My Journey Continues - The Latest Gig

Sounds like a great gig. The equipment is fun, the hours are great and most importantly, you're enjoying it. I hope it continues to go that way.

How will the new job be in the winter?

My first day was January 10th of 2022. Winters in Lower Slower are less severe than the Northeast. So... not bad.

How will the new job be in the winter?

As promised Anne, more detail on PTO, aka power take-off. Literally means it, power is taken from the engine for another purpose such as a hydraulic pump. Ours are high-pressure, air-assisted.

We have various trailers requiring hydraulics; walking floor (for mulch, wood grindings, wood chips, compost and occasionally top soil), 57’ low boy (for moving our toys to and fro job sites) and a 32’ dump trailer (screened top soil, fill and other dense material).

Here are a series of photos in logical order...

PTO power switch and illuminated alert:

Control panel located on the floor, next to drivers side seat:

Hydraulic tank and wet lines (yes PackRat, a “day cab”):

Control levers on trailer, pull left lever to move the floor. Right hand lever controls direction, out and in:

And the contents is pushed out, parking brakes are off allowing the trailer to move away from the pile as the floor pushes out the lading. These are chips, used in making compost. We unload wood on the right, chicken waste is ion the left.

Congratulations on the new job. I don't miss nights, and I only work weekends if I want. Isn't it nice to have a normal life again? Good for you G-Town.

Exactly! Thank you Sir!

Congratulations on the new job. I don't miss nights, and I only work weekends if I want. Isn't it nice to have a normal life again? Good for you G-Town.

Hey G-Town,

Congrats on the new gig, man! That's awesome! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

humbly admit that driving from 17:00 to 04:00 every day wasn’t my cup of tea

I had a night gig one time for about a year if I remember correctly. I hated it. Not only was it a night gig, but it was local driving, and I had a 45-minute commute each way in addition to the long day.

I never got used to driving at night. I always felt like I was living this parallel life with the rest of the world, always out of sync with everything. I've always gotten up real early and do to this day, normally between 3:00 - 4:30. But driving from late evening until early morning was terrible. I'll never take a job like that again.

One of the great things about trucking is there about a thousand different options to chose from.

Exactly! There's something for everyone. For the new drivers coming into the industry, once you get a year or two of experience, you'll find the right job for you if you're not there already.

Brett wrote:

I had a night gig one time for about a year if I remember correctly. I hated it. Not only was it a night gig, but it was local driving, and I had a 45-minute commute each way in addition to the long day.

Thank you Brett!

Above is painfully familiar. Almost identical situations. I didn’t realize how much sleep debt I had until I stopped driving overnight.

Number one lesson...recognize limitations that cannot be overcome and make adjustments. I knew after 4 weeks I was not going to make it work long term.

Much happier and better rested now. Getting paid well to have fun and weekends off. Blessed.

This makes me truly happy. Those walking floor trailers are a lot of fun to use and operating equipment is an absolute blast. So glad to see you’re having fun and comfortable.

Thank you so much Robert. I truly am having a blast.

Ran a permit (weight and width) load late last week...I’ll post shortly.

Thanks again.

This makes me truly happy. Those walking floor trailers are a lot of fun to use and operating equipment is an absolute blast. So glad to see you’re having fun and comfortable.