A Young Woman's Perspective on Driving a Semi

The title of my thread is also the title of the blog I've just begun # www.sarastruckingadventure.blogspot.com if you'd like to read about it there, but I thought since this forum inspired said blog, I would also share my posts here. I understand that many people will have nothing to say, no desire to read, or find themselves bored after the first few paragraphs (you will find I can be extremely long winded) But I think that some might appreciate what I have to say and perhaps a small number may actually find some information helpful. Thank you to everyone for your support and concern as I begin my journey, it is especially comforting and refreshing.

ENJOY!


My name is Sara and I am preparing to embark on an entirely new and exciting adventure! Beginning on Monday I will start the 3 week long class with RoadMaster to obtaing my CDL (commericial drivers license). I'm not sure when exactly I started thinking about becoming a truck driver. My fiancee, Michael has a good friend who does it, so I have been hearing stories from the road for 2 years. Then about 8 months ago, Michael decided that it was a career path that he wanted to try. It didn't work out for him. I've always enjoyed hearing the tales and the horror stories about people places and things from the road.
I think I always knew it would be a great opportunity and I daydreamed about it fleetingly, but it wasn't until about 6 months ago that I conciously began considering it as an option for myself.
I got pregnant at 19 and dropped out of college to have the baby, and at the time I resigned myself to giving up many of the opportunities that exist for the 20 somethings and the unattached. I thought I was prepared to give up everything for my little man. Don't get me wrong, this child is a true blessing in my life and the reason for the air in my lungs and I would do ANYTHING for him, as any parent would. But I've found in the last year or so, that my life was still missing something. But what? I'd asked myself.
I have a family, I have a home, I have reasonable financial stability....what more is there? The missed opportunities haunted me. The traveling I would never do,the freedom I would never have, those were the things I had lost. Or thought I had.
The exact moment when the realization of what I could do is uncertain. I know that it was just weeks before I made the appointment to meet with a recruiter. I suddenly had this buring desire to, of all things, be a trucker.
I had been in customer service most of my life, because I was good at it. I am good at it. I enjoy making people feel good. But a pattern had developed that took me 5 years to recognize. I lost each of those customer service jobs. I either took too many days off or I quit. I was never truly satisfied with any of them. At the time I would blame the company, but in all reality it was me. I hadn't found my niche.
All of a sudden things started coming together....freedom, independence, security...the things I wanted, some I thought I could never have were seeming to be falling into my lap as the reality of becoming a truck driver began to piece together.
I met with Dave on a Friday. He was delightful and helpful and full of information. I couldn't sit still in my seat, I was so excited listening to him and looking at the posters of companies and trucks that devoured his walls. He explained to me my options, he discussed the process of the course, the things I would study. He explained that the first week would be mainly in class time, studying the book and the rules, learning about log books and tracking progress etc. He explained the different driving techniques I would learn, practice and perfect. Then, he took me on a tour of the range. There was a class going on, and I as soon as I got a glimpse of the man in the drivers seat of that beautiful 18-wheeled monster of a machine, I was hooked. I knew that I would HAVE to find a way to get behind one of those myself.
The financing was my only concern. With neither myself nor my fiancee working, how would we afford the 6 grand it was going to cost? I knew my options, but even getting financed with a downpayment seemed like an impossibility. My nervous frustration began setting in. I was blissfully optomistic as I drove home that afternoon. High on the realization that I had found something I actually WANTED to do, and the excitement that I might just be able to do it.
I went home to discuss the situation with Michael, who is the MOST supportive person I have ever met in my life. We spent hours discussing the pro's and con's, the difficulties, the possibilities and everything in between. We discussed our options financially as well and ultimately came to a conclusion.
We would sell the Jeep and I would attend CDL CLASSES!!

 

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]We'd decided we would sell the Jeep (The Jeep is our second vehicle, leaving us only one car). In theory that sounded great, but what about the consequences of doing so? Would we get enough money from it to cover the downpayment AND last us until I found a job with a trucking company? One can hope. We've listed the Jeep on E-Bay and it has bids, so we've got progress. We've been selling various other things that will bring in enough money to cover some of the additional expenses, the preliminary DOT physical and drug test, the Permit Test, the Hazardous Materials Federal Background check etc.
I'm finding that there is so much more to trucking than I realized. I have been studying Ohio's CDL Permit book daily and already I have learned so much! For example: A Pre-Trip Inspection...this is something that is required before you begin a run....and Hello...there must 90 things that you have to check!! The information is almost overwhelming, if I wasn't so absolutely enthralled with everything I read.
The Jeep auction will be Final on Sunday, but we were able to borrow the downpayment from an alternate source. Assuming the check clears the bank, I will be meeting with Dave again on Friday to provide him with the downpayment as well as the check for my physical and drug test (which I WILL pass, no question). At any rate, as long as I at least have the $110 I can be placed on the roster for the training course beginning on Monday!! Fortunately, Dave is being very kind and patient with me, Friday is sort of pushing the limit. I wonder to myself if they leave an unsoken spot open for a woman because it seems they are all to willing to bend the traditionals to get me through.
The CDL course is 3 weeks in length and requires my unbroken attendance Monday thru Friday from 7am-6pm. The Department of Transportation requires that a student have 160 hours of class/driving time. The first week of class, through Thursday will be all classroom time covering everything fro DOT Rules and Regulations to Map Reading. (Thank goodness for the map reading course...while I am certainly capable of finding my way around town, I imagine I will experience some level of difficulty attempting to navigate across the country!!) The following 4 days will be focused on 'backing it up', an important skill to say the least. I suspect that backing up a rig will be the most challenging portion of the training. We will spend one entire day on the road with a trainer and the 4 days after that will be split 1/2 day on the road and 1/2 day honing our skills. The day before graduation will be spent focusing again on our backing skills and the final day of the course will be the offical CDL Test and, assuming you pass...GRADUATION!
It appears that the next three weeks will go by very quickly. I worry sometimes that I will not be able to keep up and will be the butt of the jokes, and yet I am confident in my determination. My personal goal is to be the best of the best in my class and to Graduate at the top of my class. I want to pass my permit test on the first try without missing a question and I want to pass my CDL test with flawless accuracy. I am aware that in reality, that may not be the case, but as long as I keep up the motivation, I will always know that I did my best. I am so excited to track my progress and write a daily report of the classes and hopefully a nightly report once I'm working. I am determined to inform those who are interested about this experience. It's not all Ice Road Truckers, but even without the added dangers of driving on a frozen lake, I bet I will run into my fair share of challenges.
I am not exactly a mechanical expert. I drive my car to the Firestone to get my oiled changed and I'm lucky if I know where to put the windshield washer fluid in my car. (Ok, that is a slight exaggeration.) I am aware of an engine and I have a general understanding of how it works, in fact, this past summer I assisted Michael in changing the shocks on one of our cars, so I'm not a complete moron. But, a big rig? Those things are diesel and you could probably fit three of the Jeep's engines inside one of these things!
The other day I found a trucking forum and I am findng that it is chock full of useful information. I have learned more than I ever thought I could just by reading posts from other truckers. The number of women on this one site is incredible as well. Perhaps we should pay more attention to who is behind the wheel of those giagantic fear machines as we drive.
It is my understanding that the amount of mechanial knowledge I will need will be anything but vast. Chaining tires for winter and knowing when something is wrong so that I can CB into dispatch should be about the extent of it. Although, being the overachiever that I aspire to be, I am hoping to learn a bit more than just that!

Thanks so much to those who reviewed this....it truly means a lot to me! Bless you!
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