Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 10 years is what I'm aiming for with my company. After that, I'm gonna try and get hired on with Walmart as an otr driver. I have two close friends that are already drive for them. They showed me their w-2's last week... Holy crap! They nearly doubled what I make a year! And what I make is nothing to sneeze at as far as otr flatbedding is concerned. I'll most likely have to make the change in the next 3 years anyway. Flatbedding is a young mans game! I may seem like a young man to someone older than me, but the Marine Corps and life made me into an old man prematurely. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Congrats, Josh! Good luck hitting your goal. You'll let us know when you do, right? You bet I will! Speaking of goals...my 3 month vapersary will be here on the 27th of Feb! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 You bet I will! Speaking of goals...my 3 month vapersary will be here on the 27th of Feb! Wow. You've learned so much so fast! It's hard to believe you've only been vaping for three months, yet that's a great accomplishment. I'm looking forward to May 10th when I first picked up an e-cig and May 15th when I totally quit smoking. That will be my two years' anniversary. It's coming along... Joshuab3687 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffb Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Big rigs should be banned from the freeways during rush hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Big rigs should be banned from the freeways during rush hours I think big rigs should be banned from Cali. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Besides Jeff, the freeway system was actually designed primarily for military movement and inter/intra-state commerce. From a pure experience perspective, rush hour jams are primarily caused by poor planning and a large populace of self important people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffb Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Self important people in SoCal???????? Joshuab3687 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Self important people in SoCal???????? NEVER!!!!! Lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 I wish you could take a trip in a big rig for a week. It tends to give people a new perspective on the driving behavior of those in cars. It has changed the way my wife drives, as well as my mother, grandmother, and my dad, before he passed away. You also have to remember that driving is what we do. Its our office, our specialty. Yep, some truckers are a-holes and suck at what they do. There will always be bad apples out there. But, I always drive as if every person in a car around me is family. I wish more truckers would do that. But, as each passing generation gives way to the next, there'll be a time when those idiot,obnoxious teenagers we all see at the mall, will be some of the ones behind the wheel of big rigs. I cringe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 I'd take you up on that if you could take a passenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 I'd take you up on that if you could take a passenger. I wish I could, but the company I drive for, only allows family to ride. If I was still an owner/op, I would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 I wish I could, but the company I drive for, only allows family to ride. If I was still an owner/op, I would. Yeah, I know most companies don't allow passengers due to liability and insurance issues. If given the opportunity I'd love to learn more, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Well, I'll try my best to give as much knowledge as I can impart through this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Thanks, I really appreciate it, Josh! I love learning new things. Joshuab3687 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Right now, I'm trying my best to stay awake till 7am. This week is the last week my trainee will be with me and the load I have on my trailer has to be in Hagerstown,MD monday morning at 9:30c. From my house, we're 1070 miles away. So, about 18 hours +/-. He'll be taking the first shift while I sleep. Then its my turn behind the wheel overnight. Normally, I don't run "team" status with my trainees, but this guy has previous otr driving experience. He's a good driver and I'm totally comfortable sleeping while he drives. Most of the trainees I get are straight out of truck driving school and there is NO WAY I'd get any sleep behind them. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 How many hours is it legal for one driver to go before you reach your limit for the day? I know that most independent truckers don't like the lower limits imposed since it costs them money should their load be late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 We have 11 hours of drive time before we have to take a 10 hour sleeper or break. To make things a little more complicated we have 14 hrs to get the 11 hours of driving done in. Confused yet? Standard way of thinking about this is to say, I get up at 7am and do a 15 minute pretrip inspection. At the moment I go "on duty", I have 14 hours to get my 11 hours of driving in. So, at 9 pm, I have to stop driving and take a 10 hour break, whether I drove all 11 or only 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Wow. Well that sucks, yet it's good that drivers are rested properly? Since you work for a company you have people who map out your routes for you, right? To make sure the bridges you go under are tall enough for your trailers and everything? Or do you have to do that yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Wow. Well that sucks, yet it's good that drivers are rested properly? Since you work for a company you have people who map out your routes for you, right? To make sure the bridges you go under are tall enough for your trailers and everything? Or do you have to do that yourself? It's generally the drivers responsibility to route himself/herself safely. Our company does have a new computer satellite system that now incorporates a cmv gps system that is supposed to keep us off of roads that are weight restricted and have low clearance bridges. However, they aren't always accurate. We have cmv specific atlases that have restricted highways and low clearance locations listed by state in the front of the atlas. Those atlases are made by Rand-Mcnally and they update their maps, coordinated state-by-state every year. A trucker without a cmv atlas is a dangerous thing. Lol I've been routing myself since before there were gps's available to the general public. I rely on me, not a computer, and definitely not a person who sits behind a desk who has never driven a big truck before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 That's interesting. See? I know a little (very little), about a lot of things. It's usually just enough to get me into trouble and/or to rouse my insatiable curiosity. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 As far as being rested... Well, you can make a trucker take his mandated 10 hr break, but you can't make him sleep. Lol. My body only allows me to sleep 6 hrs at a time (unless I'm at home and have been drinking). But, there are always some drivers that would rather stay up and jack their jaws on the CB radio all night. I rarely use my CB anymore. It used to be that you cold get useful info from others about where the cops with speed traps are and if there were any backups ahead, but now its a bunch of overgrown adolescent idiots talking smack all the time. That's interesting. See? I know a little (very little), about a lot of things. It's usually just enough to get me into trouble and/or to rouse my insatiable curiosity. Lol. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 My step-dad got into the CB craze back in the 70s when everyone was getting on the bandwagon. I remember getting dragged to his CB club's meetings. We had a huge home base set up. That was in the old days when even the CB club members were helpful and learned how to use the thing responsibly and were a help to truckers. A few years and bad trucker movies later and we got out when the airways were taken over by the wanna be's. I'm not surprised to see they're still there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 (edited) Oh, they will always be around. A lot of the places I pickup from or deliver to require us to check in over the CB. I only use mine these days to communicate in a traffic back-up, with our customers, and in construction zones. You wouldn't believe the amount of childish foul mouthed rhetoric you'd hear over the airwaves at or near a truckstop. Now, I have a pretty foul mouth myself, having been a Marine, but I know when and where to use it. I try to be respectful of children and women when it comes to my language. And if a female trucker gets on the radio...its like 30 sex starved maniacs come out of the woodwork! Edited February 16, 2014 by Joshuab3687 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tam Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 That's what started happening in the late 70s when we all got out. Step-dad was a lifer in the Navy so I grew up around sailors. I have quite the vocabulary and can make a sailor blush myself if I set my mind to it. Due to my position at work I try not to use those words anymore, it's just not appropriate...even when it would be appropriate if you get my meaning. I'll never forget the shock I got the first time I walked into a Marine enlisted club. Every Marine was instantly on his feet and someone shouted, "lady in the room." Even though the place was packed with men and I was the only woman there (other than my friend who was bartending), every chair in the room was offered to me when I walked in. That certainly made an impression I'll never forget. I never saw anything like it in the Navy enlisted club or even the Chief's club or the Officer's club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshuab3687 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Yeah, there was a lot of decorum drilled into our heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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