The Adventures Of Daniel B.

Daniel I too am sorry for your loss. I know you really liked and worked well with him. Who knows Brett may have to come up with another thread/list of desireable/undesirable difficult shippers/receivers.....

11/13/13

Current load: Macon, GA to Greenville, SC - 185 miles plus 95 deadhead. Haven't picked up load so no weight to report.

Overall a good day. I woke up when I felt like it and started driving at about 0930. I have only about 155 miles to do today and all day to do it. I stop by a pilot to buy something that can boil water since my mug stopped working. I have 29$ worth of pilot points so I use them and get it for free! I bought the Roadpro Hot Pot and it works very well. I have boiling water in 20 minutes!

I get to my shipper after taking it easy all day. A simple drop and hook. I drop my loaded trailer and find an empty. I hook up to the empty and give it a good inspection. It's dirty inside so I locate a nearby truck wash and there's one 5 miles from me. I call them and ask for an exact amount with tax that a trailer washout with come out to. Total was 36.00$ so I request a comcheck for 36$. It always takes a few minutes so I prefer to do all the paperwork before I arrive at the washout. That way I'm not scrambling when I'm there. It just makes life easier. I get to the washout and instantly hand them a check and they get to washing. I receive my receipt and I'm good to go.

Me and Tracey were trying to meet up for dinner tonight so we agreed to meet up at the truck stop in Fairburn, GA. I sit for a few hours until he arrived and he finally came at 1906. 6 minutes late!

Had a good dinner for three hours with the log hauler. Good man, thank you for your time and it was a pleasure to meet you!

It was a blessing to meet you Daniel. This was truly a wonderful birthday for me. What a impressive young man you are. God is working in your life, doing great things. Will have to tell my story of meeting Daniel soon.

6 min.?

What about this upside down picture. You must be drinking too much tea.

Love ya dude. My prayers are with you always.

Thank you again for a great b-day!

Thank you for the description of the Kraft Plant. Funny how places become famous for being an 'undesirable' place to be. Sorry to hear about your DM. After working with him and building that relationship that clicked for you, I know it must be frustrating. Don't worry, though. God will get you another good DM. He knows what He is doing! I look forward to meeting both you and the "log hauler" one day, as well as many others on this forum!

11/14/13

Current load: Macon, GA to Greenville, SC. 185 miles plus 95 deadhead. Total weight is about 55k.

Went to her late yesterday, too much fun! I went to sleep and set about 7 different alarms to ensure that I will wake up for my appointment at 0715. I went to sleep and woke up with my phone dead. It's about 0530! Wow. I quickly get dressed and run to the restroom and come back inside the truck. I take out my gps and get ready to roll. I really have no time to lose. So I quickly got my flashlight and did a basic walk around the truck, nothing special. I set the reefer to precook to 30 degrees as the Qualcomm instructed me to do before I arrive at the shipper. I didnt have the time to sit for 15 minutes on duty, if I did I will be late. So I edited my hours of service and edited the past 12 minutes and put it as on duty to count as my pretrip. I immediately start driving. Luckily I examined my local directions yesterday so I know where to go.

I arrive at my shipper 10 minutes before my appointment time! Close call, but I'm on time. Yay. I come into the facility and as always I read the signs. The sign says to slide the tandems back before talking with security so I stop and slide my tandems back. I come in to talk to security and he exams my reefer fuel level and has me open the trailer doors for inspection. No worries I had it washed out yesterday! He then thanks me for being hassle free and goes on to say that every driver comes in here and is never prepared. They are never precooled and they don't slide the tandems back before talking with him - like the signs says to do. He tells me to drop it in the yard and then tells me to head to the shipping and receiving office. I alley dock my trailer between two trailers and then I disconnect and bobtail to the shipping office.

I sign a few papers and I'm given the BoL and the trailer number and its location. I have a sit on the chair in the drivers lounge and look over the paperwork thoroughly. I then head over to the trailer and attach to it. After connecting the air lines I push in the red knob to supply air to the trailer. Those tandems don't slide when the trailer doesn't have air in it. I write down all the critical information in my journal.

I then do a walk around to inspect the trailer and verify the information on the trailer to be correct with the information on the BoL, such as the correct trailer number and seal number. I also verified the reefer temperature setpoint and pretripped it. Everything matches and I'm good to go! The load only has 16 pallets so obviously about half of the trailer is loaded at the nose. So there's almost no weight on the trailer tandems so I decide to slide the trailer tandems all the way forward just to even it up. It's always safer to drive with your weights on each axle being as close as possible. Driving with no weight on the trailer tandems is dangerous and driving with all the weight on the trailer tandems but hardly any on the drive axles is even more dangerous.

I have all day today so I'm in no hurry. I'm going through two hours of small highways through the woods so I take out my atlas and verify my routing once again. I send my depart macro and I'm good to go! I only have about 260 miles today so it's a very easy day. I drive for a few hours then relax. I did this twice today. I am very tired today, didnt have much sleep last night so I'm feeling lethargic.

I did get a Critical Event - Hard Braking on my Qualcomm today. I was driving and the 4-wheeler in front of me slammed on her brakes because she was about to miss her turn. By slammed, I mean slammed! I had a great following distance though and as soon as I recognized the situation I hit my brakes hard to avoid killing her stupid self. I come to a stop about a car length away from her but unfortunately that made my Qualcomm to berserk. I later get a message on my Qualcomm from the safety department asking if everything is ok. I explained the situation to them and they thanked me for keeping my distance and for exercising safe driving. All is ok, safety was informed. And that young girl almost killed herself. This is why I pay extra close attention when there's a teenager at the wheel.

But... If anything did go down. I had my dash cam operating and it saw it all. So my back is covered.

I arrive at my receiver at approximately 1600. I took my time, I have all day. It's cold outside, sure feels good to not have to be handling heavy tarps and wrapping my freight like a Christmas present.

I will wake up tomorrow at 0600 to deliver my load. It's a good day.

I spoke with my friend who went to school with me. He quit Central today. He got tired of making no money and then he told the O/O department that they need to find someone to take over the lease. They inspected his truck and found things that need to be repaired and told him that if he wants someone to take over the lease then he needs to have it fully repaired with the money out of his pocket. So he gave them the keys and walked out. He didnt fulfill his lease contract and he didnt stay with Central for that full year. So he violated both contracts. Lord, have mercy on him and his wallet.

I do have one question for the people who are aspiring drivers.

WHO IS READY TO TAKE THE WHEEL OF A BIG RIG!!!!!

THIS IS YOUR FUTURE!!!

I look at my kingpin setting rule for each state. I'm going through IL, KY, TN, GA. And TN has the lowest of 41' so I set my tandems at the 41' mark and head for the CAT scale.

You made this statement about the kingpin settings for each state, where do you have that information, is it a downloadable file or something? Been looking for this information so I will have it when I hit the road soon.

Thanks Danny S.

Folks, I do apologize for any mispelled words. As I said before I'm forced to type on my phone because my laptop is broken. I'm very uncomfortable typing with my phone so I'm sure you guys are smart enough to figure it out.

Anyways, Danny, this is for you. I'm not sure if that's fine for you, I can also send it in an email to you.

Wow! Great stuff! hank you sir for giving us a first hand look at REAL LIFE situations and the frustrations! I'm gonna go be a stock boy a Wal-mart now!!

KIDDING! Please keep it coming! Very informative and entertaining! I van't wait for my adventures to begin!!

Is that a plant you have by the breakfast pic. are you growing your own crops ?

Is that a plant you have by the breakfast pic. are you growing your own crops ?

Yes it is! It's a mint plant. I have 5 total but 3 are almost gone. I'm a huge tea fan and I use the leaves for my tea every morning. It's very healthy and soothes the stomach. The plants also have a powerful aroma, which keeps the truck smelling fresh.

But... If anything did go down. I had my dash cam operating and it saw it all. So my back is covered.

What make and model dashcam to you have? How do you like it.