Going North!

Take your time and trip plan. Use google maps and google earth and your trucking atlas and plan every trip. Pay special attention to the shippers and consignees on google earth. Look for your ways in and out before you ever get there. Sometimes it helps to have google maps opened while on the phone with these places asking for some help on how best to come in. A lot of times they will say how you coming in. While looking at the map you can see what they are talking about as far as the best route in. Write down what they say and go over it on the map. If you see the way in on google earth get down on street view and look for obstacles and signs. Sometimes you might need to be in the left lane to make the right turn into a place. Knowing this ahead of time let’s you bogart the whole street as you approach holding back the rabies infested four wheelers. I never felt like I had time to trip plan in the beginning but my lack of it was costing me big time.

Hey everybody, I’m sitting in the Petro Racine in Yorkville, WI . I’m about 3 miles from my receiver and 12 hours early for my appointment, so I’m getting a 10 so I’ll be ready to roll in the morning. I really hope no new drivers or drivers in training listen to a word that one guy said. It’s one of the hardest thing to over come out here being new making mistakes and wondering what others are thinking. Drive your truck at your comfort level and never be scared to let dispatch know I’m not comfortable and I need to stop. Me I’m not so new, just passed my anniversary of my first load. I’ve heard his story he’s driving 5000 miles a week, home every night/ weekend and making a half million per year. Yea, I back slow, slow down in construction sites, obey the speed limit in small towns, and drive 58 on the freeway. I get my 3000 miles per week , continue to learn and love getting everyone’s advice.

Make sure you go to a Kwik trip in wisconsin. I wish all truck stops were like Kwik trip. Most are gas stations but some are truck stops. The ones that are truck stops have plenty of parking and good food and they’re very clean too. The people are very polite behind the register. Tomah and maustin on I 90 are a few ones if you’re headed that way.

I will second this. And their prices are fair. They don’t rape you just because you can’t park anywhere you want.

I bought two bacon wrapped filets (3 oz each, I believe) for $3

Make sure you go to a Kwik trip in wisconsin. I wish all truck stops were like Kwik trip. Most are gas stations but some are truck stops. The ones that are truck stops have plenty of parking and good food and they’re very clean too. The people are very polite behind the register. Tomah and maustin on I 90 are a few ones if you’re headed that way.

I will second this. And their prices are fair. They don’t rape you just because you can’t park anywhere you want.

I bought two bacon wrapped filets (3 oz each, I believe) for $3

No fee ATM'S too, and rewards points...

don't know how they translate. Bought gas at Speedway's for almost 2 years - (lived down the block) - had I bothered to go online and register my rewards card I think I earned enough for a free 2-liter bottle of soda!

You're entitled to your opinion of me, I've never fully drunk the koolaid at this site, anyway

andhe78, I completely missed this when you said it a few days ago. I've known for a long time you were only pretending, and people who pretend to be a like-minded part of a community eventually snap.

We've always been on a mission here at Trucking Truth. We want to change the incessant negativity in the trucking industry. There is so much negativity out there that it changes some people. Over the past 26 years I've watched countless people get started in this industry with high hopes, a great attitude, highly motivated, enthusiastic, and thankful for the awesome opportunity that trucking is. Before long they sour and become tainted with disdain and frustration. They begin complaining, blaming, and criticizing everyone and everything. Most of what they say is a rant about something.

We've lost a number of long-time members and two moderators over the years to this phenomenon. They started out with a great attitude and got their careers off to a great start, but after some time on the road, they became cynical, snarky, and belligerent. Everyone was an idiot. Everyone did everything wrong. There wasn't anything they saw in their day to day lives that wasn't messed up. They became ranting malcontents.

I have an exercise for those of you who are fairly new to this career. Even some veterans may not have noticed this. I picked up on it right away early in my career. Look at any driver who has been on the road for maybe 5 - 7 years or more. 95% of them are either as pleasant, laid back, and cheery as a monk or as bitter and miserable as cynical as Scrooge.

All of those years of life on the road will radically enhance your true nature. If you're a positive person you'll become incredibly positive as you build your bank of memories, skills, and relationships. Life on the road gets sweeter with time as you settle into your groove and enjoy doing your thing.

If you're a negative person you eventually spiral downward. You spend your time ranting with the terminal rats in the corners. Your relationships sour. You complain daily about industry politics, rule-makers, corporate management, and law enforcement tactics. You're stressed out, pissed off, and fed up most of the time.

andhe78, I sense it might be time to find a place that will let you be yourself and rant about your negative feelings and frustrations. We're not the place for that. We're not the community that complains, blames, and criticizes. I am from Buffalo myself and I highly disagree with your rant about the way people drive in the snow. I can assure you that I have way, way more experience driving every type of vehicle on the road in harsh conditions than you do, especially big rigs, and I've never felt the way you do about it.

Our mission is to empathize, encourage, and inspire. We support each other. We love the camaraderie. We believe in a higher standard of professionalism. We maintain our positive energy, enthusiasm, and optimism.

I've been in this industry for 26 years and I've never been more inspired, enthusiastic, or optimistic. I love this community, I love this industry. I have major plans in the works to step up our efforts to make it even better, and I'm 100% confident we'll make a huge impact in the coming years. I'm excited as hell about this community and I know we'll grow even larger in the coming years. But it's important to make sure we have the right people on our team, people who believe in our mission and live their lives with the same type of spirit and good cheer.

It's ok if you don't drink our Kool-Aid. We're a very special group of people and we all feel it's our privilege to be a part of this community. I feel especially privileged that this community has become the focus of my entire life. I love every minute of it. There isn't anything I would rather do. Not everyone feels that way, and that's ok.

For every person there's a community where they belong. In fact, there is an even larger trucking community on the Web for people who think differently than we do. I encourage people to check it out. I'm confident that if you'll spend just 10 minutes in each community you'll know exactly where you belong.

Mic drop!

Mic drop!

X 2 !!!

Mic drop!

Well, nothing is more important than having the right people on the team. One bad apple really can sour the entire experience for everyone.

I don't mind that many people think differently than we do. That's ok. I started this community because there wasn't anything like this on the Web for the trucking industry, and there's still nothing else like it.

We are a community of people who are positive, optimistic, friendly, motivated and have a strong desire to help each other become great truck drivers, share their experiences, and live awesome lives. If that's not your thing, that's ok, but you must go and find a community that works for you.

We have an awesome thing going and we will not compromise the quality of our community or our experience just to add more members. I never intended to be the biggest community out there. I wanted to be a community of high-achievers with a high level of enthusiasm and camaraderie. That's not ordinary, it's extraordinary. It's a privilege, it's special, and we'll keep it that way.

Oh, I completely agree with all of your points on this one, have no doubt.

Quality being more important than quantity has always been your target here. That does not take ten minutes to realize.

When I was just kicking the tires on if I wanted to enter this industry I ran across a couple of the other communities and knew once I found this one I was in the right place. Although we try to keep it positive we're also willing to discuss the negatives to help others get a better idea what they're getting into. I've been here a while and love that for the most part nobody is judged for their past mistakes. I've seen people with serious criminal histories be welcomed in with open arms as long as they dont come across as bragging about what they did. I may not agree with their previous crimes (especially sex based offenses) but they've served their time and by supporting them maybe we can help them to turn their life around. I have no doubt that if I posted about ticket I'd received a few months ago elsewhere I'd have been talked to like I'm an idiot. Instead, most of our community here chimed in with their support and we were able to have an excellent conversation of what I did right and wrong and the best way to avoid something similiar happening to others.

Sometimes for giggles I check out other sites and am amazed at how miserable some people are.