My Journey as a Truck Driver

DocFrank · Jun 16, 2012

GldnEagle said: ↑

Just pick a company. Get your training done. Now you are over THAT hurdle. Drive for 6 months.. now your mouth has valid reason to speak. All the big companies have pluses and minuses. Pay your dues, then write your ticket. You can't write your ticket before that. I drive for a big company and LOVE it. I have mom and pop experience, another big company, but I love my current BIG (werner) company. It's what you give and they give too. On time, don't whine, don't #####. They treat me good. I'm dedicated and get 2500+ plus drop pay. I work hard but they treat me good.
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That's the first really positive thing I've heard about Werner. I saw so many bad posts about them plus I am always hearing about wrecks involving them on the news. They were my first choice but after all the negative input I steered clear of them. Perhaps you have had such a positive experience because you hired on as a veteran and not straight out of school.

DocFrank · Jun 16, 2012

ShrugofAtlas said: ↑

[FONT=&amp]Sorry for my delays in posting. For whatever reason my trainer doesn't like to stop at truck stops or other places that have internet. We're always staying at shipper/receiver or rest areas. I suspect this post will make up for it though.

Journey: Left Greeley, CO with a load of beef. Had to drop/hook in the tightest yard I can imagine. Trailers were literally touching each other, got into a hole where there was about 2 inches on each side. Didn't have enough room to straight back, so it took me awhile. 3 stop LTL in Jacksonville, Auburndale, & Plant City. About 44,000 lbs.

As soon as trainer and I left the yard, he indicated to me that he was out of money, and hadn't eaten in two days . . . for whatever reasons, he does not have a credit card, or other bank card, and depends on a weekly advance from his weekly comdata card refill. Friday and Saturday I bought him three meals, and loaned him $20. I also had to immediately buy certain necessities that he did not have such as pens, flashlight, extra keys (a convenience and necessity, he's lost his original key already). Saturday he lost his $100 comdata advance at a casino we had parked at for the night, leaving him no money for the upcoming week. I had won, so I gave him $65 of my winnings. These financial difficulties for him makes it so he's not willing to pay for Cat scales to verify axle weights, etc. The very first night, we picked up a load there in Greeley weighing over 44,000 #'s, and left southbound on 85 where there is a weigh station. Since we had not scaled at the truck stop, even though we had stopped and I had given him $20, we pulled over on the side of the road right before the weigh station to guess where trailer axles need to be. Fortunately the station did not inspect us even though it appeared we were heavy on our drive axles, presumably because we were under gross.

Going through St. Louis on Sunday, where speed limit was 50 mph, I was chastised for not going faster. Having pointed out the speed limit signs, I was told that I could go faster, to not worry about it. For the sake of harmony, I did not increase my speed, but I also did not create an issue. We arrived in Jacksonville Monday night and slept at receiver.

Tuesday drove to Orlando and parked at a pay lot where trainer had a conjugal visit with his wife . . . presumably in truck. I walked the area and stayed in the drivers lounge.

Wednesday made 2nd delivery in Auburndale. On leaving, trainer was driving and incurred a Qualcomm "critical driving warning" or something for speeding around a corner too fast. What the Qualcomm does not show is shortly before, he had stopped at a red light, on railroad tracks. When I pointed out to him that a train was coming from my side, he straight backed just off the tracks. The light turned to green just as the railroad arm rails started descending because of the coming train. I didn't see it, but trainer says the arm came down on the trailer. Also made 3rd stop in Plant City. Deadhead to Gainesville, GA. Stayed the night at a massive TA/Petro outside of Atlanta.

On Thursday, things came to a head. We picked up some chicken I think in Gainesville, GA, at the base of Appalachians. Heading to Tomah, WI he informed me that we were going to go back roads, and some of the roads were 25 mph. Since he did not want to go the speed limit, he would drive. Much of the route we took had posted signs specifically forbidding semis, or specifically telling weight limits, that we exceeded. Further, many of the roads were very twisty, hilly, blind curves . . . and 45 mph. Most of the time he was driving 10-15 mph over speed limit, and at least once he completely drove through a stop sign without slowing in order to beat oncoming vehicle. After probably 90 minutes of this, he pulled over and told me I cold drive. I told him I refused to drive until we were on roads and a route that I knew we were legal to drive on. At this point, a significant verbal argument ensued, where I was threatened that he'd leave me at the next stop, etc etc. Once we got to a freeway access, things calmed down and I began driving. We had to fuel, at which time I asked again about scaling and was rejected. Later that evening, we were pulled over at a weigh station and instructed to park on the scale, and come in for an inspection. I was concerned obviously, but expected trainer to go in with me. He declined the first time, but went in the second time when I was sent back out for more documentation. Fortunately it was just a random inspection and I and the truck passed. Regardless, I was pissed, feeling that trainer controlled scaling, and having failed to do so amidst a pending inspection, did not back up his responsibility to both scale, and mentor - and sent me in alone hanging me out to dry..

On Friday we were delayed at receiver because trainer did not have enough funds to pay Lumper Fees, and was concerned about telling DM because he could only account for $200 of the $300 weekly comdata budget. I don't know how that was ultimately resolved . . . I assume more funds were loaded.

Since then we've had significant arguments re: safety, scaling, driving speeds, etc.

Total miles: About 3300. Pretty good weather until Tomah, WI encountered about 2 inches of blustery snow. About 7 mpg.

Interesting location: Florida in general. So balmy and nice in middle of January. I see why people move there.

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Jez! What a nightmare! You got to get away from this guy if all you're saying is so. Talk to fleet and get someone who's not a maroon. Remember, this training time is for you to Learn all you can before you solo. If you're not being trained or worse trained wrong You are the one who's going to suffer. Also, any problems with DOT you have due to this fool are going on Your record. You sure don't need that.

DocFrank · Jun 16, 2012

ShrugofAtlas said: ↑

McDonough, GA, > Gainesville, GA (chicken) > Ankeney, IA; > Marshalltown, IA (pork) > Zeeland, MI; Corunna, MI (pickles) > Greeley, CO . . . > Hyrum, UT.

Sunday: Delivered load to McDonough, en route to Gainesville, pull into a Walmart parking lot at night. "Old Man" (he kind've looks like Ernest Hemingway . . . "Old Man and the Sea") likes to park in Walmarts . . . I'm starting to like it too actually. Walmart seems to attract other places to eat, etc., so it works out well.

Monday: Picked up load in Gainesville. Left town on similar route as last time I was here, only this time I'm driving. Last time "Young Gun" drove a route that was not truck legal. We were on much the same roads, but only saw 1 sign that said wasn't legal vs 6-7 before. All in all though, I think if you're headed north to Tennessee, you're probably better off taking longer freeway route.

Tuesday: Arrive in Ankeny about 6pm for a 4 am Wed. delivery. Receiver is right next to a lot of restaurants (again, Walmart is right there), so I get a chance to eat Olive Garden. I'm assuming that I should be routed back to Greeley at this point in order to take final road evaluation and get my own truck, however we're routed to Michigan . . . wrong way. I'm pissed. Sleep at Walmart again.

Wednesday: Pick up load in Marshalltown, deliver to Sara Lee in Zeeland. Pretty confusing navigation in Zeeland. Can't always trust that GPS knows best. Start drive to Corunna, shipper is dirt lot and starting to rain/snow a bit, so pull into rest area to sleep.

Thursday: Pick up load of pickles headed to Walmart/Cheyenne, WY for Sunday delivery. Haven't heard a word about returning to Greeley for my final eval. "Old Man" is assuming that he's going to need to pick up a new trainee since supposedly JBS started 8 new students last week, and 16 this week. Trainer Manager says if we can get to Greeley by mid-day I can get final road test, then fly to my truck. Greeley has no trucks available. I wonder if that's why I've been delayed so much??? Greeley is about 60 miles south of Cheyenne, so "Old Man" and I decide to team drive straight to Greeley, then he can pick up new trainee and deliver pickles Sat/Sun. Drove 10:48, 692 miles = 64.07 mph . . . not bad for driving at or below speed limit and governed at 65 mph. Only averaged 6.0 mpg though, must had some wind.

Friday: Get to Greeley about 10am. I'm pretty tired, but pretty much as soon as we pull in, I'm told to do final road test. Doing it with Orientation Trainer, not Trainer Manager, so not sure if that's good or bad. I'm driving a '10 Pete 387, 10 speed though. Start out with pre-trip inspection, drop/hook and backing. Do fine, he has some tweak comments, but nothing major. I look at trailer tandem settings to see how much turning radius I'd need. Was not quite Cali, but probably 41'sh so shouldn't be too bad. Road test though does not go as well as I'd liked. Even though I learned on a 10 speed, last 6 weeks have been driving an 8-speed, took me a bit to get the shifting, had a really hard time finding 4th - I was pushing over too far. Part of the problem was that I've been floating gears for the past 3-4 weeks, but when I get in a jam I still double-clutch. I was planning on just DC'ing the test, but got out of the habit and kept mixing it up. Basically the test was a lot of tight right turns. The first one I had problems with, I couldn't set up as much as I'd like because he did not want me touching the left lane border. Had to wait at light, then traffic in turn lane barely allowed me enough room - even still I brushed the curb, but I couldn't find 4th gear and ended up stopped mid-intersection until I could get back into 2nd. The very next turn was a stoplight right, into a city 2 lane where you need both lanes, and part of the shoulder frankly, to complete the turn, I'm pretty sure I brushed the curb there as well, and had problems with 4th again. We did some more left/right turns, but much more room, so no problems, and I'm finally getting used to shifter. Adjusted to why I was missing 4th, and settle on just floating the whole time. I downshift as much as possible so he knows I can. After about 20 minutes, we pull into a truck stop, where he buys some burritos, and he talks to me about calming down. I was still thinking about those 2 intersections, wondering if that was going to fail me. After the truck stop, we go back and do those same intersections. I get past the first intersection ok, but the second again was problematic. Light was green when I arrived, but I was in 6th gear and didn't want to risk missing the stop line while downshifting, so I stopped. Next green I had no openings in traffic to turn. There was a car far enough away that I could've done a redlight turn, but I was worried that if I missed 4th again, it'd be problems, so I waited. Had to wait 3 more greens before traffic allowed me to go. Traffic backed up behind me was not pleased, so feeling pressure there, plus wasn't sure what tester was thinking . . . but didn't know what else to do, no way I could make the turn without running over curb unless both lanes were cleared. Finally we get back to terminal. Tester has me back into a hole and tells me that as long as I don't hit anything, I've passed! I had plenty of room, but I probably took 3 times longer than normal, taking no chances I stopped 5 times and GOAL'ed, and picked up a paper plate that had blown into the hole! I passed.

Saturday: My truck is in Hyrum, UT terminal, so I hitch a ride with another driver taking a load there. Arrive about 5:30 am, I had to drive the last 90 minutes because of HoS. Its freezing . . . and security has no idea where my truck is. I walk the entire terminal, finally I find someone about 6:30 in shop . . . I find my truck.

A beautiful '12 Kenworth T700.

She has about 64,000 miles . . . figure about 6 months old, still smells new. I think I'm going to name her Kendra.

Haven't slept much the past 48 hours, but so excited doesn't really matter. My first payload is a relay from Hyrum headed to Walmart/Gas City, IN. Supposed to leave mid-day Saturday, but relay driver is delayed 24 hours. Couldn't care less, I need the sleep anyway, and will take the layover pay.

I'm offered a hotel for night, but decline, me and Kendra are gonna get cozy.
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Congrats! Big time! One thing to keep in mind, I learned this from a guy I was paying to train me up on shifting better. You can take 6th gear almost to 0 no problems. I did this after he told me and it works like a charm. If you have to stop just flip the switch and put her in 2nd or 3rd. Easy peasy.

Logan76 · Jun 16, 2012

If your riding 6th gear clear down to under 5mph I hope your downshifting before just mashing the throttle to the floor and lugging the motor way down.

DocFrank · Jun 16, 2012

ShrugofAtlas said: ↑

Deadhead from Laredo, TX to McAllen, TX - Mission, TX - and Uvalde, TX. Pick up oranges, limes, and cabbage. According to my GPS, route takes me along Rio Grande most of the time. It's even more Mexico than I anticipated it would be.

Get into a few jams trying to get into shippers, one of them was in the middle of an orchard with dirt roads to reach it. This is also a broker load, and I'm finding those guys to be pretty annoying. They don't schedule very well, and they like to micromanage . . . yet getting information about the load is impossible. Since it was a 3-stop LTL, I wanted to know weights in order to make sure it was loaded properly. First load was 6 pallets of oranges, weighing 12,000 pounds. Next load was 4 skids of limes . . . no weights. Final load was boxed and bagged cabbage, 16 skids . . . no idea on weights. My truck has a air pressure gauge on my drive axles, so I can set it up knowing my drives are legal, but I have no idea on gross weights. I tried to scale at 3 different times, but scale was broken twice, and under construction once . . . fortunately I never had to find out if I was legal or not. Would love input on what I could've done differently to know for sure.

There also isn't much in the way of truck parking in the area, but I find that I can always find a Walmart, however it makes it difficult to shower, and I feel bad just going in to use restroom etc. I've spent quite a bit of money with them getting my truck set up, so I figure it's all good.

Recap: Laredo, TX > McAllen, TX > Mission, TX > Uvalde, TX > Commerce City, CO.
Pay Miles: 1329, Actual Miles: 1371
Fuel: 6.6 mpg
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Uvalde was my old home town. Pretty neat part of the country.

DocFrank · Jun 16, 2012

Logan76 said: ↑

If your riding 6th gear clear down to under 5mph I hope your downshifting before just mashing the throttle to the floor and lugging the motor way down.
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I would skip to 4th in that case but if you take it easy you don't have to lug the motor.

Innuendo · Jun 17, 2012

Thanks for the story in progress, ShrugofAtlus. It's been a good read... informative and entertaining. I'm in a similar situation as to when you started your journey: I'm exploring the posibilities of trucking as a career choice, I dont have family or children that tie me down to any location, I would rather not make payments on a house that I might only get to stay in a few nights bi-monthly, the idea of driving all over the country and seeing whats out there is appealing, I hope to stay in good shape(loving the colapsable bike idea) but I understand that may not be entirely possible, and earning a bachelors degree online over the course of my journey is definetely something I would be keen on.

I do have a few questions for you or anyone who would like to comment-

1. Your bottom line; how much do you actually put into your savings account "at the end of the day"? are you on par to make 37k your first year(and is that net or gross)?

2. how much exercise do you get to sqeeze into a weekly period, and can you find time and locations to shower no less than 3x/week?

3. What areas/towns have you stoped at that you would consider not safe to go for a jog in, as in specific locations? I'm liking the parking at walmart idea 'cause their whole lot is under camera(at least the wal marts that ive seen) which would make me feel safer to a degree, have you ever been turned away from parking at a walmart?

4. Do you primarily prepare your own food or perhaps dine on a truck stop cusine? restaurants? "What is your diet?" I guess is the better question.

5. Lumping your own frieght to cut down on costs, I still haven't seen an answer to this and I also am curious.

6. If you could press a reset button and try it all over again, what would you have done differently?

7. Are there any additional resources, online or otherwise, you can provide to someone just starting a CDL training course?

Thanks again for all the info you and other posters have provided, Its all been very helpful.

DocFrank · Jun 17, 2012

Innuendo said: ↑

Thanks for the story in progress, ShrugofAtlus. It's been a good read... informative and entertaining. I'm in a similar situation as to when you started your journey: I'm exploring the posibilities of trucking as a career choice, I dont have family or children that tie me down to any location, I would rather not make payments on a house that I might only get to stay in a few nights bi-monthly, the idea of driving all over the country and seeing whats out there is appealing, I hope to stay in good shape(loving the colapsable bike idea) but I understand that may not be entirely possible, and earning a bachelors degree online over the course of my journey is definetely something I would be keen on.

I do have a few questions for you or anyone who would like to comment-

1. Your bottom line; how much do you actually put into your savings account "at the end of the day"? are you on par to make 37k your first year(and is that net or gross)?

2. how much exercise do you get to sqeeze into a weekly period, and can you find time and locations to shower no less than 3x/week?

3. What areas/towns have you stoped at that you would consider not safe to go for a jog in, as in specific locations? I'm liking the parking at walmart idea 'cause their whole lot is under camera(at least the wal marts that ive seen) which would make me feel safer to a degree, have you ever been turned away from parking at a walmart?

4. Do you primarily prepare your own food or perhaps dine on a truck stop cusine? restaurants? "What is your diet?" I guess is the better question.

5. Lumping your own frieght to cut down on costs, I still haven't seen an answer to this and I also am curious.

6. If you could press a reset button and try it all over again, what would you have done differently?

7. Are there any additional resources, online or otherwise, you can provide to someone just starting a CDL training course?

Thanks again for all the info you and other posters have provided, Its all been very helpful.
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Good post, excellent questions.several things I can answer;

5. Lumping your own freight to cut down on costs, I still haven't seen an answer to this and I also am curious.
You can lump your own most of the time but before you hire on to a company that is a vital question-"Do you pay lumping charges?"
Every place I've talked to says yes, but that could just be recruiter "BravoSierra"

6. If you could press a reset button and try it all over again, what would you have done differently?
I went to school at Roadmaster Drivers School. It was very expensive ($6000+) and the quality of training left much to be desired. I understand that it was my bad luck to hit a rough spot in their program (5 different trainers in 4 weeks) that was not the fault of Roadmaster and they did give me an additional 2 weeks with one trainer. I think by that time I needed a reset. Because of weaknesses in shifting I sought out another school who would let me buy drive time with one of their instructors Sage Trucking School. I wish I had gone there first! In San Antonio they are associated with St. Philips College and from other posts I've seen it would appear to be a much better idea to go to a college or community college rather than the more expensive "head 'um up, move 'um out" private schools. Also, Sage has one-on-one driving instruction which made a world of difference for me. At Roadmaster it was 4 students + 1 instructor to a truck and the most time you could get behind the wheel was 1 hr.
This seemed to be fine for most everyone else so maybe it's just me. Think about what would be better for you.

7. Are there any additional resources, online or otherwise, you can provide to someone just starting a CDL training course?
Here are some good places to go to get practice tests- Crist CDL's Practice Exams , Pro-TREAD (you have to pay for this one it's what Roadmaster uses)FREE CDL Practice Tests CDL Knowledge Test Review Tips >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA4d0rBjnNE& General Knowledge Class "A" - Part 1 of 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT8IRo0Gu2U feature=relmfu
General Knowledge Class "A" - Part 2 of 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHpAInnBFKc&feature=related
Air Brakes Class "A" - Part 1 of 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYPaTgn0l8o&feature=related
Air Brakes Class "A" - Part 2 of 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIyo8MP2WAw
Pre-Trip Inspection CDL Part 1 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwx2GNrd8A&feature=related
Pre-Trip Inspection CDL Part 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwxBTCh1Ly4&feature=related
Pre-Trip Inspection CDL Part 3 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Aau_ohddY&feature=related
Pre-Trip Inspection CDL Part 4 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FESo59UERxg&feature=related
Fifth Wheel Sliding PArt 10 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGZAiuUpums&feature=relmfu
How to back up a tractor trailer Part 1 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8sJnVZPnSM

How to back up a tractor trailer Part 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-XKji8OEYs&feature=related
How to back up a tractor trailer Part 3 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OM5LrOBbnw&feature=related

How to back up a tractor trailer Part 4 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEq8DkNprwk&feature=related 4

How to back up a short trailer >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhE-n_zyUmU&feature=related

Coupling and Uncoupling a Trailer >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfEdLsJtW_s&feature=related
7 Steps Incab Inspection >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYEpCMvWLsI&feature=related
Learn to Drive PArt 1 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JA_6Ngxlsg
Learn to Drive Part 2 >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uETnYoQMzJ0&feature=related

I hope this will be of some use to you and anyone else.

mitten · Jun 19, 2012

I can assure you that you won't make anything if you are expecting to be routed home every week. It takes a good two weeks to catch up after being home. When you request home time it limits your trips to a certain area that is near your home.. You could've potentially losing a good run. The first year is very difficult in the money department as you don't know what you are doing and driver managers take advantage of this. I wish you all the best friend. Don't give up. If you can get through the first year you will be fine. A good driver manager is imperative to your success. Try and get one with experience and a heart.

DocFrank · Jul 19, 2012

Shrug are you still out there? If so, how are you doing? Inquiring minds want to know!

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