Officially 1 Year Now.

Today is officially my 1 year anniversary at Old Dominion, I spent 2 months with West Side Transport and as great as of a company as they are, taking this opportunity at OD was the best life decision I have made in years.

I never thought I would make it past my first week solo, as it was pretty much a disaster. I had to stay in a hotel on my first day, a run I now do in 11-12 hours. Second day I screwed on the company directions and took the longer harder route to the next terminal and since I had no cell service in rural WI once I got some I had 3 messages from the dispatcher at my destination asking me if everything was alright and why was I taking the scenic route. The rest of the week wasnt much better either.

I had 2 no contact accidents 1 day apart in December, first one I forgot to roll down legs and pulled out from under the trailer letting it slam down, luckily there was no damage. The next day I was in a rush to go home and was worried about the legs do I made sure to roll them down buuut I forgot to take airlines off rear trailer and pulled them off of the dolly. Since then I have been accident free and have been ranked near the top for fuel mileage and have even received a commendation for fuel mileage, and this was from a guy who was terrified to drive a stick and thought he was the worst shifter in history.

I will have to see for certain but after my 1 year raise kicks in today I should be at or over 60 cpm , and so far have been averaging 2,000 plus miles a week on the extra board. As long as OD will keep me I don't see myself leaving and only have 30 years left to retirement.

So moral of this long post for the new guys is to stick it out, there will be a lot of ups and downs. Don't make a couple bad days frustrate you into giving up.

Congratulations Bob! The one-year mark is a huge step, and one to be proud of.

Congratulations