Finished my training and...

Well I just got back from Atwater, Ca. tonight and everything went real well. I talked to mentor a lot about hours, training and what it's going to be like after I get 'solo' status, etc.. Getting soo close now, I have 70hrs n change left..

After passing thru port of entry, coming into Cali, I ran with 2 other guys, 1 flatbed and one Marten box. We trucked passed pretty much all the other guys up n down them grades coming in, was a blast.. I got us, mentor n I, to our first stop in Redlands, docked n all QC'd 1 hour early, felt good to be a trucker lastnight..

Pulled into the DC tonight around 9pm and got a call... Can you guys turn n burn back to Cali.. I have 6.75hrs coming on midnight tonight, and we'd end up being stuck for 5 hours on our way back, so we didnt get the load.. Sucked, as I love my new career, but then again it IS nice to be sitting here on my couch relaxing and staring at something other than yell/white lines..
I realize if I/we were on general freight, the 5hr layover is nothing compaired to what can/will happen, but being as I'm on this Target fleet durring training they tend to not have us stuck out there, they want us back to rab more loads.. Nevertheless, I'm home, next load will be 5pm..

That's about it for now, as my motionless, noise-free bed is calling out to me..
Be safe out there !!

-=Peace

 

Past few days have been interesting to say the least..
Coming home on the 4th we ran into that horrid dust storm out on the 10, near Cali.. Looked over to see a older Perterbuilt that had rearend a tanker pretty hard, maybe 1/4 mile saw 2 tractor/trailors turn over going west bound at mile marker 71..
The dust was soo bad I could hardly see the truck in front of me, 4-wheelers all around freaking out and b-lining for the side of the road, and ofcourse your Super Truckers hauling ### thru it as if they are mosses parting the red sea for the rest of us../grr Once again, thankyou Knight Driver that was on my 6, for not slamming into me when visability got down to 0.. /high five..

Coming home from San Diego lastnight was interesting as well.. First we had a backhaul, which was cool, as I got to experience what general freight will be like.. So I run up from Diego, traffic.. right, it's LA, it's a given.. Then on the 57 coming up to the 91 I see the police doing hte fogger dance pushing a BBQ off the freeway.. Can you say BONUS points !! Ha..
So we get to our stop there in Anaheim, and then we wait...wait...wait....wait... Took VEG-FRESH 3.50 hours to load us with 13 pallets of produce.. I was the only white-boy there and it seemed I was pushed waaaay back in line as their hommies got loaded first.. that and after they had their fill of fruit and crapping all inthe restrooms...All I'll say is... PIGS, respect yourself, and other ya A-holes..

After that ordeal, and talking to shipper in my broken construction spanish for the past 3 hours, I was ready to head to last pickup and get going.. Well guess where I went next.. lol... yup Veg-Farms.. Noooooo... It's now 4:30pm and I've just burnt the hell out of my 14, Im expecting hte worst, what maybe 9-10pm till they even think of loading me... Well after backing into this doc, which was by far the tightest place Ive ever backed into, and the line to get in was pretty bad, one guy back into doc, other waited.. Im up next, I watched all the other pro's do it, im ready to go.. I setup, it's REAL tight yet i'm doing well, other drivers are like you got it bud.. I was about to do pull up to reset a lil as I was just off a bit, but handleing it well... My mentor jumps up to the door.. " hey let me get this, we'll be here all day on you and there are other waiting ".. I say nothing, I just jump out, and go up to the docs, and fade.. Im freaking pissed off, knowing I had this back in, enbarassed as he took over, and just plain o'l pissed... Truthfully, all he did... pull up, where I was heading, and reset, as I was going to do... Grrr, guess after watching all the other pros do EXACTLY as I did, and with fewer pull ups I might add, he got tired of waiting.. Whatever...
... anyways ...
Well this place was a ZOO and I mean ZOO to the fullest terms.. As I said I faded back into the docs, as I needed to cool down or my mentor would be stuffed in a bell pepper and could quite possible be served on the roach coach in todays special..
Some big Mex dude, comes up and tells me yer next, how he knew which trailor was mine, who knows... I walk over open up and bam... like an army on crack, 10 pallets rush into my trailor door closed, el'heffe hands me papers to sigh and im gone.. WoooT.. All this in about 20-30 mins.. I was happy...again...

I'll end this epesode in Quartzsite... Ran up the grade east bound toways quartz... Hell'achious storm hits.. Rain, wind, and me... All I could think of was the other two trucks laying on their side last time I ran thru here in the dust.. All I thought was " am I going to be the next one over " Luckely not, but I did notice the Super Truckers even pulled in line and we all ran around 45 into Quartzsite... Wait where is quartz...? no power.. Loves was packed, I lucked out and got a spot next to a few drivers near the pumps, got out and stretched, was a fun experience there.. Waited for 10 minutes and was like... hmmm, heads we go, tails we wait... by the time my mentor flipped the coin, I was driving, screw this... I'm a Super Trucker.. HAHAH.. Joke..
I did take off, major part of the storm had gone, and last thing I wanted to do was be stuck in traffic when all them other drivers decided to go, that n my 14 was ticking..

Be safe out there all !!

-=Peace

 

Was nasty thats for sure... After these past two crazy weather days, I'm glad to be home tonight on a reset.. Not sure why we are on reset, maybe something to do with the elogs screwing us all up... We drove the other day with that #### lady telling us he was in DOT violation all night, thank god for volume control.. lol...

Funny, as I sit here today I have this urge I need to get going, move, drive.. Wierd being idle...

-=Peace

 

Yea that was a nasty lil storm out there.. think I saw a few Targets going east, tried to radio out but my mentors cb is for ####, we hardly get past 1/2 mile at best..

Heading out to Apple Valley, Ca tonight, then Pomona, Ca... From what I hear we have a back haul from Del Monte or somewhere that will load us up with bannas..
Looked at radar forcast, weather looks ok so far, then again AZ weather pops up around 5pm on.. so...

Get well, dude.. Maybe I'll hook up with ya later on in the week, or not.. I have 65'ish hours left on mentors truck, then 3-6 days to complete my last driving/backing test and wait for truck assignment..
I did see all them Volvo's sitting off to the left of the fueling lanes this week, all sell backs, sooo I'm hoping I'll get a new one, seriously doubt it, maybe a 0.0009% chance, but one never knows.. Atleast I was taught how to play the system to get a better truck if'n I get a ###### one right from the get-go.. Sooo close to getting SOLO status, can't wait.. Excited, lil nervous, yet ready to be out n about on my own. !

-=Peace

 

from what my mentor tells me, and how true this is...???
Once off mentors truck you ONLY do the road test, real simple, too.. Drive some old uy around showing your newly learned skills, etc..
The backing is for when your on a safety violation, EG: backing accidents.. Now I WAS told in orientation that WE ALL have to do the backing after mentors truck, who knows..

Seems like you get 10 sides of every story there.. shrugs.. Once you go thru it all, then you get to add the 11th side of the story to the mix, HA..

So far no Company complaints at all. I've heard tons of mentor horror stories, and have experienced a fraction of it myself, nothing I cant handle though. Just like the Academy, just doing my time so I can advance on to the next adventure and achieve the end goal of SOLO... Oh, was told I'd have to be in his truck an extra 10hrs, too. Something about logs not calculating at the end and having to go back on another mentors truck to do like 3-5 more hours.. hmmm, I mean we ARE on eLogs, too... Even though it's for training n all, wouldnt they know for sure?? or are these mentors trying to squeeeze every last mile out of us they can?? It does make sence though, as I'd hate to wait 3-4 days to get on another mentors truck just to run 3-8 more hours..