11-1-06 - Wednesday - Gotta Go Back Out,,,
I'm back in Salt Lake City now. My screwball CAT first seat told me that I was ready for my lease and dropped me off in Dallas, TX yesterday. I could have waited for a truck to take me back to Salt Lake, but I decided that I wasn't going to waste time waiting for that or a ride on the Grey Dog, (Greyhound Bus), so I got a flight out of Dallas, TX to Salt Lake last night. I went to CRE this morning and found out that I still needed about 7 days in the CAT program. Ouch! I thought I was done. Oh well.
First, a little detail about the past day or so. We left out of Denver Sunday afternoon and I drove out east on 70 and then south on 287 towards Dallas. I got to within about 150 miles of our first of two deliveries on this trip by about 1100 pm. I went to bed and my First Seat drove the rest of the way. Well, at about 0330 he woke me up and was asking me to help him with directions to the delivery point. We had directions on the Qualcom to the customer, but they weren't very clear. They were perfectly clear when you looked at the map. I struggled to wake up and did a little map reading, (something he could have done if he wasn't busy asking me to help him), and found the correct routing. We were only about 20 miles out of the way, thank goodness. So much for a good nights sleep. I napped for a bit while the first half of our meat load was unloaded, but it wasn't good sleep. At about 900 am I started driving again.
We stopped a few times on the way down to our second drop in San Antonio and I used the direction on the Qualcom and a call to the customer to find the customer. It was even dark, and in the middle of an industrial park. I found it. It's amazing how easy this job is if you have half a brain. My co-driver was in the sleeper watching TV. I didn't bother him to help me find the place, I just used my half a brain and had no problem.
We ended up parking on the street outside the customer for the night. The customer didn't take any early deliveries. Oh well. That's how it happens sometimes. I did get a good nights sleep.
A side note now. My co-driver got a call from his ex-girlfriend that he has two children with ages 18 months and 3 years. Turns out that after being separated for about 6 months, they want to get back together. Another little detail, his ex-girlfriend is 5 months pregnant with someone elses baby. Wierd. He was on the phone with her for hours.
I woke at about 530 am when the dock manager came around to all the parked trucks to line us up and assign us dock doors. My co-driver woke me up by telling me I had to back up into the dock because he was too tired to back the truck. I told him it wasn't my turn to drive. He bitched some more, but I didn't change my tune. I was in the middle of my 10 hours of rest. He bitched some more. I didn't care. I went back to sleep and listened as my co-driver scraped the trailer landing gear on the bump in the driveway leading to the docks. I had seen this bump with scrapes and chunks out of it the previous evening and told him about it. He would need to go over it at an angle to avoid scraping the landing gear on it. He didn't listen. I don't care.
On Tuesday morning my co-driver decided that he wanted to go home to Oklohoma to get his girlfriend. He told me I was ready to lease a truck and that I could catch a ride out of Dallas to Salt Lake on another truck or maybe a bus. I elected to fly instead. That's how I got back here to Salt Lake City.
I was sure to tell CRE about how scary it was to ride with my co-driver. Tailgating, speeding, space management, and a total lack of driving sense. They said that the previous second seat driver with him had said the same thing and had even stated that he thought he was "going to die". My only concern is that CRE sent me out with him after hearing this. Serious concern. I guess they waited to hear it from two drivers so they could see that it was not just a personality conflict, it was a real issue. They told me that he was now not "elligible" for a second seat CAT. At least no one else will be subjected to the near death experience that I was. My only continuing concern is that he is on the road driving and so is my family and to that extent so is everyone elses. I hope he doesn't hurt anyone.
So here I am. Tomorrow I'm going to meet a friend at 200 pm at CRE and we will get on the road. The guy I am going to finish my second seat CAT time with was in my initial training class but he got finished a bit earlier than I did because he had previous experience. I like and trust him, so it should be a good 6 or 7 days. I hope we just get a load going east and then another one going west again. That should get me back to Sal Lake to lease my truck next week sometime. So close, yet so far. I am really looking foward to getting out on my own.
Time to relax and get ready for tomorrow.
First, a little detail about the past day or so. We left out of Denver Sunday afternoon and I drove out east on 70 and then south on 287 towards Dallas. I got to within about 150 miles of our first of two deliveries on this trip by about 1100 pm. I went to bed and my First Seat drove the rest of the way. Well, at about 0330 he woke me up and was asking me to help him with directions to the delivery point. We had directions on the Qualcom to the customer, but they weren't very clear. They were perfectly clear when you looked at the map. I struggled to wake up and did a little map reading, (something he could have done if he wasn't busy asking me to help him), and found the correct routing. We were only about 20 miles out of the way, thank goodness. So much for a good nights sleep. I napped for a bit while the first half of our meat load was unloaded, but it wasn't good sleep. At about 900 am I started driving again.
We stopped a few times on the way down to our second drop in San Antonio and I used the direction on the Qualcom and a call to the customer to find the customer. It was even dark, and in the middle of an industrial park. I found it. It's amazing how easy this job is if you have half a brain. My co-driver was in the sleeper watching TV. I didn't bother him to help me find the place, I just used my half a brain and had no problem.
We ended up parking on the street outside the customer for the night. The customer didn't take any early deliveries. Oh well. That's how it happens sometimes. I did get a good nights sleep.
A side note now. My co-driver got a call from his ex-girlfriend that he has two children with ages 18 months and 3 years. Turns out that after being separated for about 6 months, they want to get back together. Another little detail, his ex-girlfriend is 5 months pregnant with someone elses baby. Wierd. He was on the phone with her for hours.
I woke at about 530 am when the dock manager came around to all the parked trucks to line us up and assign us dock doors. My co-driver woke me up by telling me I had to back up into the dock because he was too tired to back the truck. I told him it wasn't my turn to drive. He bitched some more, but I didn't change my tune. I was in the middle of my 10 hours of rest. He bitched some more. I didn't care. I went back to sleep and listened as my co-driver scraped the trailer landing gear on the bump in the driveway leading to the docks. I had seen this bump with scrapes and chunks out of it the previous evening and told him about it. He would need to go over it at an angle to avoid scraping the landing gear on it. He didn't listen. I don't care.
On Tuesday morning my co-driver decided that he wanted to go home to Oklohoma to get his girlfriend. He told me I was ready to lease a truck and that I could catch a ride out of Dallas to Salt Lake on another truck or maybe a bus. I elected to fly instead. That's how I got back here to Salt Lake City.
I was sure to tell CRE about how scary it was to ride with my co-driver. Tailgating, speeding, space management, and a total lack of driving sense. They said that the previous second seat driver with him had said the same thing and had even stated that he thought he was "going to die". My only concern is that CRE sent me out with him after hearing this. Serious concern. I guess they waited to hear it from two drivers so they could see that it was not just a personality conflict, it was a real issue. They told me that he was now not "elligible" for a second seat CAT. At least no one else will be subjected to the near death experience that I was. My only continuing concern is that he is on the road driving and so is my family and to that extent so is everyone elses. I hope he doesn't hurt anyone.
So here I am. Tomorrow I'm going to meet a friend at 200 pm at CRE and we will get on the road. The guy I am going to finish my second seat CAT time with was in my initial training class but he got finished a bit earlier than I did because he had previous experience. I like and trust him, so it should be a good 6 or 7 days. I hope we just get a load going east and then another one going west again. That should get me back to Sal Lake to lease my truck next week sometime. So close, yet so far. I am really looking foward to getting out on my own.
Time to relax and get ready for tomorrow.
posted by BigJohn at 3:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home