Profile For Cobalt Cyborg

Running recap1s isn't a bad thing. I used to prefer resets, but I've found that I average a lot more miles per week running recaps, and I don't waste away in my man cave sleeper for days at a time waiting for a reset.

But, if your load planners and your manager aren't paying attention to your hours,that's just not going to work. My advice is keep track of your recaps, and pay close attention to your preplans and current loads.

Let your manager know as soon as you realize you are short on hours for your load. Immediately.

It's also not a bad idea to let your manager know what your next day or 2 or even 3 look like for available hours, when you send your empty call.

Also, run the load you're on, not the next one. You'll understand that better as you gain experience, but just worry about your current load, that's enough stress.

Some very effective techniques are available to learn to fall asleep when it's needed. Focused breathing, mindful breathing, counting the breaths, I have used these methods as a driver new to pulling (NOISY) reefers, and they WORK.

Good luck.

To OP: I think the more realistic question for you will be, which route will you be most comfortable with? I don't think that trip is possible without navigating a pass or 2.

Kearsey, you said you violated to get parked... remember, you get a couple extra hours for that, for inclement weather, nuclear attacks, that sort of thing... :)

To OP: None of those amchair quarterbacks that you mentioned who were questioning or even ridiculing your judgement have any dogs in the fight. You do. In fact, you have EVERYTHING in it, your CDL, your job, your CSA/DAC, your health, your life.

You made the right call. You didn't feel safe, so you made the RIGHT call. Good on you, driver.

NEVER let someone else make a safety related decision for you, whether it's unsafe equipment, unsafe conditions, of just plain unsafe due to fatigue.

At the end of the day, YOU are the one who will have to live with the consequences of your decision.

I mix it up between audiobooks, podcasts, and music. For audiobooks, I was using Audible pretty much exclusively, until I discovered that our local city/county library offers audiobooks, too. They have an excellent selection, new and old, fiction and non-, good and bad.

Just started with the Altered Carbon series. Excellent. Also, the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher are a lot of fun. Joe Abercrombie's stuff is excellent, Thee Blade Itself, Red Country, Last Argument of Kings, etc.

Spotify has an excellent selection of podcasts. I'm listening to Mythology once in a while, it's really very well done.

Brett, I believe I have removed all references to my blog from TT. If I missed any please let me know.

Brett, dude, we need an edit function LOL!

Jim F, believe me I will do anything I can to help.

Okay first of all I in preparation for my learner's permit I studied the Trucking Truth training series high road I think it's called. I did that and I used like three or four apps on my phone and also used the state booklet.

In hindsight I would have dumped everything except Trucking Truths High Road Series training program, it is by far the best and it's all you need.

My advice is focus heavily on hours of service but avoid split Sleeper Berth at all cost because it will only confuse you. After you've been doing it for you know a few months or something maybe but I've actually already been told by my driver leader, two dispatchers and a training coordinator to stay the hell away from split Sleeper Berth until I've got six months under my belt.

Okay now having said all that, about the academy: just remember that the instructors are people.

On day one we got an assignment that had basically an assignment handwritten on another sheet that was kind of like a quiz sheet and the assignment was to write "I will get out and look every time" on the back of the test sheet 25 x. Most people didn't even see that and failed that assignment so I guess my advice there is pay attention to everything.

Apply your work ethic. It's the most important thing, the most important advice I can give you is pay attention, read everything, study hard and apply your work ethic.

Get started on your pre-trip immediately day one, in fact start right now before you even get there, you're months away, perfect. Start on your pre-trip especially focusing on the in cab and the brake tests. The air system and brake test are critical and most people in my class didn't even start studying it until like 2 days before the the test so get on that immediately.

Also avoid the social bull**** you're going to run across. This is not high school where you have to be in the the right clicque. This is the beginning of the longest job interview of your life. Treat it as such. Be serious. Be focused. Apply yourself. Also I would definitely recommend going home on the weekend since you only live a couple hours away. Oh by the way Riggins is beautiful I love it. I've actually held a heavy load a paper through there a few weeks ago. Yeah definitely the home time will definitely help clear your head but you but you do have to have you do have to spend a lot of time studying so don't take that lightly.

Hey BZT, Been following your diary, congrats on your new career. I've just signed up for the Lewiston Swift Academy. Will start in Jan. I just got my learners permit and going to cram the High Road training so hopefully it will give me some breathing room at school and I can really focus on my skills training. Does that make any sense? Did you study the High Road training program on this web site? I live 2hrs south of the academy in Riggins, Idaho. Was hoping to be able to scream home on our day off and see the wifey. It depends on how my studies are going. Would love any insight you might be able to share with me about the academy and anything else you can think of from a newbies perspective. This web site is a fantastic wealth of info, but would still appreciate anything you have to offer.

I don't know how I forgot probably the most important point. The Freightliner does not have that enormous lurching problem in reverse that the Kenworth has.

Turn on the Traction Control and the Anti Rollback switches and it won't lurch while backing. Plus, be slow and easy on the pedal.

Pack Rat thank you for the reply.

I think it's pretty clear that part of the problem I had with my mentor is it he didn't know what the hell he was doing. This guy, my former mentor, has been driving trucks over the road for the same company for 11 years.

He's been driving his Kenworth for about 6 months now. And he obviously doesn't even know how to drive the damn thing.

My guess is I know how to use my engine, transmission, cruise control, compression brake on my Freightliner that I've been driving for one week now probably better than he does that Kenworth that he's been driving for 6 months.

I know that this makes me sound like an arrogant little prick but I put up with that clown for five weeks and I didn't learn a fraction of what I should have.

It's my sincere belief that this guy, my former mentor, is just milking student drivers for their miles, doing it strictly for the money. He taught me nothing at all about route planning, nothing at all about hours of service, nothing at all about how to decide whether or not I should accept a pre-plan and whether or not I could make the load in the designated time frame.

Now having said all that I think it's become pretty clear that I have yet to recover from my 5 weeks of intense exposure to his toxic cynicism so I'm going to check out of this forum for a while until my attitude recovers.

I again want to thank everyone that was helpful to me on these forums.

The information the advice that I got here was absolutely invaluable so thanks again everyone.

I'll be back once my attitude recovers.