Profile For Traffic Jam (SunnyWalker.net)

Sorry for spelling. I am doing these lately from free Wifi here in yard with a Kindle Fire via hunt n peck. Passed test easy with real high score. It was fun n all the study n practice was worth it. Been on my own since then. Today I finished up a del to San Antonio n back to Ardmore OK. It had 5 deliveries in it. I receive $4 for unloading trailer and $25 for each stop as well as mileage. Doing good! Now for the other fellow... yes some drove. Selves n were paid mileage. Ya''ll watch out if you are in San Antonio don't git in a

-Traffic Jam

I will let you all know bout fri this weekend. Meanwhile HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS! N watch out for any ole

-Traffic Jam

Ok the hog kill I survived-still here. I m now officially done with my 25 day riding with a trainer. I get a ck our drive this fri n then m dug loose to start driving. Thanks TtuckingTruth.com!!!!! Its been a journey to begin here n your help made a big difference. Thanks!

Weather may turn out to be great for the school. Don't sweat the small stuff. At any rate sooner or later you'll have to learn to drive in adverse conditions. I think it would be better to do so with a trainer. -Traffic Jam

I did it last night! I was driving up thru a rural area and hit a wild boar! Took off part of the bumper on drivers side. Everyone is teasing me about it. Did I bring it back for bar-b-que? (No it probably weighed over 150 lbs). They are saying my new handle is "Hog Slayer" but I am going to stick with "Traffic Jam." This is LAST week of mentor/training! As they say down Texas way. . . Yeeeeeeeeehaw!

Get in the High Road CDL Training Program on this site. You will really benefit from it and enjoy it at the same time. I don't think anything I have seen compares to it. Good luck and come join us at Averitt Express.

Danny: I have not ever paid for parking overnight in my short career so far. Here is a resource (Ref type book)if you are interested:

"The Ultimate Truck Parking guide, third edition". Here is an excerpt: "the Ultimate Truck Parking Guide was written for over-the-road truck dirvers. The primary purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive list of tractor-trailer parking locations. In fact, this book provides over 8,700 locations." etc.

More info at: ParkMyRig.com I bought my copy while at Con-Way Truckload.

I think there are similar resources out there.

-Traffic Jam

Dear Brett C: I see a lot of Swift drivers coming into the Dollar General service ctr., at Ardmore, OK where our company is part of the account. They all have clean trucks and seem to be doing real well. Early on I learned not to worry about . . . learning! We all have to start somewhere and the most skilled truck driver had to learn backing like I did at one time or another. Have fun!

Thanks Brett and Starcar! This week coming up (I am at home now on days off) was to be my last days in training (Sun-Tues) and I was to have a "test" done by safety and then be cut loose. However, I asked to continue the training through the week with my other trainer, Brendan. This was approved and will last through the end of the week and then I'll go through the final audit or test and be cut loose. I wanted to do this as Ken and Brendan were both such a case study in contrasting styles of driving, focus, detail work, etc. I feel really lucky to have this approved and am going to make the most of it. This last week was my last full week with Ken and we had fun but did work hard. On one stop we had over 1400 pieces to deliver. Ken said we ought to be out of here by about 1:00 PM and it was about 9:30 AM at the time. I had looked over the situation (the lot, the setup, the inside of the store, etc.,) and told him let's try for 11:00 AM. He said we'd never do that but we had her done in 1 hour and 15 minutes. I remember when I first started I would push a cart up into the store and bend over to get my breath. fI was real slow but Ken sure had a lot of patience and worked with me and allowed me my time. Now I just walk back and grab another and keep going and going. So It has been a real experience and the old 60 year old body has responded. I feel in lots better shape after these four plus weeks of going and going. The driving has been going real smooth and my backing is continuing to get better all the time. One good thing about this type of account is I feel we get more backing experience than an OTR driver. That is very beneficial and sure boosts my confidence in controlling the vehicle. All the other things a driver deals with also have come at a more rapid rate: coupling and uncoupling, all types of backing and I mean ALL TYPES! I could go on but I am sure you get the idea. I bought an air line this week with a glad hand on one end and a receptacle on the other to air up tires. You attach it to your red air line and air up your tires. Kind of neat to have your own portable compressor along, ha, ha. I am planning on getting a cooler to plug in the first week of real driving and so that is on the waiting list. I em enjoying the GPS Unit and pretty much use it and put the company qualcom one on mute as we drive. The SiriusXM radio is great for all those NFL and MLB games. The World Series is coming up and I am looking forward to this. Too bad the Texas Rangers are not in it this year! I am finding that I really like driving the truck. I like the feel of it, the sound of it, the vibrations, the power it has going up hills, the coasting down hills. When it shifts is has a sweet smooth sound and the view out the windows is nice and full. In traffic jams (NO I DID NOT CAUSE THESE TRAFFIC JAMS) like down in Dallas I just move along slow like a creeping action and make my time. I don't get in a hassle and quizzy about how slow I am making miles. It will all work out in the end and I trust my God to be with me to meet my needs. I am trying to focus on each day and learn all I can soak up. I put in my hours and work hard and take pride in doing a good job whether it is driving, backing, making a turn, unloading the truck, placing the roll-tainers in the store storeroom, etc. When I drive away it feels good and is satisfying. There is more to life and a job then the money angle and this is important to me. One a side note: one week I had to re-set in Alburquerque, NM and it was during the balloon festival. It was very pleasant there and as I live near here it was all quite familiar but I loved it. I did sleep a lot as I was still in the stage where every off hour I had was a recovery time from the work. The TA truck stop in town has a great restaurant and reasonable prices. Service is good too and that was a good hamburger! If you are looking to begin a trucking career you ought to come and join me in Averitt Express meanwhile watch out for any

-Traffic Jam

Thanks Brett. I already wear my contacts when unloading as I had a box hit my glasses one time. I now added some other stuff to make life more enjoyable on the road. I did get a truck assignment-a Volvo and it is swell! I've got it mostly all cleaned up and everything. It has almost 250,000 miles on it and works like a dream. I purchased a SiriusXM today to add to it and just feel like things are going smoothly. I only have about 9-10 days left of training and then I'll be on my own. I feel real fortunate and blessed to have this opportunity so want to make the most of it. So far I have had a couple of trainers-both excellent and real supportive: Ken and Brendan and I have enjoyed both of them immensely. I have learned so much from being with them and working side by side with each of these fellows. It's been a great process so far but I do look forward to it being over with. This last week we returned from Albuquerque to Ardmore, OK. Then did some runs around Ft Worth on Thurs and then returned to Ardmore. Picked up a trailer and ran to Amarillo. Made the dels today (Fri) and I am home now. The trucks I have trained in and the one assigned to me have qualcoms and so we use electronic logs. I feel this is an advantage as it helps in communication with dispatch and all. This ought to have a positive impact on my work and assignments. Saw a store today where I driver was straight backing and ran along the end of the roof shoving the rain gutter to pieces. It looked like wadded up tinfoil. Dented the metal bldg also and left some rubber streaks on the sidewalk/curb. I hope I don't do that and plan to GOAL a lot (already do) and mainly I am going to try to not be in a hurry. I think that will help avoid this situation a lot. OK, thanks for reading and don't get into any or around any or make a -Traffic Jam