Burleson Terminal

Got another 510 miles done today. Last night my trainer showed me how to float the gears...ahhh how much easier than double clutching. Sitting in Kentucky tonight with a load of beer to deliver about 90 miles away. Not sure what we will get after that but hopefully itll be a good run. He also helped me on timing for the downshift on these monster hills in Tennessee. ..combined with floating. ..I only dropped below 55 twice and was passing most everyone. So far I'm a happy camper. Can't wait to graduate to my own truck...sure would like a T680

 

Good afternoon all, For those of you still in school following this thread, stick with it and good luck.
I had to leave the truck for a couple of days to take care of family business, and honestly I was a little concerned, because students are not guaranteed home time and this was so important that I could not afford to miss is even if I had to jump off the truck. I eaxplained the situation to my trainer and he explained it to our Dispatcher and they got me home, albeit a day early, sor from the 28th until the 1st of Feb I sat at home, no miles, no pay and stressing about whether I was going to be able to get back on the truck.
I took care of the stuff I needed to do and kept in contact with my Trainer, Mark, and today I drove up to Texarkana from Ft. Worth to make sure I could reconnect, so now I am back in the truck and not stressing so much. So now I have 6,752 miles left of my 15k before I get my own truck. We are leaving out in the morning for Houston to deliver off of W. Hardy Rd., then from there to LaPorte, on the S.E. side of Houston and from there, up to Mesquite, Tx, just outside of Dallas. From there I hope to get out of Texas. I mean, this is my home state and I like the place even though it is only a stubborn breath from being desert, but the miles are not here. Loads are hard to get and the miles are low on them, I need a load running us up to Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, or somewhere up there, I am hoping for some good, long haul runs that can burn this last 6,752 miles up. Honestly, I'm ready to be in my own truck.
I've learned a lot of lessons. First, take it slow. Don't rush. Double check all your info. Make sure your route is good. Study those maps so you understand them. A GPS is great, I ordered one and I'm waiting on it to get home, but you need to understand the roads. You can't know how frustrating it is to be in a state you have never been in before trying to find an address you have never heard of and you need to make sure you are not turning down a restricted road, all while your trainer knows these roads inside out. He has every street memorized and you haven't got a clue...so take your time. get your route down, make notes on exits, turns and directions to the delivery. It'll save you a huge heartache.

Next, take your time at truck stops. Most of the time you will have to back in. Some of these places are tight and more often than not its gonna be an alley dock to get in. You can't hit the trucks or trailers next to you, so get out, take the time to look at what you are doing...and if you don't get lined up the first time, turn the cb off. Don't get frustrated. You'll just make mistakes.

I got pulled over in Indiana. I was coming oout of a truck stop after a fuel stop, signage directed me to turn to get back on the interstate. I wasn't paying close enough attention so I turned...as soon as I got straightened out I saw two huge signs on either side...NO INTERSTATE ACCESS...Just past those signs was a weigh station I bypassed with the attendant standing outside watching me go by. Few blocks down the road I followed signs back to the interstate and low and behold...a bear was sitting there just waiting on me. Guess how friggen stupid I felt when he asked why I was bypassing the weigh station. And of course...he escorted me right back to it.
The funny thing is that when I got on the interstate I got the bypass by the EZ Pass, but because I was under escort I had to pull on the scales. I was lucky. He didn't do an inspection, he didn't ticket me, he just gave me my license back and told me not to do it again.

Take your time. Look, Read signs, know your route, get out and look.

Its been a good experience. I like life on the road. It isn't easy being away from my wife and kids, but my dad was a trucker and her dad was a trucker, and the lifestyle fits us. You guys take care. You students in school...man, listen. when you get with your trainers, these guys have years of experience, they have made all the mistakes. Learn from them. Don't be hardheaded.

On another note, the upset behind the dash cams seems to still be heating up. Scuttlebut is that once annual safety bonuses are in a bunch of drivers are walking. Its been my experience that a lot of times the talk is more than the walk if you know what I mean, but it seems pretty consistent, so who knows. Many might see this as a good thing, but its not. I doubt it will have much influence on the Millis family changing their decision about dash cams...maybe it will, but I doubt it, they will just fill the schools up with more peaople, but meanwhile they might not be able to make the deliveries they are contracted for. While in the short term, this may mean us new drivers get hit with load after load and so many miles we are in heaven, the long term is that if Millis can't make its loads, they will lose contracts, and if they lose contracts, they lose loads, which means that in the long term your weekly miles might actually get reduced. I'm concerned about how this will play out. On one hand I doubt half the people who are barking will walk, but I've been wrong before and may well be wrong again. On the one hand the new drivers might be able to step it up and push hard enough to scrape by and it might be great, but on the other hand...it could be disasterous. Might want to keep an ear on this issue for the next couple of months.

Okay, you guys take care. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. If I can answer I will, but it might take a day or so depending on how hard we push, and since I just got a 34 hour reset, I intend to push as hard as the loads will allow to get this 6752 miles finished. I WANT my own truck!

 

Well...now I feel extra lucky. I can't afford a $1200 ticket. Dang...I'll be extra careful to not let that happen again.

 

I'm on my phone so this will be short. I'll post more next week.
I am nearly finished with training. I have roughly 2300 miles left and my trainer has asked to schedule my road test this coming Monday...six days from now. I'll be glad to be done.
When you are on the road in training there is not much time for posting so when I get in my truck and have down time I'll continue to post here and share good and bad times during my training. Not really sure if anyone is even still following this but I'll finish it out.

 

Also for those who do facebook. I post something on there everyday. If anyone wants my add info inbox me and I'll shoot it to you. Got a couple Millis friends...one has been a great encouragement to me and I always look foward to his posts....his problems with imaginary animals are legendary. If I can be an encouragement to someone else that would be great...

 

The tractor I am in now is a 2012 Kenworth T700. Good truck. They are moving away from the T700 to the T680 which is a newer model. When this truck is traded in it'll be replaced with a 680. None of thier OTR trucks are over 4 years old. You have time for showers but you have to decide how hard you want to run. You might not be able to get to a place to shower unless you are willing to lose 50-100 miles that day and during training that is determined more by your trainer than by you.

 

I swear there is a conspiracy to slow down my progress. Just before we got to Richfield to drop this trailer the check engine light came on for the turbo...now with 1500 miles left the truck is sitting in the shop

 

Miles have been hard to get the last couple days a week ago we had two slow days so today and yesterday I only had five hours to drive each day. Today only pulled 256 miles...1294 miles to go and I'm piecing together hours just so I can earn my training pay. Mark has me scheduled for Tuesday to test out but its gonna be a struggle to get the miles by then. We only have one weekend preplan so even though I have the hours tomorrow to get it in we are gonna split it to make sure I get paid for Sunday. Monday I'll be somewhere around 800 miles short so I need a good run for Sunday night, Monday, snd somehow I gotta get to a training terminal Tuesday to test out. I'm a little stressed.