My Day By Day Experience At Eastern Freightways Flatbed Division

Day 10

Alarm goes off at 1:00 errr.. Snooze till 2:00 decided I didn't want to walk to the terminal so I got an Uber. Found my truck talked with the mechanic. Yup all set he says. Hook to the load and head off for Portland. No traffic and smooth sailing.

Get to the receiver and start unstrapping and untarping. Notice a small puddle on the ground next to the same tire that just had the seal replaced. Hmmmm maybe some remnance? I look it over carefully. Looks pretty fresh.. Move into the building and get unloaded. Yup, another puddle. Come on, it's the Friday of a holiday weekend but what can you do? Call dispatch and get sent to the Portland terminal. 5 1/2 hours left on my clock. I explain the situation to the mechanic up here. He takes a look. 5 1/2 hours left you say? Headed to Newington then Concord? He asks. OK lets get it done. He says 3 1/2 hours later he's done. Come to find out the Mechanic from the night before never cleaned the rust from where the seal is supposed to seat. Well that mistake, oversight, laziness just cost an extra 3 1/2 hours of labor, 2 sets of brake shoes, 2 new drums and 4 hours of my early day lost. These guys up here at this terminal were great. Will come here if in the area and need anything done.

Got back to my terminal around 17:00 and started my weekend. Ended the week with the following miles: M-448 T-408 W-591 TH-550 Fr-429

2426 actual miles. (To bad we're paid Rand McNally. )Not bad for the North East. Wednesday is when I started getting on the road by 1:00 or 2:00 Definitely a big difference in miles.

Day 11-12-13

It's been a week since I last posted. I don't remember if I had said it or not but I Am/Was/Did get Married on June 2nd. The days leading up to that were crazy! Summarized 11-13:

Decided to leave out on Monday afternoon, Memorial day. Headed to Jersey from Concord in hopes to get a jump on the week and be home early on Weds. I assumed there would be some holiday traffic heading back around 15:00 but not as much as I encountered. Took longer than I had hoped but stopped at our S. Plainfield, NJ terminal to park and sleep. This place was a lot bigger and busier than I thought it would be. Surprisingly after several minutes of the yard jockey slamming trailers around (I'm wondering how much was on purpose) I fell asleep.

Had a short 45 minute drive to the receiver in the morning. Got unloaded quick and got my preplan to pick up in Avenel, NJ headed to Portland, ME. Pick that up, fix the tarping job and head out. Drove straight through to our Portland, ME terminal! Saw I had a message from dispatch. Checked it out and never guess what it said?!

"Just drop this load in Concord"

HaHa We can't read our messages while driving sooooo. I sent a message back and said I was already there. Unloaded the next morning pretty quick called dispatch and headed home. Took Weds-Sun. off for the wedding and came back out Monday morning.

Congrats on the marriage!!

Congrats on getting married!!

Congrats on the marriage!!

Thank you!!

Day 14-15

Coming back from most of last week off I didn't have a load to deliver so I headed to Newington, NH to get a load that was headed to Beltsville, MD. Left Concord around 6:30 with some heavy rain. Got to Newington and it had let up. Dropped and hooked and proceeded to fix the tarping job and the heavens released the dam! Heavy downpour and I was 3/4 of the way done. Said screw it and finished it off. Got dried off and headed down towards NYC, Decided to stay at a service plaza in MD that had 1 spot left.

Planned on starting at 5:00 the next morning but ended up shutting off my alarms and falling back to sleep. Finally got going at 6:30 Got to the receiver and unloaded quickly.

Next load was in Baltimore, MD I've been there before when I was training and remembered that the lot was behind a store. I thought I was heading in the right direction until I ended up in a low income area sitting right next to the industrial park. Signs everywhere saying no trucks... Ehhhh Pull over, google earth and message my trainer and get a better idea of where I'm at. I took a right instead of a left and that's how I ended up there. I find a road to go down that trucks come out of and turned around headed back and drove right past it. HaHa 7 more miles I find another place to turn around.

Finally find the yard. Drop and hook and this one is headed to Staten Island. #### it, not sure if i'm ready for this one. I drive to our Plainfield, NJ terminal , get shut down and am looking forward to a shower... Nope not happening. I guess they turned that area into a driver training area so no more showers here. I could have gone 20 miles up the road to a truck stop, filled up with more expensive fuel and got a free shower. Oh well a baby wipe night it is.

Day 16-17

Head out at 6:30 to Staten Island. Traffic wasn't that bad and the first several miles into S.I. were decent. I've got this... Until about 2 miles from the receiver. Cars parked on both sides of the road, traffic coming and going, Tight turns around parked cars.. I just slowed down and took my time. Made it to the receiver, Unstrapped and folded the tarps on the load. Got unloaded and called dispatch. "system is down" They say. but we're sending you back to Baltimore. Set my GPS and head out. 1 1/2 hours into the trip I get a call. "Sorry you're going to Danville, PA not Baltimore. hmmmm Just crossed the Deleware bridge. Stop at a T/A and fill up. Planned on going to Danville then doing my 10 in Montgomerey which has a T/A.. Free Shower!!! I Had 1 hour left on my clock when I got there. Shut down and PC'd it to the T/A. I am headed to Boston MA in the morning.

Now we're up to date to today:

I had google earthed the receiver and walked the streets in street view to get familiar with the area last night. Not much traffic till around 5:30. Then I believe all the new drivers in 4 wheelers were released from the funny farm... I'm not sure what half these people were thinking but WTF.. I'm surprised no one was killed in a 50 mile stretch. Shortly before hitting 691 I smelled a familiar smell when I applied the brakes. Are you kidding me? Can't be again. I pull over and check the same wheel that I had the problem with 2 weeks ago.. Yup leaking again. 3rd time in 2 weeks.. Meriden, CT here I come. 10 miles to go. Make it here, give the mechanic the story he looks at it and says "Out Of Service" Something else is definitely wrong with it. Call dispatch...

Long story short here- After several calls to and from dispatch, a nap, lunch, a walk & Updating this blog I'm still sitting here 8 hours later. No truck, No Idea where I'm getting one or when. Was off to a good week. Now I'm just frustrated & Disappointed. All I want to do is run and make some $$.

Time can be a mental struggle. I've had several offers over the last month. 1 was driving Dump truck and equipment locally. Home nights, good money but is that what I want to do for the next couple of years then come back out with the wife? Do I want to get my experience out here and when the wife is ready to come out with me we're already set to go? Eastern doesn't have a rider program so something will have to change soon anyways. I hating sitting and thinking.

MIke,

Good blog as always. If I can recommend something, never make a decision when you are upset or mentally straight out. Wait until you have a few days behind you to decide if you are going to look elsewhere. Maybe when you look back at today, in a week or so, you will smile and move on. As we all read here, you will have mechanical issues, so stay positive, and remember you can only control so much. I am sure other companies have the same problem(s).

Safe Travels Chris

MIke,

Good blog as always. If I can recommend something, never make a decision when you are upset or mentally straight out. Wait until you have a few days behind you to decide if you are going to look elsewhere. Maybe when you look back at today, in a week or so, you will smile and move on. As we all read here, you will have mechanical issues, so stay positive, and remember you can only control so much. I am sure other companies have the same problem(s).

Safe Travels Chris

Hey Chris. You're right! I'm thinking boredom and lack of a purpose for the day got to me. I hate not doing something. LOL

Mike, my daily office work, is like watching paint dry, but I have anywhere from 4 months to 2 years left, so I feel your pain....this too shall pass....

Hopefully the next blog post will be back to normal for ya...