I just got hired by Arnold Trans. and my orientation starts Monday. I've never driven otr and just wanted some advice from the experienced truckers. Any advice would help. Being away from home weeks at a time will be a new one for me but I have a webcam to keep me as close as I can with the family. I just wanna know what I can expect. Thanks in advance for the help.
Well, Pardner, you are in for an adventure. A few things to expect are eating out every meal, ( no more Mama serving up home cooked viddles), public restrooms, (just not like your own throne down the hall) and always have a couple paper towells folded up in your back pocket for times you gotta go real bad and you notice, AFTER you sit down and do your dump, that, SURPRISE, no toilet paper. But, you will be covered, since, you are reading this post and learned a little secret from me. Ok, on we go. Can you entertain yourself for 2 days while sitting in your truck in a truckstop in some windswept prairie town in Ks. staring through the windshield in January? How about this... You talk to Mama and the kids before going to bed for the 5th week in a row and are really missing them badly this particular night. You look down and see a lady of the evening standing at your doorstep with green teeth and looking a little desperate. Can you say "wish I was with Mama right about now"? Do you like being treated like a low life? Being told what to do by $5 an hour security guards? Being ignored by shippers/consignees for hours at a time? Police agencys watching your every move? TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC, oh, Atlanta, L.A., I-95 through D.C./Va./Jersey/Ny/Ct. during rush hour? Bums, pandhandlers, sellers of $20 Rolex watches at every truck stop? Eratic sleep? Promises from management that never materialize? Everyone with their hand out since you are a truck driver and are filthy rich and have no problem spreading the wealth? Do you like waiting in lines? Waiting, waiting, waiting? Can you enjoy standing in front of a nose whistler waiting to pay for your chips and soda at Loves? Yes my friend, you are in for an experience, an adventure. Like no other. Now go to orientation and hope that your roomate at the roach motel takes showers and the bologna sandwiches you get for lunch aren't too green. Welcome to trucking.....
Allow me.. I enjoy reading your post.. I spit my coffee in my keyboard. on the green toothed lady.... you even called her a lady .. but you forgot bout the calling dispatch every half hour.. too see if they have a load yet.. an the windshield washers in NY.. the lumpers that want 200 dollars to unload floor load of canned corn..
ford1998 - Congratulations! My first OTR trip was thirty six years ago and I still remember it well. Fuel was .38 per gallon. What Allow Me said was hilarious, but also has much truth in it. But, with that said my advice would be: take your time, get and and look if you have to when backing, do not be afraid to ask questions, keep your cool for no matter how bad it gets sometimes... getting angry at: shippers, receivers, dispatchers, four wheelers, insert your reason here...won't change a thing. Some of the worst situations I see are caused by other truckers. Always be professional in your dress, manners, and temper. This is a business, not a culture, but there are those out there that make us all look bad in the eyes of the public. You have seen them, weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds without using signals, three inches off of someones bumper blowing their air horn just because the car was in "their space". There was a time when truckers were "The Kings of the Road" and they worked at keeping that image untarnished. Nowadays I do not think that many truckers give a darn about anything except themselves. Keep a good attitude and enjoy those sights, smells and sounds most 9 to five people miss, sunrise over the desert, I-81 in the valley of Virginia when the leaves are changing, the early morning mist over the swamps of Florida, a night thunderstorm far off in the distance during the summer in the flat lands, and so many others. Most importantly: be safe, you are out there to earn an income and support your family.
My first run in with the green toothed lady was in Little Rock AR. I didn't think it was possible until I saw it for myself. Ten minutes later (after I refused her company) she was in another truck. WOW!
