Yeah, and it's identical (inside dash) to my old one except this has a drivers side power mirror and of course the cummins

Lost driver? no, what happened?

 

instead of south to az he went west to spokane

i hear you finaly got to prove a woman wrong...way to go....but shes comin up with excuses to refute your claim

never did answer about the cold drinks...and now im in arkansas....darn you

sounds like the truck is too classy for you

 

he went west to Spokane? You mean he was dispatched to AZ but decided to go home??

Yeah I proved her wrong and it felt good. :wink: I was trying to call you yesterday so you could give her a hard time, but unfortunately every time I tried, I'd lose my signal.

Oh yeah, there are some cold ones in the frig in the garage, help your self.....oh wait, it's too late isn't it :lol: :lol:

 

10/27-30/07
The past few days have been uneventful but beautiful days for driving. I have been running rather easily lately but still managed to deliver my load in Jannettsville, MD a day early.

When I called in my empty status this afternoon, I was already assigned a load. I have one pick up in Baltimore and 2 in New Jersey. They are going to some place in Montana, can recall the name off the top of my head, Salt Lake City, UT, and Seattle, WA.

This will be a nice trip as I will get some good miles as well as multiple stop pay. It should make for a nice little paycheck.

 

DD/GFIW/All,

It is has been awhile, so where do I start? Oh yeah, I finished training last week, passed all my tests, and I was assigned my first load on Thursday October 25th!! I am on my own now and in Pennsylvania.

My trainer and I made our delivery to Billings on Monday the 22nd. We reloaded bentonite in Lovell, WY that delivers in Lewiston. This put us back thru Missoula that Monday night.

Tuesday morning I pulled ALL my trash out of my trainer's truck which I moved to my pickup. I was assigned truck 361T which has a just rebuilt CAT motor(There was 367K miles, but Caterpillar is recalling these motors for excessive oil consummation). I gave it a very detail inspection, adjusted the brakes, and greased the whole thing(I couldn't get to the clutch throwout bearing grease fitting but hit everyone else). The chains on the headboard were a rat's nest which I fixed that night which the help of my trainer and another senior driver at Davis.

The road test on Tuesday was a challenge. The Davis tester doesn't give you directions as you do the road test. No, you are giving a map of the route and are allow to take notes of it. But, once on the road test it is up to you to follow the map and notes taken. The tester basically sits back and observes. It is very real world. Even a bigger challenge was I hadn't driven this truck before and throttle pedal is an old style truck pedal(My trainer's truck has a newer automotive pedal which you can use just the your toes). I did very well thou; I need to work on my downhill braking but I nailed the dock back!

With the road test complete the day was done. I spent the evening moving into my new truck. :lol: I did notice after the truck was shutdown for a couple hours a coolant leak around a fitting to the air compressor. :evil: This truck had just come from CAT with the rebuilt motor, so as I was being road tested I was road testing the truck. Wednesday morning the truck was back to CAT to replace the coolant hose to the air compressor. While that was being done I inspected my trailer and did my load securement test. I didn't have to do a side kit test setup because I did 2, a 48' and a 45', side kits in Massena, NY with my trainer and another Davis truck. I did have to do a complete inventory of the side kit and I am very confident that I have all the pieces(My post box barely has enough room for all the posts, but DD help me there).

On Thursday the yard boss signed me off on all my tests and I was put on the board. :lol: Oh yeah, everyone has said bad things about the yard boss, but he help me modify my newly bought strap winder. He welded the crank nut on and strength a weak point. I thought this was very good on him.

During the testing I had numerous drivers give me small pointers on load securement. It wasn't cheating as they were just showing an easier way to get the job done. My trainer was very good, but there are so many ways to "Get it Done".

I was assigned a load to pickup on Friday in Smelterville, ID that was to deliver to Newtown, CT(This is 10 miles from my aunt and uncle house) and Bedford, NH. I left Missoula Thursday afternoon and spent the night at the Silver Valley Truckstop in Smelterville.

Unfortunately in the morning the truck would not start. :shock: I had on the bunk warmer(it was 24F), FM radio, sleeper lights, and charged my phone. It is suspected that the truck had been sitting for some time as the motor was rebuilt and the drive over to Idaho was not enough charge time. I had to get jump from a tow company, but I chalked it up to more training with Davis road repair procedures(eg. get T-Chek PO). I was instructed by the shop to idle the truck until I returned to Missoula that evening. My load wasn't going to be ready until noon anyhow, so I wasn't running late.

BTW, my truck did make a mysterious beeping sound in the middle the night which now I think was warning the battery system was low.

Just as I was on the lumber yard scale my dispatcher called me. The load to CT and NH was cancelled(So much for see my aunt and uncle :sad: ) and I was reassigned another there to Manheim, PA and Baltimore, MD. The total is over 2700 miles. I gave the shipping foreman my new pickup number and was told that it would be a while to get the order together. About a hour later we started loaded and it took a hour and half to put 49,040 lbs of lumber on my trailer. They shift a couple a bundles on top and I moved my 5th wheel because I was over on my drive axles. I grossed out at 79,560 lbs(My fuel tank was full).

There was a driver from another company loading there. He was real helpful with letting me use his ladder(Mine is waiting for me at home), and coaching me on tarping the load(It was almost 2 feet over on the tail end my 45' trailer). We both finished securing and tarping our loads after sundown(It was getting cold fast) and head out on I90 East together. I took it real easy going over Lookout Pass it was my very first time, so after a few minutes of checking each others loads while driving he left me(Just like a guardian angel).

I spent the night back in Missoula so that the shop could check out my batteries(I idled 10-11 hours at Smelterville). Also I had a drive tire that the valve core was leaking, but Les Schwab fixed that in 5 minutes. I spent Friday night doing laundry and Saturday morning taking care of some small items(eg. adjusting my tarp, organizing my toolbox, etc.). I did make it over to Rocky Mountain Grill for their breakfast special(2 eggs, 2 pancakes, ham/bacon/links) for $3.25(I had a double order :-D ).

With the truck ready and me with a full stomach, I left Missoula at 1:30pm. I drove to a parking area in Pine Haven, WY. In the morning I could see the Devil's Tower from where I was parked. I had wanted to make it to Rapid City, SD but I had made too late of a start. I did make it to Albert Lea, MN on Sunday night and Pittsboro, IN the next day.

Last night I stopped at a Service Area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike about 20 miles from my first stop at Manheim. BTW, the toll plaza where the I70/I76 merge is a real mess with road construction!! Apparently, it has been for some time, so anyone who has been out this way knows what I am talking about.

I got to my first stop this morning, untarped and unstrapped the load. It only took the customer 30 minutes to get his product off my trailer, but it took several hours to retarped the rest(The restrapping was a breeze). I have an appointment with the other stop in Baltimore tomorrow. If I hadn't had to retarp I could have made it to the customer today before receiving closed, but I had to do the job right.

Anyway no worries. I finished retarping and just parked the truck at the first customer. I washed up in their restroom, grabbed my laptop and headed to the town library. The library gave me a temporary library card and password so that I could get on the Internet. I am going to enjoy some downtime, Halloween, and leave for the last stop early tomorrow morning.

I don't know where I am headed after tomorrow. But, it is Thursday which is suppose to be a good day to empty out at with Davis. I am schedule for TAH on November 9, so hopefully a load to the Left Coast and another to point me to my home-20 in Hillsboro, OR. Of course, with trucking it is anyone's guess when I will get there.

 

danske,

glad to see you're up and running. I just left Baltimore today and am in beautiful New Jersey now. I have a 3 pick up load (2 down, 1 to go) that are heading to S.L.C., UT, Stevensville, MT, and Seattle, WA. I am currently in Phillipsburg, NJ where I will take on my 3rd load tomorrow morning before heading west.

Where is your Baltimore load taking you? If we're traveling the same route, perhaps we can meet up for some coffee at some point.

 

10/31/07
I am on an LTL load that has 3 pick ups, 1) Baltimore, MD 2) Camden, NJ 3) Phillipsburg, NJ. This will pay nicely as I get the mile pay, multiple stop pay, and LTL pay (minimum of $100 each) for having more than one dispatch number. I was also told that as soon as I have a load off, I was expected to have it filled as soon as possible if possible. So this check should be a sweet one.

I planned on picking up all 3 loads today but when I got to the customer in Baltimore, they wanted a secret pass code number, other wise know as a Metals Exchange Number, which I did not have of course. I called dispatch and they did not have it either. Long story short, 2 hours later I had the number and was ready to be loaded. I ran into a small issue with the fork lift driver which I won’t get into the details, but lets just say that I wanted to knock his fat ass right off the fork lift.

After getting that load on and secured/tarped, I headed to Camden. That load went a lot smoother all though I did have to wait about an hour or so for them to call me in the warehouse. All this time wasted waiting for the secret pass code number and waiting to be loaded ate up the clock and there was no way I could make it to Phillipsburg before they shut down for the day. I managed, with some rather difficulty I might add, to finally make it to a TA truck stop off I-78 about 7 miles from my customer. Tomorrow I will get loaded and beat feet out of this god forsaken area (no offense to those of you that are from these parts or like this area) as I head west towards Salt Lake City.

 

Hello all i am a new guy here, reading everything has brought alot of insite to myself and alot of questions have been answered, Thank you Devil Dice, I start Orientation with Davis this Monday, look forward to meeting you all personally someday. Take care and be safe out there...

 

Congrats and welcome aboard!!!!

 

11/01/07
Wow, it’s November already!! I made my 3rd and final pick up first thing this morning and started heading west. Don’t know if it’s because I am leaving the east and going west, or because I got a great nights sleep, or both, but I was in a great mood and in my driving “zone”.

I ended up shutting down a little earlier than planned in Broadview Heights, OH on the turnpike but it’s all good. I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow and continue my journey westward.