Profile For Happy Dog

Happy Dog's Info

  • Location:
    Cocoa, FL

  • Driving Status:
    Experienced Driver

  • Social Link:

  • Joined Us:
    10 years, 5 months ago

Happy Dog's Bio

I'm old school. I was taught by old school drivers and heavy equipment operators, and I carry that sense of pride and respect for myself and others with me today. From Marmons to Macks...you name it, Ive probably wrestled with it.

The Kenworth in the profile pic was once assigned to me, I hauled salt and aggregates with it.

My Dad was a heavy equipment operator and a truck driver for the same company, so I got all the seat time I wanted, and I wanted all the seat time I could get. It didnt matter if it was a truck or a blade or a bucket, I wanted on it, and I wanted to run it.

I got my first Class A when I was 21, drove for 13 years, then let it go at 33 after getting married and moving to Nashville. Love will make a man do foolish things.

Im 45 now, and I decided I wanted to get back into a seat. I've driven plenty of tractor trailers but Ive never ran OTR for a major carrier. Ive ran equipment nearly all my life, and when I was a driver I covered all of Upstate NY and Canada hauling sand, stone, scrap metals, topsoil, construction debris and the like...mostly with dump trailers.

I've since graduated from TDI in Sanford, Florida, so the vacation is officially over. I reported to Dallas on 6/13/14 for orientation. Time to get my boots back on and see where the road takes me.

Any advice I can get here is greatly appreciated, I'm here to research and learn and help where I can.

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Posted:  10 years, 1 month ago

View Topic:

When should I show down and shift if I want to exit the freeway?

I heard a guy say, "You can go too slow a million times, but you can only go too fast once." I signal early and do what makes me comfortable.

Posted:  10 years, 1 month ago

View Topic:

Update On My Training

Hey Hamr... Something I found indispensable while training and also now that I'm solo is a pair of ear plugs. Reach over your head and tug the top of your left ear with your right hand, this will open the ear canal, and allow them to seat against the ear drum. You'll go out like a light. If you're still having trouble, name an animal for every letter of the alphabet while you're laying there. You know, A=Ardvark, B=Bison, and so on. I've never made it to Z, but I always make it to ZZZZZ, lol.

Posted:  10 years, 1 month ago

View Topic:

Scaling A Loaded Trailer

How much weight do I allow for #1- Each hole on my trailer #2-Each "hole" on my fifth wheel

Not only do I want to get the load legal on all axles, but I want to balance it as close to perfect as I can for fuel mileage purposes.

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

ORIGINAL BOTTLES OR NO?

I put 'em back in their bottles and Ill carry them with me, screw it. No sense in taking a chance on meeting Barney Fife out there. My toiletry bag looks like its about to explode, but I can rearrange stuff once I get to the truck, lol.

As always, thanks Gents!

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

ORIGINAL BOTTLES OR NO?

Thanks Brett. I don't have any prescription type stuff. I'm healthy as a horse. I just don't want to lug 200 vitamins, 100 Zantac and 200 Acetaminophen tablets with me on a trainer truck, lol. Once I get my own unit they'll all go back into their original bottles. Since Ive been out of work so long, Im trying to save every dime I can, so I opted to take some of what is here at the house as opposed to buying all new stuff. I cant imagine a cop would actually want to haul me into court after telling him what I was carrying, only to discover I was telling the truth.

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

ORIGINAL BOTTLES OR NO?

Quick question. Can I consolidate vitamins, aspirins, and allergy medicines, legally, all into one bottle on my truck? Separate bottles take up too much space. Its pretty important, I go to orientation on Saturday, 6/12/2014

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

Kenny Adams Trucking is closing its doors

There's probably gonna be guys who need rides home...this can't be good.

Kenny Adams Trucking closes doors, instructs drivers to return trucks By Clarissa Hawes, Land Line staff writer

Approximately 65 drivers for Kenny Adams Trucking have been instructed to deliver their loads and return their trucks to the company’s headquarters in Wynne, Ark.

Claudia Wiles, office manager at Kenny Adams Trucking, confirmed for Land Line on Friday, June 6, that the company is closing its doors. She declined further comment as to why the company was shutting down.

Wiles told Land Line the shutdown process should take approximately two weeks to get all of the trucks returned to the company.

One driver, who had a lease-purchase agreement with Kenny Adams Trucking, said he has already returned the truck, but claims he is out approximately $10,000 in lease payments he made on a Freightliner truck, as well as his escrow money.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website, the company had received a conditional safety rating the past two years.

FMCSA’s SAFER website showed that during the previous 24 months, Kenny Adams Trucking vehicles were subjected to 168 random roadside inspections and placed out-of-service 32 times for a vehicle inspection out-of service percentage of 19 percent. The national average is 20.72 percent.

Drivers were subjected to random roadside inspections 396 times in the past 24 months and were placed out-of-service 37 times for an out-of-service percentage of 9.3 percent. The national average is 5.51 percent.

The company’s CSA scores show Kenny Adams Trucking exceeded the intervention threshold of 65 percent in two BASICS, including 89.7 percent in total unsafe driving violations and 87.3 percent in total hours-of-service compliance violations. Intervention thresholds are the safety rankings at which FMCSA begins enforcement action on motor carriers. Enforcement can be anything from a warning letter to a full-blown on-site compliance review.

Also, while the company states that it replaced its bodily injury and property damage liability coverage on Feb. 16, the FMCSA site shows it was rejected on Feb. 22 because the company never filed proof of the new BIPD policy with the agency. Copyright © OOIDA

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

Running "hard".

rofl-2.gif

Kevins post cracked me up. I know the feeling. You're right Daniel, there are, in fact, plenty of other things to concentrate on. I think with what has been posted I have enough of a handle on it to make a good beginning. Thanks Gents.

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

Running "hard".

Also, how do you get such detailed information just from Google Maps? Are you using Google Earth?

Posted:  10 years, 4 months ago

View Topic:

Running "hard".

Thats quite a bit to digest, but you mention the rolling 70. I assume that means your able to avoid the 34 hour restart somehow. Please explain how that works.

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