Got My CDL Class A

Well, Yesterday did some flat bed work and talk with a flatbeder.At the end of the day I knew he ran me hard. All the loading & unloading was done with lift, So that wasn't bad, tie downs was kind of hard more so of the weight of the chains.

John and I talked all day, He even let me do some driven. That was kool. He told me stories of Him and others that do flatbed work. Some of them are really bad. 1 was about a guy that was tighting a strap and it broke. The one end came back and took out a nice piece of meat as He put it from the guy's face. He also told me from doing tarps He has had both his legs broke and His lift arm. He also feels it would be better for me to Start out with Dry Van first.

His reasoning is, I'm about 70 over weight. Which isn't that bad he said? I would lose the weight fast from the work, But I'm out of shape. He said if I was 20 years younger No problem to start with Flat beds. He made it clear that He wasn't trying in anyway to scare Me away from flat bedding. He just wanted me to know what I was getting in to. He also so said that with driven Van I'll get more road time which will make me a better driver. Then I can move over to flat bed after I get in better shape which the van will help with that as long as I stay out of Mcd's. LOL

We did 4 loads of stuff which I know other then local work that wont happen at swift when training for flatbeds. Driven time was about 1 hour each way from where we where to where we had to go. So that only 8 hours total of driven. I was beat when I got home. 1 thing I did learn that he does, Is He has an extension ladder on his truck/bed. He uses it for the tall loads. He said He can climb all day and get a tarp job on anything that is high in no time with it. Plus He said it makes it a little safer to get the tarp(s) on top of a load. Throwing a trap up on a load is how He broke his arm. It went Up... It came down.

Will I hope this lets other know it no cake walk for Flat bedders ( More Power to them ) So taken what I saw and heard I think the best thing will start Van. I loved the hard work, But hell Getting hurt how a days well hart even more.