VA: 2640 paid
Colonial Heights, VA to Charlotte, NC: 419 paid
Huntsville, NC to Indianapolis, IN: 621 paid
Indianapolis, IN to Henderson, CO (HOME TIME!!): 1065

My split was 2372. Again, another Monday lost because they couldn't relay our delivery in San Bernardino. And the consignee took a LONG time getting around to unloading, and over an hour to get the paperwork done once the truck was empty.

The miles have not been great yet, but that's because we still tend to stop too much. It's not Schneider's fault because the loads always come in either immediately after showing available or we get loads assigned ahead of time.

This is my truck after hooking up to my first trailer:

This is a very nice sunset that we saw at the Seville, OH operating center:

Have truck, will travel...

2006-10-24T23:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, life's been moving pretty quickly lately. I got my CDL last Tuesday and took my last qualification test today. We were finally given the keys to our truck and were pleased to find that it only needs 3 or 4 new tires. Here are some pictures:This is me in the driver's seat

Heres a view of the dashboard

This is the truck in the express bay waiting on the tire changes.

Graduation and meeting the Training Engineer

2006-10-10T22:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not updating everyone. I haven't had internet access since we checked out of the hotel on Friday. Here's what happened:

We took the written test. Everyone passed. One person had to stay for backing remedial. We had the graduation ceremony, took pictures, etc. I managed to get the honors student award. I guess a certain "incident" that I had to call in to safety on Wednesday didn't affect my driving score that much. No, I didn't hit anything, but it was mighty close. Basically, some guy ran a red light and forced me out of my lane while I was trying to make a right turn, and I came within about 1 or 2 inches of a light pole.

So, we all graduated and got our assignments. My teammate and I were assigned to the same TE who is on a Sears dedicated account in Delano, CA. We were supposed to ride a van to Delano on Friday, but the hotel was sold out, so we had to hang out in Ontario, CA for a couple of days and pick up a rental car on Sunday. The great news is that we get to keep the rental car for the week so that we won't be trapped at the hotel.

Anyway, my teammate and I are out with our TE. He is home every night, so we're staying in a hotel instead of sleeping in the truck every night. Pretty sweet, except that we're based in Delano, CA. If you've never been to Delano.. well.. don't hurry.

At about 2300 on Sunday night, the TE calls us and tells us to meet him in the hotel lobby at 0200 on Monday. That's right. We had 3 hours notice. I had the fun task of driving from Delano to Modesto on less than 3 hours of sleep. The TE drove from Modesto to Stockton, and I drove the rest of the way from Stockton to Sacramento. My teammate drove back to Delano while I slept.

Our TE told us that he is pleased with our driving. He's also great about giving us some pointers. So far, he's not seeing any reason not to release us from his custody on Friday, which means that we'll be back in Colorado on Sunday. Woohoo!!

Day 13... Test day

2006-10-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

I know, I know.. but I just haven't had the time or energy to update the blog, especially when not much new has happened.

Today was the driving test. Pre-Trip, pump down (aka "air brake tests"), four-point inspection, trailer integrity verification ("terror check", newly implemented), drive around, and 45-degree alley dock.

It really went well. I took a right turn a little too wide and my mirror scans weren't quite quick enough, but everything else was fine. I'm pissed that I had to take a pull up on my backing test. I had the perfect angle to get the hole-in-one, but then I overcorrected and ran out of room to fix it. Damn. Oh well. One pull up isn't bad.

Everyone in the class passed except one who failed backing. He gets to try it again tomorrow.

We have one more obstacle: the written test. Piece of cake. After that, we discover our fates and where we will be going for further training. All that I know now is that we're checking out of the hotel tomorrow morning.

Time to pack.

Days 8, 9, and 10...

2006-10-02T22:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, I've been slacking on this blog lately. It's been busy around here, and I've been fighting this evil head cold that our class seems to be passing back and forth to each other.

Anyway, Saturday was slow maneuvers and backing practice, which was great fun. The second half was Haz Mat class, which was not fun. Sunday was excruciatingly dull. Permits, Qualcomm, and Map Reading. Map Reading was by far the most interesting. As a kind of techno geek, I thought that the Qualcomms would be fun and entertaining, but no. They're terribly, terribly dull. By far the least fun day thus far.

Today we were back in the trucks. Since my instructor ditched me in order to accomodate the huge class that's in Week 1 now, I've been shunted to another instructor. And there are three of us on that truck. Which meant an 0600 to 1900 day. The first guy drove us out to Huntington Beach. I drove us to San Diego. The last guy drove us back home. We each got roughly 4 hours of wheel time. I even got to drive through my first weigh station. Joy.

And now, it's back to homework. Whee. And Jill, if you're reading this, I love you!

The Halfway Point!!

2006-09-29T20:15:00.000-05:00

Been doing this one week now, and one more week until graduation. I can't believe how tired I was last night. I went to bed with a splitting headache about 2000 and stayed asleep until just past 0400. I was miserable. Woke up feeling much refreshed, though.

Today was productive behind the wheel. My instructor had me practice identifying and making buttonhook turns and I'm getting the hang of it. I'm also getting a handle on 45-degree backing. For some weird reason, the State of Colorado demands that I perform an offset backing maneuver in order to get a CDL. Dunno why. It's the same as a straight-line back except that you're shooting for the next parking space over, not the one directly behind you. I really can't see where I would set myself up for such a maneuver in that fashion, but I have to learn it anyway. Actually, I aced it on both tries. If only I could perform the 45-degree as well. Now I just have to learn to parallel park (both blind [passenger] side and sight [driver] side). Since it's basically the same as an offset back, it shouldn't be any problem.

The simulator was fun today. We got to learn us some skid control. Drive fast over the simulated skid pad and try to keep control. If you're not turning, it's actually pretty easy to regain control. If you're turning, then you've got a big problem. I didn't do so well recovering from the turning skid at 20mph. Jacknifed it, actually.

Next, we got to drive down snowy, foggy, and icy roads. The problem is that when we're doing too well at recovering from the stuff, the instructors start throwing some messed up stuff at you. Just to amuse themselves. Like the steer tire that blew out on me after I started hydroplaning. Either one is easy to recover from alone, but both of them slid me off the road. Brandon, you're a bastard for doing that to me!! And for the black ice that magically appeared when I was trying to maneuver around the wrecked truck at 40mph. And for making me drive through that fog at 40mph so that I had to make such a quick decision and slide on that magic ice. You suck, dude.

We also got to learn about scaling the trucks and sliding the tandems and fifth wheel.

Now it's time to try to do some homework.

Day 6...

2006-09-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

I know that I didn't post yesterday, but I was TIRED. Still am. This has definitely been an exhausting adventure.

Yesterday and today were split between driving the truck and lab/simulator time. I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of driving the thing and my turns are getting MUCH better. Backing is also coming along now that I'm starting to get the idea of where the trailer goes when I turn the wheel.

We lost another student in our class today- don't know why. That brings the total body count up to five. Two never showed up, one got drunk the first day and was dismissed with a hangover. We lost one yesterday to a bad back and now this one. There's only 13 left in the class now.

I'm learning that I don't like the simulators too well. There is no perspective and the controls just don't feel right. Yes, it does give you a rough idea as to how things go, but the actual truck feels much, much different and is easier to see what the hell you're doing in.

Time to hit the sack again. I'm hurting.

First day in the truck...

2006-09-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

I survived. The truck survived. Nobody around me was hurt or killed or wrecked despite the best efforts of some idiotic drivers who have to gun it around the slow truck so that they can get to the red light quicker. Ugh.

So, I thought that we were going to bobtail today (drive without a trailer) through some non-traffic area to get a feel for things for a while before we started doing anything serious.

Guess again.

Chris (my trainer) took us, trailer and all, to an industrial park so that we could get a couple of practice turns in. Then we were thrown to the wolves. The wolves being Southern California traffic.

Now, I've driven manual transmissions for as long as I've driven. I should be able to shift, right?

Guess again.

Never mind that I had to keep reminding myself that the shift pattern is different and the clutch is different and that there are TEN gears, five of which must be gone through almost before you clear a decent-sized intersection...

After a while, I settled down and was able to shift up through the gears without much problem. Downshifting is another story. Double-clutching is strange enough without having to add throttle between clutches in order to shift down. Never mind that I'm trying to shift into 4th gear when trying to go into 5th because it's positioned where 5th is on most cars. And I kept forgetting to set the selector switch so that I could go into 5th instead of trying to go into 10th. Yikes.

And what happens when you try to get it into gear and it just grinds and bounces back out? You can't keep coasting because once you go 100 yards, the Gods of CDL testing consider you out of control and will fail you. You've got to find a gear somewhere. Anywhere.

All in all, I did much better than I expected to. I have a lot to work on and think about, of course, but it could have been much worse. Two instructors have told me that I have the double-clutching footwork down pretty good, so I guess I have to believe them on that point.

Tomorrow is half a day driving the truck and half a day driving a simulator. Now it is bedtime.

Another day gone...

2006-09-25T20:32:00.000-05:00

Man, it's hard to be getting up at 0400. School went well today - it was just long. Half the day was lab and simulator, and half was classroom.

The lab consisted of us learning the proper way to climb in, on, and under the truck. We also got the basics of the four-point inspection and a demonstration of how to uncouple and couple the tractor and trailer.

Next, we went into the simulators for shifting practice. No scenery or anything - just a basic view of a basic dashboard that showed a speedometer, tachometer, and little else. It was nice way to get the idea of how to shift the thing without the distraction of things to hit, where the truck is going, etc. I got double-clutching down ok now and was starting to get the hang of "bump and run" downshifting (what? you have to hit the GAS to slow down?!). My biggest problems are that I'm trying to wrestle the shifter into place and I kind of panic when the shifter bounces back out and misses the gear. I just have to get it through my thick skull to get those RPMs back up before losing any speed. And which gear I need to aim for when I *DO* lose speed. And to not press the clutch all the way to the floor, which engages the evil, awful clutch brake.

It's been really nice having the kitchenette. My roommate/co-driver and I pooled our money and bought a bunch of groceries so that we don't have to eat out every night. Tonight was Tuna Helper night, while we had chicken and potatoes last night. It really does save on money and calories.

I'm both excited and nervous about tomorrow. It's going to be our first day actually on the trucks. I've really been looking forward to this, but there is a LOT to remember when you're trying to keep that big thing under control. I know, it'll become like second nature later, but for now, it's pretty intimidating.

Two days down, only twelve to go...

2006-09-24T21:56:00.000-05:00

Today was all classroom again. We learned how to fill out the logbooks and now must log all of our time throughout training. This is probably a good idea so that we get into the routine. Especially considering that a screwed-up logbook subjects the driver to a $1500 fine.

We spent the other half of the day going over the theory of driving the truck. How to start it, shift it, maneuver it, etc. All in the classroom. It's good stuff to know, but it just won't come together until we actually start getting behind the wheel.

Time to finish my homework, I guess.

Day 1 of School

2006-09-23T16:51:00.000-05:00

Finally got here, but the bus ride seemed like it would never end. The taxi ride was even worse - I'm not even going to talk about it.

I crashed at about 1930 last night and was woken up by the alarm at 0400. We were bussed to Schneider's Fontana Operating Center and proceeded with the first day of class. It was just paperwork and videos. We were done at 1030.

The hotel is really nice. Kitchenette and everything. I was hoping for merely a small fridge and a microwave, but the full on stove, dishwasher, dishes, and microwave/oven is much better. My roommate (and co-driver once we're done here) and I are going grocery shopping later so we don't have to eat out so much.

...and the packing continues!

2006-09-20T18:37:00.000-05:00

Remember how I posted that my wife had a ton of bricks moment yesterday? I had one today. I was doing the laundry so that I'd have clean clothes to take to Fontana tomorrow. As I was folding one of my wife's shirts, a horrible feeling of distance came over me. I really wasn't expecting it. I actually had to go sit down and pull myself together. I'm going to miss her. Terribly.

I'm not doubting my decision by any means. It's just that we've never been apart for this length of time in.. what?...six years? We started out as a long distance relationship and went for almost three years that way, but once we actually moved in together, we really haven't been apart for more than a week.

In the end, I fully expect the rewards to outstrip the sacrifices, but it's a whopping upfront emotional investment. But nothing worthwhile is easy. I'm just glad that she's behind me 100% on this. There's no way I could do this without her.

Time to go pack some more...

Have Greyhound tickets, will travel...

2006-09-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

I dutifully called up my Schneider recruiter today and was rewarded with my bus travel information. My bus leaves Fort Collins, Colorado at 1605 on Thursday, and I transfer in Denver to another bus that leaves at 1810. I will arrive at San Bernardino, California at 1440 Pacific time on Friday.

Oh boy!! I get to spend most of my 30th birthday on a $%^#ing bus! Just as I've always wanted!! Ah well. It's really not that big of a deal. I'll probably get a minor bout of depression, but I'll get over it. I really don't dwell on that crap too long. I'd go nuts.

The fact that I'm leaving for 3 to 6 weeks the day after tomorrow hit my wife like a ton of bricks tonight. It's kind of strange because I've never left her home alone for any real length of time. She's gone on lots of trips without me, but I've never been the one doing the leaving. That struck me as really weird, too, because I'm actually a far more experienced traveller than she is.

Anyway, she got a little teary. The thought of leaving her alone to run the household breaks my heart. It's not that she's not capable. It's just that I feel bad leaving everything on HER like that. I'm thankful that she has many wonderful friends here in this town that will help her out. She's much more prone to loneliness than I am, and having those friends will really help make this more tolerable for her. That and daily phone calls and stuff from me.

So... not much to do right now except pack and cherish the time left with the wife before I have to head out!

Last day at the old job!

2006-09-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

FINALLY! Leaving my old job at the call center was an emotional experience for me. That is to say, I was thrilled to finally get out of there at the end of the day. I will miss some of the people there, but it wasn't worth sticking around for them.

Now, my employer wasn't a horrible employer - they just have the problems that make any call center a crappy place to work. And in the particular line of business that my employer was in, dealing with crying customers was especially infuriating due to the frivolous nature of the business. The product is a luxury, and customers cry and scream about it as if it were a necessity. Damn that got old. And it also got old that the people who were in charge of providing the product couldn't be forced to take deadlines seriously. It's crap from both ends.

Anyway, that's behind me now. Now I have to get ready for the fun stuff. Here is the packing list that Schneider provided to me:

7 days of comfortable clothing (no shorts and nonessential jewelry)
Soft-sided luggage (what? whadaya mean I can't fit my largest plastic suitcase into the sidebox of a truck?)
Sunglasses
Flashlight (a Maglite can double as a weapon! heh heh heh!)
A watch
Pen, pencils, calculator, ruler, highlighter, 3-ring binder, book bag
CDL permit
Identity/employment eligibility documents
Birth certificate
Voided check for direct deposit
DOT medical card
Toiletries
Bedding (for the truck)

I still need the flashlight and the sunglasses. I'm going to get a cheap flashlight to start with, and try to score a pair of sunglasses that fit over my prescription glasses. I'm told that the simulator experience sucks without sunglasses to help with the vertigo.

Getting Ready To Go....

2006-09-17T14:47:00.000-05:00

First off, a little about me...

My name is Rodger. I spent a few years doing IT work in Henderson, Nevada. In 2003, my wife got a job in Fort Collins, Colorado, so we moved. Unfortunately, my skills just aren't marketable here. I spent months trying to find a job, but finally had to settle for a job working in a restaurant just so we could have more money coming in. This past February, I went back to my roots, sucked up my pride, and went to work for a call center. Call centers suck, but I have much more talent for that work than I do for the food service stuff.

So... Being tired of working my ass off at a job with no real future for peanuts wore me down. Hard. Looking through the classified ads and networking with people in town haven't shown me that there's really anything better for a person like me. I'm in a rut. So I decided it was time to do something drastic. Driving a truck has not exactly been my lifelong ambition, but it's something that I have not done and it promises to have much more potential than anything I could do around here. Fortunately, my wife supports my decision 100%. Neither of us are thrilled about spending weeks apart at a time, but our relationship is strong enough to handle that.

I applied with Schneider, CR England, and Stevens Transport. All three have offered me jobs. I initially had my heart set on Schneider because they have a great reputation for training, but the recruiter told me that they only hired teams in my area of the country. Since I had my heart set on solo driving, this was a problem.

CR England offered me solo driving, but the whole process felt a little oily. They were just in too much of a hurry to get me in the door, if you can relate to me there. It just didn't feel right, and I really don't like the way they push the lease on you. Nor do I like them taking the tuition from your paychecks.

Stevens Transport also offered me solo driving. I even got a tour of the school that they contract with here in Colorado. It's a little father and son operation out in Keenesburg (itty bitty farming town a little northeast of Denver), but I was very impressed with the way that they run the place.

Stevens is now the leader. Until I get a call from a potential Schneider teammate. We got on the phone and spent probably 45 minutes to an hour interviewing each other. We then met in person and spent another hour interviewing each other and laying down some VERY tentative ground rules.

He seems like a good guy and we have the same goals. Since Schneider found a teammate for me who seems compatible and since teams are paid quite a bit more than solo drivers, I decided to go with Schneider.

I went and got my DOT physical and drug screen and passed my Colorado CDL permit test (thanks, Pumpkindriver.com!!). Got everything faxed in and got word that my teammate got his stuff squared away, too. So we're set to go out to Fontana, California for school. It begins on September 23rd.

Now I just have to wait for the call on Tuesday to find out when my bus is leaving...

Dr. Zebra: Life on the Big Road (and a few not-so-big roads)

This blog has moved...

Attention:

Live (Dead?) Unload in Portland, Oregon

Billings, Montana

A Stupid Route To Take...

A Rookie Mistake...

A New Camera

Battling An Old Enemy...

A Couple of Good Days

The Pennsylvania Trap or Dr. Zebra is a Produce Bitch

Meeting New Friends, or Fun With HazMat

A Post Without A Point...

The Respect That Truckers "Deserve"

Old Friends...

Another Departure, Another Fustercluck

Home again!

Once a reefer driver, always a reefer driver

A Trucking Strike?

Pop Quiz for Oklahoma City Residents

Still Truckin'!

Holy hell! You're still here?

Massive Stupidity in Louisville...

Getting fingered in Slowhio... (coarse language!)

Delivering in Delaware...

Maine...

New England...

Posting Again!

Fun With Reefers

Headin' HOME!!

You want me to drive WHERE?!

Fun with Haz Mat and The Value of a Good Post Trip Inspection...

The Great Rigmaster Install and a very twisted road

*sniff* Farewell, load!

Wasted Day

Sleeping in!

Eastbound and down...

One Load Down, Many More to Go...

On the road... FINALLY!!!

And now we wait...

Still going...

Prime Orientation, Day 2...and then some..

The orientation begins...

On my way to Prime, and not without complications...

Goodbye, Schneider!

Killing a day in Wisconsin

I thought that this was supposed to be spring...?

On the road again...

New developments... and there are many!

AAARRRRGGHH!! Frustration, frustration...

Whew! What a month!

F--- you, winter!

On the road again...

Where the heck have you been hiding?!

Have truck, will travel...

Graduation and meeting the Training Engineer

Day 13... Test day

Days 8, 9, and 10...

The Halfway Point!!

Day 6...

First day in the truck...

Another day gone...

Two days down, only twelve to go...

Day 1 of School

...and the packing continues!

Have Greyhound tickets, will travel...

Last day at the old job!

Getting Ready To Go....

sniff Farewell, load!