Profile For Bulwinkle J. Moose

It does make for some very long days. Not an easy task to try to get some rest back at the motel while housekeeping is running the vac in the hall way outside your door or they are remodeling the place on the floor above your room. The nature of the job is not an easy thing to do with all the waiting and the odd times you have to drive. For me it's been a good learning experience though in terms of how the transportation industry works for bus drivers anyway. Specifically how the company maintains their fleet or lack there of, Pre trip safety inspections, dealing with road conditions, keeping on schedule, keeping a log book, driving in traffic and dealing with idiot drivers among other things. For me it's been a good way to hopefully make an easier transition into driving Class A OTR before I go to driving school.

I guess the one thing I have taken away from it all is the fact that if i were driving a truck I would be able to just drive and get the day done instead of waiting around for hours on end all the time.

Thanks for everyone's input :-)

Be safe out there

The Moose

I hope somebody who has driven a tour bus or is driving one now can answer my question. A bit off topic since it doesn't concern driving a truck but for now I have to drive a bus for a few more months until I can start driving school.

Example: I drop my people off at 8AM then go back to the motel, site seeing, whatever I want to do. Totally relived of any type of job responsibility. Then Pick them up at 8PM = 12 hours. To simplify things don't include pre trip inspection time, etc. Then I drive 6 hours = 18 hours of total time. From my understanding and what my trainer said a passenger carrying driver can stop there on duty time clock when they are completely relieved of any job requirements unlike the 14 hour consecutive on duty time clock of a property carrying driver.

Is this interpretation of the HOS Rule for bus drivers true? If I can't stop my on duty time clock while i wait to pick up my passengers and it all counts as on-duty time I will be in violation almost every trip I take. Listed below are the rules for both classes of drivers taken from the Federal HOS Summary page at:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations

PROPERTY-CARRYING DRIVERS

14-Hour Limit May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.

PASSENGER-CARRYING DRIVERS

15-Hour Limit May not drive after having been on duty for 15 hours, following 8 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time is not included in the 15-hour period.

KW4CR is on target

Are you for sure the rig ( radio) is tuned correctly to your current setup? ( i.e antenna system and the way its mounted on the truck) ? Any thoughts on what you have for SWR readings?

When you roll thru a major city start trying to make some contacts were there are more stations on the air. get off channel 19 and find some locals hopefully base stations not mobiles. Contact some different operators and determine their direction and distance relative to your position to determine your rigs performance. Ask them how you sound. How do they sound? If you can talk and hear someone 5 miles away and in different directions from a mobile setup on a truck that's about the best you can expect without a band opening (skip). Not to say you may not get longer distances. Don't be expecting to talk to someone 25 miles away under normal circumstances.

Looks like you have a good radio and antenna setup. Is it mounted to a metal roof? looks like its a ground plane antenna which means 1/2 of of the antenna system is the metal roof it's mounted to. Or is it a wilson designed to be mounted onto a mirror mount? Don't mount a ground plane antenna system to a mirror or bumper. It ain't gonna work right.

Don't fight the mega watt operators running a lot of heat that walk all over you, you will never win. They are knobs and don't have a clue about what it takes to operate a radio correctly. A first class radio operator is courteous doesn't cause a lot of interference were they will mess up someones TV

( the radio and antenna is tuned correctly) and always uses the least amount of power needed to make a contact.

i think one of the best antenna setups for a truck is still the defacto dual mirror mount phased antenna array like the old "twin trucker" which I don't think is made anymore. Other manufactures have something comparable these days from the looks of it.

When I lived in Knoxville, TN back in 1982 "The worlds fair you have to be there " I worked for Manpower as a temp. We got sent to a goodyear to unload a trailer full of tires and put them up on the tire racks. It took a long time. I feel your pain, the driver was able to crash though as we sweated to the oldies , hahaha. Interesting how they put a tire flat on the ground and dropped another out of the trailer onto it which caused it to roll across the shop to the guy that had to lift it up onto the rack. $4.50 per hour was big money back then , not :-(

Food for thought when you're designing your system

Power = Amps X Volts

!000Watts of AC inverted Power = 83 Amps X 12 Volts DC

5000Watts of AC inverted Power = 417 Amps X 12 Volts DC

Spend the cash and get a true sine wave inverter if you can afford it. A lot of your less expensive inverters are square wave output. Not an issue with devices like a toaster. Sensitive electronics and devices with electric motors are not real happy being powered by square wave AC.

Oversize the inverter a bit for the surge of power when your device starts up. Especially is the device has an electric motor in it.

Dating a Granny does have it's advantages, hahaha. I miss shooting BB Gun with the grandson of the one I was going out with. I'm too young to be a grampa but that's OK I'm cool with it.

TW,

I hung up the idea of meeting someone online a year ago after doing it on and off since about the year 2000. Before online dating sites pretty much even existed. I've never been married. I took a peek at an online dating site again about a week ago just for grins and you know what? many of the same peoples photos are still there after years and years.

I started going to church to try and meet a good woman and some male buddies too.

I hope the guidelines of the Trucking Truth Community allow discussions on the topic of faith. It's a touchy subject. If they don't please let me know. I'm not here to proselytize in the least and will not do it. I'm just here to put my $ .02 in here because you've mentioned going to church. Sambo as well has chimed in on the subject, so I'm thinking I'm in the bounds of where this topic is headed in this thread.

I don't know where you stand on faith. There are lots of different houses of worship who serve different leaders. I'm a Christian. I'm also totally non judgemental on what people want to believe. If they believe something other than what I believe I'm totally OK with that. We need to respect each others beliefs and live in peace. My hope is that my opinions on this matter do not spark an outrage as I've been known to do, hahaha.

God didn't intend for us to be alone. If you read the Bible, it says this, and he created woman to be a companion for us.

The Bible is my guide book for life. I try to live by it but continually fail to measure up to the things it teaches and constantly fall flat on my face. I look to it for advice continually though because it teaches what is right and offers me hope for the future.

Sambo hit it on the head. We were not created to be alone. 1 Corinthians Chapter 7 also states that it's OK to be single if you want. It's your choice.

Most importantly they need to be friends. Some common interests etc.

Sue nailed it on this point!

We as humans were created to be social beings. Adam had friendship with the animals. This is a very special relationship, the bond between animals and humans but as Sambo has referenced the Man needed something more to be complete so he created a woman to be his friend. They were friends before they were a couple. Be her friend first share some common interests and get to know her as the person she really is and you'll be set.

Marriage is a legal contract something man has created. Adam and Eve didn't have a sheet of paper stating that they were married. They were committed to each other though so in the spirit of things they were a married couple.

So whats wrong with a woman whos been divorced and had kids?

I'm 54 so we are basically the same age. The reality is that the women we meet stand a good chance of being divorced and having kids. It's a huge complication. The last 2 women I've dated had kids. The first had grown children the second had kids in grade school. One was my age the other was 16 years younger than me. It made matters difficult because you're getting a package deal.

Sometimes people have to be willing to take risks in order to gain something they might desire.

It's worth the risk though to accept the package deal or at least give it a try. As a guy who never had any kids I kind of liked the thought of an instant family with the woman that was younger And tried to imagine what it would be like to be a dad to these kids. They resented me because I was not their real father and rebelled against their mom at the thought of her being with someone else other than their dad. She had only been divorced a couple of months a fiercely independent person with a good career ( a nurse ) so she didn't in any way need me as a support mechanism. When she searched deep inside of herself and I'm sure at the insistence of her children she gave me the flick. But hey I gave it my best shot and we are still good friends.

You're looking in the right place ( A church ) to find quality friends and a mate. It's not the only place either as Sue has pointed out.

I've pretty much did whatever I wanted do do most of my life and valued my independence. I'm sure this is something a driver values in life or they wouldn't be behind the wheel. We do need a balance though to stay on an even keel in life. I'm in the same boat as you since I've moved to a very rural part of the country and are searching for much of the same things. Don't give up hope!

Why so downcast oh my soul? Put your hope in God Psalm 42:5 42:11

BJ Moose

Old School,

I really appreciate the time and effort you spend writing the columns in this website and taking the time to speak personally to people especially myself. Writing an article is no easy task.

I've quit some pretty good jobs in my life because of my hotheadedness lack of tenacity and not being able to deal with my superiors in an organization. Head of Network and Computer Services for the Kenosha Public Library System, Network Administrator for Kenosha Beef International. These were the best paying most excellent jobs I've ever had and I walked out on them. It will be a long time if ever before something like these 2 jobs will ever become part of my life again. It's been 16 years since I've left these great opportunities for employment and have yet to recover from my stupid mistakes. I could stay in the computer industry it pays very well but I have no interest in doing it professionally anymore because I get no enjoyment from it.

Lesson 1 of the sermon ( I say that tongue in cheek you coined the phrase, hahaha ) is Seek a job and do it because you get some sort of fulfillment from it. Don't do it strictly for the money.

The second lesson I've learned from the school of hard knocks is to stay away from the "Grass is always greener" mentality and attempt to stick it out.

My last and I hope my final computer job was spent in a call center fielding calls for technical support with WiFi issues in hotels and motels across North America. I lasted 6 years. This for me was my worst nightmare come true. Call after call all day long. People with limited knowledge of how to use a computer ( no fault of their own, not trying to be condescending towards them in the least ) who were staying at a place where the management refused to invest in a decent network that operated correctly ( something completely out of my control) . Rude and irate guests ( rightfully so ). Dealing with Internet Service Providers. It was ugly and very depressing. But you know after I finally figured things out the hard way that its not a perfect world I finally got battle hardened enough to learn to just stick it out.

I had to quit my last job because as an on call driver I was only getting 15 hours per week spread over a 7 day period. It was not paying the bills and I was required to be ready to roll at anytime of the day. That was a Class E Permitted job, my first professional driving experience. I really liked hauling the old folks to their doctors appointments at the rest home. My current job is Class C. I'm getting the hours + overtime and you know what? I like this one too! I really enjoy driving around Missouri State University all day long. So now as I think about stepping up to a Class A Permit and Driving OTR I really have to search within my self to determine if I'm looking at the "Grass is Always Greener" Mentally once again.

The 3rd and final point is that if you decide you have to move on to a new employer look deep into your self and ask if you are really doing it for all the right reasons.

So in closing as people are starting to nod off as has been known to happen when a sermon drones on, I'd like to say that the content of this website is a huge asset for people like myself who are trying to make good well educated career choices in life. I value everyone's efforts tremendously.

We can debate the ethics of hiring practices in America and company policy all night long and get nowhere. The simple fact is that if you want to get hired by a company you have to jump thru the hoops they put before you or go somewhere else.

Once hired you need to prove yourself as a valued employee. if you don't like working there for what ever reason you need to move on or live with it. More importantly a check up from the neck up may be required to determine if your attitude is in the right place or not for the job you are doing.

No company you ever work for is going to be perfect in every way. Since I don't work for Prime I'm not in a good position to tell you thumbs up or not. I've based my opinions on face to face conversations I've had with people who have been sent home on the bus after being washed out of orientation and a limited amount of threads written on this web site.

My opinion of prime as a whole is misguided and not based on an entire set of factual accounts. I stand corrected on the issue. The people that actually work there have stated its a good place to work and have defended them. This is a good sign and I give you folks a lot of credit for speaking up and defending your company. I'm sorry for what I've said.

I have also disrespected the more experienced drivers of Trucking Truth by getting up on a soap box and shooting my mouth off. I hope you'll all accept my apologies. If you want to nickname me the Sermonizer as old school has bluntly pointed out I'm OK with that I should have been a preacher :-)

As I've stated before we do all sit at the Trucking Truth Round Table to discuss issues concerning the trucking industry as well as life's struggles that are affecting all of us. At the end of the day to be able to reflect on whats been said regardless of if we all agree or not to put our differences behind us and to be able to return in the morning for a fresh round of discussion is very important to keep this site as a community moving forward.

I hope you're all OK with me sticking around

BJ the Sermonizer Moose

:-)

How many people does your meat plant interview and not hire?

That I can't honestly say.

The name of the company is Birchwood Transport a division of Kenohsa Beef International for those who are Interested.

And thank you for sharing the contractual information concerning orientation and virtues of working for your company.

At the end of the day it is nice to be able to sit at the TT round table and have a civil discussion about the concerns of the trucking industry without being insulted.