My Journey as a Truck Driver

Flew to Orlando, FL to meet truck. Deadhead to Leesburg, FL - picked up Orange Juice > Delivered to SouthHaven, MS > Deadhead "out of route" miles to Little Rock, AR > Turn-around, deadhead to Russellville, AL, Chicken > Delivered to Fort Madison, IA > Deadhead to Des Moines, IA, Beef > Relay load headed to California to Greeley, Co.

Drove about 2200 miles.

Drove through thunderstorms in Mississippi. Two days of rain. 45 mph wind gusts headed west from Iowa. Averaged about 6.7 mpg.

Interesting Location: Not so much interesting, but drove through areas struck by the tornadoes this past summer in Alabama. Incredible devastation! I've seen tornado damage before growing up in Illinois, but the shear breadth and width of the damage in Alabama was mesmerizing, terrifying, awe inspiring. It's amazing how powerful mother nature is. My thoughts are with those that were so afflicted.

 

The fact that its "no touch" I think is irrelevant. With litigation the way it is, JBS needs to protect itself from an overzealous lawyer suing because JBS put an overweight, sleep apnea, . . . whatever, driver out there.

 

So I'm curious as to how JBS picks mentors. I'm on my 2nd trainer at my request. Don't get me wrong, I'm learning and they both have taught me things, but shouldn't trainers have to go through a minimum vetting process?

My first trainer was nice enough, but her hygiene was horrendous. A 350 pound woman, chewing fingernails and spitting them on floor of cab; coughing all over the place; because she cooks in the truck, grease, food, dust, crumbs, etc etc all over the place; changing her "feminine napkins" in sleeper (while I'm driving by the way - 3-4 times a day), at least I think that's what's going on - I don't want to think about it . . . especially right on/near/on top of refrigerator ### cooking surface. When you're that large and sharing a 8x8 living space with someone else, please shower more than once in 6 days. I don't know if she's physically capable of driving 11 hours/day or not, but clearly she doesn't want to, and that's why she's training. I didn't know how to have a hygiene conversation with a 40+ year old woman, so I requested a new trainer while in home terminal.

My current trainer is much cleaner, and a very good driver, but he has no clue as to why something works. If I grind a gear he tells me to "baby it in, make love to it". Umm, ok, what the hell does that mean? Do I need to give it more throttle and raise the RPM's? Do I need to wait a bit and let RPM's settle more? He has no idea how gear ratio/RPM's correlate. He shifts great, but can't explain how/why. He has no equipment/tools . . . i.e. flashlights, 5th wheel puller, notepads, pens. He did change out all the inside lights to purple, yellow, and red and demands that they be on at all times while driving at night. He changed the back load lights to red, and wants them on. I've loaned him $50 until payday on Friday and bought him 3 meals because the two days together he went hungry because he had no money. Seriously??? He was at terminal last week for "trainer orientation". What in the world did they discuss in this orientation?? Obviously not safety, he told me to disregard the 50 mph sign while in St. Louis, "there's no need to go that slow just because I'm with trainer." Had an argument when I set the cruise control at 63 instead of 65 mph. I like having that 2 mph buffer because truck picks up speed while going down hills. I told him that it'll make a difference of maybe 10 minutes at the end of 10 hours . . . he insisted that it'd be 10 minutes/hour! I couldn't convince him of the math.

Finally . . . Trainer 1 and Trainer 2 have both said I drive well. I don't shift perfectly all the time, and backing in tight spaces takes me awhile; but the only things they say is that I need to check my mirrors more. I thought I was mirror obsessed, but . . . maybe not. So I made a bet with Trainer 1 that I'd pay her $100 each time that I didn't check my mirrors at least 3 x's/minute while on freeways. She never collected. She passed on that critique to Trainer 2 . . . he says the same thing. Fine, I ask how often should I be checking my mirrors. Obviously city should be more than freeways. City check constantly, freeways every 8-10 seconds. Ummm, ok. Same bet, if any minute goes by that I don't check my mirrors at least 6 x's per minute while on freeways, $100. To which he replies, "oh no, on freeways you only need to check 1-2 x's minute". Uhhh, ok so which is it, every 8-10 seconds or 1-2 x's minute? Answer . . . "I just answered that! You need to listen better, every 8-10 seconds or 1-2 x's minute!" OK, gotcha. The fuel optimization speed/gears conversation will have to wait for another time.

All in all, I'm getting along fine personally with trainers . . . but needless to say, I'm ready to go solo.