My Journey as a Truck Driver

thecleaninglady · Feb 19, 2012

ShrugofAtlas said: ↑

McDonough, GA, > Gainesville, GA (chicken) > Ankeney, IA; > Marshalltown, IA (pork) > Zeeland, MI; Corunna, MI (pickles) > Greeley, CO . . . > Hyrum, UT.

Sunday: Delivered load to McDonough, en route to Gainesville, pull into a Walmart parking lot at night. "Old Man" (he kind've looks like Ernest Hemingway . . . "Old Man and the Sea") likes to park in Walmarts . . . I'm starting to like it too actually. Walmart seems to attract other places to eat, etc., so it works out well.

Monday: Picked up load in Gainesville. Left town on similar route as last time I was here, only this time I'm driving. Last time "Young Gun" drove a route that was not truck legal. We were on much the same roads, but only saw 1 sign that said wasn't legal vs 6-7 before. All in all though, I think if you're headed north to Tennessee, you're probably better off taking longer freeway route.

Tuesday: Arrive in Ankeny about 6pm for a 4 am Wed. delivery. Receiver is right next to a lot of restaurants (again, Walmart is right there), so I get a chance to eat Olive Garden. I'm assuming that I should be routed back to Greeley at this point in order to take final road evaluation and get my own truck, however we're routed to Michigan . . . wrong way. I'm pissed. Sleep at Walmart again.

Wednesday: Pick up load in Marshalltown, deliver to Sara Lee in Zeeland. Pretty confusing navigation in Zeeland. Can't always trust that GPS knows best. Start drive to Corunna, shipper is dirt lot and starting to rain/snow a bit, so pull into rest area to sleep.

Thursday: Pick up load of pickles headed to Walmart/Cheyenne, WY for Sunday delivery. Haven't heard a word about returning to Greeley for my final eval. "Old Man" is assuming that he's going to need to pick up a new trainee since supposedly JBS started 8 new students last week, and 16 this week. Trainer Manager says if we can get to Greeley by mid-day I can get final road test, then fly to my truck. Greeley has no trucks available. I wonder if that's why I've been delayed so much??? Greeley is about 60 miles south of Cheyenne, so "Old Man" and I decide to team drive straight to Greeley, then he can pick up new trainee and deliver pickles Sat/Sun. Drove 10:48, 692 miles = 64.07 mph . . . not bad for driving at or below speed limit and governed at 65 mph. Only averaged 6.0 mpg though, must had some wind.

Friday: Get to Greeley about 10am. I'm pretty tired, but pretty much as soon as we pull in, I'm told to do final road test. Doing it with Orientation Trainer, not Trainer Manager, so not sure if that's good or bad. I'm driving a '10 Pete 387, 10 speed though. Start out with pre-trip inspection, drop/hook and backing. Do fine, he has some tweak comments, but nothing major. I look at trailer tandem settings to see how much turning radius I'd need. Was not quite Cali, but probably 41'sh so shouldn't be too bad. Road test though does not go as well as I'd liked. Even though I learned on a 10 speed, took me a bit to get the shifting, had a really hard time finding 4th - I was pushing over too far. Part of the problem was that I've been floating gears for the past 3-4 weeks, but when I get in a jam I still double-clutch. I was planning on just DC'ing the test, but got out of the habit and kept mixing it up. Basically the test was a lot of tight right turns. The first one I had problems with, I couldn't set up as much as I'd like because he did not want me touching the left lane border. Had to wait at light, then traffic in turn lane barely allowed me enough room - even still I brushed the curb, but I couldn't find 4th gear and ended up stopped mid-intersection until I could get back into 2nd. The very next turn was a stoplight right, into a city 2 lane where you need both lanes, and part of the shoulder frankly, to complete the turn, I'm pretty sure I brushed the curb there as well, and had problems with 4th again. We did some more left/right turns, but much more room, so no problems, and I'm finally getting used to shifter. Adjusted to why I was missing 4th, and settle on just floating the whole time. I downshift as much as possible so he knows I can. After about 20 minutes, we pull into a truck stop, where he buys some burritos, and he talks to me about calming down. I was still thinking about those 2 intersections, wondering if that was going to fail me. After the truck stop, we go back and do those same intersections. I get past the first intersection ok, but the second again was problematic. Light was green when I arrived, but I was in 6th gear and didn't want to risk missing the stop line while downshifting, so I stopped. Next green I had no openings in traffic to turn. There was a car far enough away that I could've done a redlight turn, but I was worried that if I missed 4th again, it'd be problems, so I waited. Had to wait 3 more greens before traffic allowed me to go. Traffic backed up behind me was not pleased, so feeling pressure there, plus wasn't sure what tester was thinking . . . but didn't know what else to do, no way I could make the turn without running over curb unless both lanes were cleared. Finally we get back to terminal. Tester has me back into a hole and tells me that as long as I don't hit anything, I've passed! I had plenty of room, but I probably took 3 times longer than normal, taking no chances I stopped 5 times and GOAL'ed, and picked up a paper plate that had blown into the hole! I passed.

Saturday: My truck is in Hyrum, UT terminal, so I hitch a ride with another driver taking a load there. Arrive about 5:30 am, I had to drive the last 90 minutes because of HoS. Its freezing . . . and security has no idea where my truck is. I walk the entire terminal, finally I find someone about 6:30 in shop . . . I find my truck.

A beautiful '12 Kenworth T700.

She has about 64,000 miles . . . figure about 6 months old, still smells new. I think I'm going to name her Kendra.

Haven't slept much the past 48 hours, but so excited doesn't really matter. My first payload is a relay from Hyrum headed to Walmart/Gas City, IN. Supposed to leave mid-day Saturday, but relay driver is delayed 24 hours. Couldn't care less, I need the sleep anyway, and will take the layover pay.

I'm offered a hotel for night, but decline, me and Kendra are gonna get cozy.
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So Glad that you now have your own truck! I was at the hotel in Greeley when I say a guy come in that fit the description you gave of the old man in the sea look. LOL I flew out yesterday to Florida to meet my trainer. We start tomorrow evening with a 500 mile load. After all the preperation and waiting, I'm now going to start my training journey! Kinda nervious and excited to get things going after sitting for so long. Good Luck in your new "Solo" adventures!

ShrugofAtlas · Feb 20, 2012

pete3871 said: ↑

Shrug,I thought maybe they banned you from posting.Looks like to me they would read some things and maybe learn how to improve they're program.Really glad to hear you got your first truck and a really nice one too.You're going to really have alot more fun now.Sounds like you get a little nervous having someone sitting there and evaluating your driving skills.I guess we all do though LOL.It's a great feeling getting that first truck,you went through alot to get to this point and now it's all up to you!

I just pulled into a truckstop in Lincoln,AL. Sitting out on the corner(last spot on a row) is a Peterbilt,The mirror's hanging on by the C.B. wire,glass is broken around drivers door,The air cleaner cannister(Peterbilt) is laying on the ground smashed,The drivers side fender is half torn off and his chrome bumper is sticking straight out.Some idiot dragged a trailer across his truck,now the guy's probably out of buisness for a week or so,to have repairs done on it.

Little advice to anyone reading this.I don't ever park on the end.I've seen this same crap done many a time.Shrug,stay away from truckstops.I'm here because I deliver right up the street tommorow 0600.Other than that,I try walmart's,casino's,rest area's,shopping centers anything but a truck stop.Only as a last resort.I've only been driving 6 yrs,but knock on wood,I've never scratched a truck or had anyone else do it to me.I hate truckstops,I like going to nicer places to eat,sleep and enjoy myself,and nothing ever intrest's me at a truckstop.
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Thanks, good advice . . . how do you know if you're allowed to park some place though?

ShrugofAtlas · Feb 20, 2012

thecleaninglady said: ↑

So Glad that you now have your own truck! I was at the hotel in Greeley when I say a guy come in that fit the description you gave of the old man in the sea look. LOL I flew out yesterday to Florida to meet my trainer. We start tomorrow evening with a 500 mile load. After all the preperation and waiting, I'm now going to start my training journey! Kinda nervious and excited to get things going after sitting for so long. Good Luck in your new "Solo" adventures!
Click to expand...

Thanks, good luck to you as well! The gal that you're with will let you ease into things at your own pace. She won't push you into doing anything you're not comfortable with, which is good obviously. As I've said before, she takes her job as a trainer seriously.

Feel free to post your experiences and/or questions here if you'd like. As you can see, plenty of people are willing to assist.

ShrugofAtlas · Feb 20, 2012

First payload, from Hyrum, UT to Walmart/Gas City, IN. Relay driver 24 hours late, which put me into weather. Sitting at TA in Rawlins, WY . . . I-80 eastbound has been closed for 14 hours, high winds/snows. Load due on Wednesday @ 6am, 1300 miles to go. At this point, don't think I'm going to make it.

RJ33RD · Feb 20, 2012

Goodluck and be safe driver!!

irishwarrior · Feb 20, 2012

Congrats bro i was pulling for ya

pete3871 · Feb 21, 2012

As far as parking,You need to plan ahead a little.If you know where you're going to take your break,look up walmart,TX roadhouse,outback etc.then look at a satellite map of where you want to go.You only really have to do that once,because from then on you'll know how to get there.Look for a shopping center lot or a side street close by.If they have a "No Trucks" sign you're screwed.Always make sure before you pull into somewhere,take a good look and make sure you got a way out or enough room to turn around.

My favorite place is the casino's.They seem to be everywhere now.Most have truck parking,and most guy's don't know about them,because alot of times you cant See them from the road.Call ahead and ask for security,they will give you good directions and when you get there and get parked,if its cold,raining,hot,whatever.Call security back and they'll come give you a ride to and from the casino,sometimes the truck parking is a pretty good ways away from the building

The thing about the casino's I like is they have good restaurant's,some entertainment,and regular people to talk to.I still park at truck stops and rest area's alot,because thats all there is.But if you know you have time and it's time to get away from the truck for a while,thats what I do.My last company wouldn't let us park at a casino if we had a high value load.Never could figure that out,as a casino has the best security anywhere.The only thing I could think of is that they figured if a driver blew all his money in the casino,he might go to selling his load.I'm sure It's happened.

billy in nashville · Feb 21, 2012

excellent post shrug. You really went the distance with all those trainers. It paid off in the long run and you got your 2012 KW. I wish you many miles of good fortune. I take my CDL test tomorrow from the school I went to and will probably go to TransAm after graduation. JBS did have a recruiter come to our school and it did sound pretty good. Anyway good luck

thecleaninglady · Feb 23, 2012

ShrugofAtlas said: ↑

Thanks, good luck to you as well! The gal that you're with will let you ease into things at your own pace. She won't push you into doing anything you're not comfortable with, which is good obviously. As I've said before, she takes her job as a trainer seriously.

Feel free to post your experiences and/or questions here if you'd like. As you can see, plenty of people are willing to assist.
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Hey there Shrug,
I'm in the third day of my training, and it's going pretty good. I really like my trainer, she is very through and we are getting along very well. She even tolerates my little "driving fear breakdowns" haha, seriously, it's a whole different thing from anything I've ever challenged myself to do. Maybe we'll see ya out there! Have a good safe day!

MR.HAPPY · Feb 23, 2012

Congrats Shrug!

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