I Made a Stupid Mistake - I Need Advice

Heya guys.

I just made a really stupid series of mistakes, and I need advice on how to handle it.

I just got my new truck after a two month training period, and after a week of driving, finally got to come home for some R&R. I just moved my family in to a new town, Newberry, FL.

I get my personal driving time approved, and drive from Jacksonville to Newberry, making it at about 2300ish. Across from the grocery store, my family tells me, is a parking lot that the town allows truckers to park in for extended periods while home. My plan was to drop the trailer, slap on a padlock and a gladhand lock, then drive the tractor home.

I get to the grocery store, and do not see a lot, aside from the store's lot, and the back lot of the Family Dollar next to it, which is already occupied by a truck. After trying to maneuver in there for about half an hour, unable to get straight, I decided to forgo the parking lot, and just drive home and park in the grass by the driveway, as I see a bunch of other truckers do.

I get to my drive, and start to pull in slowly, after seeing miles of mostly flat shoulder, and realize that this particular part of the shoulder is not stable, so I can't drop the trailer here and don't want to park. I then start to throttle up a bit, and realize that I lost traction, and can't get out.

Ok, so, instead of calling a wrecker straight away, I try to get myself unstuck. Lock in the second drive axle, dig some sand out, put some wood under the tires, and try again to drive out, to no avail.

I still don't call a wrecker. Instead, I think that maybe if I lessen the weight on the tractor and disconnect the trailer, and raise it up, I can get out then, then reconnect at an angle, with tires on solid blacktop, and drive out. I put some bricks under the landing gear, raised it up, disconnected, and, no joy.

By this time, I'm tired, hot, and nasty, so I go to bed.

Next morning, I am at it again, trying to get it unstuck, and I happen to pull a logger up on the CB while he's chugging down the street. He offers to come back after work to try to pull me out. I get me a couple chains and a heavy duty towing strap, and wait for him to show up. he gets there later, and complains that I shouldn't have disconnected the trailer - he could have pulled me out from behind with no problems, but he'd go ahead and try me from the front, just until I got some traction, then was able to reverse and reconnect, so he could then get behind me and pull from the trailer. Well, this particular tractor has no tow hooks on the front, so I tied it around the frame behind the bumper. He pulled, while I went forward in low gear, and still, no joy - and on top of not moving, the strap tore up the bumper on my brand new truck.

To make matters worse, it started raining, and has only stopped for short periods of time since, so the ground is now all muddy, instead of sandy.

So, I toyed with the prospect of calling a wrecker on my own, but realized I didn't have the kind of money I'd need to get it pulled out on my own.

I buckled down and called dispatch, hoping to get my fleet manager, but got a stand in dispatcher, as he'd gone to some meeting, and he told me to wait and see if I could get out after it stopped raining, as they didn't want to spend the money on a tow service. I was afraid to tell them the whole story, since I am new, and don't want to lose my job or get charged with an accident or anything, even though it was totally my own fault.

I want to know what you guys think I should do.

Oh, and I found the lot my family was talking about today - it's not across the street, it's down the road, and there is already another Werner driver parked there.

-J