Well, I'm here in Fontana. The big day is tomorrow. I'll just take my time and breathe. Hopefully I will have a good report tomorrow night. Thanks for the advice mickeyrat!
I need a good lawyer because I am going to kill that bee-itch. First load was 42k Portland to Fernley. Got routed up the Mt Hood highway the day after Mt Hood got close to a foot of snow...but it gets better. Turned left south of Bend and launch off into the neither regions of Oregon: my 760 Garmin kept trying to get me to reconsider my directions but being a fool newbie I just went along with Jill and her obnoxious and repetitive nagging. With only five minutes left I found a view point turn out just wide enough and called it a night...woke to 3 inches of 15% density maritime cement covering the Silver Surfer. Still did a full on STA quality PTI and then started to roll only to be divert by that scheming trollop off the official highway route and on to COUNTY roads...!!! Had to silence the Garmin as I was sure I started to hear it chuckle, snicker and make comments about me being new and what the hell kind of idiot was Schneider hiring these days. Jill had me on 6% grades with a steady downpour of sleet and not another truck insight...about this time it sound like someone was in the background whispering to Jill suggestions and laughing. Finally left the area where there be dragons only to blow a trailer tire in Gerlach Nevada, a wind sweep lonely little high desert town that every year turns into Yasgur's Farm when Burning Man arrives. SEM told me I was too far away and to limp into the Love's in Fernley and get it fixed there...I did and ended up at the drop 5 hours late; they were closed so I parked at the dock and went to sleep. First week was 2800 actual and 100 tons; day 7 was all I could do before I had to do a restart...I will have to work it out so restarts don't happen. Sitting in a Denny's because it is too hot to sit in the truck at a J along Hwy 99 is not my idea of proper planning on my part. What have I learned so far? On Guard sucks if you are trying to build your mo for an approaching hill and there is a truck in front of you...could be me, most likely is me. MCP tells you about stuff you did 5 minutes ago while you are in the middle of something different...Jill is going to die! Trust me I will kill her! The over speed tone is a level of obnoxious beyond the DMV, the phone company or the IRS; it is like the Fuller Brush man is at your door and just won't take no for an answer. I have received multiple messages telling my my 1/4 performance metrics are not up to standard...WTFat? I am still just trying to learn the play book and already the coach wants to talk to me about how I wear the uniform and how to dial in my moves...I am concentrating on not fumbling or running the wrong way on the field..."Hey coach, give it a rest will you!" Lets work on the minutia during the 3rd week not on day 4 of the first. Lastly, I have noticed that truckers are not a very easy demographic to defend or hold in high esteem; judging not the person, only their appearance, they appear as an unkempt posses of rogues and outlaws. Not hard to understand the level of regulation and oversight when many if not the majority look only one felony arrest away from 3 strikes. Yes this is a stereotype and yes there are many who do not fit this stereotype (Minder Binder comes to mind) but the reality is about perception more than the actual reality. The fact that the conditions of the road add to this appearance is not a considered factor for most as they are unaware how the life effects the driver and the drivers appearance. The Pilot in Brooks Oregon is way too small and a total wrestling match when trucks are trying to scale. Little Eddy....yes, some of the Kool-Aid has been drained away.
To turn down the overspeed alert go to settings, then volume, then turn down the aux volume. Should solve one of the problems.
Any advice on where I can dump Jill's body? When I first heard her voice I was enraptured, I wanted to know more about her, I wanted to know if she was seeing anyone or was currently involved; now I just want to know what size trash bag to use. Little Eddy...the color is returning slowly
in trip planning, try to use your atlas BEFORE you start out. Have a interstate plan in mind and KNOW that navigo will try to take you the "shortest" route. So lets see, week one in the books, you didnt say you hit anything and got a decent set of miles as a newb. I'd call it as as successful a first week as anybody could expect. Side note, you can "work/drive" only 8 hrs 45 min per day ,I think, to never need a reset on your 70. I'll say this I'm glad the 1st week hasnt killed your "special " style of sharing. Keep it up.
Sounds like every relationship I've ever been in. Like Mikey said - atlas first, then see what Jill wants to do. Especially when going through mountainous areas, blue lines are your friend. Goat paths can be fun (I just made my training drive thru Ouatcha state park in AR) but they are a sometimes food. Unlike cookies that are an all the time food.
The names I call her cannot be repeated, even in impolite company... I am, however, delighted to know you are still alive...we missed your scintillating conversation and rapier wit!
I keep her duct taped to the passenger running board with a ball-gag in her pie hole. Good job not crashing and burning, relax and don't rush, it will get better as you get a lil more tarmac under those wheels. The race is a marathon not a sprint.
