My Trucking Journey - J. Bauer Trucking.

Day 4 - Hooked up a trailer and headed out on the road from 8:30pm to 2:00pm. Drove the first 50+ miles heading west on a Highway 29 and then the remaining 100+|- miles driving township roads. Really focusing on my shifting, proper stop location, turns, lane usage and all the other of required skills needed to be a safe driver. Overall my shifting was much better than the previous days. Still some hiccups, AKA grinds or missed shifts. I’m recognizing this usually takes place when I rush it. Also when I’m concerned about holding traffic up.

Made it back to the yard and continued to work on my backing. Really feeling good in this area, but I will not become overconfident in this area. I took a bit of a break from my backing as my trainer, Bruce, was performing a CDL Class A test at the yard. I was able to watch, from a distance, the driver, seemed like a real young guy, perform his backing skills section. He was driving a manual transmission with a lowboy trailer. He did well and ended up passing the his test. It was great to be able to watch someone work through the maneuvers.

I finished the day with a few more backing maneuvers and then dropped the trailer and parked the truck for the night. As it was starting to snow and we are not sure what the weather will bring, if we get a considerable amount of snow, I will be working more on the Pre-Trip and some maneuvers in the yard. If the snow doesn’t come, we will hit the roads again and work on all the above. Overall probably the best day of the week so far. Hopefully I can continue to improve. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

 

Forgot to mention I was issued a login for our ELD’s, PeopleNet, and we talked about basic functions of the system.

 

Day 5 - Started out doing a full Pre-Trip for my trainer and he said I would have passed for the CDL test. Missed a few items, which he went over with me after I competed the exercise.

Next he had me do his route he uses for his tests he does. Well let’s just say things went down the tubes. Shifting was atrocious. Tried to make a shift on a pretty steep hill and had to put the 4 ways on and come to a stop while obstructing traffic. I’m sure the people behind were having some choice words for me. Stress level 9.5, which totally took my focus. It was so frustrating. I made it back to the yard without hitting anyone or anything, so I guess it could have been worse.

Back at the yard, I took a breather and cleared my head. Thought about all the mistakes I made and what I needed to do to correct them.

Next item on the agenda was to complete a trailer inspection, in-can and brake check. Did a good job on that with only one missed item, the trailer door ties. Man I wish I could paint those things bright orange.

Guess what I had to do next? Yep another mock road test. Nervous as can be, I took a deep breath and told myself I can do this. Focus Focus Focus. Almost a night and day run from the previous disaster. Confidence built up a bit. Made it back to the yard and my trainer took me to much for a pretty decent bacon cheeseburger at a downtown tavern.

Heading back to the yard and did a front of truck, in cab and brake check. Trainer was scoring my performance and stated I passed. You can probably guess what was next. Yep another mock road test. Knowing this was going to be my last driving for the week, I really wanted to nail it. A few grinds, but even better the second round. Trainer advised my performance would have been a pass. Great way to end the day and week.

It is crazy to think of what I have experienced in one week. From never sitting in a semi-tractor to driving one with a 53’ trailer attached while also using a 10-speed manual transmission. Overall the this week has been extremely productive and I look forward to getting back on Monday. I was able to head home for the weekend. I arrived safely home and the kids and 3 dogs were happy to see me and here about my week. Have a great weekend everyone and we will pick up next week.