Newbie Diary

tmlonghorns · Mar 24, 2009

Come on....that's it. For the past 1 1/2 years nothing?

Dukesdad · Mar 24, 2009

I'm glad you found this thread. If you hadn't it would of been buried forever.
Good reading.

Maxiomega · Mar 25, 2009

This thread is hilarious. Talk about telling it like it is. We need more updates. And Thanks for the laughs. Great writing.

Peanut Butter · Mar 26, 2009

I have found that when you hook up to a trailer, before you raise the landing gear, get into your truck and try to move, just to see if the pin is latched,, i had that same sort of problem on a milk tanker and it was full,, another driver put the dolly under the tank and said it was hooked, how ever it wasnt,, so with me running the landing gear while the mechanics helped with a forklift we got it up and locked,, wasnt exactly the most fun i can think of having.,, i have seen other drivers in truck stops not have the pin locked pull up and down the trailer goes,, oops,, well guess we all learn right?? anyway mori love your post, have a good time out there and be safe. keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down,,

tmlonghorns · Mar 26, 2009

Unfortunately I think Moriarti is no where to be found. I loved his reports and wish he would come back.
Perhaps one of the moderators could send him an email requesting that he come back?

_ton bundle · Mar 26, 2009

He's still around. His stories are very good. Maybe if we beg, he'll come out of retirement. If he stays trucking for long enough, maybe he'll go completely insane like Snazzy did!!
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-wagon/25720-hi-im-snazzy-and-im-trucker.html

AMC1 · Mar 26, 2009

that storie was fun to read

Highgear · Mar 27, 2009

Moriarti said: ↑

Now, it appears that I offended Bob's sensibilities early on. As he told my instructor, I almost hit a parked car. "Almost" appears to be one of those odd American words, that mean different things, to different people. You see... If you tell someone I almost hit a parked car, I feel the information conveyed is that I did not hit a parked car. This appears to be an inaccurate definition. It seems that, to my instructors, and my tester, that if I "almost hit a parked car" it means that I could have hit a parked car. Which means that the parked car, would have been hit, had I hit it. then, the parked car would be hit. Understand? Cause I don't.
Allow me to describe "The Incident."

I am driving a freightliner conventional sleeper, with a 48' van trailer that drifts a bit to the right due to an awkward collison with a K-Rail during a class long before mine. I'm going down mainstreet, which is two lanes, with a double yellow line, paralell parking on both sides of the street filled. the blocks between stoplights in town, are all between two, and three truck-lengths. In the center of one of these blocks, is a 30' straight truck, double-parked in my lane. Now, I see it a long time before it's relevant. It's not like it snuck up on me. If I were alone, and had a CDL, I'd stop behind it. I've got enough room so I won't block the intersection behind me. But we are taught that, during the test, don't stop cause you're uncomfortable, you'll get failed for obstructing traffic. So, I ask Bob as I'm coming up to the parked truck "Huh.. Any tips, or suggestions?" Bob tells me to make sure traffic is clear in the oncoming traffic lane, then go around it. Traffic was clear at that moment, but on the other side of the parked truck, I've got one truck-length to get back into my lane before the stoplight that holding off the impending traffic that would like to know why I'm in their lane. I don't make it all the way back to my lane, before I get to the red light, but when it turns green, I'm able to get the rest of my trailer over without disrupting traffic. It was a tight fit on my right side, getting my trailer over without clipping the straight truck. Bob tells me I almost hit that truck. I reply with "yup. Almost." Now, I'm not likely to know if the situation made Bob angry, or my reply. But, the fact is, Bob's mad at me.
I honestly believe that, if my driving habits had been up to snuff, I would have passed. regardless of the "Almost-Incident" But irritating him that early on, he wasn't interested in giving me any benefit-of-the-doubt. And that's OK. My instructors, My testers, these guys are all signing off on me. That I won't jump into a 40 ton truck, get on a cell phone, and run a red light at 65 mph and plow into a schoolbus full of second graders. These guys have to make these decisions based on knowing me for 2 hours, 2 weeks, or a month.

Ok, let's now get to Wednesday. My Second attempt. I'm scheduled for 1 pm. My skill-deficient classmate is taking his 3rd try at 11am. I show up at 11. Moral support/ cheerleader duty. I find out that Barrell-Crushing student was at 9 that morning, and he passed. My classmate gets through skills and onto the road. and 45 minutes later, comes back sulking. The tester "Louie" asks out instructor to come down stairs with them. As he starts to go down the stairs, my classmate turns to me with a big smile, and give me the thumbs up, then turns and goes back to sulking down the stairs. He'd asked Louie to act like he failed, just to mess with our instructor, and about got slapped silly for it. two-for-two. And I've got Louie, today.

While I was watching my classmate doing skills, my instructor grins and says "you'd better hide." I look up, confused. and Bob comes around the corner from a road test, sees me, pauses a moment, then goes into his office. Bob gets his next student ready, he then goes out to the skill-yard, walks up to Louie and starts talking to him, and pointing at me.
"Oh, come on now..."
My instructor just stares at me, "Geez, what did you do to him?!"
Bob then goes on his way.

I start with Louie. Louie starts off by informing me of what I will do differently that how I was taught. He doesn't ask me what I was taught. He knows what Driveco teaches. "Driveco teaches all of it's students the same thing. They teach you to make me stand out in the freezing cold much longer than I want to be. Use second gear, and use fuel to get yourself to the different skills. when you're doing the skills, do as you like, but I don't want to stand around for 5 minutes waiting for you to saunter to the next skill." I fly through pretrip, after my second axle "you know what? if it involves suspension, brakes, or tires, just skip it." Get through that, and my air-brakes without a hitch. I had problems on my serpentine last time I tested, This time my problem migrated to paralell park. But, I still got through it. Onto the Road!

Ok, got my new baseball cap, been practicing acting like a hyperactive ferret for a week now. We go! And... I've appearently lost the ability to shift well. Great. Rear Tandems? Yup, there they are, on the white line. Crap. fixed. whoops.. now I'm speeding.. Oh come on.. It's important to note, Louie isn't saying anything, he's just hunker'd down in his chair, so he can watch me, the mirrors, and his clipboard. all these problems, I'm noticing on my own. I stop good. thank goodness I didn't lose that. On the yellow line... poo. Hold in the clutch too long on that stop... OK, important left turn, have take over the intersection and stop for traffic untill the light changes, which is good, cause I was fouling up my downshift for the turn, anyhow. Side Streets? yup, they're still there. Tandems? White line. Grrr. That'll be fine, I've got room on my left.... If a right lane is created, you stay to the right. do you use your turn signal? or, more appropriately, did I lose points for not using it? How do you know you're botching downshifting? when you try to downshift to 5th gear, and can't get it in gear untill you're going slow enough to get it into 3rd. Big Right turn. no sweat. There's a truck sign with the maximum weight for the road there, I can tell him I saw it, when He asks... hmm.. He didn't ask. Uh-Oh. Ok, Right turn onto the divided Highway... No problem. and yes, I'm totally in my lane! I am a Golden God! Now.. he'll ask me to change lanes..... any minute now... we're runnin' out of road here, Louie... tell me to change lanes! No lane change. Oh man. No Sign Question, No lane change.

I've already failed. we're just goin' though the motions now. Get on the exit ramp. Speed limit for the ramp is 25, I did it at 25 my first time, that didn't feel good at all. We'll do this just under 20. Ok.. Now.. merge into this next divided highway, and get into the far left lane, we're gonna turn left at the next light. Those are my instructions. and I've got nothin' but a wall of traffic behind me. I tell Louie that I'm not positive that I can get over there, before we get to the light. Louie tells me "Just make it happen." ok. I stay at 30 mph comin' off the ramp, throw my turn signal on, and ride the white line untill traffic passed me and I cross one..two..and into the third lane, which is the left turn lane for the light. Big, long left turn onto an access road which immediately T's and I'll be going left there too, pretty much a U turn. in second gear... Vrooommmm.
"Did they teach you not to shift during turns?"
"Yessir, they did."
"Would you forget that, before I die of old age out here?"
"Can-Do."

Now, I'm driving on a road, that really, Trucks shouldn't be on. my side of the road, is 8' wide. Convieniently enough, so is my truck. This road zig-zags for absolutely no reason! Some drunk, mouth-breathing malcontent, got a hold of a paver one night, and ran it through a field, using a weather-vane as a compass, and the city happened across it, slapped a street-sign on it, cause it's asphalt, so obviously, someone had a plan. White line? I'm on it! Double Yellow line? Yup, I'm on that too.

My road test, has become a SitCom. I'm pretty much expecting random baby-strollers to be placed in the middle of the road ahead. Maybe a "Yield" sign, with nothing to yield too. that would be par for the course.

Ok, Left turn up here! Got it! Let's see if I can downshift! Fifth? Nope. Fourth? Nah... Third? Third's always here for ya, baby! Left turn.. no problem. Ok, Turn left again! Ok, Go-Go-Gadget Downshift! 5th? Who are you kidding? OK, let's just get this over with.. where's Third? Third is busy. Second? Sure. why not? Various Flatbed trucks parked everywhere on the road, doing construction in an empty lot. I just keep it in third and slalom through. No idea who's gonna pop out of truck on either side, but there's no mobile traffic, and they left enough spaces for a truck to get through... Turn right... Turn right... blah, blah, blah...

Finally get on the road back to the site. I'm tired. cranky, all my hopes and dreams are dying in a collage of yellow and white lines, and a road that should only be travelled by Oompa-Loompa's on tricycles. There's a Van in front of me turning left, but it's got to wait for traffic. I know the intersection. There's enough room for me to swing wide to the right, go around it, and get back into the lane, before the paralell parking spaces come back.

I told you before. Complacency Kills. Hubris.

As I begin to go Wide-Right, the light becomes yellow, and it only stays there for a beat, before it hits red. I stop. Hard. Right on the stop line. the Tires locked, and skipped a bit. It wasn't pretty. But I stopped. Louie says "You have no idea, how big of a bullet, you just dodged."

What an Odd thing to say. He's not talking about the stop light. Oh yeah.. Trucks don't get to do that "pass on the right" stuff... That's an immediate failure... So, if I dodged a bullet by not immediately failing...

Oh My, I'm still alive! Game On!

Ok ok, ok, ok, don't panic!

all I have to do, is get through town, and not do anything dumb.

I get through town, two lane highway, got a mile left to go.

"What was on that yellow sign we just passed?"

I think... trying to remember.. Not because I saw it, but because I live here.

"...You know, I could make a random guess and hope for the best, but the fact is, I didn't see it."

"Good Answer." (for those of you wondering, I looked later, it was "Truck Entrance" for a compost site.)

and finally, back to the site, come up the hill, there's a train crossing a bit further down, so no need to worry about on-coming traffic, downshift to seventh? No. Sixth? Uh-Uh. Fifth? Sorry. Fourth? No Habla Englais. Third? I'm on break! Second? Where am I? Gotta stop and use the clutch brake on a highway. Got it into second, and went on it. Louie asks me "Why did you stop?"

And a special thanks goes to all the posters of this forum, cause I didn't even have to pause to answer:

"Your driveway is gravel and mud. and you've got a 10 foot drop on the far side of it. I can do this turn a thousand times, too slow. But I'm only gonna do it too fast, once."

"Good answer."

I parked, he told me I passed. I asked if he had any input or critiques on my driving, overall he said "Nothin' that experience won't fix."

Then I went and got my CDL-A.
Click to expand...

Congrats! Man that was great the way you told that story!! Thats exactly how you feel taking that test whether you believe your doing good or bad through the test, You captured the feelings/emotions/ups/downs you go through while taking that test, I took my cdl test in/around gary,ind. too! Take care! Be safe out there!

sumwrnusa · Mar 27, 2009

Hmmmm.....Makes you wonder what his punishment was when he got back to Marshfield.....OMG could it be....They made him a Dispatcher....
arrggh....I hate sudden stops..
Cmon..like the late great Paul Harvey man....We need "The rest of the Story"

I was lucky...My trailer drop was an empty Sea container.....
But it sounded like the biggest base drum from hells own symphony..
Bong Bong Bong......bounced on the landing gear 3 times...didnt go over..luckily..
So here I am cranking the landing gear...And this Dock worker at Locust Pointe drives up and asks...Gotta problem???
Nope...Im just doing this for sh*ts and giggles.....
Heres ur sign...
Then of course there were the stretched out airlines....Wad them up put a bungie Chord around them...
Stop at a truckstop later buy new airlines..and a couple of those red and blue handle thingies...just to make life easier..

When I finally got back to WV..the boss asks..Whats with the new airlines??... Oh...Unh..1 was leaking and the other one was getting pretty rough looking from chaffing on the catwalk on the frame...

Ok..good deal... Turn in a receipt and I'll Re-imburse you for it.....The receipt...where????

roadbean · Mar 27, 2009

I got my experience on concrete mixer. Walk in, in the beginning of summer and they will bend over backwards to hire you.
I did that back around '74. Drove for almost 3 years without a CDL. Those were the days.

I don't want to go on about this too much, I may have broken some laws...inadvertently, of course. Public safety wasn't such a big deal as it is now.
Don't get me wrong, public safety is a good thing but it was more of an eighty's thing.
When construction season is on, there is a need. I got some good advice one time that has stuck, "Find a need and Fill it."

Good Luck
roadbean

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