From the schoolbus to Transland

Thanks kinghunter. It was evertrucker's posts in his Crete thread that inspired me. There are a lot of blogs/threads about some veterans but not as much from a newbies point of view. Statistics show that most new truckdrivers quit within their first three months because they don't expect all the mishaps and BS that comes with driving. I think I am still doing this because I knew what to expect because of my time with my dad and my endless hours reading this site.

Right now I am working on last week where I had my first accident. I was backing into a tight spot between two other trucks. Well I aimed correctly except I wasn't paying attention to a curb on the right side. I scraped the fender skirt and cracked the lower bumper headlight lens on my truck. So I called Transland and they said to take pictures with the disposable camera they issue at orientation. While I was taking pictures another Volvo like mine was doing the same manuever to the dock next to mine so I started taking pictures to show how close it is. Kinda like a re-enactment. While I was doing so I stopped the driver who was about to smack the curb exactly as I had done. He thanked me and I got some good pics. If it had been a different truck it might not have happened but those Volvo fenders are so low it's common to see them scuffed up and or broken. I will update this week probably later today.

I need to start taking my digital camera with me.

 

I apologize LOL. Anything within 100 miles is considered a suburb to me.
Stoplight city is what I discovered as well.

This delivery was at Att right by the Pilot in south bend.

 

Wow that's the first time I have heard that. I will hopefully be updating this tonight or tomorrow. I have two weeks worth for this one and it was a doozy.

 

So far so good. My truck will be in the shop Monday so I will be home a little.

 

Week 5
July 6th to July 11th​

This week would have my first booboo and was an uphill battle the whole way.
Saturday I get a call from the shop. They told me I was on a Menomonie, WI load due Moday and was asking what time I was leaving Sunday. I told them that I was leaving about 5-6am. He tells me that my truck might be at the Volvo dealership shop for the cruise. I originally told the shop that the cruise not working wasn't a major deal but I guess since I took care of the tire last week they wanted to reward me for it. So I needed to tell dispatch just in case they don't fix my truck in time. After many phone attempts to the weekend number I gave up and then got to bed not knowing if I was gonna make it to Wisconsin in time. The load had a due time of Midnight Sunday. I could make it as long as I left in my time frame. I always give myself two hours of BS room.

Sunday I get up at five and head to the yard. Now I have three problems. 1. I had no paperwork for my load. Dispatch was not on duty yet and multiple calls to the afterhours number was getting nothing. Turns out other drivers were havng the same issue. No contact and no paperwork. 2. I had no truck. I circled the lot several times before I realized the truck was probably still at Volvo. 3. No one from the shop was there yet to find out anything on my truck. So I sit. Started talking to a veteran driver. He had positive things to say about the company. He has been with Transland for six years. Turns out he was heading the same place I was assigned and was waiting for papers as well. About 7am a shop person pulls up. He calls Volvo and tells me the truck was still hooked to a computer but has a shop person drive me to the dealership anyways. Regardless if they fixed the cruise or not I had to leave by 9am. Turns out the computer thinks it's working but it's obviuosly not. Great my bad luck with computers has gone to my truck. Thanks to another helpfull shop person back at the yard I got the paperwork I needed and hooked to the trailer and I was off. I got there in plenty of time and took my ten hour break next door at the truckstop.


Monday found me sleeping till about 10am. My break was over at 11am. This is one of the few times I had to wait for a load offer. about noon I get one. It's to Chippewa Falls, WI. Great I have done this one before. This time I knew to call ahead to see if I needed to be at their new warehouse or old one. I called and gave them the PU # and was told to go to the old warehouse. Once I get there though I find out that the person on the phone didn't know what they were talking about and I had to do some maneuvering to get turned around which is what I was trying to avoid. Grr. I get to the new place and they said they can get me in early. Good because the original appointment was at 10pm. The destination Kansas City. Another phone call to avoid going to the new or old warehouse but that was in vain with the same results. But now I have a plan. If I do these shippers again I will just go to the new warehouses as they are easier to turn around in if needed. Next was go to Lanexa, KS and bring trailer back to Springfield. I get to sleep at home. My next load offer goes to University Park, IL from the yard. I get the papers and type in the address into my computer at home. Turns out this is just outside of Chicago at the Monee exit off of I57.


Wednesday I head off to what is a fairly easy run. After the drop and hook I dh to the pilot and wait while eating a nasty lunch. Load offer rings in. It's to MT. Morris, IL to Jefferson City, MO. Mt. Morris was a little hard to spot on the atlas so I used to free map from the rest area to find it. It was north and way west from Chicago. Good. I DH there and go to the shipping office. They said I was early and seemed upset about it. I told them they gave me a time of 4pm and it was currently 3pm. No problem I understand. I try to be as polite and easy going with everyone in hopes that it will benefit me. But then she said my appointment was at 10pm. But I was still assigned a dock door and was told to get in it after the current truck left. I go to take a nap. three hours later there has been no movement. After a fourth hour the other truck moves. I noticed another truck who has been in it's dock since I arrived was still sitting. My perception tells me this is gonna take awhile. My 14hour clock was just about up and there were no places to park for the night (if I did get out in time) within 50 miles. I was in a small town that didn't cater to trucks. After sitting in my dock about two hours I noticed another Transland truck pulling up. He gets a dock right off the bat, starts getting loaded right away. And he didn't have a set appointment time! So I grumbled but had another positive conversation with a Transland Veteran who was happy with them. While talking to him another Transland driver pulls up and gets a dock and they start loading him! My truck hasn't even had the deck plate dropped. Ok something is up. All three of us were going to the same place. So I walked into the office and asked what I did to make them mad. "What do you mean sir?" "I have been here for eight hours and haven't seen any activity on my truck and these other guys are getting loaded right away." So she looks at my papers and come to find out they are still MAKING the product and the machine was down. The other trucks stuff was already ready. Luck of the draw I guess. So I went back and started talking to the third Transland driver who also gave me a postive story. After that I hit my bunk.


Thursday, About midnight I wake to my truck shaking. Finally they are loading me. I wake up about 6am and checked on my status. I wasn't even half loaded. Now I get a message from dispatch wondering if everything was ok noticing that my truck hasn't moved for awhile. I put in for detention pay. About noon I finally lose patience and started to get angry with the poor shipping clerk. This got them going and I am out of there in 30 minutes. I drive all the way to Jeff city This is when bad got to worse. I drop the trailer without incident. But I go to hook up to an empty and while backing I realized that something wasn't right. I stop just in time because the trailer was to high. The kingpin was over the fith wheel and never caught. I stoped just a couple feet from crushing my sleeper fins. I pull out and tried another trailer. same thing. So I get back to the original trailer. By this time I am tired and I am getting frustrated. Man I reaaly feel my newbieness on this run. I finally get the trailer where I needed and decided to sleep where I was at.


Friday I wake up and still no load offer yet. Another Transland driver pulls up and I chat with him. This guy has been with them for 11 years and likes them. Another good sign. I get my load offer. It was from Belle, MO and goes to Okmulgee, OK with a monday morning delivery. This means I will pick up and I don't have to leave springfield until Sunday night. Good deal. I get to Belle, MO and was told to back into a dock. This would be the first time I have actually had to back into a spot with a truck on both sides of me. I ok at backing except for two problem areas. One is my set ups. At school I was able to set up very well in the alley dock. For the life of me I can't seem to set up well anywhere else. Two I have a tendency to take up too much room to my right and I am having to avoid other obstacles that would normally be out of the way. I set up and go for it being VERY careful not to hit either one of the trucks. I look to my right mirror. Everything looks good there. Then I hear a scraping sound. A curb who has the scars of many victims decided to paint my bumper a different color. I readjust after a few curse words and back into the dock. I call safety and they tell me to take pics. Well you know the rest of the story. A frustrating end of a frustrating two days.


My company has been cool so far about the incident. I will have to pay for the truck repair but I am glad it happened now so I can learn from my experience and be accident free from here on out.