6/21/16 Is the beginning of my Schneider career!!!

7 days out and I'm back at home. I feel like in that 7 days I was passed by every truck driver in the US. If my count is correct I passed a total of 3 trucks and an Amish horse and carriage. But they quickly got up to speed off of the on ramp and passed me. There's times where I feel the slow speed may be unsafe. Then I passed an accident on I55 in Arkansas last evening. The trailer was 30% gone due to fire. There were no signs of the tractor but it could have already been hauled off by that point. I hope the driver is all right. I'm not saying that the accident was due to speed. I don't know. I wasn't there. There are a number of things that I could try to link to it. The horrible condition of our infrastructure, really bad signage instructions, terrible drivers of personal vehicles and horrible condition of our infrastructure.

Over all I really enjoyed my time out. I got to go to 2 states I had never been, Illinois and Indiana. My body is sore in so many places. Fingers, hands, wrists and arms. Neck and upper back as well. I'm close to forty so this may not bother you young guys.

Things I've learned:
Truck Drivers can talk. I guess you spend so much time alone that when someone asks you a simple yes or no question we give a 24 hour dissertation on it instead. The mind can wander in a truck so it gives you plenty of time to think about all of the world's problems and how to fix them. (Note, I got in perfectly with this crowd lol).

I sincerely believe that Arkansas prefabricates their concrete slab portions of road in some warehouse them not so carefully allows them to fall out of the back of a truck, caring considerably less if they are anywhere near level or touching. If you're a person that takes pride in not being very orderly, like myself, a quick trip through the good state of AR will fix that.

This great nation is filled with so many people that simply can't (or shouldn't) drive. One of my pet peeves, being a slower vehicle, is merging on to the interstate. SPEED UP!!! Be aware and make your decision before the ramp ends. If I have the space to get over I do. If I don't move over my only other option is to go through you if you do decide to merge at a slower speed than me. 9 times out of 10 I'm loaded at 70k plus pounds and you're about 2k lbs. Do the math. This should be a public service announcement. Every commercial break on the pop radio stations should have it advertised.

My favorite revelation over the week was this E coast thing. I'm still figuring it all out so please feel free to send me info you either disagree with or think is better.

Alright the cool thing about an automatic truck is E coast. In times where the vehicle is maintaining speed it will basically shut the engine down. Your RPMs and oil pressure tank and it goes silent. Pretty cool! But why do you ask? I'm glad you asked. Fuel economy. For example I ran from Springfield MO area to Dayton OH 584 miles 9.1mpg. That night before I left a storm came through and overnight temp dropped so I didn't idle. I did for about 30 min before I went to sleep got it as cold as I could and went to bed. Didn't wake up sweating unlike trying it again the following night lol. Anyway back to E coast, if you hit a downhill grade with wide open space in front of you (while cruise is set on 60) it will automatically switch to E coast. You will coast until you reach 65mph then it will resume 12 gear and even possibly engage the engine retarder depending on grade and speed. However, if the OnGuard system (I think that's what it's called) detects a vehicle even 650ft away (highest number I've seen is 637 so I assume it goes to 650) it will not automatically engage E coast. This is where becoming a "professional driver" kicks in. Hit cancel on your cruise. Yep. Genius. I'm sure I'm the first to figure it out. Enough gloating and on to finishing up this long post most haven't read this far into lol. By manually E coasting after 65mph 12th gear will kick in. But you have to watch your speed. The engine retarder won't kick in automatically. You'll have to brake on a really steep grade. I was told that if you go over 70mph you'll get in trouble? Not sure how true this is. I hit it once and got a ding from the system but no one has chewed me out yet.

Next time I'll share how to have a bbq using your exhaust pipe, a king pin lock and 24 paper clips. Is there already a McGuever-trucker handle? If not can I change?

 

Before actually starting out in orientation I had a chance to read his posts. I've lost some traction and never skipped ahead but only made to I think page 23? Great stuff. Great writer as well. I'm a slouch in comparison. Most of what I've thought of putting down has been lost in the drive. I get some really good ideas and funny things to say (funny to me at least) while driving. Great ideas are to come.

I'm working on a non surgical colostomy bag and and less painful catheter as I type this. 584 miles a day doesn't come without unusual expansion of the bladder lol.

 

Yeah I had the chance to look inside one of the new KW. Overall I'd say interior wise I'd go with the freightliner I have. Less because of hearing many people say that there is more room inside the freightliner than the KW. The way I see it you're cramped into a small space either way. The lack of doors and drawers is the kicker to me. I'm not dissatisfied with the ride of my truck but I have nothing better to compare it to lol. Hopefully I won't either. At this point at least. I feel spoiled with what I have to be honest. I've roughed it for the week and found out what I absolutely need to have. I had my power Coleman cooler (which I highly suggest). I had my phone hooked up to the AUX cable to listen to Spotify but just bought the bluetooth AUX on amazon should come in today. Also a memory foam/gel cooling seat cushion should be here from amazon today too. Last week I just brought snacks with me and ate dinner at each stop. I wasn't sure how well the cooler would work. It was great so I stocked up this week for sandwich meats and stuff to save money. I'm going to try being out 12 days this next run so I may be eating out a couple days unless I get the opportunity to shop somewhere. I'm was just shopping prices on TV and microwaves and realized I left my wallet in the truck lol. So my buddy is my banker I'll have to either go out of my way to his bank or back up to the OC to get my wallet lol. #### the bad luck. I figure $250 will get me what I need for a smart TV and a microwave and the hardware to hang it in the truck. One thing I'm wondering is if people run extension cords from inverter to appliances directly or also incorporate a surge protector.

 

Yeah the new ones come with a prewired 1200w (I think may be 1500w) inverter. I've been debating on the microwave. I may just pass on it. I saw those food heaters but was cautious. I do have a small crock pot to bring just haven't yet. I may try it this go round. I figured to prebag up in those disposable crock pot liners some chicken breast with some veggies. Or pork loin chops with veggies too. Maybe do a trial run with it this week. The TV I saw someone on here do a really nice setup. 2 curtain rods between the back of the tractor and a 32 in TV. Seen a smart TV on sale at Walmart for 150. I'm a Sams member so I'll check there too. Can't beat that. With the smart TV I can stream from my phone to the TV while bluetooth hooked to the speakers of the truck. Figured that would be pretty sweet. On tmobile you can stream netflix hulu YouTube and much more with out hitting your data package. Running like I did last week I really didn't have time for TV. But if I'm going out longer than 7 days I have to watch my 70. I figure only hitting 9.5 a day will free up a lot of time. Running 14 a day I just have time to eat and briefly talk to the wife then hit the hay. So we'll see. Everything right now is trial and error. Because it's so brand new.