Central Refrigerated Transport Review

Where has Mr Smith gone? I am curious t hear he your training is going with your trainer...

Where has Mr Smith gone? I am curious t hear he your training is going with your trainer...

I got an ex nap gotta reload warning so when I reloaded it deleted like 15 minutes I've been trying to write so you have to wait a couple days now quickly I've been practicing my downshifting from 8 to 6 6 to 4 5 to,3 stuff like thT

Lets See how good mobile hotspot works and how much data is used lol.

I am at 100 hours now. A lot of the kids I started out with are well up into the 150s and beyond. Some kids have yet to start with their mentor...

One of my friends got pulled into the scales. I dont know if I had mentioned this already or not... He got pulled into the scales and received a citation for operating out of class because Colorado does not recognize our Interim Paper License. Swift said it happens all the time and advised to to call U.S. Legal lol. the first papers we ever looked at in orientation were for U.S. Legal... its kinda weird. He chose not to join and now he ended up paying U.S. Legal 380 dollars to help him fight the case... good choice or not? ill stay out of it... ive said enough on that.

Errol, Yes we went up the 5 to the 99 to Bakersfield then when we left we took the 58 over toward Barstow. climing that mountain on the 58 was fun and beautiful.

I have been practicing shifting from 8th to 6th, 6th to 4th, 4th to 2nd... 7th to 5th... 6th to 3rd... mainly because I just want to and my mentor has no problem with it... I have also been double checking to make sure I can still double clutch because I haven't done so after day 1 or 2 lol.

I practice downshifting uphill without losing momentum as well... So say Im in 8th (9 speed 8th is highest weird... low is 1 but 1 is actually 1 anyhow... you guys know this...) Im in 8th running about 55 :) then we approach a hill.. cough cough i speed up cough ahmm... then we start climbing the hill and it slows down lol. We we trained to clutch out rev it up to about 17 then let it fall and when it is ready to pull it in it will do so while tapping the clutch lol. and then you give it throttle and go again...

that way sucks alot because you might be doing 53 miles an hour then go to downshift and if you do it that way your gonna lose the race up the hill. lol. forget about the double clutching I say...

let your foot off the throttle and it pops out to neutral and floor it slowly when you do this it will suck it back into 7th and you dont lose your momentem. and you dont rev it up and let off thats a lot of wasted time and mph. usually If I start at 53 and downshift to 7th I can be in 7th and running by about 51 mph but still getting slower then do the same when dropping to 6th... I rarely have to get into 5th gear but I have had to a couple times because either I was unable to get over to pass or because I was just tooo heavy for the hill. A load of Potatoes going up to Tehachapi put me in 4th gear lol.

going down the hills, im usually in 7th going from Chiriaco Summit toward Indio with the jake brake on low to start then push it to high alot of guys fly past me going down hill but its not a big deal im usually within 5 miles of the posted speed for the hill... maybe some day ill be that confident but not with my mentors life... i just cant do that... and not with other lives in the cars around me. Going down the bigger hills like the cajon pass or lambs canyon... ill put it in 6th and jake break on high...

I have been practicing down shifting going down small hills that wont kill me lol. im doing ok at it. I really enjoy downshifting from like 6th to 3rd and stuff like that because we do a lot of city driving and driving in traffic where we will be doing 45 then you see the red light and say im not going to downshift and do 25 miles and hour for 2000 feet lol. so Ill just let off the gas and roll in sixth and watch the light... If I get down to say 30 I will downshift. just depends on the situation... but thats the biggest thing.

Tonight we are headed to Santa Ana then to Downtown L.A. and then to Hawthorne and then Back to Phoenix.

some of the kids I know say they get yelled at from their mentor when they miss a gear or something... Im thankful my mentor lets me experiment.

I wish we had a 13 speed though because going down the cajon pass in 6th gear is a little too slow but 7th gear is too fast im certain with we had a 13 speed I can hit 45 perfect at about 1400 rpm and just cruise it till it starts to flatten out.

I do wonder though. How on earth are some of those guys doing 70 miles an hour in a tractor trailer before they get to the end of the on ramp. I cant even hit 55 man. horse power? transmission? Wind? lol

thats another thing ive been having fun with, the wind I gets lots of wind coming through palm springs area. Im sure its worse in other places of the country but palm springs will put you on the shoulder or the other lane without your consent. so... id say its a fun experience.

I havent seen the Snow or the Rain too much... It would be nice to stay on the Winco Dedicated Account after I turn out from the mentorship but its probably not likely going to happen...

as much as I want to go see new places. I also enjoy getting the load and saying HEY I know where that is lol.

Macro 1 arrived at shipper Macro 15 backed to dock Macro 2 loaded call Macro 16 is obsolete its in macro 2 now... Macro 50 I have scaled my load supposed to do this but never do... Macro 3 stop 1 Macro 15 Macro 4 leaving the stop and putting in all the info Macro 11 topped off fuel Macro 3 stop 2 Macro 15 Macro 4 Macro 5 arrived at consign or final Macro 15 Macro 6 Empty call Macro 9 lets do it again in the other direction.

Trip Number, BOL, Weight, Temp, Peoples Names, Pallets in or Out, Weight in or Out Fuel Level... all that fun stuff.

Hey there Mr. Smith, how's it going out there on the road?

Awe Man! Im SOLO now!!!!

Ok... heres the story.

Right after I got the downshifting and skipping gears all figured out they switched us to another truck and it had a 10 speed in it. so pretty much the difference is its a 9 Speed but LOW is first so 6th is 1st in High if that makes sense. at any rate, things are good now. Ive got a driver leader that I think (I hope) believes in driving as many miles as you can until you hit your reset take the reset and drive as many as you can again.

Ok... so back up a little bit. My mentor wanted to get his friend in the truck so he said how can we finish this quicker? I mentioned, when we have several hours to get somewhere drive slower instead of getting there early... that will give me more hours driving... so thats what we did, on top of longer hauls... (Still dedicated but longer than 350 miles)

I turned out in Phoenix where we took a 50 question test. Your allowed 12 wrong... Pay attention to the time zones on the trip they give you make sure you pay close attention to the time zones the mileage and the times... pay close attention to the number they give you for MPH to use "50" ;) and you should do good. I may have gotten that answer wrong actually lol... I didnt pay attention to the time zones so... I may have gotten lucky or got it wrong I really dont know.

They then take you out and you drive about 10 miles making mostly right hand turns if not all right hand turns making sure you can shift up to high gear and then shift back down to 4th when your stopping then bring to 2nd or so after you stop... Because I had the 10 speed the last week I kept bringing it back to 3rd in the 9 speed during the test hilarious.

then they take you back to the yard where you will probably back the trailer between two trailers as if you were in an alley with 70 foot clearance in front of you.

after that you go back to the office and hang out with a nice fellow who talks to you about three main saftey factors and then takes you over to get your truck. (IF YOU MENTOR IN AN AUTO YOU GET AN AUTO BRAND NEW 2016)

I had a choice between 3 Rigs and 2 Volvos lol. so pretty much had 3 choices all Cascadias. I chose a 2011/2012 Cascadia it was the cleanest one out of the three and its an old Central Refrigerated Truck. Truck Number C24388. I figured since Ima be pullin Central Trailers might as well get there old truck. It has super singles which is ok... I just hope I dont get a flat...

downshifting to 7th it does not like to do at ALL. but no worries Im figuring her out. Luckily I have the gauge in it to tell how much pressure is on my drives air bags, I think Daniel Mentioned that. At a little over 60 I have 33,890 pounds on my drives with 12,100 on my steers. I know it changes a little per load but right about there is my max. so If its at 60 I know im good on the front side at least.

my first load

I picked up in Phoenix a load of Gatorade I was right about 79,900 pounds headed to san diego had to move the fifth wheel back because somebody before me had it aalaaallll the way forward and i had 13000 on my steers with my tandems all the way forward lol. I had to drop the trailer to get my fifth wheel to free up.

had to slow roll the pepsi dock (gatorade) because I was out of hours... I arrived at 2 am but they wouldnt take it until after 6 am... it was supposed to be there at 9 but... hey whats wrong with early right...

then I dead headed up to Jurupa Valley dropped the trailer and bobtailed home for the night to prepare my truck for my new lifestyle. my son really liked it he said it was broken because the trailer was missing. I bought him a couple doubles replicas because they were 10 bucks at the phoenix terminal... he likes them alot.

the next morning I bobtailed back to the terminal and got there too early for my trailer... it was still up by bakersfield... I dont know if it was supposed to already be there or just a lack of communication... at any rate it was there by 1030 and I took off with it till I couldnt drive anymore. the first night i stayed in arizona at a loves around exit 200 then they next day I took off and drove 656 miles to Odessa Texas another loves then the next day there was a lot of construction and traffic I made it to Exit 33 a pilot in Shreveport Louisiana. The rain really came down hard right before I called it a day. We had bad traffic took about an hour to go a mile in Shreveport. I wanted to make it about another 100 miles but when the rain came down I lost visibility and the traffic just before that I decided Id call it a day with about an hour left on the clock.

then I woke up the next morning I headed for Opelika Alabama where Walmart doesnt take Produce in the afternooon. Thats a BUMMER BUMMER BIG BIG BUMMER MAN!! So I went to exit 70? of the 85 and stayed the night and came back at about 0245 this morning. Waited till 0330 to see if the manager wanted to take it they said yes and it took a while to unload. after that I headed south shoulda headed north but went south to exit 42 and I am resetting now until tomorrow night.

why a BUMMER? I had tickets for Phantom of the Opera on June 21st at 1830 Los Angeles Pantages Theater Im not going to make it now. theres NO possible way unless I violate. If they would have taken it yesterday, Id been golden man. but not now.

so the tickets that were purchased in NOVEMBER 2014 for the show in JUNE 2015... are WAASTED. what a BUMMER.

That is awesome to hear, Congrats on making it solo, I leave Monday from San Diego to go to Fontana and start school on Tuesday, I have been following your posts religiously, love hearing about your experiences. Hope my experience is similar and all goes well. Stay safe and keep the wheels turning.

That is awesome to hear, Congrats on making it solo, I leave Monday from San Diego to go to Fontana and start school on Tuesday, I have been following your posts religiously, love hearing about your experiences. Hope my experience is similar and all goes well. Stay safe and keep the wheels turning.

Good Luck Bubba. let us know how it goes.