Profile For Susan D.

Okay lol. Different Jamie, was just wondering.

Oh and Jaime.. are you male or female and does your last name happen to begin with a "B"? I might know you or your parents lol.

Lol I was actually born in West Memphis. I have 3 nieces, a nephew, their kids and spouses, a sister in law (widowed) still living there and in Marion. One neice is a civil engineer, another works at FedEx and her husband is a West Memphis police officer. A highschool classmate/friend is a judge, several old classmates working for the Crittenden County sheriffs department. Born there, moved to IL at 3 years old, returned at 17 and back to IL 12 years later. Now residing part time in Kentucky and part time in Tennessee about 100 miles east of Memphis.

It's a small world.

I'm glad to see you back. Yeah the words rookie and dollar account are enough to bring cold sweats to many drivers. Ugghh. Anyone doing that has my sympathy lol.

Me personally? I'd be grateful I wasn't pulling a food grade tanker. You must be a glutton for punishment lol. Anyway, I'm glad to see you back and don't sweat the winter driving. Just take it nice and easy and park when roads get very bad til the highway department has them treated and cleared better..

Amen Gladhand! A load is a load is a load and is miles that you get paid forr, so I can't understand how the OP says he can't make money with shorter runs.

So you're saying you DON'T have your CDL? Did you leave pretty much as soon as you arrived at CRST, read their contract and went home on your own dime? Or did you sign that contract, then quit? Or did you sign contract and get sent home/fired? The answer is those questions will make a huge difference in offering advice.

If you're under contract with them you need to do whatever you have to do to get back in their good graces and go back and honor that contract.

If you are NOT under contract to CRST, simply apply to other company sponsored training programss. You will be obligated to sign a contract with ANY of them, so be prepared and willing to commit to the company you end up with. They're investing a lot of time and money in you and they have every right to expect you to stick around, be a safe and reliable driver so they can recover their investment.

I drive for West Side Transport out of Cedar Rapids Iowa and honestly I have to laugh at this. Why? Because West Side primarily focuses on short haul Midwest Regional. My company's average length of haul is only 300 miles.

Do I get longer runs? Absolutely, but I get my share of short runs too. At my company, loads shorter than 200 miles pay a heck of a lot more cpm. I've done up to 3 deliveries and pickups in a single drive shift. Those short hops will work your @$$ off and you sure can't waste time, but excellent money so I'll gladly take those loads any time.

Driving for a short haul regional company, I logged over 158,000 miles my ROOKIE year. It's only gone up.

If your company keeps you pre-planned well and keeps you moving I promise you'll make good money doing short haul. Don't dawdle aroun and waste time, get in grab your load, get out as quickly as possible, deliver early, run off to ggrabyour next load, rinse and repeat. Do I like the longer runs, sure.. it's less work lol, but iin reality, I can make more doing 2-3 shorter loads a day totalling anywhere from 500-650 miles a day.

To Cold War Surplus:. That really sounds awful. My company has no intention of allowing us to sit or have "camper loads". I really can't imagine that, but this company is all I know. I came here straight out of CDL school, went through our company training program and have been here ever since. We're expected to run our trucks and manage our clock reasonably efficient from day one AND run our clocks out. That's part of my job as a trainer, to make sure new drivers can run that truck when I bring them in to test for upgrade to solo.

It was common (and expected) to burn through your 70 hour clock in 5 or maybe 6 days. As an inexperienced rookie let me tell you it was hard. I'd be so exhausted at the end of my shift I'd be too tired to eat or shower. I'd crash, wake up about 2 hours before my 10 was up, get something to eat and a shower, and do it again. I'd often get home can at the end of the week with less than 10 minutes on my 70 hour clock.

Eventually I got used to it and had more time for fun and relaxation.

I agree with Brett and Big T. $105 a day? I'd laugh in their faces. As a brand new rookie fresh out of CDL school, where the ink on my license wasn't even dry I could turn 500 miles a day. These days I can turn 690-700ish a dayy consistently (as long as I'm not stuck playing in Chicago traffic half a day lol).

I am so proud of you Million Miler. I do indeed remember your ordeal in trying to help the 2 roommates and what a predicament it put your whole life in.

You worked your way out of an abyss and you're an inspiration. You show that it is possible to get second chances and be a successful top tier driver. One of these days when you're in Cedar Rapids, I'd really like to meet up with you.

I have a 2016 Cascadia Evolution. My tanks are roughly 150 gal (75 gal each) and I average about 11-12 mpg empty and 7.5 to 8ish under a heavy load, but mines not an Autoshift, it's a 10 speed manual.

Lol the inverter on my APU is a whopping 750 watts.. mabe 800. I'm betting schneiders is bigger. My microwave really pushes it since it's 700 watts. I only plug it in when I use it and unplug immediately after. If anything else is plugged in along with the microwave, it'll throw a circuit breaker. They were supposed to be 1800 watts lol.. oops, someone f'd up the truck order in 2015. No matter, my new truck will arrive within the next month and will be fully loaded with built-in appliances.

I highly recommend the Tappan Zee personally.

I use a Dometic personal size portable freezer for my perishable food storage needs. I managed to snag mine on sale about 18? Months ago and absolutely love it. They're not cheap, but worth every penny. I can run this on fridge mode OR freezer mode (not both at same time). Mine runs on 12 volt, uses very little power, and is very very quiet. If I'm opting for lots of fresh fruits and salads, sliced deli meats and cheeses, fridge mode is great. When I am stocking shrimp, fish, various meats, frozen veggies, I set it to freezer mode. It will freeze completely thawed items solid in about 45 mins. Yes, I could keep ice cream if I wanted. They run between $550-600 but are built to withstand the vibration and abuse of travel. Mine is the personal size (18 liter capacity) and one of dometics smaller units. It weighs 26 lbs empty lol. .I have an Aroma 3 in 1 cooker (steamer/Crock-Pot/pressure cooker), a small household electric contact grill, a microwave, and a portable propane grill i keep in my side box. I can cook virtually anything in my truck.

What would be the purpose of having double flatbeds? It's a flatbed. Of course they have multistop (LTL anyone?) loads just like any other type of trailer.

Fortunately I've never had either problem but with my background in healthcare, I'd say it would certainly be possible.

If you're having a lot of problems with reflux, in the time being, it might be helpful to eat smaller meals, but more often, to keep from getting overly full.

I'm glad you're doing well. You've now experienced it first hand and sure you realize that local driving jobs are a beast. That 16 hour rule is a killer and quality time at home virtually non-existent lol.

There is no way I'd ever consider personally going local but I have to admire your willingness to try just about anything and share your experiences with us. It's a crazy lifestyle we lead that many people cannot or will not ever understand, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Awesome view and photos.

This forum is geared towards helping new company drivers make it through their rookie year. I don't think you'll find that kind of information on here. Sorry.

Absolutely no way would any company, or trainer allow you to do this. I suggest you either find someone to keep your dog for longer than company training, board your pet at a kennel or I even hate to suggest this.. re-home your pet. And BTW, CDL school is certainly not thorough.