CDL in hand... Now What ? Decision time, that's what...

Just pulled into truck stop in Fort Dodge, Iowa. We are picking up a heavy load of gypsum board material tomorrow morning bound for Wisconsin.

We waited in WalMart parking lot for 4 hours earlier until finally receiving our load assignment. I did not have enough hours to do the load myself so my trainer and I offset our on-duty time by 2 hours. In this sense we are doing team driving in order to meet the customer needs. We hauled butt to make it here so that we can be at the shipper early tomorrow and hopefully on our way in short order.

The load we are picking up is 48k pounds so we will get to see how the new truck behaves under heavy load. The engine brakes are better in this truck and it shifts very smoothly.

 

Picked up a load of drywall in Iowa this morning. Dropped the trailer in the shippers yard and they took it into their warehouse to be loaded, strapped, and tarped. Good run today for the most part. Had a turbo hose pop off at one point. Limped to the nearest exit and reattached it.

Now at Planeview truck stop in Oshkosh, WI. Originally planned to go to Appleton terminal but the trailer lights are not funtioning. Again. The trailer shop in Marshfield already replaced the connector and added a ground wire last time we were there, but the same probem has re-emerged. No trailer tail lights, brake lights, or turn signal lights. The pigtail off the tractor is fine as are all of the wires at the trailer connector. I tested them with a test light so the probelm must be deeper inside the trailer. So we put in a maintenance request and are stuck here for now. We will let fleet management know if it looks like we will miss our delivery appointment tomorrow morning at 10:00. There is still a chance we can make it if maintenance gets here tonight. Meanwhile into the sleeper berth I go.

 

Maintenance came to fix the trailer, at least temporarily. We made it to Appleton to fuel up and then to the consignee up in Shawano, WI. Unloaded gypsum board and then got an assignment to pick up a loaded trailer and relay it back to Appleton. So on to Luxemburg, WI, drop the intermittent light problem trailer and hook up to one loaded with plastic lumber made of recycled bottles and the like. Secured the load with straps and took it around the corner to get scaled. Over the 80k pound limit by about 1,200 pounds so back to the shipper. They took one pallet off and repositioned another in the middle. Back to the scale and gross is now 79,150. Back to shipper to get paperwork and then on to Appleton to drop trailer. Then bobtail to Marshfield to hook up to another loaded trailer bound for Ohio (where my trainer lives) and drop me off to be tested out tomorrow.

Written test, 45-degree backing, and road test. Then on to solo driving.

 

Passed the written and practical exams this morning. Guess they think I am ready to go solo. I think so too.

Supposed to meet fleet manager and get a truck this afternoon.