So. We finished up orientation on Thursday and I finally got all of my stuff together before I left and went home. Had everything that I needed except a truck. I met with Brad, my DBL, and he didn't have any trucks available to him to give me one so he asked me for a favor. You have already read that post.
Fast Forward to Friday. I wake up after a sleepless night and call Brad, thinking he is going to tell me to head out on Sunday for Florida. WRONG! He basically said that he needed me at the OC in Atlanta ASAP as there was already a load dispatched to me to g pick up in McDonough, Ga and head to Tampa for 6:00 AM on Saturday (today). Um, wait...Ive had no sleep. No way Im gonna make it to Tampa on Friday night. He told me to go as far as I could and we would deal with it. Now, dont forget where we are right here...tie a knot in it and hang on.
From there, I meet Tom, the driver whose route I'm taking over for the two weeks and get my stuff in the truck and he is telling me about the intricacies of this particular truck (White truck, 760,000 miles on it...LOL. Its a beater!). As we are talking the Qualcom goes NUTS and I get the load to Tampa along with three others back to back. Im set until Tuesday!
Remember when I told you to tie a knot and hang on? You can let go now. As we are looking through the loads, Tom notices the Tampa load doesn't deliver until 0600 on MONDAY morning. We talk to Brad and lo and behold, the load info is correct. I did have to pick it up on Friday, however, so I decided to just bring it on to Tampa and get a 34 hour reset in while I'm here. According to Tom, I need a clean 70 to run this route every week.
I leave Atlanta after filling up the tanks and head to McDonough for my loaded trailer. I bob tailed to there so I didn't have a trailer to drop. Everything went pretty smooth and I took off and headed South on I75. I didn't even make it to the state line and had to stop, though. I was way too tired to be driving. I stopped at the Loves in Tifton, Ga to get my 10 hour break in. I figured I would make it to Tampa by 1:00pm even if I took my time, and that gave me plenty of time to sit and take this 34 hour reset.
So, I got up this morning and did a pre trip and headed out towards Tampa. Had a pretty nice ride down with no problems at all. Very smooth. I am now sitting in Zephyrhills, Florida...home of Zephyrhills Water. This is where Ill sit until 5am Monday morning.
I'm having some problems with the macros that SNI has as I have never had to do most of them when I was at Prime. The Macro 18 is the one I'm having a real problem with. Its just confusing and I just don't "get it" just yet. I'm sure it will click to me soon, but this macro is how they plan loads for you so you have to be pretty much on the money with it. You CAN make changes as you go, however. I get the feeling there are a LOT of changes coming for mine. LOL.
More later, guys! Be safe out there!
Nice posts, keep 'em coming. I enjoy reading life on the road since I've been considering this driving thing as a second career after this one in the military is over in a few years. According to most posts and forums, the biggest negative in trucking is being away from the family. How are you planning on coping with it, even after having done it before? I don't imagine it was easy then and I was just wondering if you and your family have taken any different steps to adjust this time around.
ReplyDeleteBrian...first, thanks for reading! Being away is just part of the game. You can't do anything to keep you from missing the one's that you love. No amount of preparation can fix that. I just think about my wife and little girl and know that what I am doing is providing a better life for them. Sure beats starving.
ReplyDeleteThe mac18 can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It took me about two months to "get it" and another two to master it to my advantage. You'll figure it out. :)
ReplyDeleteGood reasons for sure! I thought maybe you had set up a predetermined plan for texting/calling/MSN type chatting every other day or something like that. My wife and I thought about something like that and I couldn't be sure if there was a way of texting or chatting at the end of the day using whatever equipment was in the truck or if there had to be a WiFi closeby instead. I was in Marietta from mid Aug until mid Oct just past on a course near Smyrna, GA. Loved the weather but there are some crazy drivers there.
ReplyDeleteIm tryin, GiGi! :)
ReplyDeleteBrian...nothing predetermined. we call/text several times a day, but not on a set schedule or anything.
ReplyDelete