on your home time, does usa allow you to drop tlr, and bobtail home?
I have room for the truck, but not tlr.
Newbie with USA
Discussion in 'USA Truck' started by cjoe85, Jan 7, 2008.
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NoTarps should be a comedian on the side! I agree with him on the trainer thing--should let the student relax till he gets more at ease being in someone's truck!
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I just finished my first week with the trainer. Man it was tough. My trainer is on a dedicated account so we started off running pretty hard. Monday we left Vandalia at 4am and headed to Opelika, AL. I drove first, which meant that I hit I-285, Atlanta right in the middle of rush hour. Real fun. It was like a Stephen King novel written specifically for truck drivers. My trainer took us back to Vandalia (Dayton) where we spent Tuesday at the terminal. At about 11:45pm Tuesday we left on our next trip. This time it was Vandalia to Brownsville TX. Talk about a long drive. Then on Thursday morning, we woke up at the truckstop and found a flat during the pre-trip. Took about three hours to fix, putting us two hours behind schedule. We pulled in last night (Friday), at about 11pm. Good news is that we're here until Monday afternoon, then its back to Opelika.
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So much for the logistics, now for my performance. First of all, I haven't hit anything, or (as I heard a driver put it) I haven't tried to move any bridges. My trainer told me that I do still have some things to work on but that he doesn't forsee me having enough issues to keep me from passing my upgrade test in four weeks. He told me that I'm dumping the clutch and waiting to long to upshift, but that it's not to serious. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable behind the wheel. I had to drive through the hills of Kentucky. I'm from Chicago so I'm not used to hills at all. The first hill I hit was at 4am, pitch black. Scared the bejesus out of me. To add on top of that my trainer had already gone into the sleeper so I was on my own. I guess it actually helped to do it by myself, cause when we came back, I was still nervous but not nearly as scared as the first time. I'm having a lot of fun. One bit of bad news though. I found out that since my trainer is a dedicated driver and drives fewer miles than a driver running general freight, i'll more than likely be with him for 5 weeks instead of the normal 4. I guess I'm all typed out. I'll try to update again next week. See you on the road.
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Good Job CJoe!!! Its nice to hear a good training story once in a while. Good luck to to ya. I think it would be nice to have a trainer sit in the jump seat during your training, especially since its a dedicated route and normally he drives the route himself. If he is sleeping does this must mean you guys are running as a team, if so.... it seems like you would have alot of wait times at the drops, running a single dedicated as a team? Jon
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Yes, they do. I drop the trailer at the terminal in W. Mememphis, then park the truck in my driveway. -
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I am new to this site and looking to start school in the next month. I really enjoy reading this thread, but I as reached the end I noticed it has been a few weeks since your last post joe. I'm sure you are busy on the road, but even a few lines about how things are going would be cool to read. Hope all is well.
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It has been a few weeks since my last post (about four) and I apologize for that. Well I just got off of my trainers truck today. I had to do five weeks instead of the normal four. All in all I've logged over 10,000 miles and my trainer told me that he sees no reason for me to fail my upgrade test and no reason for me not to have a profitable driving career. I did have a few scares but nothing major. Even with the morons, the four wheelers as well as other truckers, I still had fun and am still having fun. We ran a lot of Texas. That was fun and warm. I'm still a bit nervous about the idea of going out on my own, but I've been told that that's normal and will go away with time. My trainer was a great guy, a little weird though, but nothing that I couldn't handle. Hopefully, I will go for my final test on Monday, so I have the weekend to rest up. I'll post again after I test. Wish me luck.
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Thanks for the update. Good luck on the upgrade and starting on your own.
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