I need a hat, a chain for my wallet & a can of snuff.

dpkimmel2001 said:
Went over a bunch of paperwork yesterday. Where things get filled out, signed, etc.... Lots of paperwork associated with a single load.
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I understand. Imagine the paperwork involved with the loads we carried. At least I wasn't as rushed as you. Our travel times were in day's and weeks not hours so I had plenty of time to do it.
 
Picked up a load for another driver this morning. Was only a 10 minute ride and 2 hours to load. During the post trip inspection I found a bad tire on the trailer. It has to be repaired before it's too down to North Carolina this afternoon. They did the repair and the load is on its way.
 
It sounds like you are doing an awesome job so far. Sometime when you are laying over in Charlotte and have the time you should rent a car and go to the Richard Childress Racing Museum in Lexington NC. It is across the street from Richard Petty's new shop and the RCR race shop. You can also go in the RCR shop and look around. The museum is actually the old RCR shop and I couldn't believe how interesting it was. I saw a lit up sign on the window of a door that said "on the air" and when I looked inside I saw Chocolate Myers sitting there broadcasting and he gave me a smile and a wave. Then I walked through the race hauler that hauled Dale Earnhardt's cars. You can easily spend a couple of hours or more in that museum. It is set up just like it was when they worked out of it and you can even see the office that Richard Childress worked out of. I also went to Penske, KBM, Dale Jr, Ganassi, Stewart Haas, Roush, and HMS in the past 2 days. On the way back to Concord we drove past DEI but it looked deserted.:( This week off relaxing is wearing me out.:)
 
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Nitro Dude said:
It sounds like you are doing an awesome job so far. Sometime when you are laying over in Charlotte and have the time you should rent a car and go to the Richard Childress Racing Museum in Lexington NC. It is across the street from Richard Petty's new shop and the RCR race shop. You can also go in the RCR shop and look around. The museum is actually the old RCR shop and I couldn't believe how interesting it was. I saw a lit up sign on the window of a door that said "on the air" and when I looked inside I saw Chocolate Myers sitting there broadcasting and he gave me a smile and a wave. Then I walked through the race hauler that hauled Dale Earnhardt's cars. You can easily spend a couple of hours or more in that museum. It is set up just like it was when they worked out of it and you can even see the office that Richard Childress worked out of. I also went to Penske, KBM, Dale Jr, Ganassi, Stewart Haas, Roush, and HMS in the past 2 days. On the way back to Concord we drove past DEI but it looked deserted.:( This week off relaxing is wearing me out.:)
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Two years ago when we went to the 600 we spent 4 days taking in all of the shops including the Hall Of Fame. One of the most impressive was the JRM shop. We had been to the shops many times but it's different when you wander around as a tourist. A helluva good time.
 
Not a lot to report at the moment. Training is going slow at the home terminal. Doing a lot a preloads for other drivers. I'm going to be taking a single load tomorrow that is to be offloaded at the three separate locations for the same paving company. It's going to be offloaded into large totes/containers. Will probably be a long day as it's a lengthy process.
 
Yesterday had gone pretty much as I thought it would. It was a drawn out process with three delivery points out of the same load. The off load to the totes is a lot different than just hooking up the hose and offloading. It takes a lot more time but it's a simple process. When this type of process is done, a nozzle is used at the end of the hose. Company policy is that we are not allowed to use the nozzle ourselves. Not that we couldn't but someone has to be in control of any emergency actions at the truck/product discharge point and you can't do that standing at the other end of the hose 20+ feet away. This load required the use of the on-board air compressor to push the product out of the tank. Being that it was an oil based lubricant heated to around 160 degrees, it pushed out the hose rapidly. The tank was only at about 15psi but that seems to be a lot of pressure when it comes to pushing liquid out of a tank.

Another thing that was interesting was that I got to experience the same tanker & product hauled at three different levels. Because the product was heated it moved around a lot while driving. Anything but smooth movements while driving caused the liquid to move to the point that it was a constant reminder that it was there. This was magnified after each stop because of less product being in the tank. Less product means more room for it to move around the tank. It also meant a much lighter load after each delivery point. These weren't subtle changes. It basically felt like four different tankers starting around 6000 gallons, then 4000, 2000 and then empty.

Bottom line..... Respect those trucks that are out on the road. Give them room & don't expect them to be able to react like the car, SUV or pickup you're driving. Loaded, many are running @ 70,000+ lbs and they aren't going to be able to stop in time should you decide to cut in front of them to make a turn. Give them space and let them roll on through. They're going to go slow up those hills and around many turns. Laws of physics. I understand we may be in your way but if you give us the space and time, you'll get around us and continue on your journey and everyone gets to their destination safely. Me, I'm going the speed limit and nothing more. Less in many cases. That's not because I'm trying to piss off the driver(s) behind me. I'm not going to drive beyond my or the setup capabilities so that we all get there safe and on time.

Next up, I'm actually off for a few days. I'll still be towing though. In a few minutes I'll be hooking up to my 40ft 5er heading out to Philly through Sunday. It's the 125th annual Penn Relays. The oldest track meet in the history of the sport. Thousands of athletes from all over the world will be competing at the high school, collegiate & professional levels over 4 days. I know the sport is not interesting to many but it's something that both my wife and I have looked forward to for years.

Have a good week/weekend people.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Yesterday had gone pretty much as I thought it would. It was a drawn out process with three delivery points out of the same load. The off load to the totes is a lot different than just hooking up the hose and offloading. It takes a lot more time but it's a simple process. When this type of process is done, a nozzle is used at the end of the hose. Company policy is that we are not allowed to use the nozzle ourselves. Not that we couldn't but someone has to be in control of any emergency actions at the truck/product discharge point and you can't do that standing at the other end of the hose 20+ feet away. This load required the use of the on-board air compressor to push the product out of the tank. Being that it was an oil based lubricant heated to around 160 degrees, it pushed out the hose rapidly. The tank was only at about 15psi but that seems to be a lot of pressure when it comes to pushing liquid out of a tank.

Another thing that was interesting was that I got to experience the same tanker & product hauled at three different levels. Because the product was heated it moved around a lot while driving. Anything but smooth movements while driving caused the liquid to move to the point that it was a constant reminder that it was there. This was magnified after each stop because of less product being in the tank. Less product means more room for it to move around the tank. It also meant a much lighter load after each delivery point. These weren't subtle changes. It basically felt like four different tankers starting around 6000 gallons, then 4000, 2000 and then empty.

Bottom line..... Respect those trucks that are out on the road. Give them room & don't expect them to be able to react like the car, SUV or pickup you're driving. Loaded, many are running @ 70,000+ lbs and they aren't going to be able to stop in time should you decide to cut in front of them to make a turn. Give them space and let them roll on through. They're going to go slow up those hills and around many turns. Laws of physics. I understand we may be in your way but if you give us the space and time, you'll get around us and continue on your journey and everyone gets to their destination safely. Me, I'm going the speed limit and nothing more. Less in many cases. That's not because I'm trying to piss off the driver(s) behind me. I'm not going to drive beyond my or the setup capabilities so that we all get there safe and on time.

Next up, I'm actually off for a few days. I'll still be towing though. In a few minutes I'll be hooking up to my 40ft 5er heading out to Philly through Sunday. It's the 125th annual Penn Relays. The oldest track meet in the history of the sport. Thousands of athletes from all over the world will be competing at the high school, collegiate & professional levels over 4 days. I know the sport is not interesting to many but it's something that both my wife and I have looked forward to for years.

Have a good week/weekend people.
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Enjoy yourselves and tell her good luck and that we're pulling for her.
 
Thank you for another interesting and informative post.
Don't stop, keep them coming.

Enjoy your time at the field meet and best of luck to your daughter if she is participating. Best of luck to her if she isn't taking part. She must be an exceptional young lady from what little I know of her and that is only what you post.
 
Hauled a load of waste water to a treatment plant today. No, not that kind of waste water. I'm talking about water once it's been used to clean a tanker. That water needs to be hauled to a treatment plant to be cleaned. Not a long haul but more experience none the less.

Tomorrow's trip will be more lengthy. A little over 500 miles out and back. Going to be a long day. Not sure what the chemical is that I'll be hauling. Scheduled for pickup at 10am. Delivery can be anytime before Wednesday afternoon.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Hauled a load of waste water to a treatment plant today. No, not that kind of waste water. I'm talking about water once it's been used to clean a tanker. That water needs to be hauled to a treatment plant to be cleaned. Not a long haul but more experience none the less.

Tomorrow's trip will be more lengthy. A little over 500 miles out and back. Going to be a long day. Not sure what the chemical is that I'll be hauling. Scheduled for pickup at 10am. Delivery can be anytime before Wednesday afternoon.
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Sounds like you're getting the hang of things, dpk. Keep up the good work.
 
Ended up only pre-loading the load for tomorrow. Trainer didn't want to do the entire run on a single day from start to finish. Looks like we're going to leave at 3am tomorrow for the run. Now, I'm an early riser but that's early. Oh well, there day should fly by tomorrow. Should be about 8 hours of driving and 2 to offload.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Ended up only pre-loading the load for tomorrow. Trainer didn't want to do the entire run on a single day from start to finish. Looks like we're going to leave at 3am tomorrow for the run. Now, I'm an early riser but that's early. Oh well, there day should fly by tomorrow. Should be about 8 hours of driving and 2 to offload.
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I had something happen after I left Charlotte that I have never had happen in the 40 plus years that I have been driving trucks. I thumped all of the tires just like I always do before I leave anywhere and they all sounded good but when I arrived at the Petro truck stop in Ga one of the inside tires on the trailer looked like it had blown out. I have new tires put on the truck and trailer at the start of the season every 2 years so it should not blow out. While they were taking it off to put a new one on I was scratching my head trying to figure out why it would have blown. The road was cool while I was driving and I only drove 65 mph all of the way here. After they got it off the mystery was solved...when they mounted the tires they didn't tighten the valve stems good and one vibrated loose and came off of the wheel. I had them check the others on the trailer and 4 out of 8 were getting loose so he tightened all of them up and I paid the $613.00 bill and now I'm ready to go to the track in the morning.:)
 
All good stuff from NitroDude and DPK!! Keep the stories coming!! It is, to me anyway, interesting to learn the trials and good things that take place.
Thinking how interesting it will be to learn of Johali's experiences as he gets his travel adventure going.
 
I've been getting to haul a lot more loads these past few days. All the loads have been out of the same local plants. Some going directly to the customer and some are just pre-loads taken back to the yard for someone else to haul.

Today will consist of two more pre-loads. It normally takes about 2 hours to load or unload one of these loads. Time varies according to a number of factors. Obviously volume but also viscosity. The thicker the product, the slower it is. Also, the means by which it's off-loaded. On-board or customer air. On-board or customer pump. All of those things come into play. There's also the plants protocol that is a factor. For example, one local plant requires a full inspection of the trailer prior to loading. There are a lot of parts and pieces to one of these tankers. Everything is examined. Once inspected, you're then released to load.

After today, I believe that I will have 8 more days of upcoming training. The current trainer that I am with is from another terminal and he's going home this weekend. He normally runs local to his terminal and made an exception to come be my trainer because we are short on trainers here. I'm contemplating going to his location over the next two weeks to get in these final 8 days. If the powers that be agree, I think that's what I'll do. After those 8 days, I still have 5 days of corporate training at yet another terminal. I'm scheduled to go there the week leading up to the Memorial Day weekend. While this is a lengthy process I certainly understand its importance. It'll all pay off in the end and the end is in sight.

Heading out for yet another track meet @ Princeton this weekend and next weekend. This weekend are all of the NCAA Divisional Championships across the county. The next week are NCAA Regional Championships. Fortunately the are both being held at the same location this season. Lots of extra driving wrapped around a new career in driving. Luvin' every minute of it.
 
Decided to head to West Virginia for a week of training. Here now. Just checked into the hotel. Going to make a run to Columbus Ohio tomorrow morning. Not sure what we're hauling but I understand that this is a daily run from the location I'm at.

Still have 8 days left of driver training and 5 days off corporate training left. Getting closer to going on my own. Can't wait but I guess I'll have to.
 
I find it especially interesting how much time is put into training a driver by the company you are driving for. This must be an exceptional company geared (pun intended) toward safety. I'll bet their accident and worker injury rates are well below the national averages. After dealing with some of the semi's out there, doubtful much time was spent training their drivers and the rigs look like refugees from a junk yard. Love to see a photo of one of your rigs.
Keep the stories coming!! Really enjoying your experiences.
 
Columbus Ohio..... Richmond Virginia..... And now Asheboro North Carolina. Getting some miles in today. Still just day trips with a trainer. This is my fourth, and I believe my final, trainer since I started. Still have this week and next to finish driver training. Then I'll be heading to South Carolina for a weeks worth of corporate training. After that, I should be issued a truck.

Perhaps, after I've finished my training and I'm on my own, I'll post a picture of the rig that I am driving. I'm not sure of company policy so I'll do it I'm allowed. Lots of rules these days so you never know.
 
I'm so loving your stories, dpk. Gives me a glimpse of an occupation I really don't know anything about.
I'm with Whizzer, wish every big rig driver had the same training you're getting.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
I'm so loving your stories, dpk. Gives me a glimpse of an occupation I really don't know anything about.
I'm with Whizzer, wish every big rig driver had the same training you're getting.
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An occupation that we are both learning something about every time I go somewhere. Every single place has been a new learning experience. Today, I'm about to park on a hill that is so steep, I'm going to be afraid to get out of the truck. I'm just sitting here waiting for people to get out of the way for me to pull in. It's about to get real interesting.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
An occupation that we are both learning something about every time I go somewhere. Every single place has been a new learning experience. Today, I'm about to park on a hill that is so steep, I'm going to be afraid to get out of the truck. I'm just sitting here waiting for people to get out of the way for me to pull in. It's about to get real interesting.
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At least it's hot out and no ice on the ground. :D
 
Johali said:
At least it's hot out and no ice on the ground. :D
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Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that at all. Heck, when I pulled into this current location I had to drive up an incline in gravel. Under load I'm at 78,000+ lbs. I had to lock in both tandems and go like hell. I was still spinning until I hit asphalt.

The load is about 2/3 empty now. It's being pumped off through a 3" hose. Should be done soon. It's be about a 5 hour drive back to West Virginia. At least being empty I'll be able to almost maintain speed up those hills. :cool:
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that at all. Heck, when I pulled into this current location I had to drive up an incline in gravel. Under load I'm at 78,000+ lbs. I had to lock in both tandems and go like hell. I was still spinning until I hit asphalt.

The load is about 2/3 empty now. It's being pumped off through a 3" hose. Should be done soon. It's be about a 5 hour drive back to West Virginia. At least being empty I'll be able to almost maintain speed up those hills. :cool:
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You want to be very careful when you have tires spinning and then grabs suddenly...it can break the power devider in the front rear end.
 
Nitro Dude said:
I had something happen after I left Charlotte that I have never had happen in the 40 plus years that I have been driving trucks. I thumped all of the tires just like I always do before I leave anywhere and they all sounded good but when I arrived at the Petro truck stop in Ga one of the inside tires on the trailer looked like it had blown out. I have new tires put on the truck and trailer at the start of the season every 2 years so it should not blow out. While they were taking it off to put a new one on I was scratching my head trying to figure out why it would have blown. The road was cool while I was driving and I only drove 65 mph all of the way here. After they got it off the mystery was solved...when they mounted the tires they didn't tighten the valve stems good and one vibrated loose and came off of the wheel. I had them check the others on the trailer and 4 out of 8 were getting loose so he tightened all of them up and I paid the $613.00 bill and now I'm ready to go to the track in the morning.:)
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Oof. That's a tough pill to swallow. Especially with how the weekend went.

Do the valvestems take a locknut on the backside like a race wheel? or do they just thread into the shell on an alcoa?
 
Made it to Columbus pulling into bay #1 of 6 as instructed. Hooked up all the 2" hose sections along with getting the tank pressure up to the desired pressure. Then they come out and tell me that I need to move to Bay #3. Unhook the hoses, move the hoses, move the truck. Rehook the hoses, pressurize the tank to the plants 30psi output and crack open the valves. Then I'm told that's too much pressure. Rather than then adjusting the pressure at their regulator, I have to man the valve watching the pressure gauge to make sure it maintains 12psi. Shouldn't be my problem but it is my problem. 1st I've encountered this. Learned something new today.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Made it to Columbus pulling into bay #1 of 6 as instructed. Hooked up all the 2" hose sections along with getting the tank pressure up to the desired pressure. Then they come out and tell me that I need to move to Bay #3. Unhook the hoses, move the hoses, move the truck. Rehook the hoses, pressurize the tank to the plants 30psi output and crack open the valves. Then I'm told that's too much pressure. Rather than then adjusting the pressure at their regulator, I have to man the valve watching the pressure gauge to make sure it maintains 12psi. Shouldn't be my problem but it is my problem. 1st I've encountered this. Learned something new today.
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The customer is always right? :D
 
Whizzer said:
HEY!! Look at the bright side. You did learn something new today. Never mess with a woman who speaks broken English. (just kidding) :rolleyes:
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I'm learning something new every day..... That's for sure. What I'm learning right now is that I've been sitting in stopped traffic for over an hour waiting on a wreck to be cleared. Can't see it from my location but it sounds pretty bad. They had to cut people out of the wreckage. Hopefully nobody was too badly hurt.
 
Didn't hear the results of yesterday's accident but what I saw of it when I passed did not look good.

Last day of my 1st week here in West Virginia. Heading home mid day and then out to Princeton NJ on Saturday/Sunday for the ECAC Championship Track Meet. Then back here early Monday for my last week of driver training. Getting closer every day.
 
Today's load us a simple delivery of a preloaded tank to a local plant. I guess all I have to do is park it and they do all the work offloading. When it's done, I drive it back here and drop the tank off to be washed.

I understand that in order for me to get into this plant, I have to watch some sort of video and then take a test to get a card for entry. These cards are valid normally from 6 months to a year and then the same process would have to be completed. I've got a few cards over these weeks of training. Not many places do this but it seems the larger ones do.
 
Magnethead said:
Oof. That's a tough pill to swallow. Especially with how the weekend went.

Do the valvestems take a locknut on the backside like a race wheel? or do they just thread into the shell on an alcoa?
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The trailer has a nut on the outside that threads on to the stem.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Today's load us a simple delivery of a preloaded tank to a local plant. I guess all I have to do is park it and they do all the work offloading. When it's done, I drive it back here and drop the tank off to be washed.
I understand that in order for me to get into this plant, I have to watch some sort of video and then take a test to get a card for entry. These cards are valid normally from 6 months to a year and then the same process would have to be completed. I've got a few cards over these weeks of training. Not many places do this but it seems the larger ones do.
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I doubt the average person has any idea of the measures that are required t opicup and deliver with a semi. My thought has been a reflection of when I drove and then stop to pause and think, that was sixty years ago!!

Keep the reports coming. They are fun to read and tell a lot more about driving a truck than most people envision.
 
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