Memoirs Of CDL Training Add A Lil OTR

Rewind once again. Tony wanted me to drive first, and gave me a few places to shut down if I felt the need where parking most likely wouldnt be an issue. Well this truck was the epitome of "Freightshaker". Any bump in the road the cabinets came flying open etc So I think we shut down for a quick nap before Nashville. Drivers usually switched in West Memphis if all went well. W Tony we had particular truck stops we used (fuel or not) because he had a girlfriend at each one. Some just to flirt some to go to truck while I showered, and well we will keep this PG-13. I was in sleeper when we hit Oklahoma feeling like a martini being shook, and starting to sweat, about time I was getting up to see where ac controls were Tony yells "Get the f$&@ up here dude, everything is on fire!" Wildfires were on both sides of I-40 and getting worse. Next thing you know we are stopped. Tumbleweeds of fire were everywhere. CB chatter was "come on drivers push thru protect the 4 wheelers its hot but we will live" I had to jump out of truck and get this poor woman in her 60s to drive not sit there. Tony lets me know he talked to other trucks around us and we would keep her protected, she finally moves. A female team driver in front of us rode shotgun w her until we were clear of the fire. I just teared up from this memory. Verklempt

Holy.Dang.Wow.

Back in the days where truckers banded together, and GAF'd.

I teared up, as well. Got a visual verisimilitude; bigtime. Bless that female teamie, that jumped in.

~ Anne ~

The women teamers gave me a vision of like Laura and Kearsey teaming and being like, "We've got this. No big deal. Just trucking."

The short period of time I drove I saw a lot of truckers band together. One time I was struggling to back into a spot, this old trucker on his big ol kw 900 (i think) with his matching trailer w chicken lights etc was talking so much crap over the cb about me etc. When he commented "check your handbook Stevens, I dont think you have G.O.A.L. enough for Mr. Aaron(owner of Stevens) ha ha"! I pull me brakes jumped out did my G.O.A.L. then proceeded to walk toward the KW boy the drivers were rolling down there windows etc hoping for some action. I walked right up to his truck and yelled "Be my guest you try it, I see you havent backed in yet! Lets go! I will even let you take my spot! " oh boy out of his truck he comes, gets real close and says "play along bud! I got you though" Stunned I said ok. He proceeds to act as if he is teaching me a lesson by yelling etc He gave me some pointers and directed me in the hole. Even talked junk over cb. I actually learned a few tricks from him. Another driver I encountered a few months later when I was with Cooke. He recognized me. He, myself, and Tony ate dinner at a TA. Swapped stories until Tony and I were almost late.

Rewind once again. Tony wanted me to drive first, and gave me a few places to shut down if I felt the need where parking most likely wouldnt be an issue. Well this truck was the epitome of "Freightshaker". Any bump in the road the cabinets came flying open etc So I think we shut down for a quick nap before Nashville. Drivers usually switched in West Memphis if all went well. W Tony we had particular truck stops we used (fuel or not) because he had a girlfriend at each one. Some just to flirt some to go to truck while I showered, and well we will keep this PG-13. I was in sleeper when we hit Oklahoma feeling like a martini being shook, and starting to sweat, about time I was getting up to see where ac controls were Tony yells "Get the f$&@ up here dude, everything is on fire!" Wildfires were on both sides of I-40 and getting worse. Next thing you know we are stopped. Tumbleweeds of fire were everywhere. CB chatter was "come on drivers push thru protect the 4 wheelers its hot but we will live" I had to jump out of truck and get this poor woman in her 60s to drive not sit there. Tony lets me know he talked to other trucks around us and we would keep her protected, she finally moves. A female team driver in front of us rode shotgun w her until we were clear of the fire. I just teared up from this memory. Verklempt

Holy.Dang.Wow.

Back in the days where truckers banded together, and GAF'd.

I teared up, as well. Got a visual verisimilitude; bigtime. Bless that female teamie, that jumped in.

~ Anne ~

The women teamers gave me a vision of like Laura and Kearsey teaming and being like, "We've got this. No big deal. Just trucking."

Hahaha! LoL YEP!!!!

Chris, Tom says it's nothing like it 'used' to be ... on the highways, with trucker camaraderie. Sadly so.

You'll be better OFF dispatching, IMHO. If the hostler job ever opened up at Tom's yard, he'd take it. Trust me.

Thanks for sharing; love it!

~ Anne ~

aka:

Welcome Mom !!

If I were to get back out there, I would do what I could to bring that sexy back to trucking.

If I were to get back out there, I would do what I could to bring that sexy back to trucking.

Stakes are high; but I bet you would.

TY, good sir.

~ Anne ~

Bringin' Sexy Back !

I teamed w Tony for about 6 weeks. Nothing PG-13 happened. Plenty of Rated R to NC-17. Like I said at the beginning he had 4-5 girlfriends from West Memphis to Arizona all worked the fuel desk at various truck stops. My glasses broke during home time but the dm told me I had to make the run or quit. So I quit. Contacted JB Hunt and was headed to orientation. I had to pass Cooke on the way. So I stopped was re-hired. Over the next month I rode w probably four different drivers. Wife is telling me to put my phone down and go to sleep. I am consulting on a revamp of a restaurant in Lynchburg,Va over the next 6 weeks. More to come.

Crazy times. Love reading it. When you said everything is on fire up here, I thought you meant the truck, typical freight shaker lol.

Tony's new freightshaker was nice. W cruise etc you could almost drive without touching the pedals. Well after Tony, my first two runs were w different drivers. I took a run with this laid back older dude, who just did one run a month. He and his wife had teamed with Covenant. We ran "hammer down" made it almost 2 days early so we stopped at the Ontario TA. There were two either side by side or across street from one another. We went to the "party Ta". The area closest to the building was called "Party Row". It boiled down to a wild wild tailgate party. W the addition of "lot lizards" most of whom looked as if they were getting ready to dance at a very high end strip club. A beat up isuzu pickup came around and sold beer. Drivers were calling over cb asking for "ski slopes", "green salad" and "high speed chicken feed". Turned out my co-driver planned it because he just liked to sit in the cab and watch the action. He liked getting a beer or three while watched. I was amazed at the buzz of activity. Now as it got later I walked to the main building and it was a bit sketchy. The lizards were a lil slimy by this time. Nogales Round one up next

Well once we left the "Ontario TA fun" we delivered our load of princess house crystal. Dropped trailer at a postal or fedex facility, alls I know it was very crowded, too many drivers yelling etc. I cant recall where we picked up empty but we deadheaded to Nogales, AZ. Then it was 24 hrs before we even started loading. We met up w a mexican guy in a beat up chevy truck. For the next three hours we followed him to several produce sheds. He would load our pallets at each shed and an extra or two at each shed only to remove at next. We prob saved this dude $$$ and Cooke did not pay for the multiple stops. This was the trip I mentioned earlier about being stopped by border patrol. Not much excitement after this. Next trip I believe was "buffet to buffet"!

The next driver I teamed w was an odd red headed dude who's name I cannot recall. I drove first but he made it clear we were to stop and sleep at first chicken coop on I-81 in Tennessee. It was 3.5 hr from home base. Didnt think much of it, however this dude was on his own planet. We had to stop every 4-6 hrs to eat at all his favorite places. From ice cream sundaes to soul food buffets. And spend at least 45 min at each one. Buffet to buffet. We dropped our load to Vegas almost two days late. Thinking back he would not show me the bills of laden. Thats about it on that run.