Millis Transfer Trenton, Ohio diary...

If this is posted in the wrong section please move it!

This diary will be updated weekly more than likely on a Saturday. I will go ahead and put the first two days on here and then update on this Friday or Sunday.

Day 1; Peggie says to show up at the terminal at 6:30 if you're not staying at the hotel like me. Unforntally because I was a last minute student Bill somehow missed me on the way out to the hotel. I waited in the break room, at the terminal, until 9 am and Bill had me drive to the urgent care for the urine test. This was my fault and partly Bill's fault but no big deal I'm still in class. First day of class mistakes happen and we move on. Class starts we do at least 100 pages of paper work, take a break and watch the usual powerpoint presentation.

Lunch was from 11:30 to 12:30 we could go to Wendy's or Frisch's with the company provided $10 gift card, we get back and do more paperwork Bill tells us some funny stories and the general life we'll have to live with this career. Guys and gals Bill is a fantastic instructor I can't imagine there being a better teacher than him. He's easy going and makes the whole class feel comfortable and answers all the questions you have. We talked briefly about hours of service and we got a short book about hours of service.

Day 2; Class starts at 7:30 I showed up at 7:05 along with the other students in the van. Everybody showed up and Bill congratulated us on not backing out lol. We watched a powerpoint presentation about hours of service, Bill is very good at making these presentations fun (if that's the best word) so I never felt bored and more importantly everybody now knows how the hos works. First break (around 9 am) and we move on to logbooks which was, for me at least, very easy to understand. Take our lunch at Penn Station come back and learn about weight, scales, some other stuff that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

It's now around 1:30 and we move on to trip planning and maps me being a moron I forgot my ruler where I'm staying, I got one from a classmate to borrow. I can tell already maps is going to be my weakest area, I'll be able to learn it but I'll need help from my classmates and Bill for sure. Bill already told us that your otr trainer will be the one really teaching you how to trip plan and do routing. He's basically teaching us the basics. We got more homework about the basics of the truck (so easy a person with a 90 iq could do it) and a map quiz which I'm %90 sure I messed up on. I'm sure Bill will be giving me crap for it but I'm also sure he'll explain how I messed up and how the quiz should be done. Tomorrow we get to drive on the range!

 

Changed my mind I'll be updating based on if I have time.

Day 3; We went over our quizzes this morning and by 830-9 am (I keep my phone off in class) we were in the trucks ready to roll. We started out by going through all the gears with the clutch depressed to familiarise ourselves with the gearbox and then Bill had every one of us drive to see how we did. That's where all the fun began for all of us! The first 20 minutes (I'm only guessing could have been an hour) I couldn't shift if my life depended on it, after that though I made into 2nd, made it to third and was able shift through six gears. Like I said before Bill is great, he stayed calm and just kept repeating what to do. We also had one of the heavy haul guys named John with us today to help us, he was basically like Bill but had some different tips.

My biggest problem is, for whatever reason, I expect to be perfect so I keep getting stressed out and thus start to miss gears and have to start back in 1st again. Bill and John keep reminding that there's no way I'll shift good after six hours and their right. I keep worrying if I don't learn this I'll be packing my bags and have to head back home but according to my classmates (don't have the guts to ask Bill or John) that's not true because we'll be testing out in autos and driving autos.

Moving on; I feel at home in the trucks the bobcats don't scare me one bit the Freightliner that has a Cummins in it is my favorite since the clutch is light and the shifter has a shorter throw. When me and a classmate were together I didn't pay attention to the tachometer I just listened to the motor to decide when to shift. My other classmate was still struggling pretty bad so I was trying to give him pointers to help him out. With that truck I don't grind the gears and my shifts are pretty smooth, downshifting is a nightmare but I managed to go from 5th all the way down to 3rd so I'm getting better. John gave me a fistbump at the end of the day and told me "stop being so stressed out." I've got to say besides the stress I was kind of sad the day was over because it was fun driving those trucks around.

 

Day 4; Not much to report. Back in the classroom for the day Bill asked if we had any questions about yesterday and told us we did good. We watched more powerpoint presentations about backing, coupling and safe driving. Bill talked about the drivecam and we watched some videos of accidents that were caused by morons that refuse to put the phone down. We also some accidents that saved the driver from getting cited because the camera showed them paying attention and the other car messing up. People like to complain about those cameras but seeing the videos proved that those same cameras we hate might help us avoid a citation and keep our job. There's one video where a driver was taking off his sunglasses and was trying to put them in a case, he hit a car. The driver got a call from Dan Millis (head of safety) and got chewed out but they didn't fire him and he still works for the company. Point being the company didn't install those cameras to screw over drivers, they installed them to find out who caused the accident to avoid big court fees. Camera only comes on if you're braking hard, spinning the wheels or in a accident anyways.

 

Day 5 end of week 1;​

First day of showing up at 6 am I got there at around 5:20 everybody else showed up at 5:59 am lol. We started the day off with all of us with Bill doing a full pre-trip and then we headed over to the brewery with Bill driving the T2000. Got back to the terminal two guys practiced straight line backing while the other three of us practiced coupling. I missed the kingpin the first time (and rocked the trailer a lot also) but on my second try I got her hooked up. We each got to go four times and we went to lunch. Had Frisch's today.

After lunch us three got to practice backing, I nailed it on the first try! Had to pull up three times on the second try but after that I nailed it pretty much every time and occasionally I did have to pull up (hit the back cone twice I think. The other two guys practiced coupling and then did the Millis 500. We then swapped out and got to do the Millis 500. Guys I have never smiled so much in my life pulling that trailer around the range. My upshifts are good now, my downshifts are still bad but they're getting better! Bill told me he could tell I was more confident and my downshifts just need more practice but I'll pick it up. Another classmate (who drove truck about 10 years ago) said my shifts were nice and smooth, he even commented that I didn't even look at the tachometer when I was shifting because I was listening to that beautiful cat engine to decide when to shift.

The worst part of the day? It was when Bill said "this is the last lap for the day" that 11 hours was dang fun and I didn't want it to end. Thanks to "the best trucking company in the world," like Bill always tells us, I now know that trucking is the career for me. I'll be coming in tomorrow so I can practice pre-trip on one of the trucks and trailers. Ps I love Caterpillar engines.

 

Okay guys sorry I've been busy with class and family.

Week two through week three;
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Day 6; Blind side parallel park and the 90 alley dock. I struggled the first time on the blindside but after a few tries I got it in every time. Took lunch at Lee's Chicken (best chicken joint I've had) and we switched over to the alley dock. Bill makes it look easy but my God did I struggle (along with everybody else save one guy), could not figure out what I was doing wrong, after lots of pull ups and cussing I figured it out.

Day 7; lane change and more alley docking. Lane change was pretty simple missed it the first couple of times but got the hang of it. Other than that not much to report.

Day 8; We do all the maneuvers whenever we want, my "team" chose to focus on lane change and alley docking. My shifting is great now, no grinding gears and I can downshift with no issues. I'm pretty decent at the alley dock now because I'm used to how the trailer responds and know if I'm making mistakes and how to fix it. I'm getting good at the lane change also.

Day 9; first day on the road! We grabbed everything we needed and climbed in "baby" which is a sweet 2015 T680 with 80k miles on it. We each got two hours of driving on two lane roads that go up to 55 mph and go through small cities. The truck itself is, as Bill put it, a sweetheart it has the isx12 and the 10 speed autoshift. Felt pretty weird driving an auto but I never felt like it was controlling me or putting me in danger.

Day 10; driving in the city. We got to drive through Hamilton during the morning rush, today's lesson was paying attention and patience. Pretty easy stuff, Bill had me through some tight curves and down a steep grade to show us the power of the engine brake. The auto shift is slow in the city but I'm grateful I don't have to shift.

Day 11; 12 hour drive to Wisconsin! We left at 3 am I drove second and since it's all highway I just kept my foot to the floor, watch the mirrors and look ahead. Got to Wisconsin around 3 pm and got to meet the nice people at Black River Falls, everybody was nice and humble. Bill took us to lunch (on Millis' dime) at Perkins, and we stayed at the Comfort Inn. Since I was the odd man out I got my own room which was great. Took a swim in the pool and hot tub.

Day 12; Headed back to the terminal nothing to report.

Day 13; More road driving got off at 3 pm.

Day 14; Same as above.

Day 15; last day of class! We got all hours in so Bill let us come in at 9:30, he told us we graduated, we signed a few papers for Millis and the State of Ohio filled out a survey for Millis (gave Bill a great review). Bill had us clean up the tables told us what to bring for Monday explained a few things about the 401k, per diem etc. We were out the door by 10:00 am with a Penn Station gift card.