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Things I've learned my first 2 weeks OTR

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by AlexFromMD, Jun 28, 2015.

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AlexFromMD Light Load Member

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Chewy352 said: ↑

If the mountains on 81 are trouble for you wait till you hit the west coast. Bring some extra underwear for them.
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All I can do is keep working on becoming a better driver everyday. If I'm dispatched to the Rockies I have extra undies and a towel in my duffle bag.

AlexFromMD, Jun 28, 2015

#11
Ordy19 Medium Load Member

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Still cracking up on your lot lizard comment.

Ordy19, Jun 28, 2015

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TruckDuo Road Train Member

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Lot lizards can be found at the Pilot in Indianapolis I-465 exit 9. Cindy is the best.

TruckDuo, Jun 28, 2015

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GreenMonster9669 Medium Load Member

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AlexFromMD said: ↑

People who drive cars on the interstate are either brain dead or just don't care about anything. I 81 south was backed up for miles yesterday from 2 separate incidents of incompetent 4 wheelers cutting off tractor trailers in the rain. I'm an optimist, If the drivers of the cars survived I hope this will be a learning experience for them and they will teach they're offspring not to drive like autistic orangutans until eventually natural selection does its job and everyone drives responsibly.

The road is lonely and the fabled lot lizards are either extinct or an outright myth. If you aren't teaming with your significant other you'll be beating off until home time. And most of the time you're too tired from 11 hours of driving to even do that.

11 hours a day is a long ### time to operate a 40 ton vehicle. All my driving so far has been in the Appalachian mountains. 30 mph mountain climbing followed by praying to all the gods that you can keep control of the truck on the way down. My 10 hour reset consists of 9 hours of sleep.

After 6 PM? Good luck finding a place to park for the night. This may be a regional problem her in the densely populated east coast. Parking at rest areas sucks because there's no showers and the only food is from vending machines which may or may not dispense your $2.50 Snickers bar.

DC workers don't like you. When you show up they have to work and they resent you for it. The Amazon logo is a smile but good luck finding one on any of their employee's faces. Home Depot gives tells you which spot they want you to drop your trailer but some dingleberry from Werner already took that spot and didn't tell anyone.

My truck is governed at 65 which is extremely frustrating when someone is in front of me is going 62 because, sure enough, as soon as you try to make a pass they speed up to 66. And of course some ### wipe in a Honda is going to try to pass you on the right while you're passing on the left.

The pay sucks. Most of the people in my orientation came from some $8-10/hr job and were really stoked but this is my fallback from oilfield and holy cow does it hurt working so many hours and seeing a check with no overtime pay. I'm keeping my spirits up by thinking of this job as a paid internship rather than a job. I'm working for the experience on my resume. Thank every god that I saved my money.
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GreenMonster9669, Jun 28, 2015

#14
GreenMonster9669 Medium Load Member

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You pretty much have it. I almost have a year OTR and I still sweat where I'm going to park if I'm still driving after dark. A microwave and some nukable dinners will make overnighting at the rest areas much more agreeable. I even carry a gallon jug of tapwater in case I need to wipe down between truck stop showers.

AlexFromMD said: ↑

People who drive cars on the interstate are either brain dead or just don't care about anything. I 81 south was backed up for miles yesterday from 2 separate incidents of incompetent 4 wheelers cutting off tractor trailers in the rain. I'm an optimist, If the drivers of the cars survived I hope this will be a learning experience for them and they will teach they're offspring not to drive like autistic orangutans until eventually natural selection does its job and everyone drives responsibly.

The road is lonely and the fabled lot lizards are either extinct or an outright myth. If you aren't teaming with your significant other you'll be beating off until home time. And most of the time you're too tired from 11 hours of driving to even do that.

11 hours a day is a long ### time to operate a 40 ton vehicle. All my driving so far has been in the Appalachian mountains. 30 mph mountain climbing followed by praying to all the gods that you can keep control of the truck on the way down. My 10 hour reset consists of 9 hours of sleep.

After 6 PM? Good luck finding a place to park for the night. This may be a regional problem her in the densely populated east coast. Parking at rest areas sucks because there's no showers and the only food is from vending machines which may or may not dispense your $2.50 Snickers bar.

DC workers don't like you. When you show up they have to work and they resent you for it. The Amazon logo is a smile but good luck finding one on any of their employee's faces. Home Depot gives tells you which spot they want you to drop your trailer but some dingleberry from Werner already took that spot and didn't tell anyone.

My truck is governed at 65 which is extremely frustrating when someone is in front of me is going 62 because, sure enough, as soon as you try to make a pass they speed up to 66. And of course some ### wipe in a Honda is going to try to pass you on the right while you're passing on the left.

The pay sucks. Most of the people in my orientation came from some $8-10/hr job and were really stoked but this is my fallback from oilfield and holy cow does it hurt working so many hours and seeing a check with no overtime pay. I'm keeping my spirits up by thinking of this job as a paid internship rather than a job. I'm working for the experience on my resume. Thank every god that I saved my money.
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GreenMonster9669, Jun 28, 2015

#15
street beater Road Train Member

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Ignore the back in my day comments. Partialy becuse there only talking to hear themselfs, but mainly becuse its NOT back in the day anymore! I had to walk 7 miles to school uphill, both ways. And fight off bears with a loose leaf notebook.... most of the guys here will give constructive advice.... "most" not me tho, i just point out the obvoius and spell it very poorly

street beater, Jun 28, 2015

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The Crossword Trucker Road Train Member

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[QUOTE="AlexFromMD, post: 4659191, member: 164939

The road is lonely and the fabled lot lizards are either extinct or an outright myth.

[/QUOTE]

This had better be a #### joke. Lot lizards are the whole reason I got my CDL. I was told by the recruiter that all the major truckstops have them, that they are beautiful , and they can usually be paid for with rewards card points which you get plenty of when buying fuel for the truck.

The Crossword Trucker, Jun 28, 2015

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Bakerman Road Train Member

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TruckDuo said: ↑

It gets easier after 3-4 months. Everything is still knew.
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I think you just get use to it! lol

Bakerman, Jun 28, 2015

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TruckDuo Thanks this.
‘Olhand Cantankerous Crusty

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street beater said: ↑

Ignore the back in my day comments. Partialy becuse there only talking to hear themselfs, but mainly becuse its NOT back in the day anymore! I had to walk 7 miles to school uphill, both ways. And fight off bears with a loose leaf notebook.... most of the guys here will give constructive advice.... "most" not me tho, i just point out the obvoius and spell it very poorly
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You forgot in the SNOW!-----lmao

‘Olhand, Jun 28, 2015

#19
G.Anthony Road Train Member

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The Crossword Trucker said: ↑

[QUOTE="AlexFromMD, post: 4659191, member: 164939

The road is lonely and the fabled lot lizards are either extinct or an outright myth.
Click to expand...

This had better be a #### joke. Lot lizards are the whole reason I got my CDL. I was told by the recruiter that all the major truckstops have them, that they are beautiful , and they can usually be paid for with rewards card points which you get plenty of when buying fuel for the truck.
Click to expand...

It's true, many look like these..

Last edited: Jun 28, 2015

G.Anthony, Jun 28, 2015

#20

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