Put in the big hole and gouge on it (truck driver check in)

[Gil Bang 25959]

This motherfucker really needs to check in and let us know he's cool.   I'm really concerned that he put 'er in a ditch somewhere. 

[shadow_operative2.0 15984]

Appears he at least logged in recently. 
 

[RPM 26321]

@drifter379 can I get a radio check?

[Covri 6249]

@drifter379  

 

if you have a minute let us know how things are going with regards to the current diesel prices. It’s got be tough out there paying over $5 a gallon for diesel, how is it affecting your loads?

[Jkwellborn 6702]

[mention=1331]drifter379[/mention]  
 
if you have a minute let us know how things are going with regards to the current diesel prices. It’s got be tough out there paying over $5 a gallon for diesel, how is it affecting your loads?

I know it’s driving up freight rates on everything I’ve seen. No one is going to be eating that fuel cost, especially owner ops. The fuel surcharge we pay is the highest it’s ever been.

[Covri 6249]

3 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

I know it’s driving up freight rates on everything I’ve seen. No one is going to be eating that fuel cost, especially owner ops. The fuel surcharge we pay is the highest it’s ever been.

Yeah the national DOE fuel surcharge is higher than I’ve ever seen after jumping up over .20 cents in the last couple weeks. And it’s still not enough.

 

[RPM 26321]

 

[RPM 26321]

Just to bump the thread. I stumbled across this girl's YouTube channel and it's kinda cool. A kid actually working her ass off on the farm and running the big machinery pretty damned good. There's still old school out there.

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by RPM

[TPCJ007 48]

What has happened to Drifter?

[drifter379 1106]

Hey y’all I’m alive. A lot of life shit going on. I’ll post an update tonight.

[shadow_operative2.0 15984]

Well, fucking look at this mother fucker. 

[drifter379 1106]

First of all me and Ole Sparkle Cake are still out here kicking ass. 


 

I kind of quit social media for a little while and got out of the habit of checking in here. 
I took time off from Thanksgiving through New Years and just as I was ready to get back to work I got the ‘rona. That put me down for two more weeks. Finally got my shit together and hit the road on Jan 14th. 
 

I was laid up at the TA in Big Springs on Jan 22 and my phone rang at 2:30am. Any one that makes a living on the road or travels a lot knows that’s never good news on the other end. So I answered it and my wife says “Oliver (our dog) and I are fine but the house is on fire”

 

So as you can imagine I went home to deal with that. So between dealing with insurance, saving what we could and getting my wife into a place to live I was off work again until the end of Feb. 

We live on 2.5 acres so we were able to get a good size 5th wheel set up next to the house to live in during the rebuild process.  Once I got her settled in I hit the road hard. I’ve only been home twice since March. 
 

 

[shadow_operative2.0 15984]

Satellite dish is fine!

Seriously though, sorry man. What caused it?

[Not that Bob 738]

Heart breaker.

 

[RexWilson 1347]

[Goofyboy 3293]

Sorry about the house. Glad you’re ok. Welcome back.

[TPCJ007 48]

Oh man Drifter!!! I know how you feel. I had a house fire in August 2018, it happened while I was at work my dog was able to get out of the house and survive because she had a doggie door and hung out in the backyard until the neighbors took her in. She still gets scared when she hears a loud beeping noise like a smoke detector. I live in North Austin and my place was a builder grade house built in 1975, so when it was rebuilt it was so wonderful to have a great new house with new windows, extra insulation and completely modernized. The 12 months that it took to rebuild were VERY stressful but Travelers insurance was great, and since then I've really enjoyed the new house. Good luck.

[Sam Lin 3559]

Man. Glad to hear from you.

[drifter379 1106]

5 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Satellite dish is fine!

Seriously though, sorry man. What caused it?

That’s the antenna for my internet. I called to have the service turned off and the motherfucker wanted to charge me for the dish. (We been customers for more than 10 years) I told him to come get the damn thing. 

[RPM 26321]

Glad to hear everybody is OK! Life tends to kick you in the ass when you least expect it.

[luke duke 6413]

Maybe you can install one of these in the new house

[drifter379 1106]

So this happened last night. 
 

 

I have no idea what caused them to spin. Best I can figure is that it was cell phone related. 
 

keep you head on a swivel out there. 
 

[RPM 26321]

I had a 70's Chevelle do that in front of me one night between Knoxville and Rocky Top. I was driving a cabover Freightliner and they got so close I couldn't see the car anymore, but I never touched them.

Edited July 26, 2022 by RPM

[You don't know me 1161]

Holy shit, @drifter379!  I'm glad that you're okay.  I'm really sorry about the house.  Hopefully it gets rebuilt soon.  Stay safe.

[RPM 26321]

Been seeing a lot of these Mack Anthem videos coming out. They look pretty sweet to be honest. I'm guilty of driving a 1 stack R Model Mack with a window in the back, but it looked nothing like this!

Trick question. Where's the sticks?

Edited August 5, 2022 by RPM

[Gil Bang 25959]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:56 AM, RPM said:

Been seeing a lot of these Mack Anthem videos coming out. They look pretty sweet to be honest. I'm guilty of driving a 1 stack R Model Mack with a window in the back, but it looked nothing like this!

Trick question. Where's the sticks?

auto tranny is my guess.  

DTNA said 94% of new Freightliner Cascadias are being spec’d with automated manual transmissions and 5% manual. The other 1% are fully automatic.

An estimated 90% of all Volvo Trucks are being built with AMTs. Likewise, Navistar International said manuals have shrunk to a few percent, while Kenworth Truck’s linehaul builds with AMTs jumped from 30% in 2013 to about 70% in 2018.

 

 

[Gil Bang 25959]

On 7/11/2022 at 6:33 AM, RPM said:

Just to bump the thread. I stumbled across this girl's YouTube channel and it's kinda cool. A kid actually working her ass off on the farm and running the big machinery pretty damned good. There's still old school out there.

 

Before I comment, I need to know if she's over 18.

[Wally Fairway 5550]

On 7/15/2022 at 6:16 PM, drifter379 said:

First of all me and Ole Sparkle Cake are still out here kicking ass. 
 

I kind of quit social media for a little while and got out of the habit of checking in here. 
I took time off from Thanksgiving through New Years and just as I was ready to get back to work I got the ‘rona. That put me down for two more weeks. Finally got my shit together and hit the road on Jan 14th. 
 

I was laid up at the TA in Big Springs on Jan 22 and my phone rang at 2:30am. Any one that makes a living on the road or travels a lot knows that’s never good news on the other end. So I answered it and my wife says “Oliver (our dog) and I are fine but the house is on fire

So as you can imagine I went home to deal with that. So between dealing with insurance, saving what we could and getting my wife into a place to live I was off work again until the end of Feb. 

We live on 2.5 acres so we were able to get a good size 5th wheel set up next to the house to live in during the rebuild process.  Once I got her settled in I hit the road hard. I’ve only been home twice since March. 
 

 

Holey Shit man - I haven't read this thread in a month and damn. That place looks like it is on the frontline in Ukraine
You doing alright?
Anything surly can help with - like helping negotiate with your insurance company, or sending a strongly worded letter from your lawyer?

Edited August 10, 2022 by Wally Fairway

[drifter379 1106]

On 7/26/2022 at 9:07 AM, RPM said:

I had a 70's Chevelle do that in front of me one night between Knoxville and Rocky Top. I was driving a cabover Freightliner and they got so close I couldn't see the car anymore, but I never touched them.

My camera sits up high in the windshield. I never saw them until they were sideways in front of me. 

[RPM 26321]

 

[Sam Lin 3559]

Huh. And it doesn't say Swift.

[Jkwellborn 6702]

 

I wonder if there’s a forklift in the nose of that trailer.

[Guest]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:13 AM, Jkwellborn said:

I wonder if there’s a forklift in the nose of that trailer.

Shouldn't  be driving forklifts on trailers, but can't disagree with your premise.

4 relatively densely packed pallets can tip a trailer forward.   A friend told me...or maybe it was my dumbass self in high school with a pallet jack.

Edited August 28, 2022 by slorch

[markstanco 12577]

Huh. And it doesn't say Swift.

I actually get this joke.

[YGIFS 19450]

On 8/26/2022 at 1:50 AM, Sam Lin said:

Huh. And it doesn't say Swift.

Celadon had joined the chat.  

[Jkwellborn 6702]

Shouldn't  be driving forklifts on trailers, but can't disagree with your premise.
4 relatively densely packed pallets can tip a trailer forward.   A friend told me...or maybe it was my dumbass self in high school with a pallet jack.

How in the hell do you think most of them are loaded? I’ll give you a clue, it ain’t a pallet jack.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Jkwellborn said:

How in the hell do you think most of them are loaded? I’ll give you a clue, it ain’t a pallet jack.

Fair enough. we use the electric pallet jacks for almost everything in my industry.  No forklifts are driven on trailers, always assumed it was the weight density in one spot.  

It's even OSHA approved...https://www.osha.gov/powered-industrial-trucks/standards

so yeah, you're probably right that a forklift is in the nose of that trailer.  

[Jkwellborn 6702]

Fair enough. we use the electric pallet jacks for almost everything in my industry.  No forklifts are driven on trailers, always assumed it was the weight density in one spot.  
It's even OSHA approved...https://www.osha.gov/powered-industrial-trucks/standards
so yeah, you're probably right that a forklift is in the nose of that trailer.  

We don’t allow our guys to do it anymore. It’s all live loading.

Forklift on a flatbed is wild when it’s wet.

[Covri 6249]

2 hours ago, slorch said:

Fair enough. we use the electric pallet jacks for almost everything in my industry.  No forklifts are driven on trailers, always assumed it was the weight density in one spot.  

It's even OSHA approved...https://www.osha.gov/powered-industrial-trucks/standards

so yeah, you're probably right that a forklift is in the nose of that trailer.  

What industry is that? I can tell you we use forlikfts that can weigh over 10k and load pallets that weigh 2k plus two at a time. And we are on trailers with them all day. Dock plate, Jack stands, and proper landing gear can hold a lot of weight on the trailers. We ship trailers loaded with up to 50k in product weight on them. 
 

We'd never get done loading with electric pallet jacks, plus your still need the forklifts to get the product in and out of the racks.

[Jkwellborn 6702]

What type of dock plate or dock locks do you use Covri?

[Covri 6249]

45 minutes ago, Jkwellborn said:

What type of dock plate or dock locks do you use Covri?

Hell if I know, I work in a different part of the supply chain specifically. I just know we use forklifts and have the quads for the 4 high racking and those dudes loading trucks have a much tougher job than I do lol. 
 

edit: Kelly Brand for dock plates 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Covri

[RPM 26321]

 

[RPM 26321]

 

[Gil Bang 25959]

In a two-year revenge scheme, a truck driver went around the country — including the Coachella Valley — setting fire to 25 tractor-trailers belonging to a single company, federal prosecutors say.

The last two fires were in September at the TA Travel Center just off Interstate 10 in Coachella. The drivers were sleeping inside their cabins at the time.

Authorities believe Viorel Pricop set the fires because the company, Swift Transportation, helped the government convict him in a prior criminal scheme that involved transporting stolen cargo, The Detroit News reported.

Pricop, 64, was arrested Tuesday in Michigan, where he lives. He's charged with arson of property in interstate commerce, which carries a penalty of five to 20 years in prison if convicted, a press release from the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said.

The fires were set between June 2020 and September 2022, according to a court affidavit filed by Jonathan Smith, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The affidavit confirms that Swift cooperated with an earlier criminal case against Pricop.

Smith wrote that in many of the cases, including in Coachella, drivers were sleeping inside when the fires were started. The affidavit does not mention any injuries. Besides California, there were fires in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.

Beyond the two in Coachella, the four others in California were in Newberry Springs, Ludlow and Barstow (all off Interstate 40) and Hesperia (off Interstate 15).

Prosecutors say most of the fires around the country were off interstates 40 and 10.

The most recent two fires were set just after midnight Sept. 14 at the TA Travel Stop in Coachella. The ATF says Pricop came to the valley often. Months earlier, on March 30, he'd been seen at a nearby Love's Travel Stop and in the area driving a 1997 Kenworth truck that he owned, according to Smith's affidavit.

In his earlier criminal case, Pricop served more than two years in prison before being released in 2018, Smith wrote. He was on supervised release until mid-2019.

A year later, the first fires were set.

Eric Hartley is The Desert Sun's news editor. Email him at eric.hartley@desertsun.com.

View Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jkwellborn 6702]

He must be a shitty driver if he’s pissed at swift.

[baboso 6056]

I don't know.  I've gotten pretty pissed off at Swift drivers.  They seem to be the leaders at driving 5 mph below the speed limit in the fast lane of the interstate for miles and miles.  

[RPM 26321]

This crime spree has a W.W. and The Dixie Dance Kings vibe to it.

[Pato del Muerto 52499]

Is this how it’s done?

 

[RPM 26321]

 

[shadow_operative2.0 15984]

New season of Highway Thru Hell hit tonight, some fucking crazy-ass images of their floods & mudslides. Replays Wednesday at 8 & midnight.