Follow the Black Paved Road

Second day on the road with Continental Express. Wasn't able to post yesterday...by the end of the work day I was exhausted. I was up at 6:30 in the morning for the 2nd day of orientation (half day). Got my truck and got my first trip. By the time I was done with my work day it was 4am. So yea...a VERY long day! 

My truck is a beautiful light blue Freightliner Cascadia. Cascadias are my favorite. I like the room in them and how the  shift stick feels. 

They are definitely gonna keep me running. Home most weekends but it's not really the whole weekend. Might get in Saturday morning but then leave Sunday night. That doesn't thrill me much. But it's a job...we'll see how it goes with some time.




Today while driving a two lane road in Indiana I got to see a beautiful large rainbow. The colors were so vivid and bright. The pictures really don't do it justice...they don't capture how bright the colors were. That brought a smile to this ol' broads face. I've always appreciated the glory to be found in rainbows.

 

Well my friends...it's late and I need to hit the sack soon. Have a good night!

A State of Orientation

First day of orientation today. Mostly watching movies, doing paperwork and going over the rules. Since I was the only one in orientation today we got done pretty early. Obviously I passed the driving test because they sent me on for the physical and drug test immediately afterwards. The truck was an automatic. Wow...that was way different. Who'd of thought that there is still a clutch in an automatic. 

Tomorrow I go to learn the Qualcomm and a visit to the maintenance guys so they can show me some things on the inspecting the truck/trailer. Then I'll get assigned my truck and get my first load. I've already let them know that I HAVE to be home Friday night. Saturday morning is my baby girl's high school graduation! I will NOT miss that! 

Off to bed now. Staying in a local motel for the night. Gotta be at the office at 7:45 am.

Free Food for the Kiddo's!

TravelCenters of America Invites Kids to Eat Free All Summer Long at TA and Petro Stopping Centers Full-Service Restaurants!

Fresh and Delicious Meals Served in Clean, Friendly, Convenient Locations Nationwide

WESTLAKE, Ohio, May 20, 2013 - TravelCenters of America (TravelCenters), operator of the TA® and Petro Stopping Centers® travel center brands, invites all kids to eat free for the summer. From May 27 - Sept. 2, 2013, Memorial Day through Labor Day, TA and Petro will give children, age 10 and under, a free meal from the kid's menu, with the purchase of an adult entrée.

Free kids' meals are available at breakfast, lunch or dinner. And, each free meal includes a small beverage. There's a variety of options on the menu to satisfy everyone's taste buds … burgers or spaghetti for the kids, salads for mom, and steaks for dad! Simply drive to your closest participating TA or Petro Stopping Centers sit-down restaurant and enjoy!

In addition to these savings, TA and Petro offer American Automobile Association (AAA) members the opportunity to show their card and save an additional 10% off at participating TA and Petro full-service restaurants. This discount may be combined with the free kid's meal special for amazing savings!

TA and Petro locations are conveniently located off interstate highway exits. TA and Petro restaurants have been recognized by customers for great food, cleanliness and an unmatched level of service. Kids eat free and AAA discounts are available on dine-in purchases only. One free kid's meal per adult entrée will be given.

Where's my Valet?

In recent months there's been an increase in the discussion regarding plentiful, safe truck parking. Yes...I highlighted the word safe for a reason. There's a lot of research and survey's being undertaken right now to try to address this problem. If you're  not a truck driver then you may ask yourself "How can they consider this a problem...I see truck stops every other exit on the highway!" And you're right...in SOME areas there are many, many truck stops to choose from. Generally those the highest travel traffic lanes and with the large amount of trucks passing through there...I can guarantee that sometimes trucks will still have difficulty finding parking. Recently we've even seen truck stops implementing "reserved parking" where you can call ahead and reserve one of several spots designated as reserved parking...for a price of course (so what do you do if you have no money to reserve a spot?). "What about all those rest areas?" Rest areas fill up quickly. There are not a lot of spaces available to start with and it doesn't take long for trucks to fill up the side of the roads leading in and out of the rest area. And sometimes...you even come across a rest area that doesn't allow overnight parking.

So..let's address the term SAFE parking. Truck drivers are limited to no more than 11 hours of driving in a day within a 14 hour window of time. Once they have reached the maximum of one or the other they are required to take a 10 hours break. At this point...you MUST be parked or you'll be breaking the "hours of service" rules. As we are working careers that don't pay unless we are driving (you ain't earning if the wheels ain't turning) we try to run our allowable hours to the maximum. If my hours allow me to run until 10pm but I stop at 7pm that's 3 hours of time I couldn't be earning money but am not. Unfortunately if you don't get into a truck stop or rest area by 7pm at the latest you may not have a space to park in. So where does that leave you? If you still have those 3 hours you can drive further down the road and try to find somewhere else (although it'll still be a stretch after 7pm to find anything). But let's say you're hours end at 7pm. You start searching for a place to park but everywhere you go is filled up. What now? You may have no choice but to park on the side of an on/off ramp, in a store parking lot and as a very last resort...along the side of the highway. These options are NOT safe. A slightly safer choice would be to park at the shipper/receiver's but many of them will not allow overnight parking for trucks.

I myself have had no choice but to park in areas that were not considerably safe. Mall parking lot in Detroit, side of an off-ramp, the side of a highway once. It's dangerous for any trucker, but I worry because as a female trucker it truly makes me a much bigger target than a male trucker. 


A perfect example of the danger's of having to park any place other than areas designed specifically for truck is of the story of Jason Rivenburg. On March 4, 2009 Jason had gotten close to the shipper he was scheduled to pick-up a load from but he was not scheduled for loading until the next morning. He had plenty of time to get there...that was not a problem. Where the problem came is that the shipper did not allow truckers to show up early. So Jason asked some other truckers where would be a good place to park for the night and was told of an abandoned gas station that was supposed to be safe. Jason proceeded to park there but unfortunately it was not a safe place to park after all. Jason was murdered in his truck that night and the assailant got away with $7. That's right...I said seven dollars. You can find stories of many other trucker's who have been robbed and/or assaulted by having to park in non-safe areas to take their rest break.

Jason's widow has initiated a bill called Jason's Law to get our government to address the problem of safe, accessible truck parking. Safe parking is high up on the list of any truck driver's concerns and it has to start being addressed by those in power. Truck driver's are the life blood of the flow of commerce in this country. It's so important that we pay attention to this issue! Show support for Jason's law by doing what you can to help (Jason's Law - How You Can Help). And let you're friends know. We need this support to make life on the road safer!

Riding the Continental Express

This gal is employed again! I'll be attending orientation on the 28th for Continental Express out of Sidney, OH. Now I can't say that running refrigerated again is up there with the thrill of say riding roller coasters (which I absolutely LOVE!), but I can live with it. I'll be driving again is all that matters. They are a small (but not tiny) company with at least 325 trucks. I do like the smaller companies.

I can guarantee I will never make that same mistake while parking again. Now this job will have me home every weekend although I can work the weekend if I want to which I will probably do on the first weekend as the next weekend is my daughter's high school graduation. I could have gone to orientation next Tuesday but my daughter's OPATA graduation is next Wednesday. For the time being, I'll probably try to work every other weekend to help me catch up on some bills.

They require the truck go into the yard every weekend that you are home so I'll have to leave my van parked there when I'm on the road. But the recruiter did say that later after I've basically proven myself they would consider letting me take the truck home. Sidney is about 2 hours away from Mansfield which isn't really a huge deal. My mini-van gets excellent gas mileage (I can go over 500 miles on a tank).

So for the next weekend and a half I'll need to try to get some things around the house taken care of while I have the time on my hands. But I am excited to get back out there again!

Where Art Thou?

So you may be wondering why there's been nothing but silence from me recently. Well that would be because I screwed up again. I've had a bit of a run of bad luck it seems and it followed me into my new job as well. I'm not going to go into full details. It was a stupid move and I paid for it by being terminated because of effect it would have on the safety ratings that FMCSA determines from all accidents and tickets.

Will I get to drive again? I don't know. It could be a long shot. Two accidents so close together could be the death of my driving career. I have applied with a couple of places. Whether I can be hire-able is yet to be seen. If not...then I will definitely miss the road. I'd look for a local job with dump trucks or something...but they want a minimum of 2 yrs OTR experience (which I don't understand why...what does driving semi OTR have to do with hauling rock within the same region of the state?) But anyway..this story will continue once I know what the answer is from the placed I've applied. Or it may end. We shall just have to wait and see.