Bonehead Mistakes In My First Week Solo OTR

My first load solo I thought I was understanding what I was reading of the load profile, but I soon after learned that I didn't. I thought that I had plenty of time before needing to leave to make my delivery, so I went to the store to stock my truck, then did laundry. This was after my DM told me what time my delivery was scheduled. For some reason I ignored that and went by what I thought I was seeing on the load profile. I got a call from my DM asking when I was planning to leave for my delivery, and that's when I learned that I had messed up. It was chocked up as a rookie mistake and not a big deal.

I once went to the wrong location to pickup an empty trailer. Thankfully I was in the right city (and not a large one) and only the wrong address. I had the right company, but wrong location.

I once pulled out from a trailer after lower the landing gear, but I had forgotten about the lines. I noticed in my mirror before doing damage.

I missed a turn in Kentucky and rather than pulling over to figure out how best to get to my destination, I followed the GPS reroute. Big mistake. I ended up on a state highway that became a county road that became a dirt road before reaching a major road. Pure luck that I didn't end up getting stuck.

My first night driving with my trainer, I was really nervous about taking exits to places to park. On I-70 in MO, I passed up a number of truck stops because of hesitation. I was running out of drive time before needing my 30. I was on that stretch of I-70 in MO where there is considerable distance between places to park. I ended up running over my 8 hours to get to the next place to park.

Every one of us has made mistakes, some more than others. The most important part is to learn from the mistakes. Don't ever feel hesitant to ask for help, whether it be calling for help, getting out to ask for help, or getting on a CB. I have had 2 instances where I had to call local police to help me out. One was because I was blocked in by another driver at a McDonald's (wouldn't respond to knocking on his door), and the other was when road construction had me taking a detour that led to a turn I couldn't make (after following the detour signs).

It makes me feel like less of a dumbass knowing I'm not the only one who screws up. Thanks for the stories and words of encouragement guys.

Does anyone remember that one time I took a trek through the forest in Alabama I think it was? Or Mississippi? I was trying to deliver to a Walmart DC and had to park on the side of the road while I waited for my appointment time. I decided to give my gps a shot to get to the Walmart DC and long story short it took me through a forest on a dirt road and I was breaking branches and all that jazz. Ended up finally stopping when I got to a wooden bridge. Had to call the cops and they had to back me up a windy dirt road in the middle of the night. They weren’t happy but didn’t cite me. Yeah I was an idiot lol.

I also used to be notorious for locking myself out of my truck. I had to have done it half a dozen times my rookie year?

Very first solo load I almost got stuck in the mud as I was leaving the shipper because I swung too wide lol. On that same load I stopped in the middle of the night at a Flying J and tried to take an open spot but gave up halfway through and parked on the street because I was too self conscious about a couple truckers sitting in their cabs watching me.

It gets a lot easier lol

My worst dumb rookie move (I thought) I just started with Legends, got my brand new 22 FL and had to go around the block to our drop lot in Fontana. So I go, locate my loaded trailer (dumped in the middle of the lot), hook up and start to slowly make a tight u-turn to head out the gate.

Well, as I get in the turn around, I hear *POP* shhhhhhhh air leak!.....I get out to find my air line even in the thick black plastic wrap had contacted the A/C dryer sending unit, and tore a long rip in the line. I call to the shop, they say drop the trailer and come to us, faster than us going to you.

So I do, feeling like a total dipstick, they were cool about it, telling me the airlines are too short from the factory, and it happens a lot!.....So they swap me out a new line set evidently, they need a 15 foot set, not the 12 foot that comes with the truck. And they have the newer set of lines IN Stock! So I'm thinking, "why" don't they just change em out before the truck is assigned, and save the grief ahead of time lol

Yeah I did 1 high hook, but an empty coke can got that fixed under the 5th wheel plate to level it out. Then I think I forgot to raise the landing gear, and realized it, when the trailer wouldn't budge much, and heard the screech on cement....

These are pretty common rookie mistakes from what I've heard.

Hey, at least you didn't set anything on fire!

These are pretty common rookie mistakes from what I've heard.

Hey, at least you didn't set anything on fire!

I've had 2 trailer fires.

I think I've been fooled by the 'I'm rolling back! Oh wait, it's the truck next to me moving forward' bit three times now...very scary!

That's happened to me more times than I care to admit.

These are pretty common rookie mistakes from what I've heard.

Hey, at least you didn't set anything on fire!

I've had 2 trailer fires.

Banks, wouldn't it have been easier to just refuse the loads?

This wasn't my first week, but I was a rookie nonetheless...

Locked in

Banks, wouldn't it have been easier to just refuse the loads?

I get delay pay for breaking down. It's my hourly rate and from my experience, a trailer fire takes about 4 hours to get cleared up.

Banks, wouldn't it have been easier to just refuse the loads?

I get delay pay for breaking down. It's my hourly rate and from my experience, a trailer fire takes about 4 hours to get cleared up.

Not sure if it hit, but I was cracking a dumb joke that you set the fires to avoid the loads. Obviously I don't think you actually did that.

That is financial incentive.