Coming to orientation Aug 13th...

Well made it to Salt Lake City to pick up my truck. Very happy with it as well. 2008 Volvo with a Cummins. 400K and the previous driver took decent care of the interior. After a little cleaning she looks great! Waiting for my load assignment in the morning! Looking forward to it.

Actually had a small load already as I took a load from Missoula to our Helena terminal a whopping 120 mile trip. 2 of my classmates came along as we all met our rides @ the Helena terminal. This was the first time driving without an instructor. Quite a nice feeling to be honest. Had to run over McDonald Pass which is being re-paved. It's amazing how all the training kicks in. Made the pass without a hitch and rolled in to Helena about 2 1/2 hours after departure.

Got here to Salt Lake yesterday, called dispatch and was told to check-in Monday morning for a load assignment. Great for me as I have these 2 days to get the truck situated and stocked up.

Spirit is on his way to Phoenix to pick his truck up. There have been some delays getting him a ride but he should be moving as of this posting.

Post more later

Becker

 

Awesome! seems your ready to roll. have a great time out there. all the best of luck to you. please keep us posted on how your doing.

 

Good job & good luck out there! Drive safe.

 

Congrat's, on big new adventures. Keep it safe

 

Tuesday morning and still here in Salt Lake. They're trying to get me a load out of here this morning heading for Montana. The truck I picked up was just purchased and needs to get to one of our terminals. Nothing wrong mechanically, just needs to be looked over and brought up to the W/S specs.

Really looking forward to my first official run!

Becker

 

If you start out from Helena, I bet your first load will be flour or sugar.
If it is, go to the first cat scale you can get to and weigh it.
If you have a GPS, it will find one for you.
I do that with every one, and find about 1 of 3 are overweight on the tandems.
Adjust and re-weigh.
Make it a habit with anything that heavy.
Same goes for the beer or wine loads.
Furniture and tire loads are no sweat.
They are light, but liquid and powder loads need to be checked.

 

Thanks for all the encouragment!

So....Finally got a broker load on Tuesday from Salt Lake going to Billings. 566 miles and it went really well. I know there are 2 schools of thought on having a GPS. I do have the TND 720 and it was a great tool for my first run. Getting out on I-15 and realizing this was the culmination of all my plans finally coming together was quite a feeling to say the least.

I was nervous as all get-out but the smile never faded. The GPS was a great co-pilot for a new guy like myself and allowed me to really concentrate on driving and being aware of my surroundings.

Today I left Billings for Three Forks MT. Jet you are right about using scales. I arrived empty at the Talc Facility @ 31,600lbs and left @ 77,660lbs. That's alota Baby Powder!! Orientation in Missoula taught us that Montana has the purest Talc in the world. There are many uses for it as well. Not just Baby Powder and regular Talc but it is used primarily in food products, paints, adhesives and the list goes on. Google is your friend!

The facility is pretty slick. They bundle the Talc which is mined some 50 miles from the plant in 1000, 1500 and 2500 pound bags. I was loaded with the 2500 lb bags- one to a pallet. The people there were very accomodating when I told them this was my first trip there. I got the history of talc and a tour of the facility.

Took the Talc to Helena Mt. where it was being re-powered to Oregon. Had quite a bit of trouble trying to uncouple from the trailer. At first I was on uneven ground and couldn't get the locking pin to release. I tried 2 other spots that appeared to be more level but the pin wouldn't budge. So I put my tail between my legs and went into the shop.

Met a nice (Big) younger guy and asked for some help. He came right out, cranked the landing gear a few more turns than most humans should be able to do, reached in with his hand and released the pin! WHEW! Learned a little lesson on the landing gear.

So now it's time for the shop to convert my truck to Watkins & Shepard standards. Will probably take most of tomorrow. I'll update again soon.

Note: The OP "Spirit" is in L.A. getting his truck worked on. Poor guy got a truck with some issues. Turbo inoperative, bad tires, air leaks, and generally in rough condition. The previous driver apparently was pretty negligent with it.

Becker

 

Yes, if you are fully loaded, crank the landing gear until you can't crank it any more. If you are on uneven ground, pull away a little bit and lower the suspension before you leave the trailer behind. I have seen plenty of trucks that have king pin damage on the rear of the tractor frame. If you do not already have a 5th wheel puller, get one.

My RM 710 died on me today in the middle of oregon and I had to backtrack to the truck stop and pay their bloated price for a new one. I got 2 months out of mine. I have heard the RM is unreliable. Now I know first hand. great unit when they work, but they are still a chinese made POS....like everything electronic.
I could not do this job without a GPS. Not a chance.

 

Put the suction cup on the windshield and position the mount so the unit sets right on the top of the dash. It won't fall off.