Comments By Last Shadow

Sorry for your loss brother, my prayers are with and for your family.

Aaron, welcome brother, I know that for most of us making the decision to go OTR is not easy, when you have to leave family for weeks at a time, however I have 4 kids and been married for 21 years I'm 42, and as supportive as my wife and kids are 2 are in the university, the younger 2, 10 and 12 years old, it gets tough at times but to me it's worth it, I did 12 years in the Army and I would like to say that you get use to it, some drivers say they do, but I'm not there and I don't think I will, but I've been driving for 11 month now and let me tell you, knowing that I'm supporting my family is what keeps me going, plus I love my rig and the open road, I do 3 to 4 weeks out and it's working for me, hopefully it will work for you as well,, Roelh is a good company or so I hear, you definitely got the right attitude, so now its all about determination, personal goals, and sacrifice, good luck brother, a prayer for direction it's due as well.

Kat, I'm going to take a page off your book, I was just assigned a new DM, and things are not going as good, I will wait and see how these week works out and than use my smooth talk.

Last week, my FM went on vacation. He was out Friday a week ago until today. Our payday cut off is Tuesday. Anyhow, right after he left, I started getting awful loads...short miles, way too much time on them, plus lag time between loads. Had 3 of those back to back before I pleaded with dispatch to have pity on me, explaining nicely that I just finished the week with a whopping 1300 miles. I don't know if it was my approach or just nobody noticing what a serious run of awful I had gotten, but things sure turned around. I am finishing this pay week having run just over 4000 miles. Barely had time to sleep, shower and eat, but man it's been fun! Absolutely everything was on point. I had committed loads pre planned before I even reached the 90 for every single load and was able to manage my clock so that everything clicked into place. Was very glad that my guy was back at the helm today and let him know I would like more weeks like this one. LOL

I took my Army issue duffel, it was all I needed plus my back pack to carried shower items, DONT forget your shower shoes.

How long should i get a duffel if i am to do company training in someone else's truck, over the road. I am going to training in missoula, mt for jim palmer in about a month. I have read and obtained most of the stuff on the list off the site, i just need to know how big my bag should be. I am looking at a 26" duffel currently.

Well I pull a reefer never had to wait more than 4 hrs max out of Laredo, don't loose your cool brother weekends are slow for most, here is what I do, Thursday or Friday I communicate with my regular DM to set me up for success with a good long weekend load, it works most of the time, good luck.

What's everyone's experience with getting freight out of Laredo? When I was given my load to Laredo, I was good with it because I had heard from other drivers that it was a good freight area. I didn't expect to have to wait for a load. I dropped my load at one of the many transfer facilities here, and bobtailed up to the truck stops hoping to get a load assignment shortly.

That was over 24 hours ago.

I've been sitting at the TA here on 35 since 11 am local time yesterday. I've been in contact with my fill-in DM and the after hours and weekend crew. I was told once that "they're working on it" meaning the planner. I was told later that they were waiting on loads to come across the border. I asked if I should bobtail across to our terminal to get an empty trailer or if there was anything in the yard there to get me rolling and was told to "sit tight".

Now I've been very patient and understanding, very polite in my qc messages, but I'm starting to get a little agitated.

Is there something going on at the border that I don't know about? I've watched what seems like thousands of trucks come and go here just this morning and keep wondering what I'm missing. Did I get fed a load of crap when I was told this is a good freight area? It seems to me like it would be but this is the first time I've ever been to Laredo.

I made it clear in my last qc message that I'm not trying to be a pain but I'm getting antsy. Layover pay is not what I'm after. I want wheels rolling!

I smell a challenge-- challenge excepted, no not really, man I probably would taken an hour or more to get the trailer in.

I delivered at Desoto Janitorial Supply on the south side of Dallas, TX.

The street on the right side of the pic is a one way street with the flow of traffic heading towards the bottom of the screen. The side street on the bottom left of the pic is a 2 way street.

The dock is on the right side of the bldg (front) near the bottom (side) of the bldg. btw, there is a 'telephone' pole at the corner of the parking lot and is in line with the right side of the dock.

That is so funny it makes sense.

people who aren't apnic to the degree that might require a CPAP are still at risk to fail these sleep studies because a lot of healthy people are apnic when asked to sleep on their backs

You know, I was just thinking about that myself. I don't think anyone snores when they're laying on their side or stomach, do they? It seems it's most prevalent when you're on your back. So instead of a CPAP machine we'll have to outfit people with a round cone on their back so they keep rolling over onto their side.

Good job brother, keep it rolling.

I'm home for a couple of days. When I go back out, Monday, it will be the first day of my second year being solo with Millis.

During my first year, according to my pay stubs, I was paid for 127,028 miles. Because we are paid based on practical miles, I likely actually drove a few more or less than that number.

During the year, I took off two full weeks (paid vacation, I get 3 weeks) and took 3-5 days of home time every 3-5 weeks.

To those of you concerned with how many miles you will get... if I can do it, you can do it. Just work hard/smart for your dispatch, don't whine/complain and keep your left door closed.

Question, so you lose miles by going regional?

Split the difference? Regional home every week? Better than being a mailman (my opinion) But it does become a bit routine. I mostly run IL to MN, but get the odd TN, NE, PA thrown in the mix. COM is much better, but my average run is only about 500mi.

No, not bi-weekly, im OTR with a year under my belt now.

Shadow, are you on a bi-weekly fleet? I thought your cpm was a bit low for Shaffer. I do know they pay less for other options besides the national fleet.