First Solo Load completed!!!

Wow, What a journey it's been. And there is still A LOT to learn. For those considering trucking, Here's a (somewhat long-winded) summary of the last 6 months. Being laid-off for over a year I decided to give truck driving a shot (always wanted to try it). So this past November I began the process of applying for the "Pell Grant" through NJ unemployment. Multiple "Meetings" with career counselors, apptitude test, drug screening and physical. They decided to approve the "grant". That all took about 2 months. Feb 2011 I started CDL school at Smith & Soloman. That took 5 weeks. They basically show you how to straight back, alley dock, get some time on the road to learn how to shift then schedule your drivers test with motor vehichles. You use one of their trucks to take the test. Their job was to get a CDL in your hands.

I got a few pre-hires and decided to go with Roehl transport. They required another DOT physical and drug screening before setting an "orientation" date for me. After passing them (although my blood pressure is borderline) they scheduled me for orientation at the end of May. They put us up in a hotel in Georgia, fed us lunch everyday and gave us vouchers for a cafeteria for dinner everynight (no complaints there).

The first day of orientation was known as "Qualification day". They gave us (my third) drug screening and physical, then ran us through a series of strength tests to make sure we could do the job. You would have to be in really bad shape to fail the tests. A series of squats, climbing stairs, lifting milk crates with weights in them....etc. They took your pulse after every exercise. I passed. The next 7 days was doing driving exercises in the yard and on the road for half the day, then classroom learning the second half of the day. We had 6 students in the class, it eventually dropped to 5. One guy dropped out after losing confidence on the road. He was having trouble judging tight corners in heavy traffic. I felt bad for him, to come this far and have to throw in the towel. But I admired his reasoning, he said he didn't want to be a danger to other drivers on the road. We didn't actually sign the paperwork to be officially "hired" until 5 days into orientation. The instructors (there were 2) said they reserved the right to send students home by Friday which they considered the first "cut" date. They explained that by Friday they usually had a good idea who was going to be a good safe driver and who wasn't. The final test for orientation was your road driving test. The instructors said they would give it to us at some point after day 5, and wouldn't tell you when. On my last day there after pulling in the lot from road driving the instructor told me I had just passed my test. They also told us they HAD sent students home on the last day.

I was one of the MANY people who didn't realize trucking had SO MUCH planning and paperwork involved with delivering a load. You get a "Pre-Plan" over the trucks Quallcom that lists the starting point (shipper), the destination (consignee), and the ETA. Maybe has some exrta stops as well. you then have to look at your motor carriers atlas (different than a regular atlas by far). It lists, restricted routes, low bridges, weigh stations and which roads you can travel by truck (highlighted in Orange), plus some other info. You have to figure in the miles, your breaks, fuel stops, vehichle checks....etc, then decide if you can "make the load". If you determine you can make it to the consignee on time you accept the load. Although 99% of the time I doubt they would give you a load you couldn't make unless there was a computer screw up with the route or how many legal available driving hours you had left (you can drive 11 hours a day or work "on duty not driving" for 14 a day whichever comes first). Along the way you need to keep the company informed of your fuel stops, breaks, starting time for the day and previous days hours. It was all mind boggling to me at first but it's getting a little easier as I go.

After orientation I was assigned to a trainer for another 8 days. Really good guy who showed me the ways of trucking. We didn't "team" drive, he mostly kept an eye on me while I drove. We had a few loads where Roehl "overlapped" a few of his driving hours so we could make the load on time. I have to make a better effort at reading signs though. When you drive a car long distances on your family vacation weigh stations and restriced routes for trucks don't really concern you. You can't go driving down a "no trucks" route in this job. Several times my trainer said "Where are you going? didn't you read the sign? no trucks where you're heading (where the interstate split between "local" and "express"). Although we were going THROUGH the state I had to take the "local" route.

After passing his assessment I was assigned a truck and completed my first solo load on this past Friday. I see there is still a lot to learn. One anxious moment came when I exited PA's turnpike onto Rt1. There are two ways to go after the toll booth. Towards Philly or towards Morrisville. I needed Morrisville, however right after the toll booth there is an old bridge you need to go under heading towards Morrisville. It sure don't LOOK like it's over 13' 6" high. Looked more like about 11 or 12 feet high. But it wasn't marked. I was told ALL low bridges were marked. I pulled off at the "V" between the two roads and sat there a minute hoping I'd see another Semi go under it. Of course all I saw were cars. A box truck went by me and I watched it pass me. It looked to be the same height as me. When it went under the bridge it had an extra foot of room, so I continued under the bridge. What a relief to not feel the truck come to an abrupt halt.

It's been quite a journey and I'm on my much needed "hometime" right now for a few days. I get to take a deep breath and continue learning. Sorry for the long post but hopefully it helps explain some stuff to potential truckers!!

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. On one hand I figured they couldn't possibly put too low of a bridge right off of a turnpike exit. However I also remember how kids loved to steal roadsigns.

 

I'll stick with it for awhile. But I can't lie, being away from home is tough. For over 30 years I was used to working 8 to 4:30 Mon-Fri. Home for dinner everynight, then I had the rest of the night to myself before punching back in at work the next day. Driving during the day looking at the scenery is nice, but when the day is done and I'm driving through a truckstop 1000 miles from home looking for an open space is when I'm second-guessing my career choice.

My company offers a 14/7 schedule that a lot of drivers like. They run two trucks (slip-seating) with three drivers. unfortunately it's not available in my home terminal. After driving with the trainer for 8 days I asked him what part of this job does he like. I was curious because there has to be something I'm missing, there's more to life than working ALL day then passing out exhausted in your sleeper cab just to get up the next day and do it all over for weeks at a time. He said it's the 14/7 schedule that keeps him going. Two weeks of giving 100% of your time to the company then it's a week vacation. Like he said, How many places would hire you if you told them "Well, I want a weeks vacation for every two weeks I work"!! Some guys don't do it because you share the truck. But who cares??, Like the trainer said, "When they issue you a truck is it really YOUR truck"?. It's not like they throw you the keys, hand you the title and say "Just get that title transferred into your name when you get a chance, It's YOUR truck now".