Heading To Atlanta!

I hope I have a blast too. I’m not looking forward to Atlanta traffic all week, especially since everyone else was sent to the Poconos and New York State. I guess they want to see what I’m made of right up front! 🤣

I hope I have a blast too. I’m not looking forward to Atlanta traffic all week, especially since everyone else was sent to the Poconos and New York State. I guess they want to see what I’m made of right up front! 🤣

It was a blast and terrifying all at the same time. In my first month of training I did mountains out east, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philly, Cleveland, Baltimore, small towns in Iowa, West Virginia, Missouri and Kentucky. Plus places I don't remember as sometimes it was a blur lol.

I’m still twiddling my thumbs, lol! TE texted me and won’t be here until at least 2:00. I’m not sure how long he normally works til, if he’s home daily. Hopefully I get some good experience tomorrow. I’ll be sleeping in the truck tonight. I’m just having a lame day. Tried to use my debit card this morning and the wife bought a bunch of stuff at Target so there’s no money left until Friday. I told her I’d need to eat down here, but I guess she forgot. Then I was on the shuttle from the hotel with Ms. Disgruntled Newbie. 7 weeks as a driver and she’s already an expert in why Schneider sucks! 😂 then I got that text from my TE, when I was already expecting a late (10:00) start, which is now 1400. I was already miffed because my roommate left at 0400. That’s what I was hoping for. I don’t like to sit around doing nothing, I would have stayed retired if I did! Cherry on top is that I forgot my phone charger at home and just realized it. Okay, so now my maximum dose of complaining is done. I feel better after purging myself, and can now figure out how best to overcome these issues!

Okay, so now my maximum dose of complaining is done. I feel better after purging myself

Well, you may be losing your mind, but at least you've still got your sense of humor! When that starts to go then you'll know you're done. Hurry up and wait - that's a typical start to this career. Oh, and you already got to meet the "expert" who just got started! Yeah, you are on a roll man.

Welcome to the circus we call "Trucking."

Said I was done complaining, but darn. I STILL haven't been picked up yet. 🙄 I'm tired and hungry sitting in this hard chair since 0830...

Yep, welcome to trucking and the hurry up and wait mentality. same as the military and govt in general.

this is why it is important to.learn to sleep.when you can. Out on the road there is not usually a "get an early start". every day and load is different. One day I start at 0400, another i might start at 2000.

The wife and debit card thing are going to be an issue. You might be better off opening a seperate account and keeping some money she cant touch for you. not saying to hide it, buy allow it to be available. communication and respect is important here.

good luck

Hurry up and wait... That is the one thing that drives me crazy. You get to your appointment on time or even early and then you're stuck. Seems the Walmart and Sam's Club distribution centers are the worst. Whatever I saw the trailer Shake during training I would think great we're going to be out of here in a half hour or 45 minutes. Sometimes it would still take 5 hours before that trailer would be unloaded or loaded. The whole time my trainer would be in the bunk sleeping or watching a movie. I have to get out of this habit of thinking I'm going to be out of here soon. Rob you gotta understand there is a lot of waiting. I'm still trying to come to grips with it. This is when we need to catch up on our sleep. I always said I could never be in the army because of the hurry-up-and-wait s***. And here I am LOL.

What was drummed into my head constantly is that just because you feel the trailer stop shaking doesn’t mean they’re done. After that stops is when the counting begins. Try counting thousands of boxes.

I was at a drop where they had 1 lumber unloading me. He would take out one pallet, count the boxes & then sort them on separate pallets. Eight hours!

I got picked up after 5:30 finally, and it turns out that the TE is a really nice guy. He looks 12, but it turns out he's actually twice that old. 😂 Regardless, he's a good guy. He parked at a Pilot and gave me his reward card to use for showers. He never uses them since he goes home every night. He's also very soft spoken and he's got three and a half years driving time, so I like that. The travel pillow I brought with me is way too small, so I'll need to fix that before tonight. So far, so good.

Glad to hear that you are finally on the road. Sounds like twittling my thumbs is a skill I am going to have to learn. I just remembered one of my questions...do I need to have my permit before going or is that something I get there? I ask because it seems a week of training before hitting the road doesn't seem like much time to get everything done that needs to be.