Beginning New Career With PTL. (A Diary)

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.

Wow, very interesting and crazy, I know the area a bit and it is very hectic. Lets us know how your situation gets resolved..

We'll turns out that whole mess was my fault. (The mess with my load. The mess that is Newark I has no part in.) One of our canned messages is pretty ambiguous and as it turns out I dropped an empty where I was supposed to pick up a loaded and tried to pick up load where I should have dropped empty. No harm done, fixed the problem and after wasting about 5 hours on that I still have enough time to deliver. Getting out of Newark was a real pain. Love how the signs in the interchanges ( whole city is an interchange) tell you where you should have gone. The one sign they really should put up is a warning to wear a helmet because of the massive bumps. Makes North Little Rock seem like a nice skating rink. Also was amazed that a toll plaza could be wider than the Mississippi. Good news is once you leave Newark on I-80 (if you can find I-80) the drive through the Poconos is awesome.

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.

Hey Scott, we'll let you vent every now and then. If anybody here knows what you're going through it is the experienced drivers here. While this career has some very rewarding times it also has it's extremely frustrating days, in fact many times those days will turn into a whole week. It just comes with the territory. This is the reason why you've got to be able to sort of roll with the punches and not let your mind and emotions be controlled by your circumstances. I often tell people that there are so many things to master in this career and most of them have nothing to do with driving a truck.

When you see all the negative stuff on the internet about this career it makes you realize how it takes a special person to make this career work for them. I love this stuff, and from what I can glean from your posts, you do too, but not being able to put up with the frustrations is a deal breaker for many folks. Controlling yourself and your reactions is a far greater skill than controlling an 80,000 pound vehicle, and when you are in control of those things you can make a go at this truck driving career.

I have no doubts in your ability to do this, and I'm not even really aiming my thoughts at you - more than anything it is just a general response for others to see and realize that though this career has a very romantic appeal with all the glory and adventure of cruising across the country in a Big Rig, it also carries with it a greater responsibility of being able to enjoy pleasures of it while mastering the difficulties and frustrations of it at the same time.

Keep those wheels rolling!

Scott,

It is reminiscent of my first 12 hours at bootcamp (G.L.,IL - 1981), man when they say paperwork it brings on a whole other meaning. Hours upon hours of filling in essentially the same crap!

I'm sure day two will be something different and much more enjoyable, all the best!!

Bootcamp....yes! From what I've heard others say, the mindset needed to get through it is very similar to that. Bootcamp was more of a mind game than it was anything else. The ones that struggled or got set back were the ones with discipline and attitude problems. It's important to be able to do like Happy Gilmore and be able to take your mind to a "happy place" while remembering that it is just a short amount of time.

Yeah Old School I am enjoying myself immensely in this career with a few minor exceptions. I have now driven every mile of I-80 from Newark to 15 in Wyoming and every time I wonder why they actually pay me. But the drawback is that my first adventure into the rough parts of the NE was done basically for free.

I really enjoy posting this thread and it makes my day when one of you guys throw out some support. I also hope that the people "researching" PTL on he internet can get a better picture from this thread than on TR where the complaints on PTL range from no miles to hauling live humans for the purpose of satanic human sacrifice. (I'm not kidding btw. A company that owns nothing but dry vans hauling live humans lol.) Once again, thanks for the support guys. It means a lot. Even from the English Arkansian.

Scott, I want to thank you for your diary. I gives us a peek into a company that we have not had much imput on. And it helps the new folks coming thru get a look at what trucking can be like. I am like you,..I love I 80...every mile shows you something different and beautiful.....

Keep up your great driving experience...stay safe and sane, and know that we look forward to hearing from you.

Delivered load from Newark to Sharonville OH and picked up new load in same city bound for the DFW area. Other than a 15 rd fight ,which I eventually won by split decision, with my sliding tandems it has been a nice uneventful trip. I'm at closest stop to receiver now well rested and load delivers on Sunday instead of Monday which is awesome. No extended sitting this weekend.

Hi Scott, could you please post your Miles/pay the last few weeks? How's your partner coming along, things much be going ok since you haven't said much about him lately. Also how are you finding the equipment at PTL? Do you have decent truck and are the trailers in go shape?

The miles are in this thread somewhere but I can give you an estimate. The 1 st week I was out 575 miles in a day and a half. The 2nd was 4800. The 3rd week was 3600 miles and 100$ layover pay. The current week is shaping up to be much better. Partner is ok. I knew going into this that he chances of puttin two strangers in a truck for 30 k miles and them be becoming best friends was slim. He bathes and his driving dosent scare me so I'm good. If you want to hear all my complaints about the guy you'll have to crawl inside my head or talk to me in private though. I've done time in prison before, I lived with worse. My tractor is awesome. Other than the windshield crack she has given me no problems. And I'm 79400 lbs right now and have to look for a hole to pass certain orange and purplish trucks when going up hills. She can pull. Trailers are hit and miss. I haven't had a trailer yet that I've had to take in or just wouldn't/ couldn't pull. Some have been brand new and in awesome condition. Some have lights that need fixing. One had a brake out of adjustment. A couple have required the intervention of The Risen Lord to get the tandems to slide. Absolutely love the APU too. Set it for a temperature and when you cut off the truck it will automatically cut on and keep it at your chosen temp and keep your batteries charged. Other than an issue with the touchscreen, the QC has operated fine. However, if you ever see a big white truck with a black box tied to a cable and swinging outside the passenger door, honk your horn and wave. I'll wave back.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I read it and I can say that I am impressed that you didn't focus your displeasure elsewhere, like toward other drivers on the road. It is important to "vent", and I think this forum is a good place to do so, when done with grace, which you did!

Stay cool man!