Profile For Chris D.

Hey guys!

Well I'm currently about to finish training with Stevens Transport, and I've had two different trainers thus far who've told me two different perspectives on night time driving.

My first one always had us stopping st around 10-12 at night, we would wake up the following morning and bang out the day no problem. The second trainer I got is big on me driving till 2-3 or more in the morning, and tells me I need to get used to never stopping early (10-12 at night), since I'll never sleep the same schedule.

I'm just curious about which may be true. My first trainer had been doing this for about 6 years, and says he's never had to drive late at night unless the trip absolutely required it, and even then it was few and far between. The second has been doing it for 3, and says he's always doing it and even trains his students to do it. I'm just not sure which to believe lol

Hey guys, I'm currently in school for my CDL and this week we are working on the alley dock. I've seen it screw up a ton of students, so I was curious if you guys had any tips or suggestions for it? I've heard it's one of those things where once you get it, you'll never forget it.

Hey guys, ironically I currently work for att before I start school, but I was curious who was the overall best provider for trucking? A lot of the posts I've seen are dated a few years back, and I know a lot has changed since then. So in your alps opinion, who has the best coverage?

So FINALLY the opportunity to go over the road has come around, so I'm hopping on it. I'm enrolled in Tennessee Truck Driving School right now and I've already got hired on with Stevens transport. I do have some questions about them though.

1. How big of a mini fridge can I put in their trucks? 2. Can I bring my dog? 3. How are they as far as home time? I understand they said I'll likely be out 2-3 weeks at a time with 2-3 days off accordingly. 4. My recruiter for Stevens said I'll average 3100 miles a week, even though I'm new. I'm not holding my breath on this one though. Any idea how accurate this may be?

I do have more but I'll stop with these for now lol

This was a very hard backing situation. The video below shows me leaving the place. Had to back through 2 gates. The inner gate of the prison I had about an inch on either side of my mirrors. Not a fun place to back into. Normally reserved for 30 foot pup trailers and days cabs.

This was the first stop of two. Turns out I was supposed to go around to the back of the building that was made for 53 foot trailers and delivery both stops there. Lol

YouTube video of me at this place. Copy and paste it into your browser cause I don't not know how to embed it into a post on TT.

https://youtu.be/HXH1feg5a_k

That's insane! Did anyone give you lip about having to move their car?

Probably not as bad as the above but my worst so far was a delivery in downtown Chicago in China Town. First of all, getting through the city streets there is rough because there are lots of turns that can't be made "legally" even with tandems all the way up, not to mention low clearance viaducts all over the place.

But it delivers to this place designed for small box trucks, there is a very narrow, very busy two lane road in front of the docks and I'm delivering at 8 am in the morning. There are three dock doors tight to each other and the drive is no wider than the three doors. Did I mention cars are parked all up and down the road?

Well I hop the curb across the street with my steers and give a small tree a little brush with my cab but get docked...and my tractor is blocking an entire lane of traffic.

Do you have to go there often or was it a one time thing?

I'll do better than tell I'll show

Ok so let me explain this. This place is in a small town in rural mass. All the roads are narrow and the buildings are from the 1800s. So in the picture the square is the loading dock that's angled toward the left. The circle is the only way in and out of the loading area which is very narrow. The X means that there is no room to turn around. And the long squiggly...... That's a verticle drop off to the brook that shows in the picture. Because of the small space and being parked at an angle to get loaded the dock workers have to come out and direct you to get turned around. It takes like a twenty point turn to get back out. And the only way you'll get a 53' in there is if you have a day can with a single axle. Otherwise it better be a 48' or less. Add to all that the driveway being part cobble stone part dirt and it's just an unpleasant place to go.

That sounds like a mess, good God. Lol.

You descend a hill in your car and find yourself looking for the Jake button on the steering wheel.

Some halfwit cuts you off in your car, and you try reaching for the air horn.

You still find yourself wanting to pull into an open scalehouse in your car.

You get nervous on streets that say "no trucks" in your car.

Lmao. Where I'm from most of the cars sound like they already have a jake brake on high.

I know everyone must have some stories about having some crazy place they've had to back into. I'd love to hear them!