That First Trip Is A Doozie!!!

Haven't been able to post many updates lately, but I'm setting at the terminal for my truck (wow it's fun to say that) to be worked on.

Things have moved along quickly for me. I tested out to go solo last Monday but they didn't have a truck available right then so I went home for a couple days. Thursday they had the company van driving a few of us up to Joliet from Indianapolis. Unfortunately we didn't get far the roads were simply to dangerous to force the trip. So Friday we tried it again and arrived at the terminal early afternoon.

We walked in and the lady in charge of assigning our trucks gave me my truck number and said we would check it out after lunch. They are great about providing new drivers with a bite to eat when needed. She said it was an international and gave me the security code so I was thrilled. Well once I get out to the lot and find my number it's attached to a Volvo. No biggie, I'm just happy to be on my own, but I had trained in an international and after a few days in this truck can say I hope to one day get moved back into one.

But hey, I understand, I'm a new unproven driver so my Volvo with just under 400000 miles is what I would have put me in too lol. My DM has just called and told me I have a load, 950 miles to Terrell TX to help make up for not having my truck ready sooner. I have plenty of time for delivery but the load must be picked up by midnight and it is a live load. So I start doing my interchange form for the truck noting all the dents and dings and running through my pre trip. One thing I will say is they did a GREAT job detailing the inside of the truck! No, it's not new, but it is clean

I pull around to the shop to load up my chains, and ask about when my service is due. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave and simply said its on the side of the truck. I pulled around and was lucky enough to find an empty in the yard. I hook up and do my inspection and get ready to roll. Now I gotta say that I'm starting to get that what the hell am I doing feeling. I mean I knew that I was ready to start learning on my own but the first time your cheeks hit the seat solo the nerves really try to take over.

I drive to the shippers, at least where I thought they were, and could not find them. After having to back out of a few places and trying a few more streets I call my DM and get some help. I had already called the shippers but no one would answer. I finally get my bearings and find my destination. Take care of the paperwork and find my dock. There is a truck o one side and a pup trailer on the other. With the pup trailer on my near side I have plenty of room. I still get out and look a few times, wow I'm really not far from the other trucks mirrors! Anyway I get it in and have successfully hit my first dock solo. Oh wait, I forgot to open my freakin doors!

Fast forward to the next day, it was late when they finished loading me so I only drove an hour or two before shutting down. I woke up the next morning to a wonderful snow storm! I knew my load wasn't real heavy but I decide to scale the load to see how I had guessed on my tandems. I get my ticket and see I have 30,000 on my drives and like 29,500 on my tandems. Wow what a lucky guess I made. But wait, I'm at 12,350 on my steers! How I the hell can I be 350 over on my steers with only 30000 on my drives? I am a little over three quarters full on fuel. I call my trainer to see how to move the fifth wheel since this is my first experience in a Volvo. He tells me what to do but everything seems to be rusted and does not want to move. I don't want to risk getting it started to move then not being able to get it set back right so I decide to idle for a while to burn some fuel and let the snow stop.

While waiting I run through my pretrip. Great, now a turn signal is out and once I finally found the air horn it doesn't work either. I go ahead and change out the turn signal and will have the horn looked at when I go to the terminal in TX. Oh did I forget to mention that I have already had to call the shop and will have to get my new truck worked on in TX? When I shut down Friday night it was 6 degrees so I needed to idle my truck. Problem is the idle over ride was not working. I had one stretch where I was able to get 4 hrs sleep. The rest of the time I had to set at the wheel and tap the break when ever the idle shut down warning came on.

I finally pull out and go slow on the snow. It clears up a few hours later so still able to get a little over 500 miles in for the day. This included taking about an hour sleeper berth nap during the day since I had so little rest the night before. Had trouble finding a place to shut down and my clock was soon to be expired. I get super lucky when checking a small lot, a driver is pulling out at about 1am and I get his spot!

On Sunday things finally start to get fun. No, I'm mean really, I'm starting to relax and enjoy the trip. I felt like a giddy little school girl when I hit the Texas state border. I have always wanted to come to Texas and my new job brought me here on my first trip! I get to my delivery 6 hrs before deadline on the drop. Find my spot and back in but can't get the fifth wheel to release! Damn Volvo lol. I had not released a Volvo before so called my trainer. Luckily another driver helped me out.

Ran out of characters.

Anyway a very nice driver saw me struggling and helped me figure it out.

Now I'm setting at the terminal getting repairs done on the truck. Oh, did I mention that I picked it up Friday and completed one 950 mile load and then realized I'm within 200 miles of needing my A service

So yea, getting that nicked out too.

Thanks for all the help to my friends here at TT.

woody

Haha i'm sorry but I completely understand, when I started in flatbedding I had a little bit of experience with CRST with the trainer and running team. After I did the required time with one of their trainers I was put in a 2007 century classic, automatic beat up truck with 600,000 or so miles. spent two months in that truck and when I got to our main terminal and they ran it on the computer. (I was having trouble getting up those tiny hills on I40 going west in Missouri) had a 28k load and having the truck downshift all the way to 7th to make it up. It had like 380 error codes lol. and the carrier APU sounds like a damn helicopter taking off next to your head when it kicks on. but I was a inexperienced driver so I had to take my do's. That day they put me in a 2013 t660 with less than 10 miles and a TK APU. super quiet. But I agree the first load as a solo driver is nerve racking but it feels great doesn't it? It's YOUR truck, things are where you want them to be. Stay safe out there driver and keep on truckin!

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.