Profile For Idaho Mtn Gal

Payette, ID is where I picked up my truck in Dec. 28th, 2017. 2 ft. snow and -19 temp. Preplain take load to consigned 5 miles from terminal. 15 minutes away.

You must have dreamed of a future event ;-)

P-Town doesn't usually get that cold.....only this past winter has it hit that low in a long time!

When I drove back in 88-91, I always drove team. One co-driver was retired military and the nastiest person (and yes, showers were free back then with fueling) I've been around. He never showered, threw styrofoam coffee cups all around the cab, smoked (as a nonsmoker it doesn't bother me) and dropped ashes everywhere among other things. I ran 9 days with him and told the company I couldn't stay in that truck. Everyone else I drove with was good about showering and keeping the truck clean. I drove 3 yrs and got off the road cause my husband hated driving. He wanted to work on cattle ranches.

Fast forward 23 years....the husband was Traumatic Brain Injured for 18 years and due to burning out, was going in a nursing home. I was now 63 and needed to go to work. My brother went and got his CDL at 61.5, so I figured I could too. Went to school, got mine and was in the process of doing paperwork for the husband to live in the nursing home (was staying there fulltime) when he fell, breaking his hip and hitting his head. The bleeding into his brain wasn't caught for almost a week and by then it was too late. After he died, I went on the road 3 weeks later with my brother. We drove 2.5 mths together and then we went solo.

I have been solo now since Dec 2014. Don't think I could ever go back to team driving. What I see out there is just astounding. Truck stops, rest areas and on/off ramps are now filthier. You never saw pee bottles nor grocery bags with bowel movement in them. I don't understand why guys (and probably gals) can't water the dirt/grass, but have to pee in bottles and then leave them lying around. What your trainer did was not acceptable. He should have had you pull and taken care of business outside at the very least. What he did was just disgusting :-P

I wondered what the stars meant.

I'm an older female, a teenager during the 60's hippy era. I was not allowed to go braless back then and jobs throughout my life didn't allow it either. But learning about alt. health and cancer, I learned that underwire and tight fitting bras are very suspect in breast cancer. So, I wear my old ones cause they are loose but do give a little support.

This past winter the roads really got beat up in many states out west. Even with nice, comfy seats, I don't like them bouncing that much cause I am on the big side. When the bras wear out and I have to replace them, I wash the brand new ones in hot water and bleach a bunch of times til they loosen up. It's what works for me.

How do you have a bad day at the Wyoming POE?

1. Show up with a wide load on a hotshot rig without getting a clearance number. 2. No oversized load signs. 3. No flags on the load. 4. No Dot numbers on the truck. 5. No beacons 6. No registration for the truck.

Boy! Someone wasn't thinking when they took that load and headed out!

Until Prime tells you, you really don't know why they denied you and you are just guessing. It could be because of your child or it could be something totally different.

I got out of trucking 23 yrs ago. It was more male dominated back then than it is now. I can attest that companies DO want women....I got lots of requests to check out companies, even tho I haven't driven for a long time. The big companies have no issue with my long ago driving time. The small company I went with, their insurance company only allowed me to go as a team with my brother for the next 6 mths...which is fine. We get along pretty well.

Call them back or write a note/email and bug the recruiter to see what the reason was that you were denied. Maybe they'll consider you persistent enough to be considered to be hired.....stranger things have happened.

Back 20+ yrs ago, dispatchers wanted you to keep moving at all costs. Well, that cost the company lots of $$ due to wrecks that lost freight and killed other motorists. There are companies that want you to chain still, but more are willing for you to park. My boss (has 6 trucks) asked me if I could lift a set of dual chains and I told him I probably could, but at my age (63), I had more commonsense than when I was younger. He agreed & said that parking is what he wanted me to do. So, I'm good. I could do it as I lift 75 lb bales of hay for my goats, but isn't something I really like doing.

We'll see if he practices what he preaches as I'm heading out on my first trip this Fri :-D

IdahoLaura

What I wore 20+ years ago and what I wear now are two different things. Being a tomboy (have 5 brothers), when I drove 20+ yrs ago, I wore jeans or mens western dress pants. They were basically what was available with pockets. Since then I was a CNA in a nursing home and found medical clothes. Those pants are comfortable, some have cargo style pockets and the regular ones have deeper pockets than jeans, and clean easily. I've been wearing them from Family Dollar cause they are inexpensive and raising registered dairy goats, are easy to clean. I wore them while in school (Jul/Aug which is HOT in Idaho) and found them to be very comfortable. In the winter I plan on wearing tights or long johns and they fit nicely under the pants (wore them in the winters around here).

IdahoLaura

So getting right to it. Anyone use a Diva cup? What about female urinals? Porta potties and such? I did read a post from a lady who had her worst menses when she started driving any thoughts on that? I am not ashamed to admit I used depends once on a long cross country trip with two kids and two dogs did not want any accidents! Of course I took some ribbing about it, apparently it was the highlight of the trip lol Not the Grand canyon, not Sedona, not all the other grand sites! Just that I had a diaper on! Anyhoo, let me know.

Never heard of a "Diva" cup and didn't use female uninals, porta potties, etc. 23+ yrs ago, I ran mostly with men that weren't my husband and told them point blank that if I had to pee, a rest area was good but so was the off ramp on an interstate. Granted you can't do that in a busy city, but there are more truck stops out there now than there were back 20+ yrs ago. When I ran back then, I took Super Plus tampons and heavy pads for those days that I had a heavier flow than normal. I'd just tell the guys I had to pee and change at the same time. Most of the guys had been married and knew about menstrual cycles. If I felt they could joke about it, I would. Having 5 brothers, one learns to joke about many things.

When I start driving in the next few weeks, I will be running with my brother and he knows I have bladder issues from weight, MS and having kids. I take a med for that, but sometime have to pee without warning. I plan to use heavy generic depend pads if it gets to be a problem. I'm thinking that now that my stress will be in a nursing home, I may not have an issue :-D

IDLaura

I'm not gonna be much help on this one. I just wanna say, I enjoyed the Diva Cup when I had to use it, especially on long (none trucking related) rode trips from back in the day. I don't have THAT particular issue anymore and that is all I have to say about that!Cole

What the heck is a Diva cup? Never heard of it.

IDLaura

You are a youngster. ;-)

I was 36 when I got my Chauffeur License in 1988. Now I am going for my CDL and turned 63 a week into class. You've heard them say "70 is the new 50s" and I guess that is so. I sure don't think of myself as being old. In fact, the local farm & ranch store clerk said it was too bad I wasn't older so I could get the 10% Senior discount. I told her I qualified and showed her my CDL permit. She thought I was 52-55 :-D I know I don't move as fast as I once did, but I still take care of my registered dairy goats, meat goats, sheep, rabbits and chickens on 4.5 acres of irrigated land. I do it all by myself as my husband is Traumatic Brain Injured with some dementia.

As for schools vs training thru companies, see if there are other nearby companies that do training also. 26 mths is ridiculously long. Most companies do 12-18 mths from what I have found when I was looking.

IDLaura