My husband's journey

I'm sure he misses you guys as well. I came off the road 3 months ago. I have a 2 year old at home. Being away from him was the toughest test I had out on the road. Good luck to your hubby! Keep us updated!

 

Skype is great to use to keep in touch with family

Good luck to you guys

 

Wife of a OTO trucker for, I don't know, 20+ years. Been married 26 years and, like most, spend the majority of our married life apart. Two kids, one now 21 and one 17. It's certainly not for everyone, but it works for us. I'm not the "get lonely" type, have a career, and thank goodness for the invention of cellphones! Now, of course, as someone mentioned there's Skype. Makes staying connected so much easier. Mr. Parts and I FB a lot too.

As much as being a truck driver can have a negative image, Mr. Parts stayed working through the down economy. A lot of people we know were out of work and left our area. Even when the medium size company he worked for over 14 years went under in 2010. He literally was able to get another job within days. Put an app in on Saturday was hired on Monday by a mega with great maintenance and equipment (Doesn't plan on staying, but looking for the right opportunity to justify leaving). Having a long spotless record helps. THAT is the powerful bargaining chip in this industry. It is to be nurtured and protected.

Best wishes!

 

Laundry!!!!

 

he'll be doing quite a bit more today. The class will group up with the graduating instructor class on the pad and do some straight line backing in the morning in the instructors trucks.

After lunch, they will group up again and do some shifting practice at an industrial park near the terminal. Everyone usually gets one lap if the class is large, more time if class is smaller.

if they get their ID/Comdata card and have their DOT med card, then they are cleared to leave with a trainer.

most trainers will be there in the conference room at the end of the day to meet their students. Some will be on the road on their way in. Sometimes there aren't enough instructors and students will be held over until more instructors become available.

instructors will trickle in all week and the holdovers will be first priority.

If your husband is a holdover, make sure he knows when and where he should be each morning and throughout the day, including the weekend days. Roll will be taken in the morning, after lunch, and sometimes at the end of the day.

Just because a student doesn't have an instructor, doesn't mean they can slack off in their hotel room. They should be practicing their pretrips. Odd opportunities for backing practice pop up on the pad sometimes. Also they can be networking or watching instructors readying their students for the test. Some of these guys only instruct, and as soon as their student passes, they grab their next student.

 

Oh, and if he gets an instructor today, the instructor should take him to meet the fleet manager.

Then visit the log department to get their log ID, paper logs, and homework assignment.

student will have to log, on paper, the previous 8 days and scan them in before leaving the terminal. DOT requires a log record of the previous 8 days. Orientation counts as on duty. So there is those 4 days to log, and the 4 days before that can be lumped into one log page as off duty.

i usually do the first one myself with the student. I have them do the 2nd with me watching. I cur them loose for the evening and The rest they do themselves in their room with me checking them over before they are scanned.

Between the log department visit, and turning the student loose for the evening to do laundry and pack, I try and take them over to the industrial park and work on some shifting while bobtail.