Changes....
Like the old saying goes.... some things change and some things never seem to change. That seems to be a rather viable summation of things lately. I'd been driving "NetOps" for my company since completing training last year. It wasn't a bad gig at all really. Usually the same route every day and home every night. The problem was pay which was averaging about $300 a week after deductions. So I changed to Southwest Regional last week.
Things started out predictably enough. Over 150 brand new Peterbilt's at the terminal BUT the lady in charge of truck assignments can't find anything to assign. (Perhaps I should show her around the place some day) So myself and two other guys get told we have to take a rental car and drive to Laredo Texas.... they have trucks there. (Again.... what does she call all those huge shiny things at our terminal?) Well The previous day I'd done stuff around the house all day.... then stayed up all night so as to be awake when Becky got home from working her new schedule. (OH! They changed her hours from 3pm till 11pm .... TO 11pm till 7am.... which sucks) So anyway I've been awake all day Tuesday and now it's Wednesday afternoon and they tell us to drive to Laredo to get trucks. So we drive all night to Laredo and time it to get there at 0800. The other two guys are told to take crap trucks... and rightly they declined to do so. Pissed off the guy in charge but then again... HE doesn't have to live in the damn thing either. So those two took the rental car and headed back to Dallas.
I got lucky (?) in that my truck was in great shape. New Kenworth T600 with fewer than 85K miles on it. What I requested was either a Peterbilt 387 OR a Freightliner Century Class. Both are wide cab units with plenty of room for storage. The KW T600 has a cab as narrow as the average car and very limited storage space. I'm 6'2" and 220. Not a small person. Sideways I have to fight to get between the seats to the back of the truck. (That ticks me off!) I tried to raise the bottom bunk to access the storage there.... only to discover it doesn't raise! Oh you can store stuff under the bunk. There is a little cubby that will perhaps hold the average suitcase accessible from inside the sleeper. Otherwise you have to climb out of the truck and access items through the side doors. (Probably a very handy feature in driving rain or snow storms) Anyway... since the truck is in pretty good shape (except for a missing splash guard) I agree to take it. This is now Thursday afternoon late.... been awake since Tuesday morning. I log onto the truck and POOF! I have a load message already!! I'm already out of hours on my 14 hour clock (because we had to keep a log of our drive time down from Dallas) so I have to wait until Midnight to hook and book. I decide for some sleep.... which is when I discover that the privacy (black out) curtain has no zipper slides. It's got teeth on both sides but no way of joining the sides. Also.... I have no bedding or pillows. As a matter of fact we were told to travel light so basically I had a toothbrush and an electric shaver. Needless to say I got no sleep before midnight rolled around.
So now we're working on day 3 with no sleep and I'm behind the wheel of 30 tons of truck heading north in the middle of the night. The load delivers in Coppell and I get there with an hour to spare on my appointment time. However... they are short handed and say I have to wait.... and oh by the way.... there are two trucks ahead of you. 7 hours later my 14 hour clock expires again just as they tell me I can take the truck to dock 3. Legally.... I can't TOUCH the controls of the truck for 10 hours.... but I keep the speed below 5 mph so as not to trigger the logging system. Two hours later they have finished unloading.... but I'm still out of hours.... so I creep across the street and stop the truck in an empty parking lot. This sucks because Coppell is basically 32 miles from my house.... and I have to try to sleep in this truck.... with no facilities and no food or water... while home is a half hour away. (Again... I'm NOT happy)
I get perhaps two hours of sleep total before my clocks reset and I'm good to drive again. Got a load message.... take the empty trailer to Hutchins... drop it, pick up a pre-loaded unit and haul that to Pineville Louisiana. We're on day 4 now and functioning on two hours sleep total at this point. I take the trailer to the local Pilot truck stop.... fuel it... park it... and go get my Trooper from the terminal. I head to the house for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Hour and a half later I'm back at the truck. What do I find there but a message wondering why I wasn't driving! So I rip someone a new ass via the qualcomm (so it's a matter of record) and line them out about rather than worrying about the damn load someone better start generating some concern over the driver who has had two hours sleep in the past 4.... going on 5 days! They shut up. So now we head into day 5 rolling east on I-20 to Louisiana for a delivery. Get to the destination and it's a simple drop and hook complicated as much as they could. Rather than a 20 minute procedure they manage to make it last nearly an hour and a half. Finally we're rolling back toward Dallas late on day 5 with my clocks ticking down. I find a truck stop and park with 15 minutes to spare. Again the damn curtains won't close and I can't get to sleep until after sunset. It finally gets dark and I manage about 6 hours sleep total. Compared to the previous 4 days that's a goldmine. Clocks reset and I'm rolling west again... back to my start point in Hutchins.
I drop that load, get an empty... and damn if they aren't trying to send me back out on the road again! Now I've been telling these folks for 5 freaking days that the truck needs a splash guard to be legal..... that it's 300 gallons past due for a full service.... (service is scheduled based on the number of gallons of diesel fuel through the engine)that I haven't been anywhere yet to pick up the basic issue supply of items that are suppose to be on every truck.... and that I have NOTHING with me because we were told to "travel light" when we drove out of Dallas the previous Wednesday night. I finally just took the truck and trailer to the Dallas Terminal where both were promptly tagged for various reasons. Dropped the trailer.... cleaned out the truck... and headed home. Becky was just getting off some weekend overtime so we headed back out for a nice early breakfast. That done we come back here... I take a shower and we hit the sack for some sleep.
Now I told them I'd be ready to drive again on noon Monday. However... I know the people at this terminal's maintenance shop.... and if the truck is ready three weeks from tomorrow at noon it will be a small wonder. So the basic plan.... is to go in Monday.... be really surprised that the truck isn't ready.... then see if they have a 387 Pete they can issue. If so.... load it up and hit the road with a smile on my face. Then it's just a matter of keeping that truck out of the terminals so it doesn't get tagged. Tricky.... but possible. That and I have to tell dispatch that my desire was Southwest Regional.... not 48 state..... so run me for 5 to 7 days then get my ass back to Dallas for a couple days off. If I wanted to be on the road all the damn time I'd have requested 48 state.
The other thing I need is either a partner or a student. (have to apply for trainer for the latter) It positively drives me nuts to spend so damn much time doing nothing because of stupid government rules and regulations. As usual... anytime the government gets involved they *uck everything up royal. If they want to have an 11 hour clock for driving..... okay. But their 14 hour clock does nothing but waste time. The other day when I was forced to park with only 15 minutes to spare.... I still had 5.5 hours of drive time left!!! Could have made it back to Dallas. But no.... had to sit by the side of the road and waste time to satisfy some jerk weed government agency. With a co-driver.... we can keep the truck moving pretty much around the clock.... which I prefer. Same thing with a student..... keep the wheels turning. But to have either I need the 387 or Century truck as they have sufficient room to accommodate two people easily and all their gear.
Meanwhile.... back at the house.... Rampage Kitty is growing like a weed! She's still living up to her name.... ripping and tearing all over the house at top speed and "helping" us with computer stuff and painting..... things Kitty's are more than qualified to handle. But now she also has spells when she is quite content to curl up on a handy lap and drop off to a deep sleep while being petted. I love a good lap cat. She is showing potential for being a darn good one!
Things started out predictably enough. Over 150 brand new Peterbilt's at the terminal BUT the lady in charge of truck assignments can't find anything to assign. (Perhaps I should show her around the place some day) So myself and two other guys get told we have to take a rental car and drive to Laredo Texas.... they have trucks there. (Again.... what does she call all those huge shiny things at our terminal?) Well The previous day I'd done stuff around the house all day.... then stayed up all night so as to be awake when Becky got home from working her new schedule. (OH! They changed her hours from 3pm till 11pm .... TO 11pm till 7am.... which sucks) So anyway I've been awake all day Tuesday and now it's Wednesday afternoon and they tell us to drive to Laredo to get trucks. So we drive all night to Laredo and time it to get there at 0800. The other two guys are told to take crap trucks... and rightly they declined to do so. Pissed off the guy in charge but then again... HE doesn't have to live in the damn thing either. So those two took the rental car and headed back to Dallas.
I got lucky (?) in that my truck was in great shape. New Kenworth T600 with fewer than 85K miles on it. What I requested was either a Peterbilt 387 OR a Freightliner Century Class. Both are wide cab units with plenty of room for storage. The KW T600 has a cab as narrow as the average car and very limited storage space. I'm 6'2" and 220. Not a small person. Sideways I have to fight to get between the seats to the back of the truck. (That ticks me off!) I tried to raise the bottom bunk to access the storage there.... only to discover it doesn't raise! Oh you can store stuff under the bunk. There is a little cubby that will perhaps hold the average suitcase accessible from inside the sleeper. Otherwise you have to climb out of the truck and access items through the side doors. (Probably a very handy feature in driving rain or snow storms) Anyway... since the truck is in pretty good shape (except for a missing splash guard) I agree to take it. This is now Thursday afternoon late.... been awake since Tuesday morning. I log onto the truck and POOF! I have a load message already!! I'm already out of hours on my 14 hour clock (because we had to keep a log of our drive time down from Dallas) so I have to wait until Midnight to hook and book. I decide for some sleep.... which is when I discover that the privacy (black out) curtain has no zipper slides. It's got teeth on both sides but no way of joining the sides. Also.... I have no bedding or pillows. As a matter of fact we were told to travel light so basically I had a toothbrush and an electric shaver. Needless to say I got no sleep before midnight rolled around.
So now we're working on day 3 with no sleep and I'm behind the wheel of 30 tons of truck heading north in the middle of the night. The load delivers in Coppell and I get there with an hour to spare on my appointment time. However... they are short handed and say I have to wait.... and oh by the way.... there are two trucks ahead of you. 7 hours later my 14 hour clock expires again just as they tell me I can take the truck to dock 3. Legally.... I can't TOUCH the controls of the truck for 10 hours.... but I keep the speed below 5 mph so as not to trigger the logging system. Two hours later they have finished unloading.... but I'm still out of hours.... so I creep across the street and stop the truck in an empty parking lot. This sucks because Coppell is basically 32 miles from my house.... and I have to try to sleep in this truck.... with no facilities and no food or water... while home is a half hour away. (Again... I'm NOT happy)
I get perhaps two hours of sleep total before my clocks reset and I'm good to drive again. Got a load message.... take the empty trailer to Hutchins... drop it, pick up a pre-loaded unit and haul that to Pineville Louisiana. We're on day 4 now and functioning on two hours sleep total at this point. I take the trailer to the local Pilot truck stop.... fuel it... park it... and go get my Trooper from the terminal. I head to the house for a quick shower and a change of clothes. Hour and a half later I'm back at the truck. What do I find there but a message wondering why I wasn't driving! So I rip someone a new ass via the qualcomm (so it's a matter of record) and line them out about rather than worrying about the damn load someone better start generating some concern over the driver who has had two hours sleep in the past 4.... going on 5 days! They shut up. So now we head into day 5 rolling east on I-20 to Louisiana for a delivery. Get to the destination and it's a simple drop and hook complicated as much as they could. Rather than a 20 minute procedure they manage to make it last nearly an hour and a half. Finally we're rolling back toward Dallas late on day 5 with my clocks ticking down. I find a truck stop and park with 15 minutes to spare. Again the damn curtains won't close and I can't get to sleep until after sunset. It finally gets dark and I manage about 6 hours sleep total. Compared to the previous 4 days that's a goldmine. Clocks reset and I'm rolling west again... back to my start point in Hutchins.
I drop that load, get an empty... and damn if they aren't trying to send me back out on the road again! Now I've been telling these folks for 5 freaking days that the truck needs a splash guard to be legal..... that it's 300 gallons past due for a full service.... (service is scheduled based on the number of gallons of diesel fuel through the engine)that I haven't been anywhere yet to pick up the basic issue supply of items that are suppose to be on every truck.... and that I have NOTHING with me because we were told to "travel light" when we drove out of Dallas the previous Wednesday night. I finally just took the truck and trailer to the Dallas Terminal where both were promptly tagged for various reasons. Dropped the trailer.... cleaned out the truck... and headed home. Becky was just getting off some weekend overtime so we headed back out for a nice early breakfast. That done we come back here... I take a shower and we hit the sack for some sleep.
Now I told them I'd be ready to drive again on noon Monday. However... I know the people at this terminal's maintenance shop.... and if the truck is ready three weeks from tomorrow at noon it will be a small wonder. So the basic plan.... is to go in Monday.... be really surprised that the truck isn't ready.... then see if they have a 387 Pete they can issue. If so.... load it up and hit the road with a smile on my face. Then it's just a matter of keeping that truck out of the terminals so it doesn't get tagged. Tricky.... but possible. That and I have to tell dispatch that my desire was Southwest Regional.... not 48 state..... so run me for 5 to 7 days then get my ass back to Dallas for a couple days off. If I wanted to be on the road all the damn time I'd have requested 48 state.
The other thing I need is either a partner or a student. (have to apply for trainer for the latter) It positively drives me nuts to spend so damn much time doing nothing because of stupid government rules and regulations. As usual... anytime the government gets involved they *uck everything up royal. If they want to have an 11 hour clock for driving..... okay. But their 14 hour clock does nothing but waste time. The other day when I was forced to park with only 15 minutes to spare.... I still had 5.5 hours of drive time left!!! Could have made it back to Dallas. But no.... had to sit by the side of the road and waste time to satisfy some jerk weed government agency. With a co-driver.... we can keep the truck moving pretty much around the clock.... which I prefer. Same thing with a student..... keep the wheels turning. But to have either I need the 387 or Century truck as they have sufficient room to accommodate two people easily and all their gear.
Meanwhile.... back at the house.... Rampage Kitty is growing like a weed! She's still living up to her name.... ripping and tearing all over the house at top speed and "helping" us with computer stuff and painting..... things Kitty's are more than qualified to handle. But now she also has spells when she is quite content to curl up on a handy lap and drop off to a deep sleep while being petted. I love a good lap cat. She is showing potential for being a darn good one!
posted by Rev. Joe Ruyle | 5:31 PM
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