My Central Thread

In the past 3 years or so that I have been on this forum I have only met 1 driver from here.
I have to admit I have never really tried though. I post location on JJs place, that never helped, so now I am doing it on the "where am I" thread under stories from the road.
I try and update every day, or at least give an idea where I will be the next day with it.
I met JJ by chance, I saw the graphics on the side of his truck when we were both getting fuel in Erie PA.
Using the where are you thread I hope to meet more people.

 

Yeah I know what you mean. I met Cutter and Jasko by chance. I knew they were going to be in class behind me and I ended up running into them on the Central shuttle. Hope to meet some people out there but I know the chances can be pretty slim. Its a big country and everyone running every which way makes meeting up tough.

 

I'm glad things are working well for you Scott. We have 2 more days or Orientation then they said by Wed afternoon we should know who our trainers will be. I'm just ready to get the next step going. We were at the hotel all day on Sunday with pretty much nothing to do. Most of the class slept then were wired all morning long. Tomorrows orientation they said would last till about 4 that's not too bad. It snowed in the yard last night and rained all day yesterday. So I'm happy to be inside for a while.

 

What part of Cal are you going too?

 

Your wife will learn to deal with it over time. It is hard to get use to a drivers schedule.

On the backing thing.
The hard part to learn is the setup.
-As you drive past the hole on a see side back you need to start turning right at about the time your landing gear is even with the center of the hole.
Then get around 20 degrees of angle and as you are still moving forward turn the wheel back to the left and get a good angle to your trailer.
This way you will already have the backing turn started when you start moving.

-Never try and go into a hole shallow, this is what causes trucks on your blind side to get hit. You just cannot see the swing.

-Try and get most of your turning done before your trailer starts into the hole to eliminate swing area.

Once you get use to the counter steer on the set up and placement it will get easier and you will not need as much room in front of the truck to swing around.
This is where most new drivers screw up. They start the turn without counter steer and end up going into the back too shallow.
When you do this you risk hitting the truck on your blind side as well as having to pull up 30 times to try and fix it.

PS... Don't get frustrated ,it just makes it harder and you get into a rush.
Your trainer is supposed to be teaching you how to back, and giving you allot of practice.
If you get to a shipper early see if you can practice for a while on an open dock.

 

BTW, I am glad to see you guys and gal's made it.
We have pretty good luck here. I don't see many that spend some time on the forums learning a little before they go not making it.
Seems the little bit of knowledge they learn about trucking, the lifestyle, and what to expect helps them allot when they get to company's.
They are going in with eyes open, and not just a dream.

 

I cant wait to get to central...a friend of mine said he talked to a central guy earlier today, he said the guy had came out the school 8months ago, and he averages almost 3000 miles a week or a tad bit more...it seems like they are still doing good there, cant wait to get there