Rookie starting my trucking career. From first thought to hopefully retirement.

From Georgetown, 15 minutes away. I read about the cop, chief of police who was due to retire in a couple of weeks.

 

Hard to find free internet access on the road. Not paying for an air card until I get onto the 30K team driver phase.

Sunday my instructor picked me up but I did not drive. A very large cell was in our path and just wanted to make sure their were not surprises. Walmart DC, from gate to leaving was probably 3 hours. He was sure we would not get another load as there were about 8 other prime vehicles. We got one within the hour.

Woke up at 4:30 am and started the treck to Joplin, MO to pick up at noon. I planned the route and took over driving at our fuel stop, about 3pm we headed out. Drove till about 9 pm where my instructor said, pull over here, I am beat.

Left the next AM to drive to Wyoming, I did all the driving. Since we had time he flipped for hotel and we had a nice steak dinner. Woke up, did some errands and docked at Walmart DC. We were in and out in 2 hours, they were very fast.

Sitting accross the CO/WY boarder as our next load is 40 miles away and does not pick up until tomorrow.

Driving has gotten less stressful as we go. I have backed into all docks, these is coming very easy for me as I have backed trailers most of my life. The toughest part is down shifting. I was grinding everything and missing on everyone. Yesterday was the first day where I did 100% better.

Tomorrow is going to be long. We have to run at least 700 miles to give us time to make the appointment.

I will update again when I find the free spots.

 

Hard to update when internet is so hard to find. Sitting in a hotel as we are waiting for our load tomorrow. Had dinner and nice to relax for the night.

Backing up a week where we went down to Budweiser to pick up our load at 1PM. Pulled in around 11am and waited, waited, and waited. About 8PM the automated system told us our trailer was loaded.

On the scale out we were overweight by 2000 Lbs. Had to re dock and have product removed. Have to say they must of all been smoking something that day. Not just us but we were sitting at the docks with 6 other drivers who were over loaded. More at the scales when we were leaving. I was calm and just dealt with it, my instructor (OO) was a little upset, he wanted to unload on Friday. Since we were pulling out at 9PM we just did not have the time to unload on Friday.

We made it to the receiver at 9am, they unload until 1PM. 7 trucks back and we were turned around at 1:30PM. They said, come back Monday. Man, my instructor was ready to blow a gasket.

After some calls we were told to drop for a repower south of Dallas. Worked out in the end as that was next to our next load. At this point I am doing 90% of the driving, which I like.

Picked up our load in the Dallas area and ended our night somewhere in Oklahoma. Dropped our load in Kansas the next day and picked up our 1500 run into Florida. At this point my instructor is in a much better mood.

This was our tightest timeline yet. We had limited time on Sunday, Mon and Tues to make it to Florida. Even the fleet manager questioned whether we would be able to make it for our 7am appt.

I did my 11 hours each day. My instructor finished up the last 100 miles into the shipper this early am to meet our appt. I was wide awake during the last 100 and I was a little worried, he seemed completely exhausted. I actually kept talking to him non stop for 50 miles.

At this point I have over 60 hours and we plan on being back for my test Friday night or Saturday AM.

My backing is pretty spot on right now, it is just coming very natural to me. Still grind here and there on the up shift. Down shifting is coming easier but still a very deliberate action, not natural for me yet.

So hopefully on my next update I will be driving team and working my way to single seat.

 

Sitting at the Campus inn now. Arrived tonight about 11PM, checked in at midnight. I have roughly 78 hours driving.

I think my instructor was more excited to be here than me, he lives in the area. Tomorrow we head to the pad to practice, then on the road to run the testing course.

I am here for the weekend and no complaints. I will probably pick up with the trainer on late Monday or Tuesday am.