Day by day adventures of a new solo OTR driver

I guess it's time for an update on how things have gone. Unfortunately this post won't be quite as light-hearted as the last several were, but sometimes it does help me to write some stuff down. Everything since the last updates to this thread has just been an absolute blur, so I'll just share some experiences that I've since the last updates.

Schneider continued to enjoy running me around in the Northeast. Some of it has been easy, some of it has been harder than I could ever have imagined. One run took me up to I believe Albany, New York. I'm not sure if that was the place or not, it just comes into mind... I really prefer to start early and shut down early... up and pre-trip at 4:30am and then be able to shut down while I can still find a place to park. Unfortunately, the loads don't always match up with my desire to run those hours... the day before this load I had to run later into the evening, so I got a late start the next day after my 10 hour break.

Anyway, finding this place was an absolute nightmare. It was the most stressful driving I've had to do so far - it was raining/sleeting, the headlights are so bad on this truck I couldn't see anything, even with the high-beams on. To get to the delivery I had to go through some small town that was along a river - tiny roads, poorly light, an old beat-up trailer with as few marker lights as humanly possible, I couldn't see a thing in my mirrors so I was basically driving the trailer off of feel. At one point I had to cross this bridge, and had to take a tight right turn to get on to it, it had a high guard rail around the edge as well - I swung out to the left and real wide to give myself room, but I felt a little tug as I went around the corner. A 4-letter word was all I had to say. I looked back in my right mirror and the trailer side panels looked all bent up. Well... I'm done, I figured.

I couldn't stop, there was no room anywhere. It was starting to sleet now, reducing my visibility to nothing as I continued through this small town. Another truck was broken down on the 2-lane road, a cop was stopped directing traffic. I had my high beams on still, as this was the only way that I could remotely see anything. I noticed him pointing at one of my lamps with his orange light as I went by. I think that high-beam wasn't working, but honestly I can't tell - even with the regular lights on the truck lights heavily to the right side... just another thing I'm going to have to get looked at. Then there was this winding road I had to take to get up a hill... I was so tired I couldn't shift at all, I missed 7th, missed trying to recover in 4th... I just had to stop and start back in low gear. That is not me. I knew I pushed myself too hard today.

So I finally roll up to this massive warehouse in the middle of nowhere and stop with 23 minutes left on my 14. I get out and walk around to the right side of the trailer expecting to see a massive amount of damage done to the side. Luckily, there was none - even the tires didn't look like they got bumped. It must have just been the tandems creaking in protest as I took the tight turn, or maybe I kissed the curb a little bit. I think all of the water and odd reflections in my mirror made the trailer panels look damaged when I saw them earlier. I dropped the trailer, and found a little pull off next to some other trucks on a service road that ran by the DC. It was starting to sleet hard, and I was done for the night. Water starts dripping on my face from the vent on the side of the sleeper. I put about 20 feet of duct tape over it to try to stop it. One of my pillows and part of my sheets were soaking wet.

After that I had a couple of other loads but nothing interesting... until yesterday.

Yesterday I had one of those dispatches where the computer must look at all the appointment times, sees that everything can be made if you do it all perfect and then says "YEP, HERE'S YOUR LOAD". Schneider attempts to teach a way to calculate your arrival times, etc., that so far has proven to be accurate as long as I add an additional 2 hours to every time. I thought about calling and saying "hey, this is too close", but nope, I'd spend more time trying to actually get ahold of someone when I could probably do it if I just push hard. I arrive to pick up the empty, and it all goes downhill from there. First, I park a good 20 feet from the empty trailer and send the macro to request it. Its taken, it says. So, I back up another 20 feet and try again. Still taken it says. So I go back to the guard shack, tell him I can't use this one, can I look at other empties. "Sure" he says. So, I go check some other trailers, send a request from them, then the Qualcomm comes back and tells me that my work assignment has been updated, and I can now use the empty it just told me I couldn't use. Easily, an hour down the drain. So, I haul butt through some trashpit of a town, and the Qualcomm tells me I've arrived at the destination. Its in the middle of a busy downtown street, there is no room to park anywhere on the side. I pull over and hit the "arrived" button, because I'll be darned if I'm not HERE on time. Then I have to find a place to turn around, because I see room to park on the other side of the street. I squeeze my truck through some roads about a block away and manage to get back to the other side and stop, and call to confirm that I'm at the right spot and what I need to do. I call the number that the Qualcomm has provided me with. Its someones cell phone number that goes to voicemail. Great. So I call my DBL, wait on hold for about 15 minutes then finally get a confirmation that I'm at the right spot, need to leave my truck parked in an area that specifically says "NO TRUCK PARKING ANY TIME", and go in to get checked in.

I go to the guard shack, give the guard my CDL in exchange for some electronic door pass. She says "go down past those white trucks, then at the red door swipe the pass to go in, then left to the counter". I go back to my truck, spend 5 minutes waiting to get a spot where I can cross the road with my truck, she opens the gate, lets me in, then comes up to my window and says "sorry but I told you you need to WALK down to that area first before you come in, so turn around and come back". You have got to be kidding me. So, I do a u-turn at the gate, spend another 20 minutes turning around a block away, come back, park in the no-parking area, then head up to the office. The lady at the office has a bad attitude, makes some snarky comment about how I was not there at 11:38 but an hour later (my $%^, I was there on time, its not my fault you don't have room for people to pull in and force drivers to turn around in the middle of a busy downtown area and then park in a no-parking zone while your gate guard gives unclear directions), and tells me that they'll call when its time to unload. I'm at the back of the line now since I was late. So, I go back to my truck. And I sit there and steam for about 4 hours. I think about how everything has gone.

All I've done is run around in the northeast. I know nothing of this area other than what I have experienced in the past week.
My truck is down right dangerous to operate at night.
Many days when I was far north its been in the low 20s (coldest I've seen is 20*), but its 20* and not 19*, so I can't idle to stay warm
My front left brakes will drag and vibrate around 25-45mph sometimes, usually when I'm loaded and coming to a firm stop
My bunk heater has one little vent at the bottom that blows about as hard as one of those battery operated pocket fans, so any time I have to wait I'm just laying down in my sleeping bag in the bunk, even if its the middle of the day.
I've been getting load assignments that I have to push myself within minutes of my legal hours of service to get on time, I can't accurately calculate times because of traffic, weather, etc. Other loads I run for a couple hours and then just sit and wait for something else to come up.
Every load has grossed my truck at 75,000+, my average MOVING (not including being stopped) speed according to my GPS has been 47 MPH.
I have been able to stop for 2 (two) 15 minute showers in the past 10 days, as stopping at truck stops in the evenings is near impossible since they are all full, so I'm usually stuck at a rest stop on the side of the highway. During the day I don't have time to stop or I'll be late on my load.
I've been getting short runs, long waits, the frustration just builds.

So I sit there at the steering wheel in the cab, and I grabbed my phone. The street is sidewalk is covered in trash. A guy with a coon skin hat is riding a quad down the middle of the road in traffic. Another on a razor-like scooter with an engine comes down the road, hits a pot hole, stalls out and starts walking along with it. I watch at least 3 cars almost get into accidents as they try swerving around eachother near the backed up entrance for the facility. I've had enough.

I try to call my DBL, hold for 10 minutes, I finally get someone else, and I just tell him, "I'm just gonna get it out there, I don't think me and Schneider are a good match". I was done. I really was. I talked to several more people, they ask whats going on, I don't have much to say other than if they care to talk about it I'll talk about it when I get back to the OC, and basically get told that I need to be loaded to get back, otherwise I'm going to get charged 2 dollars per mile for unauthorized use of the vehicle or if they have to come pick the truck up, and that it will go on my DAC report. "I know" I told them... I signed all those papers. I said all this without yelling, without cursing or being disrespectful. I was just DONE.

So I continue to wait.

Finally, I get called in. I pull in, and the dock I'm at is by far the tightest that I've seen. 2 other trucks are there getting loaded. I pull up, start backing up, realize I'm off, so I pull up again and this time am looking much better. Both drivers on either side see how tight it is and get out of their trucks to watch and make sure I don't hit anything and help me out. I put it in there without issue... I had to go within inches of their mirrors on either side. I leaned out the window and said to the other drivers "tight squeeze, huh? Its my first week so I know it was a little slow" (even though, if I might say myself, it wasn't slow, and I did a dang good job) One of them says to me, "Hey, you put it in there without hitting anything". I started having a conversation with one of them, and I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I had just called and told the company that I'm done. I just couldn't.

30 minutes later I call the guy who handles all the "I've had enough" calls back, and I tell him basically what just happened above, about how I had just put the truck in the tighest dock I've ever seen without issue, I'm done being mad and that it was at that moment I realized I had come way too #### far to give up on it, and that what I really wanted to was to get back to the OC and talk to an actual person face to face about some of the issues I've been having, and to get this truck that is falling apart around me in a condition where I at least felt safe driving it.

Finally, I finish getting loaded and go back to the cranky lady I had to deal with earlier to get my papers. She offers a lecture on how now I know that I need to be here on time for that company. I consider balling up the papers and telling her where to shove them. Instead, I smile, apologize for being late, get my papers and genuinely tell her to have a great evening. She offers half of a smile back and tells me the same. One thing I've always noticed is that even cranky people won't be quite so cranky as long as you can put up with their crap and still be positive.

So that brings me to where I am now - I dropped off the load I picked up yesterday, and headed for a Pilot 10 miles away. I got a parking spot and waited around for a new load assignment. Minutes ago one came up, a nice 1000 mile run into the south, and under 35,000lbs (WOW!!!) I called my DBL and am going to stop through the OC on the way down and get my truck looked at. Hopefully they can get the safety issues looked at at the very least and I can continue my run.

I know that I'm posting a lot about whats going on on the internet where anyone can read it. For all I know people from my company are reading it right now. But, it really is what I've been through and what I've experienced, the good, the bad, and the moments where I just shut down.

I want to make this work, I really do. So, maybe this load that is taking me down south on a nice long run will give me a new outlook on how things have gone so far.

Well, I'm about to head into the Pilot and use one of my free shower credits (for the first time!!). I don't have to pick up my load thats 10 miles away until 2pm tomorrow, but I'll still probably go to bed early and be up, pre-tripped and ready to roll while its still dark, so the sooner I can get my truck fixed up the better. I really think that if I'm comfortable with being able to see at night in my truck, I get the jake working at 100% (I think its only working on the 2 or 4 cylinder mode from the sound of it), and can sit down with a human being and just talk 1 on 1 with some of the issues that I've been having with the computer, etc., I will be a lot happier.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, it just helps to write it down. Hopefully the next ones will be more of the more "exciting" and lighthearted adventures of a new truck driver.