Small, but very dertermined

You got this!

 

Aint that the truth... Having trouble backing.. Here comes the CB warriors.. "Look at this guy trying to park. He's on his 3rd pull up. Turn in your cdl #######"

Then after everyone moves on from your botched parking job..

"I aint got no panties"

Then a random argument about leasing trucks.. Then father John gives a sermon. Then some kid starts rapping.

Ugh. Dolts.

 

There is a driver at my company who is tiny. Barely 5ft tall and maybe 100lbs. She hammers out the miles, 4000+ weeks are nothing to her. She does that for a few months straight then flies to the Philippines for a couple weeks to visit family then comes back and racks up the miles again.

She drives a Volvo 780 with the driver's seat all the way forward and you can barely see her head over the wheel. Doesn't seem to phase her in the least. I think she actually gets a kick out of the shock on people's faces when they see her climbing out of the truck.

 

5th wheel on my truck is air powered. I found a cool spring puller at Iowa 80 that works great for ugly tandem pulls. If you're small and determined you find tools that overcome lack of size and strength. If you're cute ( like me..I'm a cute little old lady) you smile sweetly and ask a big ol' boy if he will please give you a hand.
Other drivers can be very kind and helpful when you get in a jam.
I say go for it.

 

Male drivers will practically do somersaults to help out a female driver. Even tarp their load. Not that she needs the help. She can easily do anything I do 90% of the time. 10% of the time I have to haul heavy tarps up my 13’ folding ladder because the forklift driver is now gone. Or sometimes the landing gear is stuck or bent on a trailer and turning that crank is nearly impossible. Hate that.

 

I would help you.

 

Female CDL Students Frequently Asked Questions - Real Women in Trucking

 

The lady that ran the CDL program at the community college that I attended 6 years ago was under 5' tall. She had been a CDL-A driver for years.

 

I've seen a few like you doing flatbed work.

Ok, what was I saying?...

They had a longer winch bar so the leverage was there to get the straps tight enough. Tarps are heavy but there are other ways to deal with that too. Smaller tarps and forkifts to put them on, taking them off is the easy part.

Not that you are considering open deck work, but you just need to be smarter than a winch bar or tarp. No problemo.

 

Just do it