What is the worst experience you have had driving OTR?

Getting lost in Brooklyn tops my list.
Driving through a near white-out snow storm ranks second. I say near white out because I could still kinda tell where the road was. That service plaza on I-88 couldn't come soon enough. I was so glad when I saw that exit sign.
Third would be trying to keep the truck from jack-knifing when you're coming to a stop. You see the videos in CDL school but nothing compares to when it's actually happening to *you*.

 

My worst was teaching myself how to chain on Donner Pass. Neither of my trainers showed me how. Kept putting it off and I let them. I trained in the summer.

3 + hours later and I was done. I always told myself I was never gonna chain up. I'd just park. And then it snowed when I was 2 hrs from home. I wasn't waiting. I wanted to get home.

Great experience. After it was over. Not during.

 

I was loading beer at the old Strohs Brewery in Winston Salem, NC heading for Asheville, NC. There was a snow storm coming and they were forcasting FEET of snow! I met another driver that lived in Asheville and we tried and tried to get dispatch to swap loads, his load was going to Savannah, GA but dispatch refused to make the change. In retrospect we should have swapped loads anyway and let the chips fall where they may. BTW if stupid aazz Stohs would have loaded me on time I figured I could be very near Asheville before the storm began, but nooooo never get loaded on time at Strohs. (we aint even got to the bad part yet folks).
So anyway I finally get loaded, it's not snowing in Winston yet so I haul ### west. I sorta got lucky that I didnt hit snow til Black Mtn, but from there the weather deteriorated fast fast. By the time I got to Ashe there was 6-8" on the roads but there was no traffic, 3am, and I was getting thru the unplowed streets pretty good with 46,000 of beer onboard I was thinking I might just get thru this. wrong!!!!!!
It was still snowing heavily and the street signs were getting covered in snow, I missed a turn and found myself going up a pretty steep hill into a residential area, I got about half way up the hill and lost traction, I'd had enough so I was going to stay there, in the middle of the road til morning, but nooo I couldnt even catch a break here! I pulled on the tractor brakes and the truck started sliding to the left because of the crown of the road. I slid off the pavement onto a lawn, taking out a fancy mailbox and went to bed.
The home owner came out at daybreak raising "h-e double hockey sticks" with me for taking out his mailbox and tearing up his lawn. It had warmed to about 40degrees by then but I was still stuck with all left side tires sunk in grass. A towtruck came and got me back on the pavement and I had to back down the hill, 1/4 mile across US 23. I found out later if I would have made the left on 23 I was only a mile from the customer! What a night!

 

Yeah I agree with you on the whole being sick and not having a day off to recover. When the wheels aren't turning you sure aint making the money. It takes a level of dedication to be a trucker over the road no one really realizes until you're actually in the drivers seat doing it. It is not for just anyone but I will always encourage anyone to try it out and see if it's for you. You never kow about anything unless you try it first hand. Good luck to all those who do.

 

Every day is a new day trucking. Problems don't last very long. One day something might make you mad and the next day is a great. You just have to take it in stride and handle everything in a calm manner. A temper in trucking makes things worse. Patience and easy going you'll fit right in. You have to be thick skinned. Many times you'll learn from your own mistakes and figure a way to do things better. That's called experience. It takes a good 3-5 years to start getting the whole picture. You'll understand when you get there and look back. Most of your negative experiences will be in your first year as you learn the ropes.

Other than that there are good memories like being stuck in a snow storm for 3 days, or stuck at a customer for 30 hours. One time I had a condor with a 6 foot wingspan bounce of my windshield or a little ol' lady that jumped in front of me and locked her brakes up. People jumping on your truck. Con artist trying to swindle you. The list is never ending.

You'll see things you never seen before or didn't think was possible to see!

 

Oh boy!!! I can sure relate to ya on that note!!! I've had some days where I got directions from some dummy dispatchers and got lost and argued and gotten angry over getting bad directions but over time. I too learned to just deal and not put so much pressure into being lost. Eventually cooler heads prevail and it all works out. Great idea to look it up on the internet before going to any new locations by the way!!! I do the same thing now and it's a great way to make the trip that much easier.

 

Coming home and my almost 1 year old daughter had forgotten who I was. She hid behind her mom. It was heartbreaking.

 

Was getting a load at Proctor & Gamble.Had my MT inspected at their drop yard and bobtailed 1 mile to main warehouse.Went in side and was told trailer would be ready in 5 hrs,was expecting that so no big deal,gave them cell number and went back to truck.About 6 hrs later went back to see what was up.Docked trailer next to office had a flat.Asked the guy if that was by chance my trailer,"No,yours is at dock #,we need another hour."No problem,left me a good 2 hrs to hit nearest truck stop.45 mins later call comes trailer is ready,cool,drive over to hook up and guess which trailer is mine,you guessed it,the one with the flat.So back to the office,he says "The driver who brought that one in dropped it with a flat",really,the other guy spent 20 mins inspecting everything on my trailer I dropped.Couldn't be the yard dogs transferring the trailers,by way of every curb they could nail,could it?

So another 3 hrs to transfer to another trailer,only to get one with a flat and a bent wheel.

All and all I spent 21 hrs waiting for this load,only good thing about it is FM got me $382. in detention pay.