My First Year of OTR

So, I've almost hit the official year mark for my first OTR gig. This thread will serve the purpose of reflecting back on my year, how things went and some of the cool things I've gotten to do. I'll also explain what I've learned from the road, other drivers and this forum itself. Here goes...

States I've travelled through:

Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Canadian Provinces travelled through:

Ontario
Quebec
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Newfoundland
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta

Initial Thoughts:

Between solo and team driving, I have put on approximately 120,000 kilometres or 75,000 miles. They have all been accident and damage free. I ran through sunshine, rain, hail, sleet, snow, blizzards and was on the I-77 NB in Virginia during January when the highway was shut down for 6 hours to clear the roads and accidents ahead of us. I've run all hours of the day and much prefer running after sunset. I've reported drunk drivers to the police and accidents to 911. I also stopped to assist an accident along with another driver from Day/Ross before any first responders were on the scene. I'm not sure of my entire load count to this point but I've only been late maybe two or three times and they were all out of my hands. I did however cause damage to a brand new Toyota forklift during transport (straps rubbed off the new paint on some places, blankets shifted during transport) and learned from my mistake).

Ports of Entries I've crossed:

Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON
Port Huron, MI / Sarnia, ON
Buffalo, NY / Fort Erie, ON
Lewiston, NY / Queenston, ON
Alexandria Bay, NY / Lansdowne, ON
Massena, NY / Cornwall, ON
International Falls, MN / Fort Frances, ON
Champlain, NY / Lacolle, QC
Highgate Springs, VT / Phillipsburg, QC
Pembina, ND / Emerson, MB
Portal, ND / North Portal, SK

Favorite Moments:

- While picking up at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), Air Canada Jazz staff let me tour one of their Bombardier CRJ-700 series regional jets, even letting me sit in the ####pit and enjoy the experience as much as possible. Since there was a two-hour delay on their behalf picking up the load, it was only fair.

- Travelled on an ocean-going ferry for the trip to Newfoundland. Six hours enjoying a nice ocean view from the sun deck on a beautiful afternoon. There was also two restaurants, a general/common room to watch tv or private quarters with a television as well.

- Any trip to NYC.

- Plane spotting at the major airports. For an aviation geek, this is about as good as it gets.

- etc.


Least Favorite Moments:

- Layover in Birmingham, AL for one week. During this week layover my girlfriend of three years broke up with me over the phone, haven't seen or heard from her since.

- Customs paperwork mix up had me sitting in Duty Free in Detroit for 14 hours.

- Missing family, friends.

- etc.


What The Road (and every single one of you ladies and gents) Has Taught Me:

- Have respect for mother nature. She can get ugly in a hurry and you'd better be prepared. Always pack essential items, survival tools and necessities to sustain life. If it's -20 and you're in the middle of nowhere and your truck breaks down, having these items can keep you alive until help arrives.

- Don't be the guy who parks in the fuel isle to purchase (and eat) food in the truck at any point. It's rude and inconsiderate of your fellow drivers. If you need more than five minutes to stop, just park your truck and walk a little bit more to the truck stop. It's not hurting you and it might be saving the driver behind you valuable time that he/she may need.

- Take your lumps, get back on the horse and do it all over again the next day. You've seen the threads. Not mentioning any or anyone specifically, but the folks who give up so easily when things aren't going their way. Leaving seniority positions to start somewhere else because the dispatcher may have been a little rude over the phone. Don't do it. Earn respect from fellow co-workers, office staff and drivers by taking whatever lemons are thrown at you and making lemonade. It's not easy out here and you have to be prepared to accept the good with the bad.


Closing Thoughts:

I'm probably omitting a lot of things I wanted to include in this post. I wanted to keep things semi short, but I'm also eager to share my experiences with all of you. You see, if it wasn't for some of the things I read on here, I'd probably still be flashing my high beams to signal a passing trucker that he's clear of my truck. I'd still be wearing flip-flops instead of steel-toe work boots. Who knows, maybe I would be that guy in the fuel island. I had to learn a lot of these things on my own, but for everything I missed, the great people on this site were here to help or point out. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the experienced drivers and it's my hope that in ten years down the road I'll be able to share the knowledge I learn from them (you) on a daily basis. Until then, I'll be keeping the hammer down in my governed truck, not texting while driving and praying that I win the lottery in the meantime.

EverywhereMan and I'm gone!

 

List updated.

Added: Tennessee (forgot about that one, Nashville looked cool from the Interstate!)
Removed: Washington. Brain fart - Never been there. Lol.