Forgive me...its been too long. My last post left off with getting ready to start our new adventure with Love's...now I digress. We ended up staying at home a total of six weeks after we left Waggoners...which was AWESOME. Now the digression. Both Jeff and I had to get our hazmat endorsements before we left Denver which meant we had to renew our CDL's...a comedy of errors after which followed. First, Colorado now outsources all of their drivers licenses to the state of Washington... not sure where this makes any sense whatsoever, but it takes even longer to receive them now. You are issued a temporary paper license as well as your original license back, so you still obtain a picture ID, however they punch holes in your license, which spell out the word VOID. In some insane government way this must make sense, however, most people that need to see your license see the word void on your license and take it literally... as well as they should. We needed our hard copy to start our new job, however our new boss decided to get us started with our temporaries... great gesture, but not so productive. We were offered a flight to Phoenix to start, but with London, decided it was a better idea to rent a car and drive. We left on June 21 and arrived at our hotel in Phoenix on the 22nd to 115 degrees...London was melting. We trained for a few days watching loading at the various DEF racks, but we needed to obtain our TWIC card in order to prove we are not terrorists, and also so we can load at the ports in California. So off to Long Beach we went to the closest enrollment center. Unfortunately, they didn't like our temporary licenses stamped void, imagine that, so we were rejected. Long story short, we bobtailed back to Denver to pick up our new CDLs as well as all of our uniforms which were sent to our house...another thing that makes no sense to me.
I really cannot complain about any of the disfunction since we have been paid for all of our time since we arrived in Phoenix...including three days of floating in the hotel pool. But the best part of this whole calamity is we left Denver yesterday and I got to experience the best thing ever since we started driving a truck. Bobtailing up I70 from Denver, where we learned how to drive a truck, to Cali. This drive loaded normally takes around 20 hours. At 70 mph and no load, we made it to Long Beach in 16 hours on a beautiful day and Vail pass was never easier! It was such an adrenaline rush. We now have our TWIC cards and I told my new boss that we may never be able to pull a tanker behind our new sexy truck since we have been bobtailing for a week and a half now. We are now in Barstow, CA waiting to load up the Loves. Tomorrow is the 4th and we get to decide where we want to watch fireworks since all 33 stores in southern California don't need any DEF. Since we are guaranteed to be paid for 6 days a week, all I have to say is this is the best company we have ever worked for. No stress, family owned by Mr. Love himself and very well taken care of. Welcome new family, we made the right decision. Happy 4th of July everyone.
