Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Leatherman, it is a pain doing it in the blackberry.

Congratulations to all who passed.

Poolply, I remember the days of three in the truck. We took someone home and experienced it again for 24 hours. I do not miss those days. I have a hard time sleeping for more than 5 hours. And if we are going over donner or through Louisiana I might as well not even try because it will be useless. Maybe there is something wrong with me. I do want to replace the mattress. We run 4500 to 7600 miles a week depending on how the lopads are running and if we get stuck in a slow area (which thanks to the fungus so cal/az was for a bit). I have bought big earphones, so it isn't the noise. My body just won't sleep past 5 hours. I was so hoping they would bring the 5/1's back for that reason.

 

Congrates.....
Question, are you bouncing off the walls like LadyK is?

 

Donner is not all that steep, it is just freaking long.
If you follow the directions on the signs you can go down the whole pass without a jake though.
It is very well market and you really really do not want to use brakes much on that sucker.
The I-70 passes in CO are much worse in my book.

Glad to see so many members here passing.
And even if you get a trainer that is not all that good. Make sure you pay attention to what is going on around the truck any time you are awake.
At times you may see them do things that you would not do. From a safety standpoint.
At these times just note it in your mine, and make notes in you mind how you would keep out of those situations.

Also, do not back into any hole at a shipper or truckstop without your trainer outside the truck watching.
I would insist on it. Even if they are lazy and do not want too.

 

I like those i-70 passes!

 

I did not say that they are not fun, in the proper weather conditions.
They do scare me allot more than Donner though. I have seen allot more trucks with burned up brakes on the CO passes than on Donner.
And I do not want to be hit by one of those crazy people that come off the top of the mountain at 60+ mph.

 

Good advice Chrome! You most definitely don't want to pick up any bad habits from your trainer. You know the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes a trainer will insist you do it their way. As long as it isn't a safety issue go ahead and do what they say. You don't want them to get pee'd at you for not listening. Do what they tell you and get through training this way you will get a good report from them when you are finished.

Chrome's right too, Donner's isn't bad steep wise it is just a long grade. You will see signs going into Cali telling you to let it coast. This is to keep your brakes cool. I think the worst part about Donner's is running it at night. The lines aren't painted well and the oncoming traffic blinds you coming around the curves. It's so dark up there. Your best bet is to just take your time.

Poolplyntrucker, that's great you guys are hustling. At Central the expect their teams to run 7000 a week or average 1000 a day. This is going to prepare you for when you guys are on your own. It does really suck you can't do 5 and 5's anymore. That is the way I learned to drive as a team and it is the best. I wish they would go back to those rules. When my wife and I ran for Central they were running paper log books and we could work the logs to run 5 and 5's. Probably can't do it with paperless logs now. There is just no way you can sit in that sleeper for 10 hrs. You can get a ticket for sitting in the passenger seat too if you are not "on duty". Especially in Cali! Gotta do what you gotta do now! Good luck to you all! Keep up the good work!

 

I had the pleasure of going down the west side of Eisenhower after they lifted the chain law when there was still ice on the road. I was white knuckling all they down.

 

I sent in an application Friday and I'm going to call tomorrow. I want to attend the school in utah. How long does iy usually take to get into school?

 

Mikley did you have a hazmat load or something? I didn't realize it was possible to bypass that tunnel in the winter time. I did it in the summer a few times and there was snow up there!

Gat are you talking about attending school at Central's school or a going through a private school? As far as getting into a regular trucking school usually when you are approved or pay you start on the next cycle of the school. I believe Central's school runs every week.

 

Been over Donner four times. Lucky I'm training in a 13 speed. It's nice to be able to split gears on a long grade. Were stuck in New Albany Mississippi. Late for a WM load that wasn't our fault. Now were sitting since
4am this morning at this nasty hole in the wall truck stop