Profile For Jmart

Is that the trucking job?

No, I went and tried hauling frac sand for a couple weeks. You can definitely make some $$ doing it. For me, it's about being home with family.

Well......unfortunately I became a statistic of not making it through my first year of trucking. The main reason is family and being home nightly and on weekends. However. I am glad I got my CDL because, who knows, one day i may be back. What i have learned in my short stint driving is that drivers deserve more respect! It's hard work day in and day out whether you have to assist unloading or not. The hours are irregular (for some) and long. I do not regret giving it a try and gained valuable knowledge along the way. Fortunately, I am stepping into a growing local business and have the opportunity to help it grow. I wish the best to all of you. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll still lurk on here.

4-20 First day of getting to haul sand. First load, made a Rookie mistake and damaged the chrome shroud covering the exhaust pipe. There was a pipe sticking up about 4' out of the ground and hit it backing up. Definitely a challenge backing on a well site, tight quarters and not a lot of room for error. Luckily, they do have spotters. Unfortunately, I didn't have a spotter because he already had me in position, but was at a bad angle to hook up the discharge hose correctly. So I needed to reposition. Second load went better. Needed to wait a couple of hours for repair on a belt on one of the sand bins. By the time we were ready to unload, it was dark. So, backing was a challenge, but the spotter helped a lot and used flashlights like they do for aircraft. Using the pneumatic trailer is pretty straight forward and had no problems there.

4-19-18 My new bosses were concerned about my shifting. So, we did another test drive today. This one went better. I never drove a 13 speed until this week. So, I get to go one to the next phase which is actually going to a site to load with sand and deliver to the frac site. I will be following someone for this first trip. Oil well site are much different than delivering to many other places. You have to wear PPE such as flame retardant coveralls, respirator to avoid any sand getting into your lungs, H2S gas detector, hard hat, and safety glasses. I'm looking forward to getting the show on the road.

Congrats Chuck!

4-17 and 4-18 I have been training the last couple of days. I've learned how to use the pneumatic tanker to blow sand. Yesterday, I went to a well site the is ready for fracking. Definitely tight space for maneuvering. Some crazy roads leading to the site. Dirt roads with some areas needing chains if it is snowy or muddy. One of our drivers got stuck late last night. It took two wreckers to pull him out. Then the well company shut the road down.

When I get to CFI next week, we new arrivals will be doing our drug tests and getting physicals. If we had to do physicals to get our CLP, why do we get another physical done at the schools? I am not referring to the drug tests, as that is a no-brainer. Seems like a waste of my $$ to get a physical to get my CLP, just to get another one a few weeks later.

Don, Unless something has changed in the last couple of months, if you already have had a physical, you will not need to get one at CFI. They do then for those that need them. You will need to submit to the urine/hair follicle drug screens m.

4-16-18 First day. Today was a lot of paperwork and training. After lunch, I was shown how to use a pneumatic tanker. I mainly will be hauling frac sand. Learning how to use the tanker is fairly easy. More practice tomorrow. Tomorrow I get to go out to a frac job on a well site to see the operation.

So I FINALLY passed the maneuvers on the the CDL test but I failed the drive today and even though I feel that I did fine and I was not at any time unsafe or took my turns incorrectly but grinded a few gears and supposedly left my foot on the clutch a couple of times which I think is total HOGWASH!!! I maintained the integrity of the truck and did not at any time drive unsafely but yet still failed!!! I missed the CDL by one lousy stupid point and before anyone asks how many practice drives I had let me tell you this. I have had lots of them but I am apparently required to be a professional driver already after only 3 whole weeks of actual driving behind the wheel. I felt that I did well enough to pass the test and get on with my training at my company since that is when a lot of the skills come into play and the learning really begins. To say that I am disappointed would be a severe understatement and fed up with this whole process and how it seems that they expect you to be perfect when it comes to driving a truck. Not to mention that I am going to be getting into an Automatic when I am done so who gives a rats behind whether I can drive a standard or not, I can tell you that I couldn't care less and before you tell me that I will need it save your breath. I am telling you this because I am ****ed off and want this to be over. The critiquing of every little detail is monotonous and way over done in my honest opinion. We are all human and grinding a gear happens and did not at any time make this drive unsafe, I even have confirmation from my instructor that the examiner told him that my drive was excellent except for these stupid things. One point, is all that stood between passing and not passing.

Chuck Sorry you've had a rough time. You will get it. Deep breath. Keep focused on the goal. When do you retest? Do you get to do some more practice driving before your next rerest?

There's nothing wrong with cpap machines. They aren't just for overweight people.