Any tips for a new driver on their own?

Just dont get stupid with the cam, have heard of drivers uploading videos that shows them doing illegal stuff and get fired, I know not too long ago a driver got fired doing this and in the recording he did a couple roll stops and ran a stop sign, my DM told me to be careful if I have a cam.

 

OMG. I wanted two give you two thanks for that. Original and VERY funny. I would add girlfriend too, but if you have a girlfriend instead of a wife you prolly already know she ain't got no panties on cause you took 'em off! It's not til you get old and married a good while and a warm fire, soft bed and good grub become more important than sex, that the woman in your life has to tell you she wants to be manhandled. Until then, you'll be gone so long that you'll be on it like a hornet the minute you walk in the door.

I can NOT overemphasize this point enough! Become intimately familiar with your Rand McNally Motor Carrier Atlas before using any GPS!! That and SIGNS!! Until you can truly understand (not just read but internalize what you are looking at) maps, specifically Motor Carrier Maps, and habitually read or at least scan and disregard as not relevant, every single sign you are COMMING TO, you can't use GPS the right way and you'll rely on it and it WILL jam you up. I'm gonna tell a story about the importance of this after this post.

This is ESPECIALLY relevant when you are running nights and sleeping in the day (which you will do). You get to the T/S at say 09:00 or 10:00 b/c that's the end of YOUR driving time that "day". Man, it's a parking Buffet! ANY SPOT YOU WANT, and three open on either side of IT! So you grab an easy pleasy spot close to the fuel island and store entrance facing the end of a row. You do your 10 down and wake up at 20:00 and that place is a ZOO! Every regular spot filled, late arrivals parking where there ain't no lines (usually extending rows) and the incoming sharks steadily circling. You can't get out. To heck w/ blocking the circling flow; it's a "ain't got no room to swing thing", cause three trucks have extended the row in front of you and you can't make the cut w/o pinching your trailer on the nose of the guy next to you on one side or gut slitting the guy on the other side with your tail swing or gouging your nose on the guy sideways in front of you. Checkmate. You are STUCK, until you can hunt the ONE driver down (hopefully just in his bunk, prolly not since he was a late arrival and he's inside somewhere doing what we do when we park for the night) to move so you can swing out w/o having to go before your Safety Manager and explain the truck stop "struck a stationary object" accident. Friendly warning; he AIN'T gonna accept that you were "blocked in" and had no other choice. Your DM is also NOT going to accept "I got blocked in at the truck stop and it took me an hour and a half to find the guy blocking me to get him to move his truck" for why you were LATE! They're both gonna say; "You shouldn't have parked there in the first place, You knew the place would be packed when it was time to roll. Should have parked where you wouldn't be blocked when it filled up. This one's on you." Reference my previous Rule 3!

I shoulda added an addendum to that one. "And it is assumed by EVERYONE at the company, shipper, receiver and DOT; the day you qualified as solo you knew everything there was to know about this job b/c; "Hell, it's simple. It's just driving from here to there. So you got a bigger vehicle. You got training in that. Right? Then you should know! (all about all of it, from day one solo qualified). Now, tell me why you're late and/ or damaged something. Hate it for ya driver, but that's on YOU!"

A great big, huge AMEN on that!! See, the thing is; who you are WILL be challenged and unless you are teaming or training, as an OTR driver you will spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 out of every 24 hours all alone in a little box that is much smaller than we give people convicted of the most heinous crimes to live in. That gives you a LOT of time alone to THINK and face yourself. Because there's mostly no one else TO face. We (society) did that to the convicts knowing that; you can run from your soul, but you can't OUTrun your soul. In the "normal world", you have a WHOLE lot of running room, so if you are good you can keep on running most of your life.

For a convict that has a penchant for doing harm, that's bad for society. He/she gets to keep doing harm as long as he can stay one step ahead of facing his soul . . . or maker. Not good for the innocent. So, Society pens him up where he can't run from himself and MUST face his soul and hopefully do his penance and change and then contribute to Society in a positive way, like the rest of us do. Or we send him to his maker. Depending on what he did and the chances of him changing.

This is INTENTIONAL on the part of Society and our culture. Our OTR life has the same effect because we are stuck in a very small box and mostly alone most of the time. That is NOT intentional, it's just part of the gig. Still, the effect is the same. You wanna face and see your soul and who you really are and what you are really made of? Go OTR as a driver and you will.

The difference is; they are being punished for wrong they did in some hope of rehabilitation, or in the absence - trash removal. One way or the other. Permanent lock up or cemetery. Trash still removed. Us? They pay us a buck or two to keep America eating, sleeping, moving, warm and safe from the elements, and themselves as we do it. Unfortunately OR fortunately . . . we do it from a smaller box than convicts get; moving from corner to corner, coast to coast, border to border, Giant City to cross roads with no name and all points between, that you can't run from yourself in. We also get the brief moments of some of the most amazing and indescribably awesome experiences nobody else in the world does. They tend to balance overall . . .

IF you have the insight to see everything for what it is, and take advantage of what may seem like a curse of solitude and turn it into the blessing of Freedom on many, many levels. If you eat three of your favorite candy bars every day, soon that bar becomes just another candy bar. Might as well be mashed potatoes or a lump of plain sugar. Go three months without it and when you get to have it; it is manna from heaven! Feel me?

In this business everything is about who you are; and you will be tested, weighed and measured in various ways you have never been done before. This rodeo is unlike any other on earth, though it DOES share similarities with armed service. Similarities. That's it. At the end of the run YOU have to be true to God (ever how you know the Creator) yourself and no other.

If not willing to endure that trial by fire . . . I very respectfully suggest you stay home. What you risk in the journey is . . . everything. What you gain in the journey is . . . everything . . . or nothing.

OTR trucking is an "all in" bet. You win a big pot, you lose it all . . . or maybe, just maybe; you had a contingency stash and knew when to walk away before winding up homeless, and knew enough - soon enough; to walk away with your family and sanity.

Best of luck.

It's your deal, and BTW . . . it's Dealer's Choice.


I apologize for chopping the quote down as I agree w/ everything you said but I wanted to address just a couple because surely OP doesn't have enough info and his head prolly hasn't exploded yet. LOL

 

Here's some advice, when you are parking, either for the night or anytime, look for a space that is easy to get into. I have seen more drivers try to fit into a tight spot when there are plenty of pull thru's or spots with empty spaces next to them. I always do a drive by and check for the easiest spots to park, no need to make it hard on yourself if you don't have to. there will be enough times you won't have a choice

 

I guess im just lucky I have a wife who is 8 years younger with a high labido along with our girlfriends.

 

Talk about thread drift

 

shut up this is getting good.

 

Quit stealing all the popcorn.

 

lol, Dino come visit and bring your girl, then it will get really good as long as your a sharing type

On topic for advice, dont be one of those arseholes that use the fuel pump for a break when there are trucks lined up all over needing to actually fuel! I can name 2 companies that I deal with most often for this and they both start with the letter C....

 

He could find one on Craigslist and claim that she's his...... Which would work........ Until we find out she's actually a he.




lol

 

lol craigslist is a scary place to be finding people to play with.....theres some new advice for new drivers, dont use craigslist no matter how horny you get out there alone!