On My Own For The First Time

So I made it to the big time! I'm going out on my own in my own truck for the first time. 21 years old and driving an 80,000 pound rig coast to coast for a living. It's nearly impossible to describe how excited I was!

I knew there would be a lot of tough times ahead but I was very confident that I would be able to figure them out. Well, I'm still here alive and well so obviously I made it through.

But HOLY CRAP did I have some moments!

DAMN!

Surprisingly enough I don't remember my first trip. Really at this point you would think, “well, why the hell doesn't he just make something up? I want to hear about some disasters!” Don't worry, I have some truly unbelievable stories! But my first trip must have went ok or I would surely remember it.

Trucking In New York City

One of my first memories was of a trip to New York City. Now NYC is the most horrific place to take a big rig anywhere in the country. To me it was AT LEAST ten times worse than the second worse place to take a big rig, which I'd say is Los Angeles or Chicago. To be honest, throughout my career I DESPISED going to NYC but there really wasn't any other city I didn't want to go to. Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St Louis, Miami...it didn't matter. I really didn't mind any of them. Just NYC.

To me, and to most drivers for that matter, NYC really is that bad.

As you might expect, one of my most horrendous ordeals was early in my career in NYC. Now you might be wondering why they would send a new driver to the most dangerous and difficult place in the U.S.?

For a very good reason actually – they're idiots.

Total morons.

Rejects that have never been in a truck and don't have any idea what they are getting you into.

All they know is that everybody hates going to NYC and since you're the new guy it's easier to convince you that you have no choice. Also, they figure it's a good test to see what you're made of as a driver.

Again, this is why dispatchers generally hide behind bullet-proof glass. Total morons.

I call to get directions to my delivery and make my first discovery about NYC...most people have no idea how to get around that city.

How can that be?

Because a huge portion of the population uses public transportation. They don't even own a vehicle.