Profile For IDMtnGal

The comments will tell you why this Black Smoke Matters group will not succeed. There is still name calling (steering wheel holder, etc), putting down drivers at Swift, JB Hunt, etc even though they want to help. It's actually a few old timers that want the old ways to come back and not realize that all professions change.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1730503873636664/permalink/2201949493158764/

I get text messages from WYODOT for I-80 and US 30. These came a bit ago, but have been going on for hours....the 8 to 10 hours keep getting pushed out:

I80: Exit 187, Creston Jct - Rawlins: Closed BOTH DIR due to local authority request. As of Jan 22 at 01:52, the est open time is in 8 to 10 hours. Exit 111, Airport and Baxter Roads closed by local authority request

US30: I-80 Exit 187, Creston Jct - Rawlins: Closed BOTH DIR due to local authority request. Rawlins - I-80 Exit 235, Walcott Jct: Closed WB due to local authority request

I80: Evanston - Exit 30, Bigelow Rd and Exit 83, La Barge Rd - Exit 111, Airport and Baxter Roads: Closed EB due to local authority request. As of Jan 22 at 01:53 the best open time is in 8 to 10 hours.

I got my chauffeur license in 1988 when I got out of the Air Force at 36. I drove 3.5 yrs, getting off the road cause the husband hated driving. He wanted to be a cowboy (ranch hand). Six yrs after getting married, he had 2 Traumatic Brain injuries about 45 hrs apart. For the next 18 yrs I took care of him. Having burnt out in 2012 taking care of him, I learned that I would need help which I did get it by people coming in and helping me or he went to the nursing home for daycare.

In 2014 I realized I was burning out again and it was becoming too much to deal with his dementia which had been progressing and he had to be placed in a home. So I looked for work that I could do in Twin Falls, Idaho. Being that Idaho is a right to work state, wages are not very high unless you are technically skilled in something. Couldn't find anything that paid worth diddley and was complaining to a brother. He got his CDL at 62. He suggested that I get my CDL. I told him the driving part wouldn't be hard, but I sure couldn't lump a load anymore. He just laughed and told me that docks loaded/unloaded or hired lumpers. So, the first week of school, I turned 63 and got my CDL. The husband was placed in a nursing home and 8 days later, on Labor Day weekend, he fell, breaking his hip and hitting his head. The hip surgery went very well but no one thought to check his head. Apparently he was bleeding into his brain. When he was given a unit of blood, that caused the vein to pop, and that did him in on top of the pneumonia he developed. A company with 4 trucks had hired my brother and I, but sent my brother out while I took care of the funeral and paperwork, etc. I started driving 3 weeks later.

At that time people thought I was in my late 60s :-( Caregiving is not for the faint of heart! Now people think I'm in my 50s :-D I will be 67 the end of July. I am running a dedicated route from KS, CO or OK picking up fresh beef or pork that I run to the port in Oakland CA. Then I get a back haul to Salt Lake City or the Denver area. I'm running 3000to 3200 miles every 7 days. I go home every 4 to 5 weeks. Do I get tired. Yeah about 4weeks out and I'm ready to go home. But need Memorial weekend off so I can take my bucks (male goats) to a big goat show in Boise :-) then I will stay out just 4 weeks.

My last company I drove for (got their doors shut by DOT) had a really bad score. I got pulled in 5 times in 4 weeks after one of our drivers was involved in a wreck that killed the 4-wheeler. My first inspection showed me 15 mins over my 70....math error on my part. The inspector told me about "Recap" an app in google play. After I got that installed, no more math or other errors.

Could it be a state thing? NJ told.me i would have to get the drug test with the DOT....but then i went to Prime and every physical came another drug test.

Because I'm on BP meds, I have to get a physical every year. I have also changed companies a couple times. EVERY time a drug test has been done....which I don't care cause I've never done drugs.

25830 lbs fresh beef in a 40 ft container, from National Beef in Dodge City, KS. 1554 miles to TraPac Port in Oakland, Calif.