Day 1 In Truck With Trainer And Sleeping Berth

Yesterday morning when when my trk trainer was driving I saw a semi/trailer laying on its side on an exit ramp just south of the twin cities. Truckers have to be careful out here. I tried to point it out to my trainer but he was a little busy talking. At least he is a talker and not quite all time. That would make me a little more nervous I think.

He picked me up around 3pm and he drove until we got outside of Cedar Rapids heading to Minnesota to pick up a load. I do have to say that driving his truck (10 spd) is a LOT nice than the trucks at the school. His truck has around 170,000 miles on it. We stopped in a truck stop across the road from a Love's just outside of Albert Lea, Minn. When we found a place to park he got out and directed me a little bit. He said I did pretty good. He was telling me one student he had it took him over 30 minutes to back into a spot.

Well I have to say that sleeping in the sleeper berth on the top was not all that comfort. But I was tired so I slept most of the night. We got up around 0500 hours and took off shortly after that. I did all the driving. We dropped off an empty trailer and picked up a load of scrap paper and cardboard. Safety Trainer Tim back in orientation said to never open a trailer door with a load of scrap and cardboard without a net in place because it could fall out and kill you. Evidently it had happen or the person got hurt badly. My trainer open the door with no net in place.

This is my first time pulling a trailer with a load. Boy there is a big difference in driving with a loaded trailer. When we were leaving Mankato, Minn my trainer said he is going to get a stick to hit my hand every time I handshake the gear shifter, lol. So since we did not know what our load weighed, we were going to stop into a CAT Scales in Albert Lea. Well I drove right past the off ramp. He said to make sure you pay attention to the signs along the highway. I think he was playing games on the Qualcomm because he was not paying attention. Any DOT scales we saw on the way back to Iowa were closed. I did manage to hit the Clear Lake exit so we weighed ourselves there. We were under weight.

Took our 30 minute break there which I did need. Then we were on our way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to drop off this load at the paper mill. He said I pulled into the gate area too fast. He yelled and I yelled back saying, What? Dude you about gave me a heart attack. He says, you!? What about me!? I did not think I was going that fast. But I did not argue with him, he is the boss. Going up on the scale he said I was a little close to the right side of the edge of the scale. We got our paperwork and dropped the loaded and picked up the empty.

Signing off.

Really interested in knowing who your trainer is lol. Regarding opening doors of loaded trailers.. The "net" thing is nice but not practical because chances are youll never have one. Basically when opening ANY trailer door you assume stuff is going to fall out and stand well to the side out as far from the door as possible. Remember a trailer door weighs 150-200 pounds and if you are standing too close and the wind catches it, the door WILL hit you and knock you down.

Yeah our trucks are very nice and well maintained.. No comparison to any school truck.

I didnt think the upper bunks are very comfy either, but like you said.. You will be so tired that you wont care. You might want to splurge on a twin memory foam topper now, that you will be able to use in your own truck next month. The bottom bunk mattresses are decent but a topper makes them really nice.

Enjoy your time in training. You will learn so much that its mind boggling.

SEE? I was out there for months (passenger seat) and never heard about those door throwing you or the cargo crushing you. That's very important information. That's what you get at trucker truth. (sung to the cracker jacks song) Thank you

Nancy its extremely important that you protect yourself and ASSUME product is going to fall out every time you open a trailer door.

1. Stand behind the trailer door on the drivers side.

2. Reach to your right to unlatch the other door so you are protected from falling freight by the latched door.

3. Let the door open a bit and make sure nothing is going to fall on you, then grab the tieback chain or latch of the open door and at arms length and walk it around. At worst, if the wind catches the door, the latch will be pulled out of your hand and the door will swing around without hitting you.

4. Secure that door to the side of your trailer.

5. Inspect the load to make sure the drivers side trailer door is safe to unlatch, then, like the first door, unlatch and step away holding it only by the tie back.

Getting hit by a 150 lb door could seriously injure you, as would falling freight, if any. Ive never had any falling freight, but I have had wind catch trailer doors. My trainer insisted this was the ONLY acceptable way to open a trailer and his advice has kept me safe many times.

I watched most everything else, wasnt allowed to do anything. Except a couple of times helping him get into tight spots, making sure to stay in his mirrors. Got pretty good at stopping traffic with my fashionable little yellow vest. Thanks Sue. And Thomas, keep 'em coming.

Apparently the OP didn't last the first week. They went to the lovely backroads (non toll roads) of Pennsylvania. He drove 58 miles and refused to drive again so the trainer took him back to CR. Those "in town" 7% grades can be scary at first. Maybe they should have broken him in on the Monteagle speed bump first.