Profile For FairyTales

Who is your dispatcher? I need him. Mine is well... ugh

Well we encountered our first emergency on the truck yesterday. I've been having some tooth pain for a few days. For the last couple of days it's been getting dramatically worse and my face had started swelling up. While driving yesterday, I was just in tears all day. I started running a fever and it looked like I had been in a boxing match! The entire left side of my face was entirely swollen and I had a black eye. I decided to stop in Effingham IL as I knew there would be other company drivers nearby that could take my load. I called dispatch and they got my load off me within 3 hours. I was given a load that delivers in OKC on the 12th (obviously I can delivery early if I feel up to it).

Hubby called a cab and got me over to the ER. Doc diagnosed me with a severe tooth abcess and drained it. I tell you what, that was some of the worst pain I have ever experienced! But now that it's drained I feel a lot better. Got some antibiotics and the recommendations of a few days rest and to see my dentist ASAP (although I don't know when that will happen).

My face is still somewhat swollen but the nurse said that will go down over the next couple of days. I'm just grateful to have a great dispatcher who dropped everything to get me taken care of as quickly as possible!

Today I'm doing better. The swelling is almost completely gone and the pain is a lot better though not completely gone. But I'm really weak and dizzy today so we have decided to stay put here in Effiingham for another day. The plan is to get up early in the morning, drive to the terminal in Olathe, drop the trailer at the yard and run over to Walmart so I can fill my antibiotics and we can pick up a few things we are needing for the truck then head on down to OKC.

Dispatch has been nothing short of amazing when it came to this. I have a hard time getting messages in and out here. It seems to be a dead zone. But a soon as I called mine and told him what was going on he said he was going to get with the planners immediately to get my load off me. He said to hold tight and he'd get me to the hospital as fast as possible. No negativity, no nothing. And night dispatch was extremely nice when I updated them, telling me they were very glad I was ok and to get some rest and to roll whenever to felt able to.

Like I said. I've read about maximums I want to know about minimums.

Trailer Wheelbase Description of Limitation and Additional Requirements

Alabama 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Arkansas No limits specified Arizona No limits specified California 40' Maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Colorado No limits specified Connecticut 43 maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Delaware No limits specified Florida 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Georgia No limits specified Idaho No limits specified Illinois 42' 6" maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Indiana 43' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Iowa No limits specified Kansas No limits specified Kentucky No limits specified Louisiana No limits specified Maine 43' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Maryland 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Massachusetts No limits specified Michigan 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Minnesota 43 maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer Mississippi No limits specified Missouri No limits specified Montana No limits specified Nebraska No limits specified Nevada No limits specified New Hampshire 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer New Jersey 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer New Mexico No limits specified New York 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer North Carolina 41' maximum distance betweenkingpin and the center of rear axle assembly on trailer State/Province Trailer Wheelbase Description of Limitation and Additional Requirements North Dakota No limits specified Ohio No limits specified Oklahoma No limits specified Oregon No limits specified Pennsylvania 41' maximum distance betweenkingpin and the center of axles on the trailer Rhode Island 41' maximum distance betweenkingpin and the center of axles on the trailer South Carolina 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of axles on the trailer South Dakota No limits specified Tennessee 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of axles on the trailer Texas No limits specified Utah 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of axles on the trailer Vermont 41' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of axles on the trailer Virginia 43' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of axles on the trailer Washington No limits specified West Virginia 37' From tractor rear axle to trailer first axle cannot exceed 37" (max 41" form kingpin to center of trailer axles is OK) Wisconsin 43' maximum distance between kingpin and the center of rear axle on the trailer Wyoming No limits specified

Editor's Note: We have an excellent resource that will help you understand The Bridge Law and Axle To Kingpin Spacing so check that out.

So I've read till my eyes bleed. I still don't get it. It's always about how far back you can go. I wanna know how far forward you can legally go. From what I did get, as long the drive and Tandems are 34k or less you can be as far forward as you want right? Just the max is usually 41 feet? What is the Minimum?

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. I have been reading them, but I've been GO GO GO the last few days. I made a booboo and over slept by 4 HOURS the day I was having tire issues. By the time the tire issue was taken care of, I only had 4 hours left on my 10 and the load had to be picked up by 2:55am, so I passed out and didn't wake up till 630am... oops. I guess I needed the sleep, I was up since 7am that day anyway, and with them working on my truck, I couldn't sleep. I told them I wouldn't get enough sleep, but they said "well, just sleep till 2am and then run the load as far as you can" yup nope, slept till 630 then they made me relay it. haha Oh well, I told them I wouldn't be able to. OF the 6 loads I have had since I started, 4 of them have been relayed, only 1 of them was my fault. So I drove for 6.5 hours straight yesterday to make up time, which I did, now I'm gonna arrive a day early. lol, but it's supposed to be a first come first serve. ugh. Getting back on track!

Right now, I have a full tank of fuel, no trailer. I weighed my steer and I'm right at 11,000

Kind of hard to follow. But fuel is what effects your steer tires the most add fuel add weight. Burn fuel loose weight. So what do your steer tires weight with your fuel load and payload. We're my 5th wheel is set with full fuel, and full gross I am 12300, when I ran reefer I had 3/4 fuel and would be at 12300 and could go 34k and 34k. You don't change a hole lot of weight to your steers when you load cargo if your 5th wheel is set rite so what you need to do is get some loads and figer out how much weight and fuel change your steer weight I can tell you from past experience full cargo only changes my steer weights by 600 pounds.

So this is a rant. I'll try to make it short... or not. I don't know yet. So I ran into some construction earlier today. Stopped to get fuel and notice that my left steer tire was damaged like WHOA! Looked like someone had carved the roast beef for dinner. I made it back to my home base to get a new tire. Great? Great. He gets done and I notice that the new left tire is 16 ply and the right tire is 14 ply. Now. The 14 ply can carry max 6,175 which two of them makes 12,350. The 16 ply can carry 6,610 and which two of them make 13,220. Okay SOOOO... I have been being told that I can carry 13k on my steer. I've called a few times cause my steer have been over 12k. They said "Your tires are rated for 13k" I was like okay cool. (I fully recognize that I should have looked at my tires before hand, but I didn't, so boo on me) So the loads I have been taking, should have never been on my truck. I weighed my steer without with full fuel tank and no trailer, I'm right at 11,000. That leaves like 1,350 to play with. Does ANY of this sound right to anybody? What are some of your steer weights? Also, the company has disabled the ability to move the 5th wheel. So that option is out the window.

Well, if I can't slide my tandems, I can't scale the load correctly, if the wheel seal is busted, probably shouldn't drive the trailer 2k miles. This current trailer stop bar is hanging down close to the ground and it swings back and forth. So I don't wanna risk it snapping off and hitting a car. Overly picky... No. Overly cautious... Yes.

Get ready for a lot more days/weeks like this. It'll slowly get better as you get more experience, but issues never disappear completely. With that said, it is a little odd that you had three bad trailers in a row. It could have just been a stroke of bad luck, but are you sure you're not being overly picky about the condition of the trailers?

My first trailer spend 9 hours in the shop so my first load was late, 2nd trailer tandems won't slide. Waiting on road assist to come fix them, then I'll be into my 14 so I won't even be able to scale this damn thing till AFTER my 10 hour break. :( I can't even drive. Ugh. Now there is a wheel seal leak. Bad Can't drive it. And all of road assist is on "lunch" So now they are off loading the trailer, and I'm at my 14. So I bob tailed somewhere to sleep. And the dispatch lady was rude as all get out. Made me feel like it's all my fault. Ugh. Now my current trailer stop bar for the tandems is broke so they have to send road assist out here again. AHAHHAGEHEIHEHDIFUHRBFIF

Glad to hear you are on the move to the doctors! Hope he gets everything he needs! We are actually heading to Kearney now. lol be there in 2 hours. I drove 635 miles today. whew! I really hope everything falls into place for you. You are truly amazing and inspiring, the way you always see the bright side. :)

I was ready to leave several days ago!

We have a 4 hour layover in Omaha, change buses, get to KC, 5 hour layover, change buses then straight thru to Ardmore.

I'm just glad to be moving down the road!

I totally understand. I'm not sure what experiences you have had. I'm still in my "training" phase. But, I'm going to give it AT LEAST 6 months.

I didn't do anything but run teams. And my trainer told me that she didn't stop for potty breaks so I better be able to use a cup!

Disclaimer: I don't want to sound like I am trashing TransAm. But their training setup is sorely lacking. The trainers receive very little instruction on how to train and it seems like most of them are just in it for the extra miles.

Don't mean to hijack your thread FairyTales. I am extremely upset with the company at this point and there isn't much keeping me with them.

If you want more details you can message me on Twitter.