Rookie Solo Driving Diary

Noob, it's been so long since I've been there, I'll need photos to refresh my memory.

What company is it?

1600 lexington avenue Rochester Ny the pictures in my post are there indoor docks. north american breweries.

I think I went in there one time, and it was tight. Luckily for me, my backing challenge wasn't as difficult as others faced.

I remember helping to spot another driver that literally had to use every inch of space to obtain his dock assignment. It still took nearly 20 minutes for him with four spotters helping out. One guy on each corner.

Day 13. 3/7

Woke up at 3am did my pretrip and got rolling at 0330 from Albert Lea heading South on I35.

Got to my fuel stop at the Pilot in Des Moines and topped off then headed back South.

Took my 30 min break about an hour south of Des Moines at a rest area and fot back on the road.

Took 35 south to 49 then took that down to 44 at Joplin MO. Stopped at the big Petro in Joplin for the night.

8:55 hrs on duty time

8.30 hrs of drive time

510 miles driven.

6.5 hrs from my final tomorrow with 7.5 hrs of on duty time.

Day 14. 3/8

Started my day at 0550 with a pretrip and got rolling west on I44.

Headed south on 69 at Big Cabin Ok eventually becoming 75 down in Texas.

Hopped on 635 east and made my way to 80 to get to my final in Mesquite Tx at 1230. Chexked in with security and drove around back to drop my trailer. Unfortunately they didnt have any empties for me so dispatch said that looking at my hours (i had about an hour left on my 70) i might as well **** down and look for empties again in the morning. So here i sit at the ashley dc waiting until morning. Ill probably go for a walk and look for an empty around 2 am.

6:40 on duty time

6:20 driving time

356 miles driven.

I know im behind for the few people following this thread. I just got home for a few days and im tired but i have all my info and ill write out some posts tomorrow morning. On a side not I made 1 full year employed by Millis Transfer yesterday! Thats when i passed the class as well as my CDL tests. One year solo driving wont happen until sometime mid to late May.

What a strange journey its been this year, it made me think of when it all began, practicing the high road training course here and passing my permit test and of course my DOT physical. I went back to my training thread and copied that post just for a laugh.

"1 year, 1 month ago

Just a quick update, thanks to the High Road Training Program i passed my permit test easily! Flew through general knowledge, air brakes (which worried me) and combination vehicles. No endorsements are required for Millis so i didnt get any but I'm thinking i might when I finally get my state cdl. Also passed my DOT physical easily although there was a odd embarrassing moment I'll explain in a bit. I was worried about diabetes, last summer i was diagnoaed with prediabetes with a ridiculous glucose level of 397 at the time of the test and a super high A1c test. I immediately changed my diet to a low carb atkins diet and lost 50lbs in the next 3 months and passed all my tests with flying colors. I cycled slowly off my diabetes med metaformin and eventually stopped all together. Then the holidays came......Damn holidays. I fell back into bad habits and was very worried about where i would be. I decided to get another A1c test prior to my DOT physical because i didnt want to lie on the forms about previous conditions. Everything turned out great though, A1c was low, my blood sugar hovers around 100 or lower and nothing in the urine.

On to the akwardness....... These things happen to me alot. I guess somewhere deep inside my brain meat I enjoy humiliating myself. So i went to concentra for my physical, everything went really smooth only waited about 20 minutes go in pee in a cup, eye test. Height and weight, the expected "wow you are tall" comments. Then i get in the room and im nervous because thats who I am. Thoughts running through my head about waving my arms around squating down. Is she gonna hear my knees crack???? Hear the bone on bone grind???? Why did you play sports through college you big dummy???? These are my thoughts. They ask some more questions, take my bp and ask me to take off my jeans and put on these paper shorts for the hernia test. So im sitting there on the table in my tiny blue paper shorts remembering the early 1990s basketball shorts and the doctor walks in. Shes a very busy lady thats apparent right away. Checks my ears, range of motion looks at my gait listens to my heartbeat and breathing. Basically everything i read up on prior to going in. She tells me she will be right back to finalize everthing and to go ahead and take the shorts off and....................................... I have no idea. She walked out while she said it and I couldnt hear her. I stood there in my John Stockton nut hugger paper shorts staring at the back of the door is disbelief. For 30 seconds i stood in the middle of the room trying to make out what she said. I know she said take off the shorts......... And she hasnt done the hernia thing of turn your head and cough. Thats gotta be what she meant right? But why would i do that ahead of time and stand in a room with my twig and berries out waiting??? I havent had a hernia check for about 17 years, i played sports all through high school and college. Physicals were normal and the doctors always did it as the last thing. But they never left the room while i dropped my shorts. Its 2019 maybe things are different now i dont know, shes also a woman maybe there are different rules in these modern times???? So i think back to everything i read up on DOT physicals and Im positive they do hernia checks. So i say screw it and drop trou and wait. And wait. Its like 2 minutes of waiting. Which is a long time to stand naked in a unfamiliar room in a public building surrounded by tons of people just on the other side of a door. I think about sitting on the table. I quickly reject that idea. It would look wierder if i was sitting down naked, these are my thoughts as im standing there staring at the door. So in typical busy doctors office fashion i hear a knock..... .. IMMEDIATELY followed by a young nurse who i havent met yet. She screams.... Not like a horror movie scream just a quick yelp as she stares at me. Now we're both freaked out and for some reason she doesnt leave and we just lock eyes refusing to look anywhere else. She tells me im all set and ready to go and hands me my paper work. At this point im mortified obviously as is she, a normal person would say thank you and snatch the papers get dressed and run out a fire escape door. In my freaked out brain i can only think of the physical and what it consists of. She has literally told me i passed, heres your 2 year card please get dressed and leave. For some reason all i could think of was the hernia test it was at this point things got wierder. I asked the young scared nurse " dont you want to come and give my my hernia test". As soon as i was halfway through it i knew. I could hear my normal brain screaming at my crazy brain to stop but i couldnt. I dropped my head and apologized, closed the door got dressed and ran outta there apologizing to everyone i saw."

Noob!

Congrats on the 1 year milestone! Love the updates as usual and... That. Story. Is. Rich

My list of worries consists of hitting things, breaking down, getting stuck in traffic, being late, etc. Exposing myself to staff at a medical facility wasn't even on my list until now. Thanks for that!

Day 15. 3/9

Got up around 0430 and wandered around the drop lot looking for an empty and found one. Creeped over under 5mph to avoid the driveline and hooked up and hit ready for dispatch. No loads available.

0630 load comes through a pickup in Waco that delivers in Trenton Ohio.

Start my pretrip and roll out at 0700

Arrived at Owens Illinois in Waco at 0940 and check in and get a door.

Dock was in the center of the plant, interesting road to get there surrounded by broken glass bottles everywhere.

Ive been here a few times and its usually a 3+ hr wait but i was loaded within 25 minutes! Left the property after checkout at 1040 and made my way back to I35 North. Stopped at a rest area for my 30 and kept rolling.

Parked for the night at 1710 in Prescott Arkansas at a TA.

7.54 hr Drive time

8.41 hr On Duty time

446 miles driven.

Day 16. 3/10

Started my day at 0500 with a pretrip and headed East on I40.

Took my 30 around 1100 at a rest area in TN.

Stopped for the day South of Elizabethtown KY on I65 at a Petro at 1645.

Not many details, no deliveries just driving.

10.12 hrs on duty

9.5 hrs driving

574 miles

Day 17. 3/11

Started my day at 0410 and did my pre trip and headed North on I65. Made my way up to I71 heading towards Cincinatti and the I75 merge.

Stopped at our Terminal to fuel and take my 30 at 0800.

Arrived at my final at 0850 checked in and was given a door to drop my trailer in.

Easy straightforward back and then scooted over and grabbed the last empty. Sent my empty message and ready for dispatch.

Got a load to pickup at our nearby terminal going to edwardsville il.

Got to the terminal at 0930 and backed my empty into a spot and hooked to my new load.

44klbs of laundry detergent. First driver looks to have shifted the load a little bit so ill have to take this drive pretty easy.

Strapped it in so it wouldnt shift anymore as best i could with some corner protectors and a load bar.

Not sure if i found this app on this site or not but theres an app called timestamp camera that timestamps and location stamps your pictures. I use it anytime i find damage or anything odd with a load or a trailer to cover my butt. Lets be honest sometimes we miss stuff and forget to message saftey or whomever you message with regards to damage and this covers you.

Headed out at 1030 and made my way to 70 heading west. Scaled at the TA in Eaton Ohio..... Dont scale at the Pilot on the othwr side of 70 its almost impossible to reweigh if needed.

Made my way west theough Indy to a Pilot in Brazil Indiana at 1400.

7.43 on duty

7.10 driving

378 miles

Day 18. 3/12

Started my pre trip at 0200 and headed back west towards St Louis. Arrived at my final in Edwardsville at 0515 and checked in at the guard shack. Dropped my loaded trailer and hooked to an empty at 0530. Sent my empty messages and ready for dispatch. While waiting i headed back to clean out the trailer which looked like they used a wood chipper to unload it.

Got my new load when i finished sweeping the trailer. A pickup 70 miles back east or so on I70 in st elmo il heading to Altoona Wi.

Left and made my way back east to St Elmo. Arrived at 0730 and checked in. The load wasnt ready for a drop and hook so i was given a door for a live load. Backed in and waited.

Got loaded at 0900 and headed out to 70 east, then hopped on 57 North to I74 west and then I39 North to Wisconsin.

Stopped at 1400 at the Loves in Roscoe IL. Delivery appt is tomorrow at 10am at a grocery store.

9.20 on duty

8.48 driving

541 miles

First pic is of my first delivery. 2nd is my pickup.