Profile For Noob_Driver

In no particular order:

Iowa 80 in Walcott, IA

Petro in Laramie, WY

TA in Amarillo, TX (walking distance to Big Texan and always parking)

Ohio turnpike rest stops (huge parking lots)

Loves in Moses Lakes, WA

Bosselmans on i80, NE

Petro in Fargo, ND

Loves in Monroe, LA (close to Americold in Delhi)

The Casino (can't remember name) in Albuquerque, NM

Space Age (I think thats what its called) near the 82/84 turnoff in Oregon

Sinclair in Baker City, OR

And a hidden gem. MR.GAS on the 84 just east of Boise, ID.

Quick Trips in general in Wisconsin. Some of them have truck parking and the stores are great.

Petro in Rochelle, IL

There are also a number of DCs that have great overnight parking amenities. There is one in Irving, TX (I want to say XPO) that has showers and great overnight parking

Never been to the Boise stagecoach, but I hear great things. I live in Caldwell, ID so it is counter intuitive for me to shut down there.

I love all the kwik trips, and as far as the Rochelle petro goes I'm a fan too but that new pilot on the other side of the interstate has the biggest showers I've seen. I'm 6'7" and could lay down in there and make snow angels if I wanted too.

And a correction for your Chicagoland misunderstanding.

Not sure about you bird, but as a lifelong Southside, south suburb and resident of Thornton and calumet townships I'm happy to correct you and direct you to the website for riverdale illinois villageofriverdale.net.

They also send their high school students to Thornridge highschool in neighboring dolton il which is part of district 215 which also encompasses Thornwood high school. Oddly enough Thornwood high school backs right up to the northbound side of 294 right at the lincoln oasis you fuel at. And just so happens to be my alma mater. Lol

On a nosier note for packrat, is that a jr shugel drop lot? Could you park a personal vehicle there while on the road or your truck for hometime?

The city of Chicago, not counting the Chicagoland area is made up of 77 community areas as it is called. Riverdale is one of them. Just like englewood, back of the yards, Lincoln park etc.

I'm parked in Riverdale, IL for the night. Another sketchy looking neighborhood.

Yeah Riverdale is sketch. I’m at the oasis off of 294 in South Holland at the moment getting fuel. Heading out to Fort Wayne area again for a reefer this time.

Riverdale . . . isn't that a TV show ?!?!?

Anne

Not to nitpick, riverdale is a very small chicago neighborhood it is also bordered by a village....... named riverdale. Very dumb but also very Chicagoland, lol.

Also bad decisions all around boys, I'm gonna assume packrat stayed at the loves on 94 which is awful, and who fuels at 294 service plazas??????

We also have a secure gated drop lot just south of joliet in elwood where we rent spaces, we cant park there though. I believe it's a Georgia Pacific facility. Since the merge the extra parking has been a godsend though. Atlanta especially, theres three big terminals there. Cartersville north of the city on 75, atlanta off of 285 right where 20 meets, and smith has one on the southeast side.

The only changes with Heartland is more places to park around the country. They will be helping us update our trailer fleet. We are treated real well. Safety comes before on time.

I had a face to face talk with my fleet manager and he said the office was looking forward to the Heartland deal. I was in Joplin and at the town hall with the President of Heartland. He had great things to say. Millis Transfer was bought by Heartland a few years ago and they have not had any major changes.

Come join the family.

I'm confused on the Heartland thing. What exactly did they purchase? I read somewhere they didnt get dedicated or refrigerated. Also do you guys have a drop yard in chicago? Curious if I might be able to park there for hometime. I havent seen any CFI at any of our millis or heartland terminals yet, but I know some of our guys have parked at your w memphis terminal.

Michael is home on his break, leaving early tomorrow morning, but he shared a story I hadn't heard before that I found interesting.

He said that when his last team driver (I'll call him "Roger") at CR England was in training he was being trained by "Alice" and another trainee "Jose" was with them. Roger was driving and stopped at a truck stop and Jose moved to the top bunk to sleep and after a while Roger and Alice went in the truck stop to grab something quick and then came back to the truck and drove off. They got down the road a ways before they got an angry phone call from Jose cussing them out for leaving him behind at the truck stop. They had assumed he was still sleeping in the top bunk and laughed at themselves as they drove back to get Jose.

Anybody hear of someone accidentally being left behind?

By the way, it is against CR England policy for someone to sleep in the top bunk while the truck is in motion.

I know a member here who for millis who might have left a student at a loves in Blythesville Ark.

PLEASE, DO tell! If it wasn't you, it's either Pothole Petey, or .. omigosh.. PACKRAT?!?

Inquiring minds, wanna know!

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: They've been advertising some interesting stuff lately, we may look into, re: Tom's Job elim.

pps: Odds on Pack ~ !

I can confirm it's not packrat. That I know of but I'm 99% he never did that. But I am 100% sure someone else did. Lol

Lookin at millis? Day cab stuff outta trenton? Or for heartland, they got day Cabs out of columbus. I'm sure millis might too, the day cab side of the company is a mystery to us all what those dark siders do.

Michael is home on his break, leaving early tomorrow morning, but he shared a story I hadn't heard before that I found interesting.

He said that when his last team driver (I'll call him "Roger") at CR England was in training he was being trained by "Alice" and another trainee "Jose" was with them. Roger was driving and stopped at a truck stop and Jose moved to the top bunk to sleep and after a while Roger and Alice went in the truck stop to grab something quick and then came back to the truck and drove off. They got down the road a ways before they got an angry phone call from Jose cussing them out for leaving him behind at the truck stop. They had assumed he was still sleeping in the top bunk and laughed at themselves as they drove back to get Jose.

Anybody hear of someone accidentally being left behind?

By the way, it is against CR England policy for someone to sleep in the top bunk while the truck is in motion.

I know a member here who for millis who might have left a student at a loves in Blythesville Ark.

Currently I'm working on a mirror for backing assistance.

Before that, it was a mirrors setup so that I could lay in my bunk and view the "Red/Green" dock lights without needing to get up every 10 minutes to look.

Please keep us updated. When I dont feel a forklift every few minutes I start to get antsy.

I feel bad not giving a real answer other than practice makes perfect and repetition will get you there but it's so true. As far as setups go I think most new people look for the perfect setup whether it's tandems or when to cut, how hard to cut, how long to cut because that's how schools teach it for their course. I think new drivers myself included hung on to that for too long and now I either do it unconsciously or I adjust on the fly due to conditions in the truck stop or at the dock. I used to prefer tandems forward because I could swing the tail faster but now I prefer right at that 41 mark for my backs. I got a buddy who did spotting at a brewery for 6 months and prefers tandems all the way back (complete Insanity to me). Everbody ends up with a different comfort zone you just gotta find yours

If your starting at 3 am you should find some pretty empty lots unless your running out your 11 every day. Where do you run maybe some folks here could give some advice on teuck stops that dont fill up fast so you can get some practice in.

I'm not allowed to park at home either but I'm one of the few who cant here at Millis. I do live on the south side of chicago between chicago and gary indiana so I get it. I have to drive all the way to the North side of Milwaukee to my terminal. But with Smith Transport joining the family I might be able to park at their Remington Indiana warehouse/terminal. The only downside is having to get my services done while on the road as opposed to hometime like I'm doing now.

I do the OD creep all the time, but only in our yard, drop lot or at Consigness. But, when I do, I make sure I am out of the way of others with plenty of space for them to go around. Saves big time on having to burn my drive time and getting my 30 min DOT break before that 8 hour drive time is gone. Keeps me moving in the day cab world.

A yard move wont screw up your 30. It counts as on duty fueling would. I do it during a 2hr or 3hr break so I can pause my 14 if I need to when moving off a dock.

Interesting. I've always wondered about what motivates one carrier to sell out to another. I believe it's either a mutually beneficial merger or one company trying to keep from going bankrupt. Any other reasons?

I cant speak for Smith selling to heartland or cfi (although I do believe that was strictly buisness from what I've read so far.) Millis sold for personal reasons unfortunately. The founder left the company to his sons and family who have ran it for years successfully and really grew it well. But they're getting older and want to retire and noone in the next generation had any interest in running it. There was no significant financial burdens looming that meant bankruptcy we have established contract freight with beer, white claw and carpeting and flooring to keep us afloat on fluctuating spot markets. The board members just didnt want to run it when the CEO and president retired so they took the cash.

We just got a message on this.

We were just told that Heartland is buying us if approved by the SEC. We will still be CFI and still have red trucks. That's all I know for now.

At over $6 per gallon… I think most companies need to revisit this. 🤔

Our company’s policy is not to avoid tolls, time saving makes up for cost

Agreed. The only tolls we cant run are the PA turnpike and the NY thruway east of albany. They would prefer us not to run them but I havent heard a peep in 3+ years. We run alot of beer from elkton VA up into ohio and routinely end up goin 70 miles out of the way to avoid tolls on the turnpike up big hills and back roads at 78klbs. I cant see the toll costs outweighing these diesel prices.

First time I've seen this. This is a Swift company driver pulling a set of "Turnpike Doubles"--two, 53' trailers pulled as a set. This is at Post Foods in Tremonton, Utah.

Does it take a driver with special skills to drive this combo? Or someone crazy?

I would argue that all double and triple drivers have a screw loose. How much crazy varies by driver but I'm convinced all of em eat coco puffs at least once a week, lol.

Anyone know of any electric trucking companies hiring in Columbus,OH?

FAB Express is hiring in that area, but they are all diesel, Mack Pinnacles. Some auto's, some manuals. Might still be a few Int'l's in their fleet in that area; not sure.

~ Anne ~

Aren't they based out of chicago? I swear I see their trucks around home. Is it all day can home daily stuff?

If your manager is willing to ask if they’ve done anything wrong, at least it’s a start.

The cynical side of me might respond; would it matter if I told you? 😆

Just an FYI if you do start looking be careful filling out any forms online where you give out your email or phone number. These recruiters out here are savages and will not leave you alone. I filled out a form that I thought would be different because it was very detailed and I thought it was narrowing my search down to my specific preferences but nope. I hit submit and had 15 automated emails from different companies within seconds half of which were refer, tanker and flatbed which I didnt ask for. Some even contacted my company.

Got that from my dispatcher..... that was awkward.

We did have a good conversation because of it so it turned out well. I wasnt very serious about leaving just seeing what was out there and filled out the wrong form online.

Just an FYI if you do start looking be careful filling out any forms online where you give out your email or phone number. These recruiters out here are savages and will not leave you alone. I filled out a form that I thought would be different because it was very detailed and I thought it was narrowing my search down to my specific preferences but nope. I hit submit and had 15 automated emails from different companies within seconds half of which were refer, tanker and flatbed which I didnt ask for. Some even contacted my company.

Got that from my dispatcher..... that was awkward.

Nothing major has changed. Pay went up slightly, they did scale back our trucks a bit by removing top bunks and tables. The biggest change was our shops cutting hours, that's the only thing that has been frustrating. My miles havent gone down at all and I have a bunch more terminals I have guaranteed parking at. Plus they've rebuilt our alvarado tx terminal, are rebuilding Cartersville GA as we speak and next up is Richfield WI when that's done.