Beginning New Career With PTL. (A Diary)

Definitely having one of those days you guys all warned me about. Dropped off load in Louisville KY at the madhouse known as Ford Motor Co. Picked up a load of liquor mixes in New Albany IN bound 1/2 for Dallas and 1/2 for McKinney TX. They wouldn't take load until 24 hours after I got it there. So got a message to drop trailer in Irving drop yard and pick up an extremely hot load bound for Ohio. Fought the morning traffic in and around Dallas and made it to the drop yard. Put in a macro for trailer dropped and heard an audible pop from the QC. Ever since it will not take any inputs from the touchscreen. I'm able to scroll thru and read messages but I can't tab thru many of the macros or make any changes. Called everyone in Murray I could think of and they all asked me to reset it (which I'd already done 10 times). I can't even get myself onto line 1 so I've been stuck on line 4 for the last 3 hrs. No one in Murray seems to know if they can log me from there or if I should go paper until QC is fixed. Maintenance said they would send me instructions to get it fixed but that hasn't happened. The load bound for Ohio was 108 miles out 2.5 hrs ago but I know when it gets here I I'm gonna get canned masts from QC that I can't do anything with. To top it all off my co-driver (who isn't the slightest bit concerned about any load or communication issues) just started cussing and banging on stuff because one of his DVD movies is missing.

Greyhound is the worst way to travel I've ever experienced and they have the most miserable employees imaginable.

. . . which is why I bought a plane ticket to Springfield, MO . . . the recruiter said I will be reimbursed the cost of the bus ticket which makes avoiding two days on a bus cheap . . . I also got the travel insurance which will also work out since I had to postpone my trip . . .

Jopa

This will be my first option if it is financially feasible.

In the spirit of Easter The Lord reached out his hand and spaketh "Qualcomm touchscreen come forth". So that issue is fixed. The " extremely hot load" took 4.5 hours to get 108 miles to me and taking it close to 1100 miles to clyde oh. Close to 300 miles out now and eta is 2.5 hrs early. Shaping up to be a better day.

For reference: if you are ever in a support or home office position and a driver is having QC problems, do not send him messages on the QC telling him that he isn't using the Qualcomm correctly, log updates that he has to approve using the QC, and directions to repair over the QC.

Dropped trailer in Clyde OH and deadheaded to Columbus Budweiser plant. Getting loaded there now and headed for Columbia SC. Everything running pretty smooth today. Almost hit 2 cars and 1 sign today but hallelujah I DIDN'T.

From Columbia Sc we got load going to Houston TX. 1000 mi. Exactly. Did T call south of Montgomery and have 4766 miles for the week. Also have 300 before midnight so got good jump star on next week.

That is the reason we are here at Truckingtruth.com.

Since knowledge is power and people usually have to pay for things that push their career along, this is without a doubt the best deal goin' on the internet right now . . . can't beat the price, that's for sure!!

Jopa

Dropped load in Houston and getting live loaded in La Porte TX for a run to Minerva OH. 1300 mi but doesn't deliver until 1300 on Monday. I'm getting good loads and decent miles but I end up sitting still on Sunday. I'll put it there on Saturday and see if I can drop it and get another. So far I'm loving driving truck just hate sitting around a truck stop away from home not making money and spending it. Anyone have any advice on what I can do to be more productive on the weekends?

Turns out to be a blessing that this load was run leisurely because I didn't really factor my hours in. PTL advises drivers to take only 1 restart a month during your home time and run off recap. Something to do with the load planning. So we'll get this load there at a medium pace and bank some recap hours so we can run like blind flying mammals out of hades again come Monday. I'd love to just run 1000 miles a day everyday but that durn 70 hr clock just won't let me.

Turns out to be a blessing that this load was run leisurely because I didn't really factor my hours in. PTL advises drivers to take only 1 restart a month during your home time and run off recap. Something to do with the load planning. So we'll get this load there at a medium pace and bank some recap hours so we can run like blind flying mammals out of hades again come Monday. I'd love to just run 1000 miles a day everyday but that durn 70 hr clock just won't let me.

How's going Scott??

Haven't updated this post in a while. Phone was inoperable and it's been a terrible week. From Minerva Oh picked up load in Clyde Ohio bound for Locust Grove Ga. Was instructed to get there ASAP and pick up new load from same facility. 19 hrs later (for a drop and hook) we were loaded and headed to right outside of philly. Got a crack in windshield and had to wait overnight in Bordentown NJ. Got new glass and was dispatched a place right down the street to pick up an empty and drop empty about 20 miles away. Then bobtailed to New Bergen NJ to pick up load bound for Fairborn OH. No one at this facility has ever heard of PTL. They don't have my trailer and no one speaks English. Dispatch has no clue what to do. I have no clue what to do. No one here even knows who in the heck I am or why I'm here. This "team" has gotten 2800 miles and logged about 1000 hrs as sleeper berth. To top it all off, the place I'm at is less than 3 miles from Times Square. I'm in a place where no one with my level of experience should ever be allowed to drive a truck. I haven't had any incidents yet but only because I'm in a bobtail. If I'd had a 53' trailer, myself and said trailer would still be at the RR underpass that turns 180 degrees and becomes a 1 lane road with 2 way traffic with no warning whatsoever. Luckily, not much traffic was using it because it had about 3 feet of standing water in the road. So here I sit on the bad side of the Hudson River waiting for a load that isn't here. And that is how I'm doing lol.

I don't know if anyone is going to read that last paragraph, but I feel a lot better having written it. I'm gonna stop whining now.