Wilson Logistics - Missoula MT

Ahhh yes, good 'ol Missoula weather! Glad you seem to be progressing! When you get back through the 'Zoo, I highly recommend The Stone of Accord, and Staggering Ox!

Ahhh yes, good 'ol Missoula weather! Glad you seem to be progressing! When you get back through the 'Zoo, I highly recommend The Stone of Accord, and Staggering Ox!

We are at a hotel near The Stone. I eat there almost every day lol

It’s been a minute since I’ve updated. I ended up being on my trainers truck for 8 days when they pulled us back in so I could test. I got to the hotel last Friday and spent the weekend catching up on laundry and chilling

Monday we went to the yard and started practicing backing and pretrip. We also started going on drives on the test route. For some reason I back and drive much better without my trainer in my ear. She’s a nice enough girl but we just speak a different language even though we both speak English. She isn’t good at training yet. I am her second student. The first walked off the truck and bought an airline ticket home after 3 days lol. But I am stubborn and have spent most of my life in jobs where I had to swallow my words and be nice. It’ll be okay, I only have a couple more months with her.

Even though I didn’t feel ready, I tested on Thursday. They thought I was ready lol. In Montana the DMV generates the portion of the pretrip you do. I ended up with coupling, trailer and in cab. The only issue I had was remembering what was coupling and what was driver side door. I just did everything from the fairings back to be safe. I got no points.

Then came backing. My straight back was good. No points. My blindside offset was good, 1 point for bumping a cone. My alley dock... oh my alley dock. I completed it after having TWO sloppy sobbing breakdowns and ONE temper tantrum. I even asked my examiner if I’d failed yet so I could get off that truck lol. I ended up getting 7 points. It felt like forever. The most frustrating thing was later that afternoon I was alley docking like I’d been driving for 5 years lol

The driving portion was easy enough. I missed a couple points for not exaggerating my head movements enough and once for vaguely waving at a truck stop and asking the examiner if he wanted a roller dog lol

BUT I PASSED. I now have a CDL.

My trainer picks me up tomorrow morning and we will start team driving until I am to 30k miles. I’ll get $600 a week or 12 cents a mile (whichever is greater ) for the first 10k and 700 a week or 14 cents a mile for the second 20k. After that I’ll do a solo week and then I’ll be on my own in my own truck. I cannot wait, mostly because my trainer lives on potato chips, and doesn’t do caffeine lol. I want to eat healthier and have a coffee maker. And my dog. So that’s where it’s at now. I’ll try to update more often!

How's it going so far, Vicki ??

I think of ya, often; you are where I WANNA BE, hahaha!!!

Best wishes;

~ Anne ~

Finally a minute without driving or listening to my trainer. I don’t like her much. She’s a bit weird, possibly bipolar and definitely not cut out to train anybody in anything. I feel like I’m being trained by her dad by proxy. Every time I ask a question she calls her dad. But it could be worse and she’s a means to an end for me. I am beginning to think she might kick me off the truck lol. Honestly she only seems to be happy when she’s driving. We even went to dinner one night and she seemed unhappy. Whatever. Enough *****ing about her. Like I said, could be worse and I’ve had a career of keeping my thoughts to myself for over 30 years.

We had a week from Hades. First thing that happened was my trainer was driving, a car cut in front of her and we had a HARD brake. There was no avoiding it honestly. When we got to the receiver we had dumped the load. Had a nice meeting with safety. AND to top things off , when she was telling her dad about it, he was trying to figure out how I caused it. Yeah gotta watch my wagon in more ways than one here. She did man up and take the blame. So after we get a trailer there, same day, we are taking it to some Coke place in Portland. Of course, we NEVER follow what the gps says. We NEVER figure it out on our own. We ALWAYS have her dad on the phone giving us directions. So this time he gave us the WRONG directions and we ended up in old downtown Portland. Narrow roads. Sharp corners. Cars parked on either side. 53ft trailer, 14ft high. That was fun. I survived and didn’t hit anything. Finally she let me follow the GPS and we found the right place. But the ONLY street into it was closed from construction. We continued up the street while she called the receiver. It was a 4 lane road with a 20 mile an hour speed limit. And overhanging trees. She told me to get in the right lane. I mentioned the trees and she said just get over you CANNOT be in the left hand lane... so I did. Hit a limb and destroyed the corner of the trailer. Went back to the Portland yard and got a new trailer. Avoided the safety guy who was still stacking our dumped load. Called the receiver, turns out they’ll move the cones for you to get in. She alley docked the truck and clipped a tree. It was narrow. I went back to driving and she asked me to pull over, so I did. She decided I wasn’t far enough over (on a one lane road mind you) so I moved over a little. She wanted more and I clipped another tree. Sorry Portland, we are hell on your trees.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I am just hoping to not die or kill someone before training is over. At this point I cannot wait to get my own truck and make my own mistakes without my trainer, but I still need to learn more. Just wish I had someone with more experience.

Finally a minute without driving or listening to my trainer. I don’t like her much. She’s a bit weird, possibly bipolar and definitely not cut out to train anybody in anything. I feel like I’m being trained by her dad by proxy. Every time I ask a question she calls her dad. But it could be worse and she’s a means to an end for me. I am beginning to think she might kick me off the truck lol. Honestly she only seems to be happy when she’s driving. We even went to dinner one night and she seemed unhappy. Whatever. Enough *****ing about her. Like I said, could be worse and I’ve had a career of keeping my thoughts to myself for over 30 years.

We had a week from Hades. First thing that happened was my trainer was driving, a car cut in front of her and we had a HARD brake. There was no avoiding it honestly. When we got to the receiver we had dumped the load. Had a nice meeting with safety. AND to top things off , when she was telling her dad about it, he was trying to figure out how I caused it. Yeah gotta watch my wagon in more ways than one here. She did man up and take the blame. So after we get a trailer there, same day, we are taking it to some Coke place in Portland. Of course, we NEVER follow what the gps says. We NEVER figure it out on our own. We ALWAYS have her dad on the phone giving us directions. So this time he gave us the WRONG directions and we ended up in old downtown Portland. Narrow roads. Sharp corners. Cars parked on either side. 53ft trailer, 14ft high. That was fun. I survived and didn’t hit anything. Finally she let me follow the GPS and we found the right place. But the ONLY street into it was closed from construction. We continued up the street while she called the receiver. It was a 4 lane road with a 20 mile an hour speed limit. And overhanging trees. She told me to get in the right lane. I mentioned the trees and she said just get over you CANNOT be in the left hand lane... so I did. Hit a limb and destroyed the corner of the trailer. Went back to the Portland yard and got a new trailer. Avoided the safety guy who was still stacking our dumped load. Called the receiver, turns out they’ll move the cones for you to get in. She alley docked the truck and clipped a tree. It was narrow. I went back to driving and she asked me to pull over, so I did. She decided I wasn’t far enough over (on a one lane road mind you) so I moved over a little. She wanted more and I clipped another tree. Sorry Portland, we are hell on your trees.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I am just hoping to not die or kill someone before training is over. At this point I cannot wait to get my own truck and make my own mistakes without my trainer, but I still need to learn more. Just wish I had someone with more experience.

Always thinking & wondering about you, m'lady!

Anything 'new?' Same 'rad' trainer?!?!? Miss your updates! (This happened quick, eh?)

~ Anne ~

Finally a minute without driving or listening to my trainer. I don’t like her much. She’s a bit weird, possibly bipolar and definitely not cut out to train anybody in anything. I feel like I’m being trained by her dad by proxy. Every time I ask a question she calls her dad. But it could be worse and she’s a means to an end for me. I am beginning to think she might kick me off the truck lol. Honestly she only seems to be happy when she’s driving. We even went to dinner one night and she seemed unhappy. Whatever. Enough *****ing about her. Like I said, could be worse and I’ve had a career of keeping my thoughts to myself for over 30 years.

We had a week from Hades. First thing that happened was my trainer was driving, a car cut in front of her and we had a HARD brake. There was no avoiding it honestly. When we got to the receiver we had dumped the load. Had a nice meeting with safety. AND to top things off , when she was telling her dad about it, he was trying to figure out how I caused it. Yeah gotta watch my wagon in more ways than one here. She did man up and take the blame. So after we get a trailer there, same day, we are taking it to some Coke place in Portland. Of course, we NEVER follow what the gps says. We NEVER figure it out on our own. We ALWAYS have her dad on the phone giving us directions. So this time he gave us the WRONG directions and we ended up in old downtown Portland. Narrow roads. Sharp corners. Cars parked on either side. 53ft trailer, 14ft high. That was fun. I survived and didn’t hit anything. Finally she let me follow the GPS and we found the right place. But the ONLY street into it was closed from construction. We continued up the street while she called the receiver. It was a 4 lane road with a 20 mile an hour speed limit. And overhanging trees. She told me to get in the right lane. I mentioned the trees and she said just get over you CANNOT be in the left hand lane... so I did. Hit a limb and destroyed the corner of the trailer. Went back to the Portland yard and got a new trailer. Avoided the safety guy who was still stacking our dumped load. Called the receiver, turns out they’ll move the cones for you to get in. She alley docked the truck and clipped a tree. It was narrow. I went back to driving and she asked me to pull over, so I did. She decided I wasn’t far enough over (on a one lane road mind you) so I moved over a little. She wanted more and I clipped another tree. Sorry Portland, we are hell on your trees.

The rest of the week was uneventful. I am just hoping to not die or kill someone before training is over. At this point I cannot wait to get my own truck and make my own mistakes without my trainer, but I still need to learn more. Just wish I had someone with more experience.

Always thinking & wondering about you, m'lady!

Anything 'new?' Same 'rad' trainer?!?!? Miss your updates! (This happened quick, eh?)

~ Anne ~

My trainer has been in hometime all week. I am sitting in a hotel in Missoula lol. Nothing to update. Same lovely trainer lol

Hang in there Vicki. My suggestion is that you ride this out. I know it is tempting to want to strangle your trainer, or just beg the company to switch you to another. Remember that this is temporary. As long as you feel you are learning and progressing, you can endure the ridiculousness of your trainer. I had a crazy trainer. I still had a successful trucking career. The training is a drop in the bucket compared to the career. It may not be what you expected, but that's okay. You will learn a ton of things during your first year as a solo driver. Ride this out and keep looking forward to being on your own.

My trainer has been in hometime all week. I am sitting in a hotel in Missoula lol. Nothing to update. Same lovely trainer lol

Well, sheesh.. anything fun going on there?? I've not been on FB for quite sometime, but YOU are a celeb on there, haha!!

Hang in there Vicki. My suggestion is that you ride this out. I know it is tempting to want to strangle your trainer, or just beg the company to switch you to another. Remember that this is temporary. As long as you feel you are learning and progressing, you can endure the ridiculousness of your trainer. I had a crazy trainer. I still had a successful trucking career. The training is a drop in the bucket compared to the career. It may not be what you expected, but that's okay. You will learn a ton of things during your first year as a solo driver. Ride this out and keep looking forward to being on your own.

Well said, as always O/S.

~ Anne ~

Hang in there Vicki. My suggestion is that you ride this out. I know it is tempting to want to strangle your trainer, or just beg the company to switch you to another. Remember that this is temporary. As long as you feel you are learning and progressing, you can endure the ridiculousness of your trainer. I had a crazy trainer. I still had a successful trucking career. The training is a drop in the bucket compared to the career. It may not be what you expected, but that's okay. You will learn a ton of things during your first year as a solo driver. Ride this out and keep looking forward to being on your own.

I’m hanging in there. I’ve already done a month with her. It could be a lot worse. She’s young and only has barely a year of experience. We are also very different people. But all in all, she’s not too bad. I won’t change because I do NOT want to set back my training any more than I have to. Next month she’s taking hometime and I am too. Because we live so far apart I’ll be home close to two weeks. So I break it up in pieces. Two weeks. Another 2 weeks. Hotel for 7 days. One month. Home for 2 weeks. Another couple weeks and I am done lol. I got this.