Travels with Charley....

The sweat is sticky running down my neck, and the back of my new truck is like an oven on wheels, even with the windows open, as i write this.  Salt Lake City is having a very muggy start to its summer....   Most of the snow -- but not all -- is gone from the mountain tops surrounding the Salt lake basin.  Hard to believe that  a short three months ago we were training on the backing range here in snow and rain.  These days, even in the early morning, shorts are appropriate attire.  Too bad i didn't bring any and can't afford to go buy any....  Can't afford much of anything, actually.  I think they expect people to have a healthy bankroll to start their training.  I haven't had a paycheck of more than $250 for the past three months -- and most weeks i don't get that much.  Basically enough for food and to send a little home to help with the girls' summer activities.  It's pretty tough holding on for what i hope are bigger paychecks when i start making longer runs as a full-fledged driver.

Speaking of that, i am now officially, if not gainfully, employed as an independent contractor driver to CR England.  I have passed all tests, suffered through all necessary training voyages and sat through all required classes.  I frankly never thought the day would come, as people have dropped off left and right at each step of the program.  No wonder they say that student turnover is 145% (how the math on that works, i can't really say.  But that's what "they" claim).  I have also leased the above truck, which i am naming "Charley", after author John Steinbeck's French standard poodle, with which he traveled America near the end of his life and wrote the book "Travels with Charley".  Charley was a male, by the way, and since i haven't had much luck doing the right thing by females lately, adopting a male persona for the truck seems appropriate.  Don't want to jinx things right out of the box....

Today i was assigned my very first load: a short haul from Salt Lake City to Nampa, Idaho.(about 340 miles), hauling bottled water to the Nampa Costco store.  Turns out i had a problem with the trailer, though.  It had a cracked brake, which meant i lost about four hours sitting around the Salt Lake City yard while it was being fixed, and which also meant i lost enough time on my "14-hour clock" to be unable to make Nampa, by the delivery due time (4:30 am).  Let me explain:  Truck drivers operate on three separate, yet simultaneously running, clocks.  The first is the 11-hour clock.  You can drive no more than 11 hours in a shift.  You can turn it on and off, depending on whether or not you are driving, but you cannot exceed 11 hours of driving without taking a 10 hour break.

The second is the 14-hour clock.  Once you start "on-duty" driving, the 14-hour clock never shuts off.  You cannot exceed 14 hours of combined on-duty and off-duty driving without taking a 10-hour break.  An example would be like today, where i was on-duty for about five hours, then off-duty for about four hours waiting for the trailer to be repaired.  That left me with just five hours of drive time before being required to take a break, which was insufficient to drive the 7-8 hours to Nampa.  Therefore, a truck of team drivers picked up my load and headed off to Idaho.  Which also meant that i don't get paid a nickel for today -- you only get paid when you complete the run and submit the paperwork.  Sad, poor face....

There is also a 70-hour clock, which counts your drive time over the course of a 70 hour period.  Once you have reached your 70 hours you need to do a 34-hour "restart", or rest, to start that clock all over again.

That's it in a nutshell.

Just got a message on the truck computer that i am being dispatched to pick up a load in Ogden, UT tomorrow at noon with delivery on my birthday, July 3, in New Mexico.  Hopefully this load will not be star-crossed, as i desperately need the paycheck.  Hopefully the fact that it's on my birthday will mean good luck.

That's about it for now.  Charley and i are going to hope the evening cools down a bit.

Stay safe.....

KWA