Starting at Schneider

Sage advice that I will heed. Tomorrow is my first day with my TE “on the road.” He’s on a dedicated line from San Antonio to Indiana. My TE in Schneider City never said anything about my backing up. I was able to get it in the hole without any problems. But, I GOAL if there is any doubt and even if there’s no doubt I’ll GOAL anyway just to be sure. Last thing I ever want to do is hit anything. I look all over, sides, back, front, up above for power lines, down below for any road issues. I look everywhere that trailer and tractor might have to be. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. Another thing, I’m just coming into this again from 34 years. A lot has changed, some things are the same. My farm background is really coming into play with this, just because of how quickly a bad situation can happen. Head on a swivel and eyes on everything that could be an issue. Only thing I did wrong when training was when I turned left from a dedicated inside left turn lane and ended up in the right lane right during the turn. I should have turned from left lane to left lane, then signaled to the right lane. I only made that mistake once. I’m hoping to never hear a peep from safety! I know the pay isn’t the best right now but I plan on “proving” myself from the start. They say 7.5 hrs is the goal for a new driver, but I’ll see if I can safely do 9-9.5. I’ve always pushed myself and I’ve never been accused of being lazy. I won’t be taking any shortcuts on my pre trip either. I’m a perfectionist and want things done right the first time, including everything that I do. I think I’ll be at Schneider for a long time. I’ve learned that recruiters will lie, so far Schneider hasn’t done that.

 

I don’t know how long my motel roommate will last here. He left his manual here at the motel. He was supposed to leave here before 11, he barely made it because he didn’t get up until 10:30. I’ve been up since 5 and felt like I got to sleep in for an hour. I just can’t sleep past 5am. Saturday he didn’t get up until 2 PM. He went to bed at 7:30 Friday. He talked like it was going to be a cakewalk and said he was looking forward to big paychecks. I told him to not get his hopes up. Good guy, just don’t know how long he’s going to be here. I guess my attitude is that as long as my bills get paid, I’ll be ok.
In about 2 years or so my wife and I plan to move to Grenada, Ms so my home OC will be W. Memphis. She grew up in that area and I love it down there. The North, not so much. It’s just different. The people and the food down here just can’t be beat! Besides, I’m a Southerner and always have been. I love Dixie, always have and always will.

 

Thank you!! Yeah, we’ve lost some more… just trying to hang on to our car and house. I’m in Franklin, Indiana and tomorrow morning heading to Southern Texas. At least I’m getting more hours this week than I did last week in training at the OC in W Memphis. Next week I’ll go to Edwardsville, Il to get my truck.

 

My “Over the Road” trainer is awesome! We get along very well! So far I love this lifestyle. It’s kind of like getting paid to go camping.

 

Beware the honeymoon phase of Anything. True that!! I’m just happy to have a job right now! It’s not the hardest job I’ve ever had. Right now I’m just happy to have enough money to keep us in our house and make our car payment. Heading to San Antonio tomorrow to deliver this load. I’ll be driving through Dallas tomorrow, that’ll be an experience in a truck. I’ve done it in a car, but this will be a whole different thing.