Profile For Glenn V.

Sometimes you are your own worst enemy. This is my latest write up on how NOT to gain experience in this business. My last reply was during the first week of December. When I first started pounding the pavement looking for work in this racquet, the mantra was " Three years". That was the experience level required. The ads that were "Will train" would be companies that would send you out on a team and you would train with your off shift. The training and experience gained can have varying degrees of success. Early in December, I received several emails from one of the bigger companies announcing a new program, training drivers for runs down the "Western Seaboard". Due to trainers not panning out, the program was delayed until after Christmas break. Early in January, I was assured that I would be expecting a call "Early next week". Crickets. The new mantra became "Next week". So late January, I start firing off resumes again. I just took a drug test for one company and am awaiting the results. So after a slight 2 month delay, hopefully I will be team driving and getting some experience. So I will be learning to backup in Love's truck stops and when doing drops. Oh yeah and watching youtube videos. So my new mantra will be "Ignore the clutter". Once I hire on with my new prospective employer, I will stay there come hell or high water.

Well I am back at home with a quandary on my hands. My trainer is taking the week off and getting his own truck. He wants to go solo after this. Although It was implied that I would be team driving for the first year, it is looking like I am going to be thrown to the wolves. Then out of the blue, I get an email and 2 phone calls from Challenger, which is on the "Canada's 50 best managed companies" list. So I have fired off some emails and waiting for a call tomorrow. After watching some of the antics at the busier terminals, I am definitely receptive to a more structured training evolution. One thing I never got to practise was "chaining up" as we managed to avoid the adverse weather. We saw several dinged up vehicles in Eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday night. The weather in that area can be quite similar to our west coast weather with the wet snow and rain. One of the things I was not planning on, was becoming that guy that goes from job to job with "grass is always greener" syndrome but when I look at the pay/training structure I have to act on it. It feels like we are in a plane and my trainer bailed out, the owner is ready to boot me out the door but there's Challenger standing there with a parachute and a set of airline tickets.

Well it is looking like I will be learning to "chain up" in the near future. We returned to the yard for 2 days. My trainer is putting a lease together, so I took the opportunity to go home for 2 days. We have to pick up a load tomorrow. Looking at the weather report, Snoqualmie Pass could be interesting. Fourth of July Pass will have "icy patches". One piece of advice I was given was keep your speed under 30-35 miles per hour and things should go relatively well. So, here goes.....

Aaand I'm back. This team/training thing keeps you hopping. I just got some downtime and am now all showered up, laundried up and walk/exercised up for the day, feels nice. Got the full meal deal. I guess when you show up at the border as a new driver, they have to check you out. I'm going to be on a first name basis with the US border guards, Canadian border guards and the Washington State highway patrol. The good part about getting searched at the border is that you get to work on your backing up skills with no pressure (unlike the Love's in Chicago at the busiest part of the day). I need to get some water under my keel before the snow flies, so hopefully I will have an inkling on how to approach that aspect of the game when the time comes. Looking at my battery and it is depleting fast. I am sitting in the Flying J looking at a Powerdrive 100W inverter, that should get me charged up for the next reset I hope. Signing off for now

I just received word that I will be going to pick up a load with a trainer tomorrow. While waiting for the call, I have been watching youtube videos and anything to familiarize myself with the upcoming tasks. ie backing up, going downhills etc. I believe that our truck will be a newer Freightliner. are there any other instructional videos with Pro tips that you would recommend? Thanks Glenn

Okay here goes.....First of all I cheat by going on google earth and looking at the overall. ( which is kinda like goal). If the 2 cars at the bottom of the picture are far enough apart, I go out of the picture down Taney Street and drive back up through the parking lot. Now I am off the road and out of the traffic. When the traffic clears, I drive towards the black vehicle second down from the upper right corner of the original picture. Now by backing up I can see the abutment and curb as I approach the dock. It definitely looks like several goals are in order on this one.

Actually, i have a drug test with Transhub on Tuesday. (Monday is a holiday, Canadian Thanksgiving). I had a good interview with PBX but they are having trouble scaring up a trainer, so I kept searching. Apparently after the results of the test are in, I should become part of a team. what the first job did do was make me aware of the fact that the actual training starts now. So hopefully around Friday I will be posting "Crossing the border with a trainer" if the gods are with me.

I'm no vet but a fellow rookie. On this site some of the earlier posters said "Do the speed limit at all times". On the morning of my exam, I actually drove on the expected exam route and visualized all the wide corners, gears to use and location of signal lights, railroad tracks and especially signs and mailboxes on tight corners etc.

Well, there goes three weeks of my life that I'm not getting back. (Not only that, I burnt a good bridge in the process) After the first day, they condemned the one barge, so we were supposed to load every second day. Then they went with 2 trucks for the rest of the week. But I was assured that it would "all systems go" on Monday. Monday morning, I am informed "I don't think you are ready to be on your own yet and I don't have the time to train you". Oh well, what was the saying? " I was looking for a job when I found this one". I'm thinking that for maybe just once in my life, I would like to actually get properly trained for the job I am going to do. So on that note, I am going to seek work with a logistics company that has a set training schedule and go from there. The search continues.

Time for a long winded storey. I receive notice of a job on the mainland. Minor problem, I have a seasonal RV pad in Qualicum. So I spend the next few days breaking down the campsite (you can accumulate a lot of stuff over the season, gazebos, love seats etc.) All that remains to be done is load up the 5th wheel and head for the ferry. Sooo..... about 6ish a buddy from before phones and makes me an offer I can't refuse. It appears that they load fish fry from a hatchery 1/2 hour from my home to Tofino onto barges. In earlier posts, I mentioned how I had been pressed into service driving push truck. Well this storey went down like this. 20 odd years ago, we start a job in a camp that is only barge accessible. Monday, we spend lowbedding equipment to the back end, rigging up, bucking logs at roadside for loading,etc. The plan is for the next day to unload the loaders and logging trucks to start hauling. So with Tuesdays barge about a mile offshore, we head to the beach to grab the iron. As the ramp is coming down, someone says "You guys haven't got the last memo? All the stuff that you spent yesterday moving to the backend, it all has to go back on the barge, we're pulling out! " Rick the lowbed driver looks at me and says"You have an airbrake ticket right? You're on push truck!" (We have an industrial air category for company roads) Sometimes it is better to be "deaf, blind and stupid" Thank God Rick is driving like a raped ape so I only catch him on adverse and in hindsight, never on a bridge. In another operation later that year a push truck drove off a bridge . Apparently when your front bumper locks onto the lowbed, your front wheels can be turned and with the decks being made of metal or wood they can be quite greasy. A driver will not be aware of this until there's a gap between the machines and the push truck goes off into the abyss. The driver was lucky because logging trucks never really bobtail with the trailer over the drive axles.Wight of the trailer spun the truck around and he went down the draw ass end first. End result, he was only hospitalized. Anyway back to the original storey, Troy the owner says that the senior driver at my new gig is "Rick". So here we are 20 years older, 20 years more experienced and hopefully 20 yrs wiser.