Comments By TwoSides

I have not been keeping up with this on a regular basis. Didn't realize a month went by since my last post. Time is definitely flying by out here. I'm staying busy and running hard. Possibly running too hard because I feel drained at the end of the day. I am running my 11 all the way down between 21 minutes and an hour each day. My days consist of loading, driving, eating, showering, sleeping and repeating. I'm so tired at the end of the day that I crash hard. Maybe I should change that routine.

But all is well for me out here. To date I have 102,405 miles for the year. I didn't think I would reach 100k before Dec 28th. It's a good feeling knowing I accomplished that. The last time I posted my smart drive score was through the roof and I have it at 2 right now. Feels good getting the safety bonus again haha. Right now I'm in VA finishing up a 5 stop run. I delivered to 3 stops today and have 2 more in Atkins tomorrow. This is on a Conestoga so it's not bad but to be honest I wouldn't mind if it was on a flatbed. The extra tarp pay would have looked nice on my settlement haha.

Not sure what else to add here as to not be repetitive. The days are all the same. I get loaded, drive, get unloaded, do a backhaul, if any then repeat the next day... Ah, I did go to a new place. Last week I went to Minnesota for the first time. That is the farthest West I have been. Did a back to back delivery to the same place in Blaine. Yesterday my DM called because he thought I got back to Cressona too fast. I had a 6 am appointment on Monday and was finished by 7am. I received an empty load assignment back to Cressona and arrived the next day, Tuesday around 1:30pm. When I put my empty call in he called and interrogated me haha. I was expecting a good job or something but no, he didn't believe I did that trip legally. I guess the only illegal thing I did was not go on duty while getting unloaded. I parked there the night before and didn't start my clock until I received my next assignment. Yes, I am aware thats a no no and I have to be on duty while working.

My first year is quickly approaching. In a few more days I will have completed my first full year solo. Its been fun, it has definitely been frustrating and its been interesting. Hopefully I will be on time for my last post for this thread in 6 days haha. Hope you all enjoy the holiday and stay safe out there on the road

Still out here making runs and going hard. It's a few days away from the official 11 month mark for me and I have learned a lot throughout these months. I still have much to learn but I'm feeling more comfortable in certain situations than my first months starting. I have 10,083 more miles to go for 100k. I want to reach 100k before my first year is up but with the holidays coming I don't think that will happen. Hopefully I will get there by the second week of January.

I have been going to new places the past couple weeks. My DM is mixing up runs to the South in GA, KY, and SC. I usually do runs in OH to WI. It's a nice change of scenery from the North Central Region and warmer this time of year. But driving in the Southern states has shot up my smart drive score smh. Atlanta, to put it nicely is a freaking mess! My drive score is at 55 right now down from 82. I didnt receive a safety bonus last month and it will be the same for this month, which sucks.... The DDM called me in the office to review some videos and I disagree with all of them. All of my violations are from 4 wheelers and truckers cutting me off and not resetting my following distance fast enough. It's clear as day in those videos that I am braking and slowing down but apparently not fast enough for their liking. Of course I expressed my opinion on the matter and asked how can I fix that. The only way I see is to slam on the brakes which is something I will not do. I try to predict what the other driver will do when they pass me but I'm not psychic... Drivers cut me off, I slow down, reestablish my following distance and keep trucking... I don't know what else to do....

Had a little hiccup last week. I got too ****y and missed the closing time of one of my stops. This happened on Thursday last week. I had a two stop run in Alliance, OH and in Salem. Alliance is where I had my first incident and got the steers stuck in a ditch leaving. Now that the ditch wasn't covered in 5 ft of snow I was able to see how deep it really was. All I can say is wow... But I got loaded Wed. evening for the open deliveries on Thursday. It was only 300 and something miles so I decided not to drive that night and wait until the morning. That was my first mistake. I had time on my clock so instead of relaxing, I should have driven. The second mistake was hitting the snooze button the next morning. The plan was to leave at 4 am but that snooze button is the devil. Ended up leaving around 7 am instead of 4. Then I got to the first stop and they took damn near 3 hours to unload me... My last stop closes at 3:30 and is only 30 min away but by the time I left my first stop it was 3:20... Obviously didn't make it to the last stop that day but the worse part of it all is they only receive M-TH.... I had to sit for 3 days in Ohio because of my screw up. Very very disappointed at how that turned out. I messed up my earnings for that week and the following week and I haaate sitting...

When I finally finished that run I came back to the terminal Monday because my Zonar was acting up and I needed it fixed. While I was there they decided to do a B service on my truck. Now that day was shot, it took them all day to complete that. When i finally got my truck back, my DM gave me a run going to Rochester, NY that was due Wed. I dont understand why he gave me that on a Monday but whatever. I stayed at the terminal that night and left to Cressona Tuesday afternoon-ish. Arrived at Cressona only to find out it wasn't ready. It was done getting loaded Wed around 4am so that's when I picked it up and started the drive. That was probably the easiest run I have done other than the Ohio runs and the scenery was beautiful, a lot of hills but beautiful. I took US-15, 99, 86 and 390 up.... I was able to complete that and return to Cressona the same day for my next load going to Richmond VA for a Friday appointment at 9 am. Got to Cressona late afternoon, early evening only to find out the load wouldn't be ready until Thursday between 9-11 am. It's going on 1pm and the load still isn't ready....

Now I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed that I have to wait everytime I come to Cressona and also this is the 3rd run in a row under 400 miles. Now I don't know if this is a punishment for my mistake last Thursday or if it's in my head. He knows the type of driver I am and to give me runs under 400 miles with a day in-between is not cool. I get assigned a 300 mile run on a Wednesday for a Friday delivery. That is not cool at all. There are runs in there going to Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma, Illinois but he gives me these BS runs.... I been out here for 4 weeks now so I tell him after this Richmond run I'm going home. Maybe after I rest up and reset things will get better the following week...

Oh Old School if your reading this, hello to you to good sir haha. Tim gave me your message. I saw him today while I'm sitting here waiting at Cressona...

Now Friday and I'm on my way back to Cressona for my next load going to Northwood, OH and Montpellier that is due Monday. Earlier today I delivered those 3 missing pieces back to GA when I was done in Orlando. Everything has calmed down now haha and I had no issues dropping them off or the ride back up. I made it to Virginia on 81n exit 80 at this flying j. I will leave very early from here and plan to arrive in Cressona at 1pm at the latest. I want to get loaded and have some time to relax before driving again. I'm only going to Ohio so I will probably start driving Sunday morning.

The weather has drastically changed haha. It was 90 degrees in FL and I come back to 65 degree weather. The Florida heat was brutal having to untarp and retarp 5 stops. I remember saying in an earlier post that I would rather untarp and retarp a 5 stop run than deal with the Conestoga trailers Knight has..... well that was a lie haha. After actually doing it, I can say that I would rather struggle opening those Conestogas than going through the tarping at 5 stops haha. Be careful what you wish for... it might come true hahaha.

Ryan, that makes sense about the parking issues. I haven't thought about the shippers/receivers being backed up due to the Hurricane. I was so frustrated those days that I didn't think of that.

Old School, how are you? Hope you are doing better than me hahaha. Thank you for that advice, it beats going over to the Loves on 78 to get weighed. It's not far but it's far enough to have to go back and forth. For now on I will definitely do that procedure you mentioned, thank you for that!

Yes, on multiple stop loads I triple check each part and write them on a notepad. Many months back I made that mistake and had to untarp the whole trailer, never again will I do that. The tags on those bars were not visible so I assumed they belonged to the last stop since everything else around it was for the last stop.

I'm not beating myself up about it but I really should have caught the weight issue just by looking at the placement of the load. It was 40,997 and was loaded towards the rear.... rookie or not, I should have noticed that immediately.

Continued.....

Now onto my 4th stop, I was very much turned around and confused. It was going to a job site in Beverly hills but when I got to the place I saw that the way in was not accessible for my big ass truck. So I pulled past the place and found somewhere to pull over. I called the number provided to me but noone answered. I'm not having a good day at that point and I decided to stop for the day and try again tomorrow. I go to a nearby Pilot but it is completely packed, it is 230 pm. I'm perplexed. How is it full at 230 in the afternoon? So I have to find another place to park. I find a TA several miles away and it's almost the same issue. How is 215 parking spots almost full at 3 pm? Does the South not do any work? How is this possible haha. I was able to find a spot there and did the most horrific back I've done in a while. This has been a terrible experience so far and I can't wait to be done with this run and out of hot and humid Florida.

I wake up Wednesday morning and call the place again. The guy answers and tells me how to get into the site. I'm glad I waited because the way he explained was a lot easier then what I was about to do yesterday. I get there and it takes them forever to unload 3 pieces. I have an appointment for my last stop which is looking like I will be late. Finally get unloaded from there and onto my 5th stop. They also take their sweet time unloading me. I am now late for my appointment for my last stop. When they were finally finished I called the last stop and told them I was running late. They said I had to reschedule for tomorrow because they stop unloading at 1pm. That's great, now I have to spend another day in Florida haha. So I go to a Pilot and it is the same issue as yesterday. It is 1pm at this time and the parking lot is almost full. Seriously, do Southern drivers not drive or do they have all night appointments? This is weird to me... Im waiting for this to be over at this point. Right now im just going through the motions, it doesn't even matter anymore. I have one more stop to do which will be done at 6am tomorrow then I can worry about these 3 extra pieces on my trailer....

I can't wait until I'm done with this run haha. It has been one headache after another... On Sunday I called my DM and let him know the situation, needless to say he wasn't happy. He gave me two options, either drive 200 miles back and get the load reworked or keep going.. I want this load delivered just as much as he does and told him my concerns about the weigh stations in Tennessee. I don't usually drive the Southeast so I had no idea if they are open Sundays. He made a few phone calls, called me back and said they would closed. So I made the decision to keep going, probably not a smart decision but I took the risk anyway.

Made it safely through Tennessee and got within 20 miles of my first stop that night. I am 1,100 over on my trailer and the first stop is taking 17k off the rear, whew I'm in the clear. Still I will say it's not something I would do on a regular basis but I'm glad it worked out and I was able to save time and miles....

I wake up Monday and arrive at my first stop at 730 for an 8 am appointment. Everything is going fine until I realize they don't have enough pieces coming off... They are suppose to get 15 pieces but I only counted 12 as the forklift operator was unloading. They are missing 3 6x6 aluminum bars and the only places getting those bars are this stop and my last stop. While he was taking his stuff off I noticed that the bottom 3 bars had another companies name on it. I just shake my head at this point because I realize now that this was loaded incorrectly. The forklift operator says to me, "I bet the missing bars are underneath the tarps in the front, go ahead and untarp the rest so we can take a look" I politely declined that request and told him I know exactly where they are. I know where every stop on the trailer is. I go to the front and lift up the tarp.... They are sitting smack dab in the middle of everything on the bottom haha. That is just wonderful. I tell the forklift operator that those must be yours and he questions me about it. The tag is not visible so he is not sold on the idea that they belong to them but I'm pretty sure those are the missing 3 bars...

He goes to get his supervisor and I call my DM. Surprising to me when I call someone else answers and says my DM is out for 2 weeks and he will be taking over his board for that time. This is bad timing for my DM to be out. I explain the situation to the substitute and he asks me 101 questions. It's understandable because they want to get this situation handled correctly. I take pictures and send them to him. He tells me to sit tight while he figures it out. Meanwhile the supervisor comes out and I show him the bars underneath everything and in the middle of the trailer. I tell him they belong to him but he doesn't want to be responsible for unloading then reloading basically the entire trailer.... He signs my paperwork for 12 pieces and tells me to have a nice day haha. Now I'm thinking my backhaul is a wash because I will have 3 extra pieces on my trailer. I don't leave yet because I'm waiting on a return call from the replacement DM.

After sitting there for 3 1/2 hours the forklift operator comes over to me and says I have to leave. So I put the tarps back on and leave. 20 mins into my drive the DM calls me and asks why am I driving. I tell him I have been sitting there for over 3 hours and they told me to leave. I tell him they refused the load and signed for 12 pieces. Apparently I did something wrong because he tells me to pull over and stop driving, so that's what I did. I wait another 2 hours and call back, no answer. I wait another hour then call again. This time he answers and says he hasn't heard back from operations. I'm now frustrated and tell him I have an 8 am appointment in Jacksonville tomorrow and I haven't made it past Atlanta yet. We get into somewhat of an argument and I told him I'm going to finish this run while they figure it out. I don't understand why I should sit when that place signed for what they received and refused to take the remaining load. I can't force them to unload the trailer to get to their 3 pieces. I have 5 other stops with 2 appointment times. I have to get rolling...

Now Tuesday comes around and I make it to my 2nd stop at 8. That went fine then went to my 3rd stop. It is now that I am able to see the tag on those bars and as I already knew, they belong to the first stop... I call it in and the DM tells me I will have to go back now and deliver them. I'm in Ocala, FL now and I ask him to explain to me why that is a good idea. He tells me because I need to do a backhaul, so I ask him will I get paid for those extra 300 plus miles to go back to Ackworth, GA then from there to my next stop in Beverly hills, FL?? His response to that was the company will lose money if I don't do a backhaul. Oh I see, nevermind the fact that the trailer was obviously loaded incorrectly and this was not a driver error. Make the driver do 700 more miles for free as long as the "company" doesn't lose money.. ok I get it. I can't say I politely declined that request. I told him I wasn't going to do that, this is something corporate will have to figure out, I'm going to continue the run I'm on. I know my attitude maybe out of hand but there is no way I'm doing 700 miles for free. For any company....

Pack, to answer your question itbwas a rookie mistake and also bad advice from other drivers here. But I will make no excuses, it was a rookie mistake on my part that I have learned from....

Momma Anne, glad you are back and thank you for those links. I knew I could count on you haha. I tried looking but wasn't able to find what I was looking for, so thank you much!!

About that load, I sent a picture to 2 seasoned drivers here at Knight and an O/O guy I met a while back. I didn't explain anything to them, just the picture and told them the weight of the load. All I asked was for their thoughts on it. The guys from Knight said nothing was wrong with it but the O/O guy said it will probably be overweight on the trailers. I was impressed by his answer. A little disappointed I didn't notice that given the placement and weight, that is something I should have caught before driving...

I have learned a valuable lesson today. I will get to that shortly...

My first day back from home time Im assigned a six stop run going to FL. First stop is in Acworth, GA and the other five are in FL, from Jacksonville to Orlando... I get to the trailer and as usual I don't like how it is loaded.... Side note.... I really do not like going to that Hydro plant in Cressona. It is a total cluster ****. That is our main account and where all the loads come out of. You would think I would have gotten use to it by now but no.. Seems like there is always a problem when I go in there, very rarely does everything run smoothly.... but anyway, while securing the load I hit myself in the face with the winch bar while tightening the strap. Not hard enough to break teeth or anything but i do have a fat lip now, that **** hurt haha. After im done securing the load I have to wait to tarp. There are drivers everywhere blocking everything, it's chaos. Starting to lose patience I quickly calm down. It's Friday and the first appointment is Monday so I have time, everything is fine.

Finally after spending 5 hours in that place I'm able to leave. I get weighed and I'm 70,500 LBS. It was daylight when I went in now it is dark. I don't feel like driving that day so I head over to the terminal and rest. The next day I wake up ready to hit the road. I go to my favorite place, the waffle house! and enjoy a good breakfast. I do my pre trip, trip plan and head out... but didn't get very far...

Driving down 81s into Virginia, I get pulled into the weigh station at mm 306 which is normal, I always do. Coming up to the scale house I'm prepared to bypass the scale so I creep over to the left. But the arrow directs me to the scale. I thought that was strange because they always bypass me here. I start thinking am I over weight? Naw... I cant be, Im 70k with a split axle trailer... So I drive onto the scale and it is taking a while for them to give me the green light. Now Im second guessing life itself.... There is no way I'm over weight, no way. Buuut, I was wrong. The guy comes on the speaker and says I'm 1,100 over on the trailer. He tells me to come in to adjust the weight and if I cant, then come inside with my paperwork...My heart sinks...

During the inspection of the trailer back at Cressona I saw that it is a fixed 10ft spread. Haha, I can't fix the weight. Just for giggles and laughs I move the fifth wheel all the way forward. I drive back around and of course it didn't help anything. He then tells me to come inside with my paperwork. I am overwhelmed by my nerves at this point, my whole career flashes before my eyes. I go inside and the guy is extremely nice. He could tell I was nervous because I walked in there without my license, cab card or Ifta paper. He told me to relax and assured me that everything was fine. That my CDL was not at risk, no points were going to be given and it wouldn't go on the DAC report. That is good to know but I still have to hear from Knight and see what they will do about this situation....

After writing the fine he tells me I am free to leave. I don't understand this because I'm still overweight. I have two more states to drive through until my first stop which will take 17k off the trailer. Tomorrow is Sunday but I'm not risking driving through Tennessee hoping their weigh stations are closed. I go back to the truck and call after hours. They tell me to sit tight while they figure it out. I'm prepared to drive back to Cressona to have the load reworked. Which means that Monday appointment time in GA for 8 am is not going to happen and everything will be pushed back... After hours never called back so I drive to the Loves at exit 291. This sucks, I'm still thinking about the situation and what actions Knight will take. I don't want to down play it like it's no big deal because it is. Just have to wait and see now...

This is how the load looks.... Please do not pay attention to my crappy tarping haha. After hitting myself in the face and waiting over two hours to start tarping the load, I just wanted to get out of there. The feight is tarped, it's secure and protected from the elements, that's all that matters haha.

But in the photo you can see how the load is a good 10-12ft from the front of the trailer, everything is towards the rear. Like I said, I didn't like how it was loaded and even shook my head at how far back they loaded this but I never thought it would be overweight. In my ignorance as a rookie, I thought since the axles are split then everything is fine. Also, I have been heavier than 70k and had no issues but now I see that the placement of the load made the trailer axles over by 1,100 LBS. I know this is completely the drivers fault. I should have went to a Cat scale and got weighed. For now on, any load over 35k will be getting weighed at a Cat scale.

This really sucks, plan A went astray in Cressona, this was plan B that is now a wash. Plan C is to go back to Cressona and get reworked. Like I said previously, nothing ever goes as planned.... Hopefully it won't turn into a plan D and E.....

George, I wouldn't say the military facility was "in the side of a mountain" unless you are speaking code and I'm missing the whole interpretation haha. It was off of US-30...

Thank you Grinch for your ideas. You are a week late about the freezer haha. I ended up ordering a 10 qt freezer from Amazon. I chose this one because I didn't want anything too big and I could not find an upright freezer slim enough that could slide behind the passenger seat. It's a bit small but it works. It holds 3 bags of chicken and a LB of salmon. In the truck fridge I have another bag of chicken and placed raw spinach leaves in the freezer. Please do send over the link for the crockpot recipes.

Muy bonita!!! Very nice. How do you like the Cascadia?