My Daily Experience With Crete Carriers

Congrats Mike looking forward to your journey. When I read your road test I chuckled, reminded me of mine at QC. My trainer was like yours, very experienced and old school. He told me lets go and had me drive. He said I could do a post trip. We went to a customer to drop an empty and pickup a loaded at Bush in downtown St Louis. It gets real tight in there. I was in his day cab. I got it done and in a day cab wasn’t too bad. He never said a word until we were done. He said he never had a driver get in and out so easy. What he didn’t know was I had been driving a 389 Peterbuilt in and out of cemetaries for 2 years before he got me. Bush was easy compared to that.

Thanks for posting these updates. Best with the next chapter!

Thank you Rookie.

Congrats Mike looking forward to your journey. When I read your road test I chuckled, reminded me of mine at QC. My trainer was like yours, very experienced and old school. He told me lets go and had me drive. He said I could do a post trip. We went to a customer to drop an empty and pickup a loaded at Bush in downtown St Louis. It gets real tight in there. I was in his day cab. I got it done and in a day cab wasn’t too bad. He never said a word until we were done. He said he never had a driver get in and out so easy. What he didn’t know was I had been driving a 389 Peterbuilt in and out of cemetaries for 2 years before he got me. Bush was easy compared to that.

Thank you. HaHa. Yea I like the old school approach.

He's alive....

It was a crazy couple of days Friday and Saturday. Friday we did a walk around with the truck, got my locks and stuff needed, returned the rental and was finally ready to roll. Called and waited an hour or so for them to find me a load home so I could get the rest of my things. Went to log into People Net and had issues with it. About an hour or so later it was good.

Grabbed an empty and headed to Florence, KY to pick up a load (drop and hook) Load was headed to our Columbus terminal to be T-called. Columbus was packed! No place to drop the load. Searched and found and empty so I had to drop the load, move the empty, grab the load and put it in that spot then re hook to the empty. also snuck in a 30 minute break.

Headed off to Massillion, OH to do another Drop and hook. Was going to park at a Mc D's in Wooster, OH to do my 10 on my way. Bad Idea. Small town, Narrow roads and of course I ended up lost driving through the countryside.. 1 hour later.... Ehhh Finally get back on 30E and just drove to the shipper. Did the DnH and was able to do my 10 there...

Left the next day for Dayville Connecticut for another DnH. Long day of driving but good miles for the trip. Made it home early Sunday morning.. 34 hr reset and I'll be heading out tomorrow. Will have to spend the week doing Crete's General North East regional freight so they can get me on a normal schedule for my dedicated Account next week..

So I didn't head out Monday. They had a load on me picking up in Skohegan, ME going to somewhere in PA. Was going to be a 1 1/2 day run for about $820. Well come to find out it picked up on Monday and didn't deliver till Friday.. Yeaaa that's not going to work. So I didn't leave out till Tuesday afternoon for a 4-6pm live load in Adams, MA. delivering to a live unload in Springboro, OH. Arrived at 4:30 and was told it wasn't going to be ready till after 6pm. Finally left around 8pm.

I had scoped out a few options to shut down for the night after fueling based on leaving Adams around 6pm. They were now not going to work. So I shut down after fueling. Dark, Raining night Around 1am I found a few spots open at the Loves in Binghanton, NY Circled around and pulled right in. After heading to bed at 2am I here a banging on my door.. WTF. What time is it... 6:30am I ignore it. 1 minute later.. Bang, Bang, Bang... I slide the curtain and a driver is standing there looking at me. "WHAT?!!" I need you to move he says... WHY? I need to go out this way.. NO, GO TURN AROUND OVER THERE.. You need to move. NOT HAPPENING. I'm going to go tell management.. OK. SEE YA. 15 mins he wasted until he finally did what I told him. Back into any one of the multiple spaces that are open and then pull out and leave. Literally took him 30 seconds to do so..

Drove to the receiver Weds. Got there at 11:30pm was able to park in their lot and slept for the night. Delivered first thing this morning.

I'll finish this off tomorrow. Sitting in Buffalo right now with Blizzard warnings and my truck is "Rocking like a Hurricane" (name that band) 23* out right with a reel feel temp of 0*

Scorpions!

I shut down in PA early yesterday for the high wind gusts, too.

Scorpions!

I shut down in PA early yesterday for the high wind gusts, too.

They were crazy. Today wasn't much better till I got past the mountains in PA

Had a quick drive down to Florence, KY again. This load was heading to Buffalo, well just outside of Buffalo to Cheektowaga, NY. Was a little concerned with all the Blizzard warnings I was hearing about from Cleveland to Buffalo . Long story short, It wasn't to bad. A lot of wind. More than what I've dealt with before and some random, heavy snow squalls. Decided to see if I could find parking at Jim's Truck Stop which was 1 mile down the road from the receiver. Surprisingly there were about 10-15 spots open.

Headed out this morning for a 7am delivery. Live unload took about 1 1/2 hours. Next stop was downtown Buffalo for a drop n hook headed to Palmyra, PA. Short one setting me up for my load home, or so I thought. I stopped for my 30 and asked for the pre-plan to be sent. After looking at it further it was a Sunday pick-up LOL Yeaaa not going to happen. Sad part is it was 1 hour east of my Palmyra delivery and was delivering Monday in Raymond, NH which is only 1 1/2 hours from my house....

Delivered my Palmyra load and spent the next 30 minutes with night dispatch trying to figure out how to get me home by Sat. early afternoon. Another long story short.... Drove over to the New Kingston terminal to shut down, shower and await the plan..

Finally got it. Palmyra pick up, T-calling it in Holland, MA and then headed home.. It's a refer load.. 1st one ever for me. We'll see how this goes.

Spent the night at the New Kingston terminal Friday night. Free coffee, Free food and best of all A free shower!! They have 2 showers for women and 2 for men. About the same as a truck stop shower but maybe a little cleaner.

Got up around 4am searched for an empty refer trailer and only found 1 on the lot. I did start it and and left it running just in case. Got to the shack and he had me set it at 55* and turn it off. Easy check in with a quick inspection. Dropped in the spot they told me, went to the shipping office and got my paperwork and trailer assignment. Headed down the road to a weigh station. Almost had it. Drives were over by 500. 1 quick slide and we're good to go.

I knew the timing had to be on in order to get home. My main concern was 95 after NYC. It actually wasn't to bad except for 2 spots they had the right lane closed. 3+ miles of horrendous driving by others and that was it. Stopped for a ""30"" min"" ;-) at the TA in Willington CT. Dropped the trailer up the road at a drop yard. They're were no empties so the deal was to bobtail home. It's weird because I's much rather be pulling a trailer than bobtailing.. Got back and shut down around 5pm. Doing a 34 and headed out on my next Mission.

Picking up in Skowhegan, Maine. The load is headed to Lincoln, Nebraska. The deal is, as my asset manager told me, They may have me take it all the way or they may have me T-call it on the way. They won't know till sometime Monday morning after they get together and figure out how to get me on the account I'm supposed to be on..

Side note: My wife has finally read my Eastern Freight ways blog and this one. I didn't say anything bad about her did I? LOL just kidding.. Till tomorrow

On the road again.

So Rookie mistake, mathematical mistake or me just being stupid. After shutting down on Saturday at 5:15 pm I counted out my 36hr reset. Yup, 36 not 34. No idea what I was thinking but the thought never changed. I had my son drop me off at my truck at 4:30am and I got my stuff in, organized and started my clock at 5:15am. It wasn't till about 8am that I realized I could have started 2 hours earlier.

So I bob-tailed 4 hours to Skowhegan & did a quick drop and hook. Did my 30 at Kennebunk Service Plaza. Large open space with plenty of parking. I got the call on my way out of Maine. No Lincoln, NE for me. I was to T-call the load at the Mechanicsburg, PA terminal. The reason being is that I was finally going to start my Dedicated account.

Stopped at my fuel stop for 60 gallons at the TA in Willington, CT. At which time I realized that my goal of making it to the other side of the GW was not going to happen. After running this area when I was doing flatbed for EFW I knew of a few spots that don't usually fill up to early. I went through the different scenarios as i'm going down 84. "service plazas on 95, if full then what? Pilot in Milford, CT? Well that's usually a cluster at 5pm. Wallingford,CT rest area? As I was nearing Hartford and the 84-91 interchange traffic was increasing and about 2 hours left on my clock. The rest area became plan A. Pulled in, got a spot no problem with only about 10 other trucks there. Close enough for me.

Enjoyed some good weather and reorganized the truck. Pretty much have everything but the kitchen sink in here. As previously stated i like to be self sufficient and I'm not out here to spend money, I'm here to earn as much as possible. I could be stuck in here for 2 weeks and be perfectly fine. I like it that way. Only need for a truck stop is fuel and a shower when I can't make it to a terminal.