On Board With Knight Transportation, Squire School Started 03/22/21

I for sure will keep posting and continue to seek advice and guidance.

The day didnt go as planned. The P and G DC is very backed up, a day behind. The load for CA wasnt loaded yet so we dropped our load and headed to a little truckstop a couple miles away and waited several hours. We called the guard shack and the gal said they were giving priority to live loads so we could come down and hook to the trailer and take our chances. That was about at 7:00 pm. We headed back to the DC, hooked up to the trailer and waited. They finally loaded it and told us we were good to go. Some more learning, Doc asked me if I checked the load before I closed the doors...Barely. He asked me how far back it was in the trailer and what it was too. I honestly replied that I gave it only a quick glance. Not going to make that mistake again I hope.

Got the seal on the door, checked out and went back to the truck stop to shut down for the night. I did that on PC as my 14 hour had long since died a peaceful death at the truck stop. Im going to send a message to my DDM in the morning to make sure I still get training pay for today. If I was regular today I would ask about detention, never hurts to ask, but in my mind it could be debatable because were waiting for a load that technically isnt even dispatched yet.

Anyway, instead of a nice cushy hotel tonight, Im in the truck for one more night. Im guessing Ill run the load into the Knight yard tomorrow as Ill be off and have a reset after, that way Doc wont have to start his clock for a bit in the morning, were about an hour to 1.5 out from the yard. Its all in a days work and I find humor in stuff. No use getting all riled up about it. Some of the other drivers were pretty miffed about it. It is what it is and theres always a solution for stuff. Just my take on things.

I imagine you'd still get training pay. But aren't you basically paid a flat weekly amount during training?

I imagine you'd still get training pay. But aren't you basically paid a flat weekly amount during training?

We are but its based on a daily rate I think. Again, its not too big of a deal. My last week of training showed up as full. They got me a rental car and I drove to Denver from the Salt Lake yard. Interestingly enough I found that sport mode coupled with dropping 2 or 3 gears in manual mode does a pretty good impersonation of a Jake Brake in a Kia. Also the rev limiter kicks in at 6600 RPM. Never the less, it did hold its speed down vail pass without using the foot brake for the most part.

Quick update. My DDM is putting me in a rental car down to our Dallas yard. She scored me a 2020 Kenworth. Very stoked. Ill leave tonight or tomorrow and be doing my first solo load on Weds.

That's a great update!

Thanks for keeping such an immersive diary. Enjoy braking in the new truck!

Congrats! Keep updates as you can.

Visiting a Knight job fair on Saturday

Picked up a rental car, left Aurora CO at 10:30 pm local in the rain, got tools and stuff I wanted to put in the truck. Drove till 4:00 AM, slept for a couple hours in a hotel, finished off the drive today. Got into the yard around 5:00 pm local time Dallas.

The boys at the shop sort of, kind of started to clean and detail my truck for the swap, but it still resembles a frat house inside. Its got everything I want, including a fridge. 147k miles on it, and the Kenworths are hard to get at this company, even harder with a fridge installed, even harder still with a fridge and both hood mirrors, especially for a newbie. I told my DM that Id clean out myself if needed as long as I get to keep it lol.

Anyhow, she said she will bring the hammer down on them and make sure its cleaned and ready to go. Went shopping, got new bedding set, all the stuff I didnt have, with the exception of some electronics because it was too late to get them tonight. I went down got a hotel room, they will reimburse me for, will pick up the rest of the stuff I need and hopefully be on the road asap.

One more pleasant item is that I have our first gen Zonar tablet which has the Rand McNalley GPS in it. I think I found a way to force updates on it, Im pretty good tech wise, If not, its still better than nothing as I use it a reference, not rely only on it. The GPS app on our new tablets is still under the heading of "IT is working on it, we will let drivers know when its functional"

Ill throw up some pics once its clean, the ones I took today dont do it any justice.

Im chuckling. DM called me this morning, I said as soon as its clean, im good to go....He said no youre not. Its time for its B service. So, One more day and I get detention pay for all of today. Went out and bought a bunch more items for the truck, probably over buying from over thinking lol. But its stuff I wanted while I was in training. I went down to the yard this afternoon to see if I could start putting things in it, I figured no, but never hurts to ask. I couldnt, it was in the bay with the hood up, looked cleaner on the outside at least.

The last thing I need to get is a CB. Ive held off on it because self doubt tells me Im being presumptuous and dont know that Ill succeed in this anyway. Ive learned to ignore that voice a lot lately, so Ill probably go march my butt down to the Pilot and grab one.

Im chuckling. DM called me this morning, I said as soon as its clean, im good to go....He said no youre not. Its time for its B service. So, One more day and I get detention pay for all of today. Went out and bought a bunch more items for the truck, probably over buying from over thinking lol. But its stuff I wanted while I was in training. I went down to the yard this afternoon to see if I could start putting things in it, I figured no, but never hurts to ask. I couldnt, it was in the bay with the hood up, looked cleaner on the outside at least.

The last thing I need to get is a CB. Ive held off on it because self doubt tells me Im being presumptuous and dont know that Ill succeed in this anyway. Ive learned to ignore that voice a lot lately, so Ill probably go march my butt down to the Pilot and grab one.

Awhhh!

I just LOVE FOLLOWING you, Davy. I chuckle often, reading your updates~!!!! Future Knight / Squires will get SO much from this thread.

You WILL be GLAD you got a CB. I got my hubby a new one for (?!?! last ?!?!?) Christmas...followed the advice from the guys on here; you can look up the threads tagged CB, unless you already know what you want.

It's still a 'necessity' in my book. (And the other half's!) ... And many of the veteran drivers on here.

How exciting, eh ?!?!? New stuff, B'served truck, cleaner, kick it!!! Love it!! IgNORE that 'Davy Downer' voice, good sir!

~ Anne ~