Comments By Jakester

Dad in scohfield Barracks December 7 08:20 showering when His world changed

I'm bumping this thread back up to the top for Navypoppop's sake. I've been poking all around our site lately. There are so many pages here that we forget about some of the great stuff buried in here. Now, I've been hanging around here for a long time, and only a handful of you have been here long enough to remember our crusty old friend "Pappy." He was a unique individual and had a great sense of humor. He's gone now, but he's left a few great memories here. One of them is an article he wrote about his Paw Paw's experience at the Pearl Harbor attack.

Here is a link to it. I hope you'll read it. There's some great history in it and it's well done.

Paw Paw's Don't Need Medals

Hey rob, how goes everything? I personally would call line haul and ya I don’t think so

Shut down last night in Rawlings, was gusting pretty damn bad, nothing in that box in worth your life, it’s our responsibility to make the call and do what’s best, Last 3 trips has been the same, running Chicago to Portland turnarounds and 80 in wyoming is always crapshoot, anything over 40 I will not do elk, not worth it, get the 511 app and listen to the notifications, wdot puts up any news, trust it completely, they know what there talking about, well 640 today and finally in Omaha going to bed, be safe all....

Been awhile since I posted here, been doing allot of covid loads from New York to California and back. And holy moley I never knew how windy it could get out west! On I-80 in Wyoming there was a “extreme rollover risk” advisory and 75mph wind gusts. I ended up getting caught in it and I never had a scarier moment trucking so far. I drove in it a bit driving pretty slow with my hazards on. I don’t get how some of these truckers are just flying down the road doing 70 mph in such wind. I passed 3 other semis that were rolled over in a ditch and then I just parked it on a off ramp for it to calm down. Definitely the most stressful day of driving I think I’ve ever had.

This is a great thread, keep em coming, good reading, all be safe out there, over and out

Anne A, ive been running so hard the last 2 months I just try to sleep, still with FFE and decided to just use common sense VRS carrying out here, I will be honest, this job is hard enough and I don’t understand how and company or anyone for that matter can tell a law abiding citizen that they can’t have the privilege to defend themselves if need be, and please I don’t need here about hammers and bug spray, the 2nd amendment has no articles saying truckers can’t live in peace, anyhow, I hope your all doing well and yes it’s been a while, I live live this job and thank TT for just about everything getting me going, I’m good at this job, I just miss my kids a lot and doing some hard thinking if it’s worth it or not, take care everyone and stay strong.

Nothing to give, turtle was straight on, good luck

The truth is Kj you can be whatever you want to be. But you have to be absolutely ready to commit to at least a year with whatever company hires you. Your record isn't all that bad. People with far worse backgrounds get hired every day.

Work hard. Show them what you've got. You can do it if you want it. Good luck!

I know this is an old topic, like to know if you all still feel the same? This is a job and I’m leaning to do it better every day, won’t just leave my life to a company policy, got 4 littleones and a whole bunch of bills to be paid,!i do the rite thing work hard run hard, i in this **** going on would be a fool not to be be packing, not gonna be a victim and don’t really care about any damn law

Thanks guys, I M just tired that’s all, nice to have y’all to vent with , love y’all

I got that man, just trying to do the rite thing, loyalty is everything to me, this site, this job, I’m all in.

but to get back to getting there trust and all that, I don’t think they I exists, I’m just a damn truck number rite, everything is qualcom , **** this communication you speak of doesn’t really make any sense to me, I’m a social person, I would love to actually talk and get to know people I work with, not in trucking I guess

Jakester, first of all keep your cool. Don't get yourself riled up and start making wild assumptions.

When someone is new it's always frustrating. People who are highly successful will give new folks advice, and when they can't seem to make it happen right away they decide it must not be possible or someone must be lying to them. Don't make that mistake. You'll create misery for yourself and cost yourself a lot of money.

Old School has plenty of years as a top tier driver. He consistently gets top miles and makes top pay every single year. The information he's giving you is gold. He told you that having a great attitude and communication are keys to success and you start cussing and saying it doesn't make any sense. If you follow the advice of anyone who has been highly successful in life they will not tell you to start cussing and denying the advice of the people who have been there.

One of our moderators, Trucking With Kearsey (formerly known as Rainy) has fantastic relationships with the people she works with at Prime. She is very well-known there because she has always been a top performer and goes out of her way to get to know everyone. She makes that a priority in her life. Make it a priority in your life to get to know the people you work with and you'll find a way to make it happen.

The other type of communication that's critical is with regard to your availability. Keep dispatch updated continuously with everything that's going on. The more accurately you can give them information about when you'll be available for your next load, the better. Being on time or early for every single appointment goes hand in hand with communication. If they know that giving you an assignment is like money in the bank because you're always on time or early, they'll be far more comfortable planning ahead. Planning ahead, or pre-plans, are the key to turning big miles without staying out long. If they can keep you rolling, which they can and they will if they trust you, you'll turn big miles and get home more often.

I worked a regional fleet with U.S. Express and I was home every weekend for an average of about 36 - 48 hours. I would get home either Friday or Saturday, and leave out Sunday or Monday. I averaged 3,000 miles per week. They knew I was as reliable as any human being can be. If you give me an assignment, you can take that check to the bank. So they always had me pre-planned on loads, oftentimes several loads in advance.

It was not uncommon to get my entire week's plan on Monday morning all the way through Friday. Most of my loads were overnight, some were two-day loads. So I would get 3 or 4 loads per week, and sometimes they would stack em up at the start of the week for me. I can promise you less than 5% of OTR drivers get that sort of treatment. You have to be rock-solid, as dependable as the sunrise for a while before that will happen though. At least a few months of perfect on-time or early appointment times.

Spartan, you rock it brother and keep us posted, your gonna do great, enjoy it man, I know the whole training process is different from person to person, to me it was a great experience, after 9 weeks Otr with my trainer I can honestly say it was emotional to leave, became very goo friends, I guess it’s all attitude and you will get out of it what you put into it, good luck brother