First Solo Run

Devan, hang in there man!

Listen, everybody is very apprehensive when they first get started in this. There is a reason why so few people make it through the first ninety days in this job. In fact, when I inquired at Western Express about the statistics of how many of their new drivers lasted for one year, they told me that 90% of their new recruits never made it to the ninety days mark! That is an incredible expense for the company to go through just to manage to get 10% of the new drivers past the ninety days point.

It is frightening in a way, but you have to face it as though it were a challenge that you want to conquer. It takes some special people to be successful truck drivers, tenacity must be your constant companion at the beginning to make this work. I actually remember a few days during my first quarter of driving truck that I didn't even want to get out of my bunk and face the day ahead. Why was that? Well, it is a combination of things that you are also going to be experiencing, things like exhaustion, frustration, feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and lack of confidence in your ability or your training. Getting started in trucking is quite different than most careers. The training is seemingly insufficient, you are all alone with zero supervision, and you have got this 70 plus feet long and cumbersome behemoth that is attached to you like a ball and chain. I remember a new member we had in here years ago who is now no longer driving trucks. He just could not seem to grasp the concept that you are limited to what you can do when you are driving a monstrous vehicle like this. He spotted a little restaurant that served "Buffalo Burgers," and he was hungry, so what the heck, "I'll just pull in there and see what a Buffalo Burger tastes like" - bad move! His 53' trailer took out their sign as he turned into the parking lot! That and another similar accident got him on probation at the company, and then while on probation he opened up the top of his condo cab by going under a low bridge that he "never saw."

Not sharing any of that to frighten you, just to illustrate what I'm saying about it taking some special people to do this job. It can be so intense at times, and particularly for a newbie who is just getting started. Make sure and rest well during your breaks, you will need it. The intensity of the job and the adrenaline that your body will be producing during those first three anxious months as a new tuck driver can be exhausting at times. One of the biggest problems at the beginning for many is what seems like a lack of communication between yourself and your dispatcher. It is hard for the new driver to understand why the dispatcher isn't holding their hand and helping them out each step along the way. The truth is that the dispatcher has got about a thousand more things to accomplish each day than he possibly can. I was amazed one day when I sat at my dispatchers desk and watched him move with lightening speed through various computer screens while sending messages out to drivers and checking on the progress of something like seventy different loads he had going at the time. Those guys are over loaded, and they just don't have the time to hold anybody's hand. Basically new drivers are put out there and expected to figure it out on their own, and the truth is, that the ones who have got the fortitude to do just that are usually the type of person who can excel at this. So those first few weeks are kind of like a filtering process that weeds out the weak of heart and establishes the guys who understand how to dig deep and get thing accomplished with little or no help. It is very different from starting most jobs. Usually at a new job you will have somebody to kind of help you along the way with knowing what to do or not to do, and if you hit a snag you can always just ask a question. It's just not that way in trucking, you are all alone, and more than likely you cannot get a dispatcher on the phone. It is an independent job from the get go, and that in itself is a stumbling block for many.

You will soon discover why there are so many whiners and complainers on the internet when it comes to getting started in a trucking career. They simply had completely false expectations on how things should be for a new driver entering the field. We do our best to prepare folks for what they are about to encounter out here, but no matter how hard we try, I feel we always fall a little short. There's just really no way to fully prepare folks for this, but if we can reset their expectations to a more realistic mind set then we probably have succeeded in helping them a great deal. You can do this my friend, but you will have to hang in there when it gets tough. I love this job, and I really enjoy the lifestyle that it entails, but you will have to make some major adjustments at the beginning to get in a groove with the whole rhythm of the career.

Keep at it, hold your head high, you are embarking on a grand adventure that will provide you with some really great fodder for stories to share with your friends and family.

Devan, hang in there man!

Listen, everybody is very apprehensive when they first get started in this. There is a reason why so few people make it through the first ninety days in this job. In fact, when I inquired at Western Express about the statistics of how many of their new drivers lasted for one year, they told me that 90% of their new recruits never made it to the ninety days mark! That is an incredible expense for the company to go through just to manage to get 10% of the new drivers past the ninety days point.

It is frightening in a way, but you have to face it as though it were a challenge that you want to conquer. It takes some special people to be successful truck drivers, tenacity must be your constant companion at the beginning to make this work. I actually remember a few days during my first quarter of driving truck that I didn't even want to get out of my bunk and face the day ahead. Why was that? Well, it is a combination of things that you are also going to be experiencing, things like exhaustion, frustration, feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and lack of confidence in your ability or your training. Getting started in trucking is quite different than most careers. The training is seemingly insufficient, you are all alone with zero supervision, and you have got this 70 plus feet long and cumbersome behemoth that is attached to you like a ball and chain. I remember a new member we had in here years ago who is now no longer driving trucks. He just could not seem to grasp the concept that you are limited to what you can do when you are driving a monstrous vehicle like this. He spotted a little restaurant that served "Buffalo Burgers," and he was hungry, so what the heck, "I'll just pull in there and see what a Buffalo Burger tastes like" - bad move! His 53' trailer took out their sign as he turned into the parking lot! That and another similar accident got him on probation at the company, and then while on probation he opened up the top of his condo cab by going under a low bridge that he "never saw."

Not sharing any of that to frighten you, just to illustrate what I'm saying about it taking some special people to do this job. It can be so intense at times, and particularly for a newbie who is just getting started. Make sure and rest well during your breaks, you will need it. The intensity of the job and the adrenaline that your body will be producing during those first three anxious months as a new tuck driver can be exhausting at times. One of the biggest problems at the beginning for many is what seems like a lack of communication between yourself and your dispatcher. It is hard for the new driver to understand why the dispatcher isn't holding their hand and helping them out each step along the way. The truth is that the dispatcher has got about a thousand more things to accomplish each day than he possibly can. I was amazed one day when I sat at my dispatchers desk and watched him move with lightening speed through various computer screens while sending messages out to drivers and checking on the progress of something like seventy different loads he had going at the time. Those guys are over loaded, and they just don't have the time to hold anybody's hand. Basically new drivers are put out there and expected to figure it out on their own, and the truth is, that the ones who have got the fortitude to do just that are usually the type of person who can excel at this. So those first few weeks are kind of like a filtering process that weeds out the weak of heart and establishes the guys who understand how to dig deep and get thing accomplished with little or no help. It is very different from starting most jobs. Usually at a new job you will have somebody to kind of help you along the way with knowing what to do or not to do, and if you hit a snag you can always just ask a question. It's just not that way in trucking, you are all alone, and more than likely you cannot get a dispatcher on the phone. It is an independent job from the get go, and that in itself is a stumbling block for many.

You will soon discover why there are so many whiners and complainers on the internet when it comes to getting started in a trucking career. They simply had completely false expectations on how things should be for a new driver entering the field. We do our best to prepare folks for what they are about to encounter out here, but no matter how hard we try, I feel we always fall a little short. There's just really no way to fully prepare folks for this, but if we can reset their expectations to a more realistic mind set then we probably have succeeded in helping them a great deal. You can do this my friend, but you will have to hang in there when it gets tough. I love this job, and I really enjoy the lifestyle that it entails, but you will have to make some major adjustments at the beginning to get in a groove with the whole rhythm of the career.

Keep at it, hold your head high, you are embarking on a grand adventure that will provide you with some really great fodder for stories to share with your friends and family.

Thanks, Old School.

I'm sure you'll do fine. For like the first month I would show up everywhere saying "I just started and I don't know what I'm doing", and most everyone was friendly and helpful.

For the first MONTH? Ha! I used this line for the first YEAR!

I read on this site that there will be times that you will want to quit and mail in the keys, just hang on for at least one full year. Knowing that got me through a few bad episodes. I also know things always seem worse when I am tired, and it will probably be much better in the morning. One of my instructors said "If, at the end of the day, you didn't hit anything, and nobody got hurt, then it was a good day". Sometimes it just comes down to that.

10 years ago as I was leaving Stevens Dallas yard for my first solo run I was shaking so bad I thought I was going to wreck. Once I was out of the city en route to f$$&n Laredo I started laughing almost hysterically thinking these idiots just let me go hauling down the road in their equipment all by myself. Ha! Still chuckle about that run. Best of luck, you will do fine. It's scary as ...,,,???!!! Though.

The first run is the hardest but once you do it the. You KNOW you can do it. So keep truckin along. And we r here ;)

... One of my instructors said "If, at the end of the day, you didn't hit anything, and nobody got hurt, then it was a good day". Sometimes it just comes down to that.

I used to pilot and dock large, very expensive, boats. It's like tight alley docking without any breaks, with the wind and/or current pushing you in any number of different directions. The older guys would say a similar thing... "Did anyone get hurt, was any property damaged, is the boat securely docked... OK then."

Devan, hang in there man!

Listen, everybody is very apprehensive when they first get started in this. There is a reason why so few people make it through the first ninety days in this job. In fact, when I inquired at Western Express about the statistics of how many of their new drivers lasted for one year, they told me that 90% of their new recruits never made it to the ninety days mark! That is an incredible expense for the company to go through just to manage to get 10% of the new drivers past the ninety days point.

It is frightening in a way, but you have to face it as though it were a challenge that you want to conquer. It takes some special people to be successful truck drivers, tenacity must be your constant companion at the beginning to make this work. I actually remember a few days during my first quarter of driving truck that I didn't even want to get out of my bunk and face the day ahead. Why was that? Well, it is a combination of things that you are also going to be experiencing, things like exhaustion, frustration, feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and lack of confidence in your ability or your training. Getting started in trucking is quite different than most careers. The training is seemingly insufficient, you are all alone with zero supervision, and you have got this 70 plus feet long and cumbersome behemoth that is attached to you like a ball and chain. I remember a new member we had in here years ago who is now no longer driving trucks. He just could not seem to grasp the concept that you are limited to what you can do when you are driving a monstrous vehicle like this. He spotted a little restaurant that served "Buffalo Burgers," and he was hungry, so what the heck, "I'll just pull in there and see what a Buffalo Burger tastes like" - bad move! His 53' trailer took out their sign as he turned into the parking lot! That and another similar accident got him on probation at the company, and then while on probation he opened up the top of his condo cab by going under a low bridge that he "never saw."

Not sharing any of that to frighten you, just to illustrate what I'm saying about it taking some special people to do this job. It can be so intense at times, and particularly for a newbie who is just getting started. Make sure and rest well during your breaks, you will need it. The intensity of the job and the adrenaline that your body will be producing during those first three anxious months as a new tuck driver can be exhausting at times. One of the biggest problems at the beginning for many is what seems like a lack of communication between yourself and your dispatcher. It is hard for the new driver to understand why the dispatcher isn't holding their hand and helping them out each step along the way. The truth is that the dispatcher has got about a thousand more things to accomplish each day than he possibly can. I was amazed one day when I sat at my dispatchers desk and watched him move with lightening speed through various computer screens while sending messages out to drivers and checking on the progress of something like seventy different loads he had going at the time. Those guys are over loaded, and they just don't have the time to hold anybody's hand. Basically new drivers are put out there and expected to figure it out on their own, and the truth is, that the ones who have got the fortitude to do just that are usually the type of person who can excel at this. So those first few weeks are kind of like a filtering process that weeds out the weak of heart and establishes the guys who understand how to dig deep and get thing accomplished with little or no help. It is very different from starting most jobs. Usually at a new job you will have somebody to kind of help you along the way with knowing what to do or not to do, and if you hit a snag you can always just ask a question. It's just not that way in trucking, you are all alone, and more than likely you cannot get a dispatcher on the phone. It is an independent job from the get go, and that in itself is a stumbling block for many.

You will soon discover why there are so many whiners and complainers on the internet when it comes to getting started in a trucking career. They simply had completely false expectations on how things should be for a new driver entering the field. We do our best to prepare folks for what they are about to encounter out here, but no matter how hard we try, I feel we always fall a little short. There's just really no way to fully prepare folks for this, but if we can reset their expectations to a more realistic mind set then we probably have succeeded in helping them a great deal. You can do this my friend, but you will have to hang in there when it gets tough. I love this job, and I really enjoy the lifestyle that it entails, but you will have to make some major adjustments at the beginning to get in a groove with the whole rhythm of the career.

Keep at it, hold your head high, you are embarking on a grand adventure that will provide you with some really great fodder for stories to share with your friends and family.

Thanks, Old School. I know this was for Devan, but I really needed to see it today too. What you say makes a lot of sense and the insight is appreciated!