My 1st Day As A Solo Driver And It Was The Day From Hell...

This past Friday was my first day solo as a truck driver and IT SUCKED!!!

It started out with a few minor issues with the tanker that they assigned me. No big deal, worked through them and good to go. Drove to Jacksonville to deliver a load of cement. Got there no problem, backed in to the spot just like I knew what I was doing. Got everything hooked up and started pumping it off. First hopper no problem, second hopper too. 3/4's of the way through the final hopper and feeling pretty good when all of a sudden there is a hellacious racket from my PTO blower. I immediately shut it down and oil is all over the place along with a huge puddle on the ground. I have no way to finish unloading since my PTO basically blew up.

CCC has a terminal in Jax so I contact them. They said they'll send a wrecker down with a truck and tow mine in to their shop. Hour and a half later I have a different truck. I uncoupled mine and coupled the other one up to my tanker. Wrecker leaves with my truck. I go to start the PTO blower and to my dismay, it doesn't work! I call Jax back and they tell me that they have a driver bringing a truck from Orlando to them, but they'll divert him to me since I'm right off I-95 on his way up. They tell me to just swap trucks with him. So I go to uncouple this truck from the tanker. Landing gear down, lines unhooked and pin pulled for the second time. Now their truck won't go in to gear (automatic)! Transmission service light flashing when I put it in gear, but it won't move. I'm more than a little perturbed at this point. They tell me to shut it down for 15 minutes and it should reset. So I do and guess what? You got it! Still the same thing.

In the meantime they other driver shows up. While Jax is trying to figure out what to do next, I have him pull his truck next to mine and I hook my tanker hose to his PTO blower and get the rest of my cement unloaded. My PTO went out at 8:05 and it's after 12:00 now, but I got my load delivered!

Jax decides to send a wrecker back out to get the truck and tanker and tow them in and for me to just ride in to their terminal with the other driver. We get there and they are replacing the PTO on my truck. Seems that a bearing went bad. They'll have it done by the time the wrecker gets back with their truck and my tanker.

It's after 3:00 by the time I leave Jax and head back. I call my dispatch and they tell me to get on back, but make sure I preload my tanker before I come to the terminal. Not gonna say what was going through my mind to say, but I just said okay.

Made it back to the terminal, turned in all my paperwork and bout to head to the house. My dispatcher catches me outside and asks if I preloaded my tanker and I said yes, Well, this other driver wasn't able to get back in time to get his done and he was supposed to take a load to Tallahassee the next day (Saturday) by 8:00. He asked me if I wanted to take the load. I gave him a look and he quickly said that I didn't have to do it, but if I didn't, I'd need to drop my tanker so the other driver could take it. I was NOT dropping another dang time that day so I told him I'd take it.

I left out Saturday morning at 5:00, got to Tallahassee, pumped off my tank no problems and drove back to the terminal. I was sweating bullets the whole time that something else bad was going to happen. Sure wish my first day had gone that smooth.

If the trucking god's were wanting to see if I had what it took, I think I showed them I did by taking that load the next day after the day from hell I had when I didn't have to. I know things aren't always going to go smooth in this industry, but I sure wouldn't have minded having a day like this later down the road rather than on my first day solo! I survived, nobody died and I'm trucking on!

Heck, you kept the shiny side up. You had a good day. Any day you make it back to the terminal safely is a good day.

What kind of job would this be if you did not have challenges?

Good you got it out of the way at the start! I spent my first week dealing with problems - no repeats. But a blown PTO? Using three trucks to make one delivery? What are the odds of that all at one time?

You make a valid point Pat M. It could have been worse.

Errol V., I don't know what the odds are, but I dang sure wouldn't have taken a bet like that because they have to be pretty high!

I knew from reading a lot of the posts on here that this is an industry fraught with trials and tribulations. You deal with them and move on or you get the heck out of it. I'm no quitter!