Some of might already know this, but I bet most don't...
About a month ago, I started training to get my Class-A Commercial Driver's License, which allows for driving commercial vehicles in excess of 80,000 pounds across state lines.
After 10 days, I had passed my road test and was hired as an over-the-road truck driver for CR England. After about another week, I have been on a truck with a trainer and another student (on-the-job training). I have been on this truck for a week and a half now, driving all over the country.
Many of you probably noticed my profile picture changed from a purple truck from ATS to a red truck. That was a truck I drove during training before taking my test.
[ external image ]
I figured I could share some pictures (and maybe in the future, videos as well) of my adventures across the country. Because I am on a "team" truck, we never stop for more than a half hour (at truck stops) unless waiting to be loaded or waiting for the next job (at an industrial park). As such, the only time I can currently get pictures is when I'm not driving or when we are stopped. This means updating this post will be rather slow for a while, until I get on a truck by myself.
I eventually plan to set up a dashcam and such and do videos, as well as streams. If anyone is interested in that, let me know. I will probably do that via Discord, as I am already active there and I don't agree with the policies YouTube and Twitch have.
Anyway, our first run took us from Laredo, Texas (a border town) all the way up to Pennsylvania, then we got sent back to Laredo. There are many pretty areas, such as Tri-Cities in eastern Tennessee and Interstate 81 through Virginia. Birmingham, Alabama was also quite pretty. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of these. Though, on the way back to Laredo, we stopped in a town called Toomsuba, Mississippi, where it seems the military decided to invade a local truck stop:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
After leaving Laredo the second time, we went to California, the one state I have spent my entire life trying to avoid! Here's why I avoid California:
Welcome to Parking Lot 10
[ external image ]
Beyond the crazy traffic, the complete standard-violating roads, and the millions of dipshits, California is a very beautiful place. The Grapevine was actually very fun to drive (though, admittedly, we only drive automatics). I wasn't driving LA during the day, but did a few nights later. When it's night and traffic is calmer, construction picks up and closes these 20-something lane freeways down to 2 lanes!
A few day later, we ended up around San Francisco a few times. Never been to San Francisco, but we had some good views of it:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
Then... there's Oakland:
[ external image ]
After California, we went up to Oregon (around Portland). We are now heading back down to Salt Lake.
So far, of the states currently in ATS, I have driven to New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.
There has been many times I would pass a spot or building and think to myself "I've been here before!" Then I realize I have never been anywhere near it before, except in ATS. It's actually quite scary how accurate SCS got some places. One of these that stood out to me is Canyonville, Oregon, well, except I didn't see anyone dancing on the roof of the truck stop in reality.
Another is the view of Portland from across the river. The city itself isn't very accurate (the entire layout of Interstate 84 is completely unrecognizable, but I'll go ahead and assume that was done due to scale limitations).
I can't remember the name of the town, but there is a truck stop west of Las Cruces, New Mexico in-game. I passed it on the way from Laredo to LA, and it looked almost exactly like it does in-game.
Maybe a part of my posting should be comparing things in reality to how SCS shows them in-game.
I will try to keep this updated as time goes on. Perhaps I will expand from simply sharing pictures and videos to actually discussing the job and lifestyle as well.
Let me know if anyone is interested in this, or in the idea of videos and streams.
Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
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bobgrey1997
- Posts: 3618
- Joined: 30 Nov 2015 02:13
- Location: Minnesota, Iowa, Dekotas, and Nebraska
- Contact:
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
Ahhh man that is awesome dude. Another SCS trucking story. I know you said you had your issues with jobs in the past but this is the best story I've heard from you. Congrats man. Yes I noticed your pic changed and now it makes sense. You SCS can really benefit from your travel for sure (if you know where I am going with this). I rarely come to this part of the forum. I keep telling myself that if I get laid off due to down economy, I too will be hitting the road.
My post are only thoughts and ideas. Don't assume it makes ATS.
Poll: Choose Next 2 ATS States
ATS Flatbed
ATS Special Transport
North American Agriculture
Poll: Out of Production Truck
Poll: Choose Next 2 ATS States
ATS Flatbed
ATS Special Transport
North American Agriculture
Poll: Out of Production Truck
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bobgrey1997
- Posts: 3618
- Joined: 30 Nov 2015 02:13
- Location: Minnesota, Iowa, Dekotas, and Nebraska
- Contact:
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
Thanks!
I've already found several things on the real roads that SCS came quite close to perfectly recreating, but could do with some improvements. When I get into doing videos and such, I will be able to share them in the Research section here on the Forum to hopefully help SCS with future development.
One thing I could do is put an emphasis on certain aspects. Sure, anyone can find any video of a given place and share it. However, I could specifically target the focus onto things like unique styles of signs and signals, road lines, bridge railings, local architecture, environment, etc to help SCS understand what makes that place unique.
This particular job has many benefits over anything else I currently have the ability to do. Job security is the main one. Global pandemic, economic crash, or even a full-blown all-out civil war, people will always still need supplies and food, and these trucks will still be running!
It's like the Postal Service: rain, sleet, he'll or high water..., except it's not the Postal Service, and we still run through even worse.
Plus, even with CR England paying one of the lowest rates in the industry, I still make more than I can figure out how to spend. There's really not many options to spend money while you are driving a truck... This means lots of savings!
Yesterday, we stopped by Little Rock on the way to Pennsylvania. I was able to get my actual CDL card (I've been running around with my Class D license and my Class A permit this whole time!). Arkansas requires all CDL holders to take a Truckers Against Trafficking certification course, which no one ever told me about before. This extra half-hour course, on top of the two-and-a-half-hour DMV line, compared with Dispatch randomly shifting our drop time up, made us very close to late! In any case, it's actually a nice cause, and I finally got my actual CDL.
This means that when I finish my hours in a few days, I will be a fully-licensed, trained truck driver! Having my CDL card also means the company can place me on my own truck instead of having to run team.
Oh, I also forgot:
Before I was placed on the truck, they had me driving a Chrysler minivan between Salt Lake City, Utah and Laredo, Texas (taking other students to Laredo to be placed on trucks). On the way down to Laredo the second time, I bought a new thing I thought would come in very handy:
[ external image ]
It did! When we were in Oakland, California at one point, the trainer was driving. He was trying to find Interstate 5 and didn't know Interstate 80 would take us there. He's blindly following the GPS like a "real trucker!" when it starts yelling "RESTRICTED ROUTE WARNING!" Confused as he is, I grab my handy McNally here, flop it over to "California", and sure enough, I see Interstate 580 on the "Restricted Routes"...
Only the first week on the job at that point, yet I could've told him "uh, don't listen to that cute little screen, that's the WRONG WAY! Interstate 80 is over there!"
I've already found several things on the real roads that SCS came quite close to perfectly recreating, but could do with some improvements. When I get into doing videos and such, I will be able to share them in the Research section here on the Forum to hopefully help SCS with future development.
One thing I could do is put an emphasis on certain aspects. Sure, anyone can find any video of a given place and share it. However, I could specifically target the focus onto things like unique styles of signs and signals, road lines, bridge railings, local architecture, environment, etc to help SCS understand what makes that place unique.
This particular job has many benefits over anything else I currently have the ability to do. Job security is the main one. Global pandemic, economic crash, or even a full-blown all-out civil war, people will always still need supplies and food, and these trucks will still be running!
It's like the Postal Service: rain, sleet, he'll or high water..., except it's not the Postal Service, and we still run through even worse.
Plus, even with CR England paying one of the lowest rates in the industry, I still make more than I can figure out how to spend. There's really not many options to spend money while you are driving a truck... This means lots of savings!
Yesterday, we stopped by Little Rock on the way to Pennsylvania. I was able to get my actual CDL card (I've been running around with my Class D license and my Class A permit this whole time!). Arkansas requires all CDL holders to take a Truckers Against Trafficking certification course, which no one ever told me about before. This extra half-hour course, on top of the two-and-a-half-hour DMV line, compared with Dispatch randomly shifting our drop time up, made us very close to late! In any case, it's actually a nice cause, and I finally got my actual CDL.
This means that when I finish my hours in a few days, I will be a fully-licensed, trained truck driver! Having my CDL card also means the company can place me on my own truck instead of having to run team.
Oh, I also forgot:
Before I was placed on the truck, they had me driving a Chrysler minivan between Salt Lake City, Utah and Laredo, Texas (taking other students to Laredo to be placed on trucks). On the way down to Laredo the second time, I bought a new thing I thought would come in very handy:
[ external image ]
It did! When we were in Oakland, California at one point, the trainer was driving. He was trying to find Interstate 5 and didn't know Interstate 80 would take us there. He's blindly following the GPS like a "real trucker!" when it starts yelling "RESTRICTED ROUTE WARNING!" Confused as he is, I grab my handy McNally here, flop it over to "California", and sure enough, I see Interstate 580 on the "Restricted Routes"...
Only the first week on the job at that point, yet I could've told him "uh, don't listen to that cute little screen, that's the WRONG WAY! Interstate 80 is over there!"
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SmokeyWolf
- Posts: 2446
- Joined: 08 Mar 2019 23:27
- Location: Indiana
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
Best time to run LA is at night. 
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leo.arevalo12ss
- Posts: 1232
- Joined: 22 Aug 2020 01:32
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
As someone who has been to LA i can confirm that the traffic is so bad and in the morning and afternoon, it's packed so go in the night or super duper early in the morning
Take it with a grain of salt nothing is 100% sure
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
The best time to run any city is at night, doesn't matter where you are. I've been contemplating starting a thread like this as I'm always taking pictures. I've also been thinking of setting up video cameras, but I personally wouldn't stream as it could potentially be a safety concern (stream sniping), plus signal likes to drop frequently which would cause troubles with streaming.
Always love seeing pictures of things spotted on the road keep it up!
Always love seeing pictures of things spotted on the road keep it up!
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bobgrey1997
- Posts: 3618
- Joined: 30 Nov 2015 02:13
- Location: Minnesota, Iowa, Dekotas, and Nebraska
- Contact:
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
Sorry for the long delay.
I've got some news, as well as a backstory.
So, after I finished training, I went back to Salt Lake City for what they call "upgrade", which is basically a short class where you watch a few videos, then do a quick backing and road test. Being tests, these are timed. I failed backing due to running out of time, but passed the road test. This was on Saturday, so I had to wait until Monday to take the backing test again. After that, I sat around for about a week until I was assigned my own truck. I then hitched a ride on another truck to get to Dallas so I could recover my truck;
2020 International (or as we call it: "Intertrashional") LT625:
[ external image ]
The plus side here is that these Internationals have a significantly larger interior than the Cascadias:
[ external image ]
I have also got a cooler now!
[ external image ]
So, why do we call them "Intertrashionals"?
They are honestly crappy trucks. They never want to shift into gear; when they do, it feels like getting side-swiped by a building (I say that from experience), the cruise control doesn't work, the passenger side door sqeaks, the parking breaks take forever to settle, and, oh yeah:
[ external image ]
This is a towel. I bought it so I could have a towel, used for drying after baths and such. Turns out, it also works as a redneck solution for when your Qualcomm gets rained on.
Speaking of rain, my very first load was from Dallas to Houston. They gave me a day and a half to do a 4 hour drive, so I got there early. I then had to find a truck stop for the night. I found this cursed block of a vehicle:
[ external image ]
After re-ariving, I was still 40 minutes early for my 08:00 appointment. I sat there until 16:00. I then had to book it over to Pasadena to get a new load, but the route solution sent me to a grocery store 5 miles away from where I needed to be. This 5 miles turned in to 40 miles because every road in Pasadena is a no-truck road!
Late for that appointment, I called my Driver Manager to reschedule the unload in Bells, TN, which was scheduled for 07:00 the next morning.
So, the next day, he calls me, quite upset because I'm late for the unload, as if he forgot I told him I would be!
To make matters worse, I ended up in a town on the Texas/Louisiana border where the freeway was closed, and all the detours led us to an onramp that was also closed. I had to navigate back roads across the border to get back onto the highway.
From here, things calmed down. I just cruised my way to Bells, stopping in Jackson, Mississippi for the night.
"What's this got to do with rain?"
From the time I recovered the truck in Dallas, to some time during the night in Jackson, my windows looked like this:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
Once I got to Bells, I had to solve a puzzle!
Their dock is in this little sunken area where you have to do a funky 270 turn type thing to set up for your backing, which puts you going in blindside.
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
So, I nailed the back, only for the dock guy to come out and say "it needs to be moved toward passenger side about 2 inches".
Anyone who has experience driving, or is passionate about keeping ATS as realistic as possible, probably knows that such a 2 inch correction takes another 50 or more feet of pull-up to do.
So, I do this, and he comes back out and says "it needs to be to the driver side about an inch". I do that. He then says "it needs to..." and both another dock worker and I say "...stay right where it is!"
So, they unload, and I take the empty to Tunnel Hills, Georgia to switch it out for a loaded one. Finally, I was early again!
I bobtailed over to a Waffle House for a good hot meal, for the first time in well over a month!
The next morning, I took my loaded trailer and headed out for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Qualcomm kept saying it couldn't find a route (it's pre-programmed to our company route solution) with an error "there is a restricted road at either the origin or destination". I know it was the destination, as I knew there was no such road at the origin.
I call my manager, and this dipshit says "ah, just use Google!" (It thinks I'm a car). At this point, I haven't saved up for a GPS yet, especially considering I had to pay for the hotel in Salt Lake during the upgrade testing. (Well, I didn't have to, because they offered a bunk in the dorms with 3 other people, but you can guess how I took that after being in a truck for a month with 2 others).
Anyway, I knew how to get to Milwaukee, but not exactly how to get to the facility.
I looked up restricted routes on both Google and my Atlas, and found nothing on my route. So, I went with it!
I got to Milwaukee early, but was running low on hours. I got off the freeway and onto surface roads when the GPS said to turn left. I looked around and noticed a 3 ton weight limit, but also noticed the road name. It was where I needed to be.
So, I went for it. About a mile in, I see party lights in the lane next to me, and I knew exactly what was going on.
So, I pull over. This cop happened to be a DOT officer. Thankfully, he didn't give me a ticket.
After dropping this load, I found a truck stop to do my 34-hour.
Almost 50 hours later, I had a new assignment from a town north of there to Moberly, Missouri. Got there, dropped, and headed empty to Kansas City for my next load.
By this point, I'm having the best time of my life! Cruising the open road, listening to music, and by this point, I've got my truck nicely furnished and a few tricks to bypass the idle shutoff crap.
So, I get to Kansas City a day early (I've been running early for a bit now) and find a not-quite-truck-stop 7Eleven type of place that trucks tend to invade:
[ external image ]
Found a couple empty car parking spaces:
[ external image ]
Next morning, I arrive an hour and a half early for my 11:00 appointment, only to find my load got canceled. They had an identical one loading at 17:00.
The issue here is that I was supposed to get this load to Laredo, Texas, and was already on a very tight schedule (no longer running very early), and leaving at 17:00 would've been a guarantee of being late. I assume they probably had a later delivery time, but I didn't know, neither did the shipper.
So, back on the phone with my manager, he says to go off-duty and wait for further instructions....
Waiting...
[ external image ]
But at least I had some company!
[ external image ]
Truck Doge!
[ external image ]
After 2 days of waiting, I FINALLY got a load! I had to continue with another empty to Dodge City, Kansas before taking a loaded to Mercedes, Texas. At first, I was thinking "this'll be great! I can get on the road, get loaded, and get the hell outta Dodge! Literally!"
But, I get to Dodge early and spent the night at a truck stop with an interesting sign...
https://i.imgur.com/MqrUZNL.gifv
The next morning, I pick up the trailer only to discover it has an air leak. Not bad enough to engage the emergency brake, but enough that the tandem pins won't release. I call my manager to explain this, and he says "Well, go get it scaled and see if it's legal or not, and if not, have them reload it. If they can't get it right, I'll have to call Road Service to get it fixed."
I take it to the wavy-sign and scale it. As is expected, the weight is towards the front, putting too much on the drive axles.
[ external image ]
So, I took it back and had it reloaded. 6 hours, 32 minutes later, they are done and I rescale it. They got a bit closer, but still illegal. On my way back, I call my manager again. He said to just get it reloaded.
Over now 2 days, he FINALLY decides to get it fixed! I ask "why didn't we do that at first instead of wasting days of my time with no pay!?" He responded with "I told you to call Road Service if they couldn't get it loaded right at first." Notice the first call, he said he'd call Road Service! I had do some digging to even find their number later.
So, I bring it to the service shop and drop it for them to work on it. Later, they call, saying the trailer sunk into the ground, so they can't work on it. They suggested getting a tow truck to dig it out so they can work on it on Monday. This load was due in Texas on Friday.
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
So, now Road Service and Customer Service got the bright idea:
Let's get the tow truck in there (who has a gate code), and I show up behind them and snag the trailer once they've got it out and get it scaled to see if the latest reload finally fixed the weights (I didn't have a chance to scale it before taking it to service). If it's good, I'll roll with it as-is. If not, we'll get it somewhere who can service it tomorrow.
Now, keep in mind that I don't get paid to sit in Dodge. Or Kansas City for that matter.
This entire week, I only drove a couple hundred paid miles. This means my paycheck will be less than a hundred dollars.
As such, as soon as I get this trailer rolling, I'm dropping it in Dallas and leaving for a different company.
I have spent the past week calling around and talking to other drivers. My conclusion is:
Swifty-Swift (yep). Hear me out! They are a training company, like England, so lack of experience isn't an issue. I will have to go on over-the-road training again for a few weeks, but with just one other person (the trainer) instead of 2 others (trainer and another student), making $850/week, instead of $680 with England, and once on the road solo, they are offering a minimum guarantee of $1000/week, but average $1800, while my highest so far at England was just over $800. Plus, their trucks are furnished with refrigerators (not little cheap coolers like mine), power inverters, AND auxiliary power units! England trucks have... a truck.
And they pay $300 for orientation, which is 2 days long, meaning I could be looking at a $500 paycheck next week, instead of less than 100.
However, unfortunately, orientation is Monday-Wednesday, and at this rate, there's a high chance I won't be out that way until Tuesday.
On the flip-side, if I get to Dallas on Tuesday, but can't switch until the following Monday, I can go home for a week! (My brother can make the 5-hour day-trip from Conway, Arkansas to Dallas, Texas to pick me up).
So, there's my OTR Adventures with CR England. I look forward to continuing this over at Swift!
I've got some news, as well as a backstory.
So, after I finished training, I went back to Salt Lake City for what they call "upgrade", which is basically a short class where you watch a few videos, then do a quick backing and road test. Being tests, these are timed. I failed backing due to running out of time, but passed the road test. This was on Saturday, so I had to wait until Monday to take the backing test again. After that, I sat around for about a week until I was assigned my own truck. I then hitched a ride on another truck to get to Dallas so I could recover my truck;
2020 International (or as we call it: "Intertrashional") LT625:
[ external image ]
The plus side here is that these Internationals have a significantly larger interior than the Cascadias:
[ external image ]
I have also got a cooler now!
[ external image ]
So, why do we call them "Intertrashionals"?
They are honestly crappy trucks. They never want to shift into gear; when they do, it feels like getting side-swiped by a building (I say that from experience), the cruise control doesn't work, the passenger side door sqeaks, the parking breaks take forever to settle, and, oh yeah:
[ external image ]
This is a towel. I bought it so I could have a towel, used for drying after baths and such. Turns out, it also works as a redneck solution for when your Qualcomm gets rained on.
Speaking of rain, my very first load was from Dallas to Houston. They gave me a day and a half to do a 4 hour drive, so I got there early. I then had to find a truck stop for the night. I found this cursed block of a vehicle:
[ external image ]
After re-ariving, I was still 40 minutes early for my 08:00 appointment. I sat there until 16:00. I then had to book it over to Pasadena to get a new load, but the route solution sent me to a grocery store 5 miles away from where I needed to be. This 5 miles turned in to 40 miles because every road in Pasadena is a no-truck road!
Late for that appointment, I called my Driver Manager to reschedule the unload in Bells, TN, which was scheduled for 07:00 the next morning.
So, the next day, he calls me, quite upset because I'm late for the unload, as if he forgot I told him I would be!
To make matters worse, I ended up in a town on the Texas/Louisiana border where the freeway was closed, and all the detours led us to an onramp that was also closed. I had to navigate back roads across the border to get back onto the highway.
From here, things calmed down. I just cruised my way to Bells, stopping in Jackson, Mississippi for the night.
"What's this got to do with rain?"
From the time I recovered the truck in Dallas, to some time during the night in Jackson, my windows looked like this:
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
Once I got to Bells, I had to solve a puzzle!
Their dock is in this little sunken area where you have to do a funky 270 turn type thing to set up for your backing, which puts you going in blindside.
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
So, I nailed the back, only for the dock guy to come out and say "it needs to be moved toward passenger side about 2 inches".
Anyone who has experience driving, or is passionate about keeping ATS as realistic as possible, probably knows that such a 2 inch correction takes another 50 or more feet of pull-up to do.
So, I do this, and he comes back out and says "it needs to be to the driver side about an inch". I do that. He then says "it needs to..." and both another dock worker and I say "...stay right where it is!"
So, they unload, and I take the empty to Tunnel Hills, Georgia to switch it out for a loaded one. Finally, I was early again!
I bobtailed over to a Waffle House for a good hot meal, for the first time in well over a month!
The next morning, I took my loaded trailer and headed out for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Qualcomm kept saying it couldn't find a route (it's pre-programmed to our company route solution) with an error "there is a restricted road at either the origin or destination". I know it was the destination, as I knew there was no such road at the origin.
I call my manager, and this dipshit says "ah, just use Google!" (It thinks I'm a car). At this point, I haven't saved up for a GPS yet, especially considering I had to pay for the hotel in Salt Lake during the upgrade testing. (Well, I didn't have to, because they offered a bunk in the dorms with 3 other people, but you can guess how I took that after being in a truck for a month with 2 others).
Anyway, I knew how to get to Milwaukee, but not exactly how to get to the facility.
I looked up restricted routes on both Google and my Atlas, and found nothing on my route. So, I went with it!
I got to Milwaukee early, but was running low on hours. I got off the freeway and onto surface roads when the GPS said to turn left. I looked around and noticed a 3 ton weight limit, but also noticed the road name. It was where I needed to be.
So, I went for it. About a mile in, I see party lights in the lane next to me, and I knew exactly what was going on.
So, I pull over. This cop happened to be a DOT officer. Thankfully, he didn't give me a ticket.
After dropping this load, I found a truck stop to do my 34-hour.
Almost 50 hours later, I had a new assignment from a town north of there to Moberly, Missouri. Got there, dropped, and headed empty to Kansas City for my next load.
By this point, I'm having the best time of my life! Cruising the open road, listening to music, and by this point, I've got my truck nicely furnished and a few tricks to bypass the idle shutoff crap.
So, I get to Kansas City a day early (I've been running early for a bit now) and find a not-quite-truck-stop 7Eleven type of place that trucks tend to invade:
[ external image ]
Found a couple empty car parking spaces:
[ external image ]
Next morning, I arrive an hour and a half early for my 11:00 appointment, only to find my load got canceled. They had an identical one loading at 17:00.
The issue here is that I was supposed to get this load to Laredo, Texas, and was already on a very tight schedule (no longer running very early), and leaving at 17:00 would've been a guarantee of being late. I assume they probably had a later delivery time, but I didn't know, neither did the shipper.
So, back on the phone with my manager, he says to go off-duty and wait for further instructions....
Waiting...
[ external image ]
But at least I had some company!
[ external image ]
Truck Doge!
[ external image ]
After 2 days of waiting, I FINALLY got a load! I had to continue with another empty to Dodge City, Kansas before taking a loaded to Mercedes, Texas. At first, I was thinking "this'll be great! I can get on the road, get loaded, and get the hell outta Dodge! Literally!"
But, I get to Dodge early and spent the night at a truck stop with an interesting sign...
https://i.imgur.com/MqrUZNL.gifv
The next morning, I pick up the trailer only to discover it has an air leak. Not bad enough to engage the emergency brake, but enough that the tandem pins won't release. I call my manager to explain this, and he says "Well, go get it scaled and see if it's legal or not, and if not, have them reload it. If they can't get it right, I'll have to call Road Service to get it fixed."
I take it to the wavy-sign and scale it. As is expected, the weight is towards the front, putting too much on the drive axles.
[ external image ]
So, I took it back and had it reloaded. 6 hours, 32 minutes later, they are done and I rescale it. They got a bit closer, but still illegal. On my way back, I call my manager again. He said to just get it reloaded.
Over now 2 days, he FINALLY decides to get it fixed! I ask "why didn't we do that at first instead of wasting days of my time with no pay!?" He responded with "I told you to call Road Service if they couldn't get it loaded right at first." Notice the first call, he said he'd call Road Service! I had do some digging to even find their number later.
So, I bring it to the service shop and drop it for them to work on it. Later, they call, saying the trailer sunk into the ground, so they can't work on it. They suggested getting a tow truck to dig it out so they can work on it on Monday. This load was due in Texas on Friday.
[ external image ]
[ external image ]
So, now Road Service and Customer Service got the bright idea:
Let's get the tow truck in there (who has a gate code), and I show up behind them and snag the trailer once they've got it out and get it scaled to see if the latest reload finally fixed the weights (I didn't have a chance to scale it before taking it to service). If it's good, I'll roll with it as-is. If not, we'll get it somewhere who can service it tomorrow.
Now, keep in mind that I don't get paid to sit in Dodge. Or Kansas City for that matter.
This entire week, I only drove a couple hundred paid miles. This means my paycheck will be less than a hundred dollars.
As such, as soon as I get this trailer rolling, I'm dropping it in Dallas and leaving for a different company.
I have spent the past week calling around and talking to other drivers. My conclusion is:
Swifty-Swift (yep). Hear me out! They are a training company, like England, so lack of experience isn't an issue. I will have to go on over-the-road training again for a few weeks, but with just one other person (the trainer) instead of 2 others (trainer and another student), making $850/week, instead of $680 with England, and once on the road solo, they are offering a minimum guarantee of $1000/week, but average $1800, while my highest so far at England was just over $800. Plus, their trucks are furnished with refrigerators (not little cheap coolers like mine), power inverters, AND auxiliary power units! England trucks have... a truck.
And they pay $300 for orientation, which is 2 days long, meaning I could be looking at a $500 paycheck next week, instead of less than 100.
However, unfortunately, orientation is Monday-Wednesday, and at this rate, there's a high chance I won't be out that way until Tuesday.
On the flip-side, if I get to Dallas on Tuesday, but can't switch until the following Monday, I can go home for a week! (My brother can make the 5-hour day-trip from Conway, Arkansas to Dallas, Texas to pick me up).
So, there's my OTR Adventures with CR England. I look forward to continuing this over at Swift!
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
If you switch companies make sure they pay you for sitting time. I don't know much about any companies so I can't give any recommendations for who's good and who's bad, but it seems like you are getting ripped off working for England.
I've drive 3 internationals and they were all crapola. None of them had functional door seals and the third one I blew up.
Once you can get a GPS, get one I've never used a garmin so I can't recommend it. The Rand Mcnally 2.0 is worse than the original but it does its job. I've been using that plus google to find my way around when I go somewhere new. I try (but sometimes I forget) to always double check the route the GPS is sending me down to make sure it makes sense. Most of the time I leave it turned off on the floor. Also, if you do buy one keep the receipt as you may be eligible for a tax deduction (I'm not sure how the US laws work but In Canada you can).
Also why aren't you getting hot meals? or were you just emphasizing the good part?
I've drive 3 internationals and they were all crapola. None of them had functional door seals and the third one I blew up.
Once you can get a GPS, get one I've never used a garmin so I can't recommend it. The Rand Mcnally 2.0 is worse than the original but it does its job. I've been using that plus google to find my way around when I go somewhere new. I try (but sometimes I forget) to always double check the route the GPS is sending me down to make sure it makes sense. Most of the time I leave it turned off on the floor. Also, if you do buy one keep the receipt as you may be eligible for a tax deduction (I'm not sure how the US laws work but In Canada you can).
Also why aren't you getting hot meals? or were you just emphasizing the good part?
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bobgrey1997
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Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
Swift guarantees a minimum $1000/week, even "in the remote chance you are left sitting all week". As such, they do everything they can to keep you moving, because they don't want to pay a thousand dollars for a truck to sit (but will if they have to).
I don't know the exact model, but the GPS I want is more like a tablet (so I can actually comfortably read it at a quick glance).
By "hot meal", I mean something that isn't drive-through style. I've been eating out of truck stops and gas stations this entire time. While I finally have a cooler, I have no way to cook or heat anything (other than leaving it on the dash when I close the curtains while facing west on a 90+ degree afternoon), and I haven't been able to get to a dine-in restaurant (even while stuck in Dodge).
I don't know the exact model, but the GPS I want is more like a tablet (so I can actually comfortably read it at a quick glance).
By "hot meal", I mean something that isn't drive-through style. I've been eating out of truck stops and gas stations this entire time. While I finally have a cooler, I have no way to cook or heat anything (other than leaving it on the dash when I close the curtains while facing west on a 90+ degree afternoon), and I haven't been able to get to a dine-in restaurant (even while stuck in Dodge).
Re: Adventures as an Over-the-Road Truck Driver
That seems like it might be a good deal then.
I basically live off fast food so I know how it gets old. I've never been one for sit down restaurants anyway, it always feels weird to me to eat alone in a restaurant. I have a microwave that I can heat soup up in but that gets old too. I've considered trying to cook in the truck but never had the ambition to actually try. My two biggest obstacles are 1) how to wash dishes 2) I have to cross the border a lot which means I can't carry fresh fruit, veg or meat. I would have to buy it when I entered the US which would be a pain.
Plus the fridge on volvos likes to not latch sometimes and that would just cause the food to go bad.
I basically live off fast food so I know how it gets old. I've never been one for sit down restaurants anyway, it always feels weird to me to eat alone in a restaurant. I have a microwave that I can heat soup up in but that gets old too. I've considered trying to cook in the truck but never had the ambition to actually try. My two biggest obstacles are 1) how to wash dishes 2) I have to cross the border a lot which means I can't carry fresh fruit, veg or meat. I would have to buy it when I entered the US which would be a pain.
Plus the fridge on volvos likes to not latch sometimes and that would just cause the food to go bad.
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