Home Run, Inc.

Covid! My trainer sent me a text Friday evening that he tested positive for Covid. He has no idea where or how he contracted it. Upon receiving this notification, I immediately scheduled myself for a test at a nearby drive-through pharmacy where the results will be made available to me within a couple of days. I have texted and phoned Corporate and am awaiting directions on how to behave (professionally, that is) concerning this unwanted and unexpected roadblock/detour in my training.

Selfishly, I am looking at this from a personal viewpoint as this could push back my the completion of my training as much as two weeks and delay my assignment to a tractor until mid-November. All sorts of other things will be impacted, too: training pay, ‘stay on’ bonuses, and credit toward days worked until I am eligible for insurance are tops on my list.

Professionally, Home Run will need to implement a plan in order to get our load of drywall from Xenia to Perrysburg, Ohio in time to meet our 11:00 a.m. Monday appointment.

As ‘things’ settle into place I will update this diary.

I may have just walked by the truck that picked up your load that you'd left in Xenia. It's a Home Run truck with tarps that like could very well be drywall. I'm at the Loves in Lodi, Ohio.

I may have just walked by the truck that picked up your load that you'd left in Xenia. It's a Home Run truck with tarps that like could very well be drywall. I'm at the Loves in Lodi, Ohio.

I hope not. If the driver went through Lodi on the way to Perrysburg he/she went way out of the way since the destination is over by Toledo and Lodi is in Medina County.

Good news as I received an email advising that I’m Covid negative. I notified Corporate and quickly received a response that I’ll be getting a call on Wednesday (tomorrow) informing me as to my new trainer since Keith is on the bench for a couple of weeks.

More to come. For now I’ll stay on my couch and continue to watch election results...

That's very good news to read!

Tonight’s entry is being created while in the cab of a 2020 International LT at a TA truck stop near Hebron, Ohio. How I got here is a story unto itself (I hope I don’t run out of space in its telling).

I awoke a little before 9 this morning after a full night of watching election returns (I signed off shortly after 2:30 a.m.) to find a text message on my phone from Kyle Ritchie, the recruiter for Home Run. I was notified that I had been reassigned to Gary Ellis, another trainer, while Keith was quarantining/isolating due to a positive test for Covid 19. I immediately called Gary and after a brief ‘who/what/when/where/why’ concerning our respective lives (guys can do that, it’s in our DNA) I was directed to meet him at the Mother Ship/yard at noon.

I did not worry at all about packing as I had handled that Sunday afternoon. All I needed to do was throw my duffle bag in the truck and grab a little bit of food, take a shower and shave and head north to Xenia. I arrived right on time and Gary soon pulled up.

After grabbing the remainder of my gear from Truck #607 and stowing my stuff in the rear of Gary’s rig we were off to deliver a load of lumber to Piqua and then to Monroe to pick up a load from Decevninck, a manufacturer of plastic articles used in the production of windows. The sheets of plastic will be delivered tomorrow morning to Strausburg (sp). I have made this trip before as it was the first run during my training with Keith.

I look forward to my time with Gary as he has 20 years in the industry and has already shared a lot of new tricks to the trade. I’m learning how to ‘short strap’ when securing loads to our flatbed and my knowledge of the Qualcomm has been expanded.

More to come tomorrow night when we return to Greene county and I travel back to the 513. It’s about time for lights out. Our ‘clock’ becomes active at 7:00 a.m. and we want to be on the road shortly afterwards

Glad you are back in the saddle, CBH~!! Sounds awesome; things happen for a reason. Another proof positive that 'trainer variety' can often BE beneficial.

I'm still here, and following.

Shiny side up, good sir~!!

~ Anne ~

I’m spending most of today (between watching updates on the election results) researching threads concerning the Qualcomm (sic) and all that goes into it. Between my two trainers I’ve received different sets of information (both ‘downloads’ pretty much correct from what I can tell) but not identical. I’m working to sort it all out and the past posts her on TT by many, many members, rookies and vets alike, are proving very helpful.

At the risk of stating what many already know, I’ll share what I (think I’ve) learned and then read with great interest any responses and comments. During my first three weeks of training I was very diligent as I updated my current status to a new status whenever I changed my activities. Since I’m a skateboarder (sic), the time securing and tarping loads is always shown as ‘on duty’, driving is obviously ‘driving’, and sleeping was either ‘off duty’ or ‘sleeper birth’. I believe we (flatbedders) may log more time as ‘on duty’ (working but not driving) since the securement and tapping process can take a bit of time based upon the contents of the load. I’m certainly not trying to pick a fight with those who must wait to be loaded or unloaded at their various stops, so I’ll apologize if I offended anyone with that last statement. So far, so good, I think...

Home Run has several different tabs within the Qualcomm system which show the truck and driver’s status (I’m betting most companies have similar/identical conditions): (a) arrive shipper , (b) depart shipper, (c) arrive consignee , and (d) empty call. There is various data that we enter into the fields within each tab — load, reference number, tractor number, trailer number, bill of lading number, etc. I’m very structured and have developed my own ‘paper’ system using 3X5 file cards (a practice suggested to me by my parents during the early educational period in my life) to record this information from the various documents and messages we receive during the course of a week. Each card is dated and formatted so I can quickly find the information I needed.

Here’s the (kinda) scary logistical ‘stuff’ I learned Wednesday and Thursday: I was introduced to the ‘Load’ tab on the Qualcomm under the (I think) Hours of Service tab. I NEVER KNEW THAT EXISTED (emphasis intentional) until Gary showed that to me on Wednesday afternoon. I get it; this is very important legally, but I never knew it was there. I guess I thought the data for the LOAD tab was simply transferred to those cells when I input it via ‘arrive shipper’, ‘depart shipper’ and the other designations. I did not know that a separate entry was required in order for me to be in compliance!

When (if?) any veterans read this and are able to control their laughter at yet another rookie mistake made by this FNG I’ll gladly read and learn from your responses. Until then I’m think I’m gonna head east to Two Walnuts, get a good night’s sleep and climb up in a tree and see if any deer wander by in the morning....

I’m spending most of today (between watching updates on the election results) researching threads concerning the Qualcomm (sic) and all that goes into it. Between my two trainers I’ve received different sets of information (both ‘downloads’ pretty much correct from what I can tell) but not identical. I’m working to sort it all out and the past posts her on TT by many, many members, rookies and vets alike, are proving very helpful.

At the risk of stating what many already know, I’ll share what I (think I’ve) learned and then read with great interest any responses and comments. During my first three weeks of training I was very diligent as I updated my current status to a new status whenever I changed my activities. Since I’m a skateboarder (sic), the time securing and tarping loads is always shown as ‘on duty’, driving is obviously ‘driving’, and sleeping was either ‘off duty’ or ‘sleeper birth’. I believe we (flatbedders) may log more time as ‘on duty’ (working but not driving) since the securement and tapping process can take a bit of time based upon the contents of the load. I’m certainly not trying to pick a fight with those who must wait to be loaded or unloaded at their various stops, so I’ll apologize if I offended anyone with that last statement. So far, so good, I think...

Home Run has several different tabs within the Qualcomm system which show the truck and driver’s status (I’m betting most companies have similar/identical conditions): (a) arrive shipper , (b) depart shipper, (c) arrive consignee , and (d) empty call. There is various data that we enter into the fields within each tab — load, reference number, tractor number, trailer number, bill of lading number, etc. I’m very structured and have developed my own ‘paper’ system using 3X5 file cards (a practice suggested to me by my parents during the early educational period in my life) to record this information from the various documents and messages we receive during the course of a week. Each card is dated and formatted so I can quickly find the information I needed.

Here’s the (kinda) scary logistical ‘stuff’ I learned Wednesday and Thursday: I was introduced to the ‘Load’ tab on the Qualcomm under the (I think) Hours of Service tab. I NEVER KNEW THAT EXISTED (emphasis intentional) until Gary showed that to me on Wednesday afternoon. I get it; this is very important legally, but I never knew it was there. I guess I thought the data for the LOAD tab was simply transferred to those cells when I input it via ‘arrive shipper’, ‘depart shipper’ and the other designations. I did not know that a separate entry was required in order for me to be in compliance!

When (if?) any veterans read this and are able to control their laughter at yet another rookie mistake made by this FNG I’ll gladly read and learn from your responses. Until then I’m think I’m gonna head east to Two Walnuts, get a good night’s sleep and climb up in a tree and see if any deer wander by in the morning....

Still following, Cincy~!

Wow, on that 'load' tab! No clue~!! You have the Qualcomm brand, not PeopleNet or whatever?

I'll have to ask the hubby, tbh. When I was 'with' him on the roads, we had paper logs....i've never 'learned' the QC.. and yes, he now has that branded one..LoL. I'll have to ask; wondering why RatPack (PackRat) hasn't seen this..or Rob D., either! I'm ALWAYS one to aspire to learn as much as I can about this industry, lest the husband desire to play Mr. Mom and leave ME to the 18 wheels (and a dozen roses~!) ;)

Makes for a good, new topic..for sure~!

Keep it up, sir. Saw one of your trucks again, this weekend. You must be riding on 'our' (his?) shirttails, haha! Lodi, Toledo, all our places!

~ Anne ~

For the Load Tab, it's probably similar to the section of the paper logs where you are filling in the company's load number, then whatever your current trailer number.

I'm on Peoplenet, and it is two separate drop down pages.