The Schneider adventure begins - Orientation process in Green Bay

It has been quite a week. I am actually typing this from home since I don't need to be back to Green Bay till later tonight for class Monday morning. I got off the trainers truck at about 1430 yesterday and weighed my options to either spend the night in Kansas City and head for Green Bay in the morning or head home right away. It is a 9 hour drive to GB from there and a 6 hour drive home to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis it's only about 4 hours to GB so I opted to spend a night in my own bed and see my family even if it's for only one night. First good nights sleep I have had in two weeks!

I met my trainer at 10am last Monday morning at one of Schneiders drop yards just outside Kansas City and only a couple miles from my Hotel. He drove a 2011 Freightliner Columbia. First impressions he sorta reminded me of Sr. from Orange County Choppers, lol. I normally prefer a clean vehicle, which his was not. It was not nasty, but far from clean and it smelled like pepperoni and cheese... Quite a bit of stuff piled up on the dash and things laying all over the floor, but ironically he had his own organizational system that worked pretty well for him. We made our introductions and he helped me load all my gear on the truck. I brought duffle bag (medium sized) with mostly my clothes, a backpack with bathroom stuff and over the counter medications, a sleeping bag, my pillows, an extra pair of boots, a vest, and a jacket. He seemed like a nice enough guy and I got good vibes so that put my mind at ease.

Before we could hook up to our first load we had to take his truck to a shop to have the dreaded ambient sensor installed. He mentioned he had been trying to dodge it for weeks, but it was finally time and that he could not avoid it any longer. The shop was only a 10 minute drive away and once we got there and got the truck checked in we sat down in their lounge and went over expectations for both me and him. I was again re-assured I got a pretty decent guy. Spending too much time here on these forums will make you believe that every trainer out there is a nightmare. We spent about 4 hours there at the shop and it was finally done. It gave us a good chance to get to know one another.

We departed the shop and headed back to the yard to hook up and head out. Our first load was to Appleton, MN. A 500 mile trip to my home state, nice! Since we got such a late start in the day we only made it as far as I believe it was Hannibal, MO. and stopped for the night. Now I'm not a very big guy and all I can say is those top bunks are cramped! I don't know how in the world a bigger guy could get comfortable. My TE gave me a cubby to store some of my stuff, but I kept my duffle with me for easy access, so that obviously made it a bit more cramped, but even without that it would have been tight. I did not sleep well the first night. Since the Army I have not really cared to share small spaces with anyone other than my significant other. Sharing this space was going to be a test for sure. We were up at 0700 and prepared to head out. I grabbed a cup of coffee, did the pre-trip and headed out towards Minnesota. We made my first official delivery to a prison facility and we were about 3 hours late. The ambient sensor installation pretty much screwed us, and needless to say the receiver was not all that happy to see us as late as we were. He told me he should not even accept the load this late and that he should make us wait till the morning. I apologized for being late and rather than blame it on the shop time I told him that I was a new trainee and that this was my first ever load, hoping to gain some sympathy. It worked! he sorta smiled and said "well in that case, I'm gonna make an exception this time and get you guys taken care of so you can get back out there" I told him I appreciated that very much. I think he might have unloaded us either way, but I gave him a reason to make an exception. We had received a pre-assignment to get loaded in Plymouth, MN. so we dead headed our way in that direction. It was on this journey that I lost about 10 years off my life.

We were heading East on Highway 12. It was sunny and in the teens temperature wise. There was snow on the ground but the roads were clean and dry and we were making good time. As we got further East we started to encounter the blowing snow across the road surface. This was nothing new to me, having lives my entire life in MN. and I knew to be cautious. The speed limit was 55 and I stayed at a comfortable 45. The surface under the blowing snow was still dry so I was not too concerned but kept an eye on it nonetheless. As we traveled further East the temperature began to drop and the road surface under the blowing snow began to freeze. I also noticed the winds had picked up significantly. Just as my TE was telling me a story about how he had encountered similar conditions on I80 in Iowa it happened. Having just taken the simulator lesson on ice I knew what I had to do if I felt my self slipping. I was now traveling between 35-40 to the disapproval of the four wheelers behind me when I hit a nice long patch of blowing snow which had hidden below it an ice rink quality ice surface. It suddenly felt funny and I caught my trailer begin to slide out on me towards the oncoming traffic lane. I immediately pushed in my clutch and maintained my direction of travel with small easy corrections on the steering wheel. It was then that the tractor decided to aim itself a little to the left towards the swinging trailer. My TE grabbed his "oh ####" handle and the dash board and in a frightened voice told me to "keep it straight, nice and easy!" It felt like we were sliding forever, but in reality it was probably about 5 seconds and I managed to bring it back under control and we left the icy surface. I looked back in my mirrors and noticed all the cars that were previously almost up under my DOT bumper had backed WAY off, lol. My trainer and I sighed a breath of relief and he told me that was the closest call he had had in 10 years. He also told me he did not think he could have handled that better himself. I guess my years of MN driving experience helped me out a bit, but I also think that perhaps lady luck was on my side. My TE told me that he was thinking about just passing me right then and there as we laughed nervously about what we had just experienced. We made our live load heading for MO. and stopped for the night in Faribault. The next morning my TE decided to give me a break in the morning and offered to drive for the first part of the day. After the incident the previous day I was more than happy that he offered.

For the rest of the week, we bounced all around the midwest and even made a trip into downtown Chicago. I got lucky and had a decent trainer, but by the end of the week I was more than ready to get off his truck. I don't know how anyone can spend 4-6 weeks in what seemed to me to be a never ending drivers exam. I know I could probably still use some training on the qualcomm and all the other little things that one needs to know, but at this point I am more than happy to struggle and figure it out on my own as I go. I will admit, there were times this week where I second guessed my decision to become a driver, and even thought about other avenues I could take if I were to just hang it up now and decide it wasn't for me. However, after giving it considerable thought, I decided that after coming this far I had to give it a shot. Once I am on my own, with my own truck, listening to my own music, and having my own space, things should only get better.

I'm going to go have a home cooked breakfast now and enjoy the rest of my afternoon with family before I have to head back to Green Bay. Thats about it for now, if I can think of anything else from this last week that is worth mentioning I will certainly add it.