First Week On The Road

Another update on my progress so far.....I've covered three thousand miles and most of the Southern States with my trainer. I have made plenty of mistakes so far, the worse one being stalled in front of the DOT office on a weigh bridge and not being able to move off with my legs shaking so much. No idea why I felt like it....all new stuff to deal with I guess.

My favorite trip so far has been the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia which was very scary going up and down the mountains, but worth it for the scenery......I really want all my fears and white knuckle rides to leave me. My fears take over and I make mistakes when they do. Thankfully I have a trainer that gets me through it.....I keep thinking who would be a trainer...you got to have the patience of a saint to deal with us rookies.

I have been told by my trainer that the fears are natural for all rookies and they do go with time. He told me that it won't be the fears that stop me from driving in the future and that most of the rookie drivers leave because of the loneliness. I did the research on this web site and know that being on your own for such long periods of time will take some getting used to. As much as I am preparing for the loneliness myself, I can't honestly say how I will feel or cope with it. My age and that fact I have only my wife now at home means I'm in a better position than most.....I would think. I'm 56 with both kids living in England.

Anybody have any further thoughts on fears?.....loneliness that I know will come? I still like Swift and I love their attitude towards looking after their own and their customers.

Take care everybody and if you have any comments, good or bad I would love you to share them with me. Its good to know I'm not on my own.

Sheffield Mick.

Mick, IMHO, if you're not nervous driving 80,000 lbs of WMD through the mountains as a rookie, you're either stupid or....well, you're just plain stupid...but, you're trainer is right..you will get more confident. The difference between those guys who can do it year in and year out without mishap is they remember what it feels like to be nervous and why they should be. Those guys that get TOO comfortable are often the ones who think they can get away with taking shortcuts or because of their experience, can take a downhill in a higher gear than they should, etc...and when you get too comfortable, it can jump up and bite you in the a$$...I remember reading a report once on when most aircraft accidents happen..at just about the 600 hour flight time mark. That was just about the time most pilots got a little too comfortable with their skills and forgot they were flying a piece of high performance machinery with a razor edge margin for error. Some of them lived to fly again..unfortunately, many of them didn't. I am wondering about the loneliness thing myself. My kids are both grown too, but my wife and I are newlyweds having been together for about a year before getting married. She is completely independent and got along fine before we met, so I have no doubt she will be able to handle herself in my absence, but yes, the times will be long when we are apart. She doesn't have much interest in coming on the road with me at this point, but I am hoping that that may change when I get her on the road for a trip. One or two trips together a month might be just the thing to keep our marriage alive, but not become too stale. And and as far as not being on your own, I happen to think that we are all part of one big family now..In fact, I look forward to running across a lot of you guys on my travels, either by chance or by design..and there is always this forum to pop into and say hi when you might feel a little disconnected or low..guarantee, one of us will always be here to give a good word and a little bit of empathy. Til next time, take care and keep on keeping on M8.

Cheers, Guy(Roadkill)

Thank you Roadkill, I enjoyed reading your reply. It's interesting to know about similar problems when flying a plane that apply to driving a truck. Over confidence gets lots of people into trouble I'm sure. I'm with you on meeting people off the forum. When my training is done (if my nerves hold out;-) I would love to see people off here. I passed New Orleans just two days ago :-(

Best of luck with what ever you and your wife decide. With FaceTime and Skype my wife and I talk all the time. It will all fall into place I'm sure

Safe driving guys

Sheffield Mick

Thank you Roadkill, I enjoyed reading your reply. It's interesting to know about similar problems when flying a plane that apply to driving a truck. Over confidence gets lots of people into trouble I'm sure. I'm with you on meeting people off the forum. When my training is done (if my nerves hold out;-) I would love to see people off here. I passed New Orleans just two days ago :-(

Best of luck with what ever you and your wife decide. With FaceTime and Skype my wife and I talk all the time. It will all fall into place I'm sure

Safe driving guys

Sheffield Mick

Anytime, my friend, any time...and yes, we are hoping the Skype and Facetime solution work well for us, too..

Yeah everything you're experiencing is indeed normal. Learning to drive a rig is one of the toughest things most people will do in their lives. Not only are you trying to learn a very difficult and dangerous job, but you're having to adjust to a very unnatural and radically different lifestyle at the same time. Those first few months especially are just brutal at times. They will test you in every way.

I think one of the ways to help calm the nerves is to keep in mind that right now you really only have two goals - learn all you can and don't hit anything. If at the end of the day you can park the truck without a scratch on it and you've learned something new then you've had a successful day. It doesn't matter if you get lost or you're late for an appointment or it takes 30 minutes to back into a tough spot. Those things will disappear almost immediately as if they never happened. But hitting something - that has to be avoided.

So no matter what circumstances you find yourself in, just remind yourself that as long as you don't hit anything you'll be perfectly fine. You're going to make a ton of mistakes in the beginning as all rookies do. Companies understand this. As long as you're working hard and you have a great attitude toward learning they'll keep working with you until you get it - and you will.

As far as being lonely - I remember when I first started driving I realized right away that I had two choices - learn to enjoy my time alone or die of loneliness. Not really much of a choice, is it? Once you get finished with training and you're on your own, do all you can to enjoy the alone time. Either pursue hobbies you already have or come up with some new ones. You can get into reading, take online computer courses, get into physical fitness, get into hiking and sightseeing, start doing arts and crafts, become a bird watcher - whatever! Doesn't matter. Find some things that you can enjoy doing by yourself and pursue them. Keeping in close contact with your family and friends through Skype is going to be a huge help for sure. But finding some things you enjoy by yourself will make a big difference in how much you enjoy your time on the road.

Thanks Brett, as always, your right on the nail. Today was a good day. I didn't hit anything and I managed to back it in without my legs turning to jelly. On finding something for me. I want to take my camera and lap top. I also want to learn Spanish. I also like to run half marathons. I reckon I might have the me time covered. I better find se time to talk to my wife on Skype