I appreciate everyone's concern, and advice. It feels good to vent a little, and after a day at home, I am reborn ready for whatever this week has to throw at me, and it started warming up it's pitching arm this morning with a little ice storm that accumulated less than a quarter inch and made my little town come to a stand still.

While the more traveled main roads got cleared by around 8 am, the streets where I live were solid ice, and our cars had no chance of making it out, so I called dispatch and told them that there was no way I could make it, and let them know why, and they understood and said don't worry. Rearranged my delivery time to tomorrow morning, and told me they would try and give me some good miles to make up for it.

Everything was cool, I thought they would freak out since there seems to be a stream of bad luck with me lately. Of course it wasn't my dispatch, it was his boss(the one in the meeting) so I am sure that had something to do with it, but we will see. It's times like this when they really help me out that I can try to forget all the negative things, it's nice to not worry about getting in trouble when you don't feel safe to travel.

So the sun finally comes out enough that by 10 am the roads are starting to clear, I call dispatch tell them I am on my way, and here we go. The pos truck pti's just fine, and fires right up, cool, that's already more than I expected. Get on 40 headed for Knoxville, and start thinking about how grateful I am that I was trained in the "gorge" without a jake brake many times since this is a frequent route for Roehl. It's not that it's a horrible place, that's hard to pass, you just have to be more alert, decent hills, with curves combined, along with heavy traffic, nothing major, just keeps you on your toes.

But shortly after getting on the interstate, I realized that the jake brake was working correctly now(it came on 2 or 3 times on the trip home) and it stayed working all the way here, who knows? But I played it safe, and just for practice, came through the gorge with jake turned off since I didn't want to depend on it working. You don't have to have a jake, but boy oh boy does it come in handy on certain occasions!

Anyway, I got down here, and there was only once truck stop listed in my book, and pilot at exit 35. I pull in, and it's obvious that there isn't going to be any parking. So I head on down 85 to exit 27, and here we go, a huge truck stop, and they have idle air, first time I have ever come across a place with it, I have only heard of it. I must admit I like it, you have to pay 10 bucks the first time to get a piece for your window, but you keep it, and you don't have to pay for it again. At this place it was 1.88 an hour, so I pulled in to check it out, only wish I had a tv since you get plenty of sat. channels. But for the money, the internet connection alone is a deal compared to what wifi costs at other places, plus you only pay for what you use, so that is cool.

While I was at home, I took a picture of the metal pieces that were found in the clutch area. They are the same piece, but one was chewed up, and it was a little ball, but the mechanic started unfolding it to see what it was, and then stopped when they found the second piece, I figure it didn't have time to get chewed up, or it didn't fall in the right place. I hope these pics show up, here goes:







Free Image Hosting - PicTiger

Anyway, I am here, and a day short on miles already, so I hope to get to run hard this week to make up for it, we will see. I should be able to run harder than the past few weeks surely, but time will tell, take it easy everyone!

 

I slept about 15 minutes from my consignee this morning, so my trip there was short and sweet, and then much to my surprise, I actually start to get unloaded in no time. But my happiness was short lived when I was told that my load had some damage. Well, I was carrying coiled sheet steel, 2 rolls of it, and I didn't see any way I could have messed it up, so I start looking to see what was going on.

Sure enough, I guess I wenched a strap too tight, cause even though there was a corner protector, it managed to roll the edge of the steel over about a 1/8th of an inch on the top edges of the rolls. They told me it was no big deal, but I still had to report it to Roehl. And even though the consignee admitted that it was loaded correctly, and that the proper equipment was used, it still might be something they hold against me.

So I finish up getting unloaded, head back to the truckstop I slept at since I knew I would be going that way just about anywhere they sent me. I wait, get something to eat, wait, do some shopping, wait, clean up the truck, finally after an hour and a half, I qualcom them, and simply write "do we have a preplan yet or at least something". 15 minutes later, I get a message with a address, no pre plan, no load discription, no fuel plan, nothing, just a address.

Well, thats better than nothing, so I head out on my way to Darlington SC to pick up my mystery load. I get about half way there and recieve the rest of my information. Cool, I am going to Gary, that must mean that my truck is finished, whoo, hoo! I just hope it was fixed right, and they checked everything out, I can't afford any more major problems.

I get to the shipper, and there is a line of trucks you wouldn't believe, didn't even bother to count, it would have been too depressing. 4 Hours later, I finally get to pull into the building and wait to have a crane operator come over to load me(they have remote control boxes and walk around controlling these cranes hanging from the ceiling, it's quite interesting to watch). Now I don't know what it is about steel mills, but they are always amazed to see a woman driver, and act as though they haven't seen a woman at all in a couple years. I think I have heard every single pick up line there is, and then some. I have more numbers gave to me, and have been asked for my number more times than you can possibly imagine, it would literally be in the thousands in the year I have been driving, no exaggeration. I got a lot of it pulling vans, but flat bedding has really brought me to everyone's attention, it's uncomfortable at times.

Of course being a woman has it's advantage's as well, they usually tend to want to help the "helpless little girl" out, and I sometimes get help with tarps, or am allowed to pull inside to avoid the cold weather, shoot they will even open locked gates to let me pull through, I guess cause they think I couldn't possibly be able to back this big ol truck up, lmao.

Anyway, after arriving 6 hours earlier, I was finally tarped and ready to go, but I was almost out of hours. Luckily I had a fuel stop about 20 minutes away, and figured I would just shut down there for the night, and that is what I did. Besides the damaged load, and the excessive wait to be loaded, it was a good day, and I should be able to drive the whole day tomorrow, and those days are pretty good, then, I will hopefully get my truck back, and that would rule, so it should be a decent day, wish me luck!

 

I have NEVER spoken to a "Grayson Mitchel" driver who wasn't happy, and I speak to them almost daily..........they are a "Driver" orientented company..........their drivers are paid $.38 cpm when loaded............and $.37 cpm when dead heading or empty...........if I was in the market for a job pulling a "Skateboard", I'd jump on "Grayson-Mitchell" in a heartbeat.

Dragracer99................Damn.............How DARE you, speak the TRUTH.......this is 2006, people would rather hear what they want to hear.......NOT the TRUTH.

 

Have you thought of trying the van division for a bit and see if things don't go better for you or shift over to taunt liner (curtain side) to see if there is any improvement?

Soladad
Good judgment comes from experience...Experience comes from bad judgment.

 

Sorry for not posting, but I haven't been able to get a good signal anywhere. Soladad, yes I have considered switching to van, but the only division they offer SE regional, is flatbed. I would love to pull curtain side, and have no desire to pull van or reefer, I'm not knocking it, but I just like flatbeds(I love working EXTREMELY hard and not getting paid for it, lol). But being home is very important to me, and going national, I would do good to get home every 2 weeks, so this is the main reason I am staying through all this mess. If they offered other divisions to be SE regional, then I might swap and try out the "other side" lol.

Josh, I am out of the hiring area for Grayson Mitchell, but I would love to drive for them.

Dragracert99, you didn't mean to sound harsh? Didn't do too good of a job. I am aware of carbon monoxide, and all the other nasty things that come from the exhaust of these trucks, and for 4 wheelers as well. And if you look back, I didn't ask about it, all I asked was if I might get a ticket for the broken exhaust. Wanna know why I didn't ask about the dangers? I DID! I talked with dispatch, I talked with safety, then to get an unbiased opinion, I call poison control, then I talked with SEVERAL mechanics, and even more other drivers, as well as a international dealership, and ALL of them said it was safe as long as the exhaust pipe was released above the bottom of the cab, and the exhaust was pointed up. I drove it like that for 2 weeks, and everything was fine, so I guess they were right. And just for the record, if I EVER feel unsafe, I will stop on the spot, and refuse to drive, even if it means my job.

My lack of understanding of safety? :lol: I won't even comment.

I should stop doing what I have always wanted to do, went to school that I am still in the process of paying for, because I don't make enough money? Should I go back to a factory job making the same amount or less, and just sit on my cdl, waiting for a job to come along that requires experience, and not being able to get it because of a lack thereof? I make .32 cpm, and considering that I am SE regional, that is pretty decent pay for someone with my amount of experience(less than a year) granted the miles aren't usually there, but that hurts the company as bad as me in most ways, they need this truck to make money as much as me.

Change careers, or work with someone making a grand a week, hmm. Didn't I start a thread about companies with better pay? And surprise, nobody could tell me a better company to go to with my experience, and I can't get the extra experience I need to get the better jobs if I quit. I may be a perfect example of what not to do, I attacked my new career with enthusiasm, a hard work ethic, and a "get r done" attitude, and I have worked my ass off doing so. I did my "homework" about which company to choose, and took my time to do it to make sure I was making the right decision. I drive the miles they give me and tarp the loads they assign me, and do it all safely to boot, I don't know how I am the perfect example of what not to do.

I doubt that anyone in my situation would or could do anything different than what I have done. Anyway, enough with that, sorry if I sounded harsh.

So I finish up in darlington, and get a load heading back up to Gary to relay so I can pick up my repaired truck! I get up there yesterday morning, around 7am, drop my trailer, park the beater truck, and go to try and find my baby. There she was, looking all pretty, I was so happy to get it back, you have no idea. The clutch was amazing, I guess it was in the process of going out when I received it, cause it feels like a new truck now, no more grinding going into a gear to take off, or reverse, cool.

I get everything swapped back to my truck, and have to attend yet another safety meeting. Get finished up there and am in my truck waiting for a load, hopefully heading back home so I can have a decent weekend. I wait and wait, and nothing. Finally, after 4 hours I decided to lay down and take a nap since there was nothing happening anyway. I send them a message telling them my plans, get in the back and lay down with my nice bedding, oh so comfy, I missed it. Get my eyes shut and "beep!" you guessed it, a pretrip. Guess what it is? I waited all this time for them to tell me to take the trailer I pulled up here to relay, and deliver it up in WI. I could have already been there and delivered by now!

So I grab my trailer, and am on my way, only about 150 miles north, but at least it's something. I get there, deliver, and they actually have a run ready for me as soon as I am finished, got to pick up a load about a hundred miles away, and take it to the marshfield yard to be relayed. By now I am out of hours, and grab a rest area to sleep for the night.

I get up early this morning and get to marshfield, pick up a another trailer, and deliver it about 150 miles away further north into WI(did I mention it's cold here?) drop it off, pick up another load, head back to marshfield, pick up a empty trailer, and head to another place in WI called Baraboo(lots of weird names up here) to pick up a load of rubber to take to Florida and have some home time which sucks cause I won't get there till tomorrow evening, and will have to leave early Sunday, so my weekend is sleeping at home one night, and this seems to be the norm here lately.

On another note, things are looking up, the miles are defiantly getting better, 1900 last week, and about the same this week, and next week will start with over a thousand miles from my Florida run, so that is cool. Plus I have my truck back and it actually runs and drives pretty decent so that is really good.

I know I said I was going to post my log books and paychecks, but I have forgot to, so I probably won't do the logs, but my check for this week was over 600, and I grossed 885. This is because of the over sized load paying 40 cpm for 1350 miles, so I told them to let me have them every chance I can, whoo hoo! That is the icing on the cake, doing what I wanted to do(pull oversize loads) and actually get paid good doing it, like a dream, one that only comes along once every 6 months or so, lol.

Anyway, I got to go, who wants to join in with me for a trip all the way through Illinois going 55 the whole darn way? :roll:

 

Novacane wrote
You should be able to do at least 62 through Illinois. At least that's been my experience. Just stay in the granny lane, set the cruise on 62, and Smokey doesn't seem to mind at all. (I've been passed by Illinois troopers when going 62, as well as going past them sitting in the middle with me at 62 and never a problem.) However, get out there in the hammer lane or push 65 or better and they start paying lots of attention!

Be safe!

Yogi

 

Hey Novacane...you got flat bed experience now so why not try curtain side. I was told that if I wanted curtain I had to flat bed for a period of time then they would consider me for the division. My late husband really enjoyed curtain after 13 years of flat bed. You still get the enjoyment of strapping but not the hassle of tarping.

Soladad

 

oh by the way I think we might have been at the Marshfield yard about the same time today. Too bad I didn't pay more attention to the flat beds coming and going (I was looking for a van). I was picking up my partner who just completed Evol 2 to give him a ride home for the weekend. Hopefully we will be out on our maiden voyage around mid week. Will keep an eye out on your posts as I have a laptop for the truck.

Soladad


Soladad

 

Soladad, that sucks we couldn't meet up, it would be cool to meet someone from the board in person. I haven't posted for lack of a connection. I was at a pilot last night, but I guess they didn't have wifi, I thought they all did, but this must not be the case.

Anyway, I finally made it home Saturday, and was supposed to head back out on Sunday, but after looking at the books a little closer, I wouldn't have been able to get a reset, and it would have violated some other rules too(so much driving in a 24 hour period). So, knowing that weekend dispatch wouldn't be able to help me, I decided to wait till Monday morning to call and let them know I wouldn't be able to make it. I thought it might be a big deal, or that they might pull the load from me and relay it with someone else, but to my amazement, they just rescheduled after they confirmed my HOS.

Now that is all fine and dandy, but one bad thing is that it took a day off my driving for the week, once again taking what could have been a good week, and turning it into a normal week, oh well, at least I didn't get in trouble, and the company helped me out and understood.

Anyway, I left Monday headed for West Palm Beach, warm weather here I come baby woo hoo! No more teen highs for me, at least for the next couple days, lol. I drove around 9 hours, and decided to shut down cause I was feeling drowsy. Don't get me wrong, I could have easily continued, after a cup of coffee and stretching my legs, but I decided that this was a good place to park, so I just shut down since I had plenty of time.

Shortly after I parked, I called Chris to let him know I was shut down, and was just sitting in the drivers seat finishing up the paperwork for the day, and I see a guy in front of me back his trailer into the trailer of the guy parked next to him, and it looked like it hit pretty hard. Now I am watching this, thinking "man I hope that the guy was in his truck and knows what happened". The driver then pulled forward, straightened the trailer out and parked. I am sitting watching what is going on, trying to decide if I would tell the other driver what had happened. On one hand I don't want any part of it, but on the other hand, I would want someone to tell me if my trailer was damaged, since I would get in trouble for it, and the company would consider it my fault.

I waited and waited hoping everything would work itself out, and just when I thought the driver might get away with it, the guy whose trailer got hit, came out of his truck, to check the damage. I don't know what was said, but from what I could gather, the driver bought the parked guy some new side lights to go on his trailer, and then put them on for him, so I guess it was all good, whew!

I get up the next morning, and what do you know, batteries are dead, and this time I know nothing was on, even the cooler was unplugged, and I didn't use the laptop, or even turn it on. I didn't set the ICON because it wasn't cold, and it was cool enough not to need AC. I call maintenance, and they tell me to try and get it boosted before they have to send out someone. Now this is where it gets weird. I was thinking about how I didn't want to go up to people and ask for a boost, I usually have to tell them I am a driver over and over since they don't believe me. Anyway, I get out of the truck to run inside and see if the if the truck stop had some jumper cables I could buy.

I get out, and start walking forward, and what is parked next to me? Another driver who is cleaning out his side boxes, and what does he have in his hand at that exact moment? You guessed it, jumper cables! I walked up to him and asked, and 10 minutes later I am running! whoo hoo!

So we got the truck going, and I was on my way again. I got to the truck stop to spend the night(almost an hour away, there aren't too many truck stops in that area) and when I got out to go inside and use the bathroom, I noticed something leaking under my truck. Of course, it's the darn little coolant leak I have been fighting(and the truck has been in maintenance twice) off and on for the last couple weeks, darn it!

Now I am torn between letting the truck run so I can stay cool(it was hot down here) and taking a chance on it loosing too much coolant, and sleeping in the heat. I went ahead, and took care of business inside(shower, eat, bathroom break, and some shopping) while the truck cooled down so I could check the coolant level. I came back out and it was cool enough to check, and it was about a gallon low, not to bad, but since I didn't know when it started leaking I decided to play it safe, and not idle.

The nights sleep wasn't all that bad, but it could have been better, I don't know how all the drivers stood it back when trucks didn't have a/c and nice big bunks like the newer trucks, I don't think I could have cut it back then, more power to all you guys that drove the "real" trucks of yester year.

I get up the this morning and top off the coolant during my pre-trip so I can tell how much coolant I lose during the day. I make my drop, and about 30 minutes later I get another load, cool. Another good thing about the load was that it delivers about an hour from the house, so I am heading home. The bad thing is, I only have to drive 250 miles to get to the shipper, and could have been there by 2 pm taking my time, but I can't get loaded till tomorrow morning, so I lose another day of driving. And the sad part is, that even after losing 2 days of driving, and going home "early", I will still have more miles under my belt than I have been getting the past couple months!

Anyway, I had 2006 miles last week, and my paycheck was 477(net) and just over 670 gross. Not what everyone says I should be making, but more than ample for me. So, that's where I leave off, I will try to update tomorrow and we will see what happens next.

 

Speaking of being bumped while parked in a truck stop.

I was at the Flying J on the south side of Indianapolis and minding my own business. Chatting on the phone and all of a sudden, I fell a minor tap at the rear. I throw on some shoes and run back there to find a dump truck (wtf?) with no driver and the engine off (double wtf). The driver next to the dump truck said a guy parked it, set the brakes and hopped out. A bit later, it rolls the 2 feet into my trailer. Bumper to bumper, so no damage. Very odd to find a vehicle with no driver.

Enjoy Florida in the late winter. Nothing like avoiding storms 'up there' and putting on shorts to start the day.