B1 Training!

Well, since I've been back, everyone here at Jim Palmer has welcomed me and made me feel right back at home. The week of orientation consisted of drug test, physical, and some videos, and power point from the staff. Thursday we finishing up on boarding and I'm going through this even tho I'm not upgrading to my solo truck or being hired with experience. So it's a possible chance I'll have to re due all this after training.

Thursday night I get a call from a JP driver named Monte, he's taking me to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to meet my trainer. So I pack my things and wait till about 7:30 and we roll out. We shut down after about 150 miles and he finished it up Friday night. I was not allowed to drive so it was a little slower than expected.

I'm super nervous to meet my trainer, I'm always thinking the worst, that I won't get along with him or I won't learn anything and just be all around upset, considering I had such a great experience with my first trainer. Well I met him Saturday morning, I'm on about 5 hours of sleep. We talk and I'm loading my stuff up and telling Monte thanks for brining out here.

We head up to Colorado and pick up a meat load. Trainer "red" is what he likes to be called but anyways he drove up. We dropped our empty which he had me Back, I did ok, but being away for 6 months I was a little rusty. Well we get put on the wait list, so we bobtail to this Mexican fast food which was really good. Spent most of the day waiting, by then I'm already getting sleepy and knowing I'll have to drive because it'll be a tight window to Laredo tx.

They finally call so we head out. We get there, i find the trailer, pretrip and we head out. Surprisingly I drove well. Thought I would of struggled with the time off but I felt I shifted better than I ever have before. Plus me and my trainer get along great and I've been learning quite a bit from him.

I made it about 4 hours and I told red, we need to find a rest area, I'm starting to get tired, signs are becoming blurry and I do not feel safe Behind the wheel. So we did, slept 4 hours and then he drove and I slept more. Made it to about noon then we got a shower and some lunch. Around 7pm I took over, had 389 miles to Laredo, easy! This time I had monster rehab and a regular one.

Made it to Laredo on time. Now we are here waiting, we were pre planned a load to the same place but it's missing it's export papers so they refused. All these loads are heading to mexico so I guess the last driver who dropped it off at the prime yard didn't leave everything. So now we are waiting and we were preplanned another load after this local route, it heads to Florida, delivers in two days but now we are just sitting and waiting to hear from dispatch on what to do. My hours are up so I'll be sleeping the day away and driving nights tonight if we keep that Florida Run.

All I can say is so far I'm having a blast. Red has been nothing but a great guy and is showing me things I didn't even know. I already feel more confident even tho its been a few days. He says my backing is good and I think otherwise!!! But I'm here to learn and I'm glad I can soak up more knowledge from a different trainer.

Anyways, I'm about to sleep. Being up for almost 24 hours is tiring! So goodnight or day? Haha! Be safe everyone and have a great week! I'll update when I have a chance.

That's great to hear. How long do you have to be with a trainer?

20,000 miles. Already have close to 1,000 miles in. The Florida run will be about 1300 so it won't take long at all.

Great to hear. Glad you're having a good time. Keep us posted. If you get to Sprinfield MO within the next 4 weeks, give me a shout and maybe we could meet up. Stay safe.

Sounds good, I still haven't seen the prime yard yet in MO. Well, yesterday I drove the most miles I've done. 621. I kept it between 60 and 58 mph. We are at about 9.3 mpg which is awesome. Extra money on our check for next week. Especially if we keep it on the 9s. We are leaving Florida for Minnesota, another good run. Gonna relax tonight, red is going to drive and get it at 1am then I'll take over around noon tomorrow.

It was pretty funny, the first week he told Eric our fleet manager that he doesn't want team runs till he knows I'm safe and trust me. But after the first couple days he says I drive great and he's just been sleeping when I drive. Haha so they are pushing the team runs which I'm glad about because the sooner I finish the miles, the sooner I get my truck! Maybe they'll let me get it before the 20,000 miles are up. But anyways, I'm having fun. Doing a lot of backing and getting after it. Staying positive, missing the family but we talk and FaceTime so I can see little gabby! But stay safe everyone and I'll be back in a couple days I suppose.

That's great news man. Keep us posted. Glad you family is doing well. If you have some time in the evenings text me. I'm on central time for awhile.