Hurry up and wait!

Dawn breaks with 3 deliveries to make in a short time.  Of course, three deliveries, means 3 backups to docks.  Yoiks!  Early in the morning, huge day before and just enough sleep.  That was truly and adventure!

(Note, I will not be using customer names or anything like that, in fairness to the company in case I have something bad to say about them :)

By 1030, our deliveries are made and we are heading for the yard in Colton California.  We have some things broken on the truck that need to be looked at.  So, off we go from San Diego back towards (East of) LA.  We pull in early afternoon and little did we know what awaited us there.  Our truck was in the shop FOREVER it seemed.  The mechanical problems were fixed pretty quickly, our computer problem was more vexing.

The computer is an amazing box.  It is a GPS/SATCOM unit, and it controls our lives.  All of our dispatches, routes, fuel info, navigation and communication goes through it.  It is amazingly easy to use, but like any other Windows product, it has flaws!  The flaws kept us in the shop for WAY too long. A day and a half (grrrrrrrrrr.)

Through it all, Robert is showing me and teaching me alot of stuff.  My head is spinning at times with all the advice and info he has.  He is a great trainer, and if I ever get good at this, it’ll be more to his credit than mine, to be sure.

The nice part about being in the yard, SHOWERS!  They have free showers! And laundry.  What a relief that is.  As anyone who knows me knows, a shower, often is a necessity of life!

And so it begins...

After much tribulation, it was decided by me and the company that I should fly to Phoenix to meet my trainer.  A few phone calls later and I was on the 8am flight to Phoenix.  Not bad when you consider these were last minute arrangements on Thanksgiving weekend!  My trainer, Robert, has arranged to meet me at the airport and we finally met after days of trying to get together.  Everything works and we meet at the baggage claim.

Robert tells me that there is about a 2% chance that we will get a load on Sunday, so you know what happens next.  We decide to go get some food, the cell phone rings and bingo, we have a load!  It’s a fast run too, we’re already going to be late for the pick up unless we leave right away, so, the gear gets tossed into the truck and we hit the road!

During training, U.S. Xpress believes that the trainee (me) should do all the driving, backing and work, to get into the game fast.  It works.  Robert takes me through every step, gives me a “crash” course in operating this type of tractor and off we go.  Phoenix to just outside of LA, then down to San Diego.  What a LONG day that was.  First day in the truck and I have to drop an empty trailer in the drop yard, pick up the loaded trailer and head out for an 0600 delivery.

We get into the delivery area with just enough time to take a legal break and make our delivery time.  Talk about jumping in with both feet!  I was scared snotless at first, but then I got comfortable with the truck.  Robert taught me alot about being aware of everything around the truck.  It’s rather more of a deal to maneuver a 70 foot behemoth down the highway than your average 10 foot car.  Alot to learn, and alot to remember.  Luckily, everything goes without incident.

My kingdom for a truck...

Hurry up and wait... I thought I left that behind when I left the military.  Evidently not.  By 0930 I was an employee of the company, had gotten my fuel/ATM/pay/phone card and my driver ID number.  All I had to do now was go downstairs to the training office and get a trainer.  So easily said...

Alas, such was not to be the case.  No trainers are available here in Oklahoma City, and in fact, my trainer should be someone from Colton, California!  Oh well.  The sad part is, my training coordinator in Chattanooga took the afternoon off!  The great folks here in OKC tried like hell to get me hooked up (Thanks Debbie!!) but it just wasn’t going to happen.  Debbie hated the idea of sending me home, but it was either send me home or sit me in the hotel till Tuesday.  Needless to say, the idea of going home appealed to me.  So, after another 2 hours of waiting for the shuttle bus, I was renting a car (Faster than a bus, but they will only credit me the cost of the bus ticket...  As if I cared, the idea that they will cover that much is great!).

The drive from OKC to home was pretty uneventful, 8.5 hours of just hammer down.  Actually, not true, I drove no more that 3mph over the speed limit, professional driver you know, can’t get tickets.  Got home at about 0030, talked to Pam a long while (Surprising how much you miss talking in person :) and off to bed, for 12 hours...

So, here I wait, surprising Pam by coming home and making Xena a very happy dog.  Even though it’s going to cost me $500, I am definitely going to take her with me in the truck!  She’s going to have a blast!  (Xena, that is... the dog.)

So, we wait for Sunday/Monday to find out my fate..