Profile For Robert V.

Bob, Ignore that first question. I realize now how uninformed it must read. I would like to know, physically, how you and Patty are holding up. I have a lot of respect for what you are doing. With summer coming soon, I am in serious debate over which job to focus on. Should I keep my tenured teaching position or go for Schneider? I am so burned out at school. But the danger of driving makes me hesitate. I am slowly getting better at the backing maneuvers and don't feel so stupid anymore. My husband wants me to go to work with him at Armellini out of Palm City. Floral. Long-haul with deliveries. The company does put its drivers up in hotels if there is a lay-over for a reload. He's comfortable there. While the potential money with Schneider is attractive, the recruiter told us that because of our south Florida zip code we could only work in their "fly-to-drive" program. Fly out of West Palm, drive for at least 21 days, fly home, have 5 days off. Schneider will pay for one piece of baggage. Hmmm...having a different truck every month, not sure we would want to live so spartan. What to do? Just taking one day at a time. Drives 10 and 11 coming up next week. Wish me luck.

Sorry so long to reply but Patty and I have been running hard and internet inside the truck through phone is spotty. 1. Your stamina and endurance builds over time. took time to work out a schedule but after a month we have settled into one. Patty starts between 4_6am and goes to 2pm with two breaks of 1 hour and one of 30 minutes. then I drive 1.5 to 2 hours. Then if we need to push it she does 1_2 hours from 4_6pm. She then puts in 350 to 500 miles depending on the trip. We then have dinner from 6_7 and then I drive 7_10 or 11. I take a 2 hour nap and then go 1_3 am . If we put in350_400. miles each we don't have to do the last sections of our shifts. If we need to do 500 miles or more each then we add on those last parts. We plan in shopping/tourist stuff or a night out with the easier loads. For example my wife hit 5 different Indian gift shops along I40 one day. it was hour drive 30 minute stop etc. one afternoon. We had a lot I of time to deliver the load. So we are trying to find ways to make it fun. If we get another one like that we want to take 24 hours off and visit the Grand Canyon. So there is some limited freedom built into many but not all loads. 2. Patty has many of the same fears and sometimes she drives so slow or cautious it drives me nuts. So I just go sleep and she gets there. I have gotten decent at backing so I handle the hard stuff. She is getting better and she no longer wakes me up on the simpler maneuvers. I still sit with her up front if she has a mountain grade to go up or down but she did the last one by herself so her skill and confidence are coming along.

I have been to the Houston OC which is a tanking center for Schneider but don't know much about the division.

Monica we are having fun out here. Yes we face problems but I like the problem solving part of the job. Our first week our fuel gauge was bad so we ran out of fuel, a sensor went bad for the coolant so lost 4 hours of drive time, we got a load changed and had to do a recovery and Patty and I both ran 10 hours straight to finish the job, we had a misload and had to go back and get the load reloaded 16 inches closer to the front so the 38800 load was evenly spaced and we could pass the scales, we have been across a desert, snow fall in the mountains, learning to use the Jake break at 4 am one talking and one driving through the steps as we descended the steep slopes of the three sisters, from NE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Wyoming and Utah and now sitting outside LA etc. all in one week. Loved it and we will make close to 1500 our first week. Keep fighting and plugging away at it because America is a beautiful country and I have seen things I have never seen before.

. Sorry that was 78800.

Monica we are having fun out here. Yes we face problems but I like the problem solving part of the job. Our first week our fuel gauge was bad so we ran out of fuel, a sensor went bad for the coolant so lost 4 hours of drive time, we got a load changed and had to do a recovery and Patty and I both ran 10 hours straight to finish the job, we had a misload and had to go back and get the load reloaded 16 inches closer to the front so the 38800 load was evenly spaced and we could pass the scales, we have been across a desert, snow fall in the mountains, learning to use the Jake break at 4 am one talking and one driving through the steps as we descended the steep slopes of the three sisters, from NE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Wyoming and Utah and now sitting outside LA etc. all in one week. Loved it and we will make close to 1500 our first week. Keep fighting and plugging away at it because America is a beautiful country and I have seen things I have never seen before.

Patty and I each bought trucks at Love's and practiced the maneuvers over and over again. Every night we spent time getting them drilled into our heads. Eventually it began to sink in. Good luck.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, next we go o California. America is such a beautiful country. Really enjoying this.

I passed Thursday and my wife passed on Friday. We have the keys to the truck and will take it on a spin tomorrow. We spent the afternoon getting it loaded up and checked out. We topped off all the fluids, oil, and fuel and are ready for our first load. We will find out in the morning what it will be. We ce!ebrated by going to an all you can eat lobster, shrimp, salmon, and ribs buffet Hope we can sleep tonight. I left the computer in the truck so we will post pics tomorrow.

Been out of CDL school since end of Dec'14.Had to take care of things before getn on the road.Might go with Schneider tank.Scared that not driven in along time I've forgot a lot of stuff! Do you think they will work with me on relearning?

They are good with working with you. Patient and not pushy. I really like working here and so do many of the drivers. We have met many who have come in off the road and they are happy working here. You probably would have to take the same 3 week course I did.

Well, passed the Qualcomm test. 2 hours start to finish. We were given the pick up and drop off locations. We had to do the entire route and paperwork from start to finish and enter it into the computer. Pretrip, pickup trailer, enter numbers, figure route, distance, total time, stops, fueling, breaks, total travel time day 1 and day 2, what time we pick up, what time we drop off, what time were ready for the next load. Fill in all the paperwork, send it to corporate, so we and the company gets paid. Enter all the numbers and charts into the Qualcomm and make sure they both agree. Can we do it from start to finish without screwing it up. Tomorrow the written tests and or final drive test. We pass, then go out and pick out a truck. Almost there.

Week three begins with map reading and using the Qualcomm computer system. Horribly boring day as the trainer reads from the book the steep by step directions on how to use it. We got to play with it some on our training run but now we understand using it now. Those that had trainers that let us use it some are catching on faster than those who drove last week and didn't use it. We are all having fun talking about our trainers and their different styles and emphasis. There were some who got caught in last weeks storm and one even shut down. It is interesting that of the 20+ students who started in week one there are 11 left. There are 2 or 3 others still on the road and couple others that have to start over later for various reasons. There is also a smaller class for experienced drivers coming to Schneider. Most of them are people coming back from other companies. I guess the grass wasn't greener on the other side if the fence.