FOR THE LOVE OF ALL ....HAVE MERCY!!!!

True story... I’m a few months shy of 2 years out here. Just last week alone, I ended up on a truck restricted route that come to a T after 50 miles of nowhere to turn around. No trucks to the right of me, and trucks over 30 feet kingpin to rear axle not advised next 33 miles to my left. Death Valley scenic byway...

After 2 and a half ours of taking all of both lanes with at least one tire on either side of me hanging off the edge of a cliff that drops hundreds of feet, 14 foot tall, top heavy as hell... 4 ways the whole way... blowing my air horn around every hairpin turn.. I made it through. Surprised CHP didn’t come #### with me. And then a few miles later one pulls behind me with his lights and siren on... so I pull over and he pulls up beside me, telling me to roll my window down. I comply. And he lets out this maniacal, gut wrenching laugh and drives off.

Again, same #### week, I’m in Houston with the very next load and trying to get to the prime parking spot at the Flying J... gps says this is my exit. I look up and see a mile of traffic and cops. There’s an accident ahead. I keep rolling. Well the car in front of me decided to exit... then not exit.. sees me coming and decides to exit again... until I’m hammer down past the exit. Then he swerved in front of me and slammed on his brakes. I have 48,000 worth of steel pipes on the deck, so I’m hesitant to slam on mine. I accept my fate and lock my brakes up. From 65 to 0 just like that. 6 inches from his bumper, and he slooooooowly pulls away while I keep my face planted in the steering wheel that I just cracked a tooth on, waiting on the pipes to finish me off. Mercifully, they didn’t end up in my lap. So I take the next exit and shaken to the core, I pull into the wrong entrance of the Flying J. Bobtails, RVs, 4 wheelers... so no problem, I’ll just swing wide and cut through the fuel island and be on my way. Well I don’t swing wide enough. I’m inches from taking out the entire fuel island. And also taking out a pickup truck. So now I have to back out, but there’s a line of cars behind me honking. 20 minutes later, after waking up 3 drivers and begging them to move their bobtails so I could back out onto the street in Houston rush hour traffic, I got out to do my post trip and noticed that every single pipe had shifted forward by at least 3-6 inches. So then I had to have my entire load reworked in the middle of a Houston Flying J parking lot. At 2am.

The important thing is that I stopped, got out and looked and didn’t hit anything. I got help and swallowed my pride and looked like an idiot probably to a lot of people. But I didn’t end up on Twisted Truckers!

There will be days like that. There will be lots and lots of days like that. The not being able to find a gear or hit the dock, especially a wide open dock, will happen all the #### time. It’s part of the job and anyone who acts like they don’t have days like that is lying to you. The only difference between your story and mine is that I can laugh about both of them and say “that’s trucking.” The sooner you learn to do the same, you’ll realize it’s not a big deal. You’re not testing for your cdl here. You don’t have a limited number of pull-ups or GOAL. You can take as many as you need. The guy parked next to that spot would prefer you do. Don’t worry about the guys who want to get by you. You don’t know them, they don’t know you, and you’ll never see them again. Just take your time and don’t hit anything.

 

Always take your time with backing some drivers will take the time to help some will just talk trash. We all started somewhere and will all struggle with backing after a long time away or a frustrating day just remember GOAL
Get out and look if you have any doubt
Keep your head up and sleep it off tommorrow is another day!

 

With my limited experience (8 months), I've found that taking an extra little bit of time to examine the situation and think through how I'm going to do the setup for the back is always well worth the time spent.

Be safe. Breathe. Relax.

 

And that will always hold true. Experience doesn't mean you stop planning. You just get better at it.

 

It never ceases to amaze me the level of idiocy it takes to design a brand spanking new business, build it from the ground up, then make it #### near impossible for a truck to get in there.

There's a customer in OKC with an entry off a narrow two lane road with no shoulder. The grass just off the road surface on the opposite side of the entry has become a ditch with a steep drop off. You have to get down in that ditch, with the cab leaning over, before button hooking across the oncoming lane, careful to get real close to the edge of a six foot drop down into a culvert (the entry is a bridge over a drainage ditch). The bridge and entry gate are about 12 feet wide.

No matter how well I execute that turn, after getting my tractor past the gate I swing hard right to straighten out...

...then GUN IT so the driver's side spread axles are airborne as little time as possible. The edge of the concrete on that side is chewed up.

 

That's when I start rejecting loads. Either make it accessibke, or hire a smaller truck. Those northern NJ shippers can #### off.

 

Add to that the fact that most places have either two ways to get in/out and the easiest way in is always the wrong way(as I find out from the lift operator telling me to back out onto the street and untarp there) or one way in/out and you can’t turn a skateboard like you can a van... so you have to do some fancy ### maneuvering to move around in a tight yard and then back out into traffic...

Surprised flatbed guys have so much trouble backing at the truck stop tbh lol

 

It will happen again. Next time it happens you will also need to take a dump something fierce.

 

Lol. Just wait till you have 2 years and still make bonehead moves. We all do it. Just don't Swift itbup.