First solo trip OTR how to avoid anxiety over finding parking

This is what I like about Swift...37 terminals, I can park late at night in several major cities with a terminal.

 

If significantly delayed at shipper/receiver, split sleeper berth provision can be used to pause your 14hr clock. Now that you are solo it can come in handy at shippers/receivers if you are allowed to use it. But no amount of paused 14hr clock is going to magically open up a free parking spot for you at 1am.

 

Only a week? A 9 year vet?

Sounds A LOT like Schneider.

I was out with a trainer with Schneider....for a whopping 5 1/2 days -- & my trainer then MAY have had a year under his belt...but I doubt it.

Yeah...one week with a trainer simply isn't enough to cover everything....like a new driver really needs & deserves.

With other starter fleets...you could expect to be out on a trainer's truck for AT LEAST 3 weeks...& usually more than that.

If you think/feel you need it -- ask for more training. Talk to a driver manager about it (or one of Schneider's "training engineers").

-- L

 

This is why you trip plan for 10 hours of drive time if you have to take your 10 hour break in route to the customer or if the customer does not allow you to park on site. I always used 50 MPH as my average speed when trip planning. Since this is trucking scenerios like the one you described will happen frequently, the thing to remember is to not freak out or violate the HOS. Call your Safety department for guidance especially when you need to split sleeper berth or if you want to know if you can use PC. Always get the names of the people you talk to...ALWAYS!

Phone conversations with dispatch should be noted on your companies communications devices - if they give you instructions on the phone, tell them to put it writing so you can reference it later. Remember that your dispatcher's number one priority is to get freight moved and not how it affects you. You will learn this quickly. Never let a dispatcher talk you into doing something illegal that will get you jammed up. They will never stand next to you in a court room in front of the judge after you have done them a "favor".

Be professional and don't hit stuff. You got this!

 

To the OP: Yeah, ok....this is off topic...but it will help you, if you watch it --

 

If you can back a trailer, then you will find a spot provided you get parked early in the evening or late afternoon. NOT every truck stop has open parking spaces all night, the bigger the truck stop the more likely you can find one. Until you start seeing how many parking spots are available, and how quickly they fill-up you will remain anxious. Remember, backing a trailer well enough, is your insurance policy. NOBODY is doing you a favor by finding pull-thru spaces or park along the edge parking spaces. People using that approach are like parents that leave training wheels on a child's bike up through high school. They are creating weak people, even if they have other intentions.

 

You can get a free 10-day trial to Trucker Path, all they need is an email address. Begin your free trial on Trucker Path TP, then immediately cancel the free trial so you don't forget and get charged on day eleven. TP will still provide paid-for services for all 10 days.

The email address to give TP for your free-trial should be your normal email address with an addition. If your normal email address is MrWonderful@Gmail.com tell TP your emaill address is MrWonderful+TP1@Gmail.com. The addition of +TP1 to your email address creates a dedicated email address for Trucker Path but all the mail comes to your normal MrWonderful inbox. At the end of 10 days, start a new trial with MrWonderful+TP2@gmail.com. TP sees that as a totally different email address from MrWonderful+TP1@Gmail.com.

Also, Trucker Path parking availability is sometimes manipulated by locals and pranksters who every hour update the parking status to All Full or All Empty, regardless of what the actual amount of open parking may be. So the Trucker Path parking info can be very useful, but you have to verify it, it's not a guarantee.