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

Back in Charleston WV for my final week of driver training. Only 3 days left! Did the usual run to Columbus OH from this location earlier today. Still have to go to South Carolina next week for 5 days of corporate training after which I should be released to be on my own. It's been a fun journey so far. Can't wait to get on my own except for one thing..... dining alone. I'm currently sitting as a party of one at a table that seats six. The place is packed. I got to say that I feel very out of place. On the bright side, I don't have to share my complimentary nacho chips with anyone. On the bad side, having a CDL license prevents me from enjoying a cold beer with dinner. :(
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Back in Charleston WV for my final week of driver training. Only 3 days left! Did the usual run to Columbus OH from this location earlier today. Still have to go to South Carolina next week for 5 days of corporate training after which I should be released to be on my own. It's been a fun journey so far. Can't wait to get on my own except for one thing..... dining alone. I'm currently sitting as a party of one at a table that seats six. The place is packed. I got to say that I feel very out of place. On the bright side, I don't have to share my complimentary nacho chips with anyone. On the bad side, having a CDL license prevents me from enjoying a cold beer with dinner. :(
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Just smile and say to yourself "I've got a great job, steady paycheck and make good money". :D
 
I know what you mean about dining alone. While it was infrequent, during the years I traveled to tractor plow days I always went alone and eating without company makes me long for home cooking and my Bride, who is my best friend but at least I could have a beer with the meal.
It must be some good company you are driving for because they are making sure you jump though all the hoops and dot all the "i's".
All that being said, I think the commercial transport company got the better end of the deal.
Look forward to hearing more of your adventures. :)
 
Whizzer said:
I know what you mean about dining alone. While it was infrequent, during the years I traveled to tractor plow days I always went alone and eating without company makes me long for home cooking and my Bride, who is my best friend but at least I could have a beer with the meal.
It must be some good company you are driving for because they are making sure you jump though all the hoops and dot all the "i's".
All that being said, I think the commercial transport company got the better end of the deal.
Look forward to hearing more of your adventures. :)
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Yeah, they seem pretty good. I'm still learning every day so it's all more than worth it.

Today is all pre-loading. Three more loads to do today. Lots of sitting around waiting and very little hands on. Mostly hooking unhooking and backing. All good practice. Lots of paperwork. Lots of Qualcomm entries. Lots of web browsing using up my allotted cell phone data package. I need to switch to unlimited.

About the beer..... I don't think I can have any amount of alcohol in my system and be behind the wheel of anything. I believe I'd lose my license even under the legal limit. Not with it. I can drink at home or have a designated driver. That's the norm for me anyhow. It's just nice to have a beer with dinner and that's missed right now.

Thanks for the compliment.
 
Loading the 2nd of four loads now. The place I'm at has scales all over the place. At this particular site you're instructed where to go to load. You pull onto that scale and then someone comes out, opens the dome, and starts loading. Load times vary depending on viscosity, temperature and connection size. Most loads seem to be accomplished start to finish in under two hours.

Driving through some of these facilities is interesting. Lots of tight spaces, 90 degree turns, pedestrians, guys on bicycles, forklifts, etc... Not really trucker friendly. This place is actually located on an island connected to the mainland with a single lane bridge used for both vehicle and rail traffic. I think the trains only move through here at night.

The place smells which makes me kinda wonder if it's perfectly fine to take a breath here. From my parked location I can see a couple other truck being loaded or offloaded. Hard to tell the difference from this distance.

It's a hot day sitting in the confined space of a not running truck. The Sun's heat is only magnified by all of the glass surrounding me in this day cab. Not sure if I've mentioned previously that I've been running a day cab down here in West Virginia. It's not what I'll be driving but the dash and controls are likely what I'll have. Turning is somewhat different with the shorter wheelbase. Backing too.

Too many pipes to count here. Same with the tanks. Makes one wonder just what is all around you.
 
Finally getting the last load loaded now. I get to do one more of these preloads tomorrow at a different plant. They aren't much fun but the pays good. I'd rather be driving. That'll be coming soon though.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Loading the 2nd of four loads now. The place I'm at has scales all over the place. At this particular site you're instructed where to go to load. You pull onto that scale and then someone comes out, opens the dome, and starts loading. Load times vary depending on viscosity, temperature and connection size. Most loads seem to be accomplished start to finish in under two hours.

Driving through some of these facilities is interesting. Lots of tight spaces, 90 degree turns, pedestrians, guys on bicycles, forklifts, etc... Not really trucker friendly. This place is actually located on an island connected to the mainland with a single lane bridge used for both vehicle and rail traffic. I think the trains only move through here at night.

The place smells which makes me kinda wonder if it's perfectly fine to take a breath here. From my parked location I can see a couple other truck being loaded or offloaded. Hard to tell the difference from this distance.

It's a hot day sitting in the confined space of a not running truck. The Sun's heat is only magnified by all of the glass surrounding me in this day cab. Not sure if I've mentioned previously that I've been running a day cab down here in West Virginia. It's not what I'll be driving but the dash and controls are likely what I'll have. Turning is somewhat different with the shorter wheelbase. Backing too.

Too many pipes to count here. Same with the tanks. Makes one wonder just what is all around you.
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get you one of these if they have that shut off the motor stuff going. It will run as long as it takes to unload, all night also and you can recharge it and hang it anywhere.
It won't let me post it. But it is on amazon called Opolar battery powered rechargable fan. 30 bucks. I had one similar, but this one is better.
 
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StandOnIt said:
get you one of these if they have that shut off the motor stuff going. It will run as long as it takes to unload, all night also and you can recharge it and hang it anywhere.
It won't let me post it. But it is on amazon called Opolar battery powered rechargable fan. 30 bucks. I had one similar, but this one is better.
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Thanks, I'll check it out.

The company I'm working for has no problem with the idle, it's the policy of the chemical plants.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Thanks, I'll check it out.

The company I'm working for has no problem with the idle, it's the policy of the chemical plants.
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yeah I know. It's spotty not hauling Hazmat loads. I used to snag a load in my dry box close to the house at Sand Springs Ok going to Houston with 6 different chemicals in 6 different totes. It was some nasty smelling stuff and I flew 4 different placards. Paid well, but I was always glad to see it get gone. Some of that stuff doesn't play well together.
 
One preload and two trailer pickups today. I believe that's all that's on the schedule. Left at 530 this morning to a plant only about 60 miles away. Probably about a half hour into the loading process now. Had to watch another video to gain entry into this location. Got another card that will expire after a years time. I'd then have to watch the video again.

It was fairly simple navigating around this plant. Scaled in and will scale out as they don't load on scales here. It'll be a short drive back to drop off this trailer. I'll then go to pick up the first of two empty trailers to shuttle back to our Charleston WV facility. These two tankers required some kind of special wash that our location can't perform. I'm finding so far that there isn't any single location that can handle washing all the different products that could possibly be hauled.

After today, I'll be in my final day of driver training. While some of the days have been long ones time flies by quickly. It won't be long and I'll be without a passenger. I don't know what the solo trucker life will feel like but I hope it's much the same. I'm currently with my fourth driver trainer. I will have spent three weeks with him after tomorrow. It's been a good ride with all of them and I've learned a tremendous amount with each.

Welp, I'm loaded err the tank is. Time to roll.
 
Preload delivered. Time to go pick up a couple emptys..... Which reminds me that I need to stop and pick up a case of beer on the way home tomorrow night. Going to do a little celebrating this weekend with driver training in the rearview.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Preload delivered. Time to go pick up a couple emptys..... Which reminds me that I need to stop and pick up a case of beer on the way home tomorrow night. Going to do a little celebrating this weekend with driver training in the rearview.
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Congratulations. One more phase before being on your own.
 
Day #30 of driver training. The last day of this phase. One offload and one preload left and then I head home for a couple days. Tomorrow morning I'll drive over to my local terminal and hopefully get a chance to find out what tractor I'll be assigned to. In any event, I should get to know the plan moving forward. I do know though that next up is
coporate training in South Carolina. I'll head there Sunday morning and spend Monday through Friday in classes going over just about everything having to do with this job.

What a fast change of a career path this has been. I never sat in the driver's seat of a big truck before February 11th. A lot can be accomplished in a short period of time.
 
Just about done with my last load during driver training.

Here's something I found interesting..... Not sure I mentioned this or not but many of these chemicals are loaded at high temperatures. The tankers are so well insulated that very little heat is lost in transit. In the winter they actually plug lines into the tractors radiator system to pump hot liquid around the tank exterior but under the skin that you see when they're going down the road. The interesting thing that I saw today is that they apparently loaded one of our tanks too hot. The temp is hotter than the client wants it delivered at. Therefore they have to cool it down. So, they end up leaving the tanker sit there with cold water hooked up to the system that normally keeps the product warm while it travels. It could take as much as a day or more to accomplish the reduction in temperature to the clients needs. Learn something new every day.
 
I hope you do not have to pull a tanker anywhere around Atlanta. I came through there this afternoon and it was a sea of big rigs bumper to bumper for miles and miles going zero to barely moving in the south bound lane of I-75. All this was the result of rubbernecking over a wreck in the north bound lane, which had a 12 mile backup and rerouting going on. Even without this today, The Atlanta area is a freaking zoo on the roads.
BTY, I-20 was also closed for a wreck, my GPS on my phone gave me the grand tour to get around all this.
 
Arrived in South Carolina for this week's corporate training. Pretty tired after the drive. Late night last night and then up early this morning to get down here. Nap time.

Can't wait to get through this week.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Arrived in South Carolina for this week's corporate training. Pretty tired after the drive. Late night last night and then up early this morning to get down here. Nap time.

Can't wait to get through this week.
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Wow, that was quick. How long were you at home?
 
As you well know a good company has to be very careful in these day's of frivolous lawsuits. To me a hard job to get was more satisfying. I was lucky and only had to do it once in 42 years though.
 
Man, the detail that is gone over here is incredible. Learning a lot. Today's all about Hazmat. At times kind of the Scared Straight version. I'll be hauling some crazy stuff. Full chem suit type products from time to time. Things gotta get from point A to point B somehow. I'll be taking my time, that's for sure.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Man, the detail that is gone over here is incredible. Learning a lot. Today's all about Hazmat. At times kind of the Scared Straight version. I'll be hauling some crazy stuff. Full chem suit type products from time to time. Things gotta get from point A to point B somehow. I'll be taking my time, that's for sure.
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Same thing aboard ships. You name it we hauled it. Safety meetings, drills and refreshers at least once a week and before handling certain products.
 
Was outa the loop for a few days but am glad to be back and reading your updates. Keep'em coming!! I doubt most people ever knew there was so much to learn to drive a truck and continuing education after all is said and done.

I know what SDJ means about driving around Atlanta. Got my initiation driving a 36 foot motorhome pulling a Jeep Cherokee through there in 1989 early afternoon and it was slow going to say the least.
 
Day #4 of 5. Only one more day!

Yesterday was mostly about paperwork and offloading techniques. All good stuff but it made for a long day.

Today is about the Smith Driving System. You'll have to Google it but let's just say that I will be certified in it after the day is over.

We are currently going, as a class, to lunch. It's a buffet and we make up some pretty large men. They may just kick our butts out of that place before we're through.

I'm really looking forward to all of this training being over with the exception of the drive home on the Friday night of a holiday weekend. Going to be a long night.
 
Today is full of signing papers. Lots of forms to fill out so I can be released to drive in my own. Everything has now been signed and faxed into corporate. Waiting for the official word back. Once that's complete, I think I'll be introduced to my tractor. I don't know that the give me anything to do today or not?
 
Got my truck. I found two things wrong with it that need corrected before I can head out. One was that the fuel filter needed replaced as it said that there was water in the fuel line. Probably due to the truck sitting on the lot for a while. The other is that there's a crack in the windshield. This company won't send out any truck with a cracked windshield. They are going to replace it in the morning.

The good thing about all of this is that I still get payed as I was to report here at 8am. I'll get paid for the entire day since I'm working on issues related to the truck. Hooking up the cb radio. Outfitting with all the necessary fittings & straps. There are lots of things to check on.
 
Today ended up being a bust as far as hauling anything anywhere. Not too big a deal as I'll be paid anyhow. Tomorrow will begin a true test of what I've learned thus far.

The day will start with hauling an empty trailer about and hour and a half. I'll then have it preloaded to take back to my terminal for someone else to haul. Basically I'll just be dropping it off.

Then I'll hook up another empty to drag across the state to just south of Philly. There I'll pick up a preloaded trailer and bring it back to off load it somewhere in the Pittsburgh area. From there I'll be taking that empty back to my terminal. That will end up being an overnight trip.

It's about to get interesting.
 
Sounds like things are starting to get interesting. Keep the reports coming. I really enjoy your "adventure" and look for your posts before going to the Podium, and that's saying something!!
What make truck did you get? Engine size? Tranny automatic? Does it have a sleeper cab? Vitals, please. :)
 
Whizzer said:
Sounds like things are starting to get interesting. Keep the reports coming. I really enjoy your "adventure" and look for your posts before going to the Podium, and that's saying something!!
What make truck did you get? Engine size? Tranny automatic? Does it have a sleeper cab? Vitals, please. :)
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Make..... International
Engineer size..... :mad: Not big enough!
Automatic
W/sleeper
 
Completed the first real day of trucking yesterday. Preloaded yesterday morning East of Pittsburgh PA. Hauled that load back to our terminal. The driver that was to take it to its delivery point was already there waiting for it. I unhooked. Did my part trip and paperwork. Handed the paperwork to him and he was on his way.

Next, I hooked up to another empty and hauled it across i80 and down i476 to the Allentown service plaza where I spent the night. I have an 8am appointment just south of Philadelphia where I'll get the trailer loaded. Then, it's back to the home terminal in Western PA where I'll park it for the evening. I have an 8am appointment tomorrow to deliver just Northwest of Pittsburgh.

So..... My first experience at spending the night in the truck. I really thought that I'd have no problem getting a spot to park when I did my pre trip planning. I picked this location because of the number of spots and I'm familiar with the layout since my wife and I travel through here often. When I pulled in, I couldn't find a legal place to park. I thought I'd have to pull along the outskirts of the parking area. That probably would have been a restless night worrying that if have to move. Well after a half dozen times circling the parking lot, a space open up. I got parked. Called my better half and then worked on getting my bed ready for the night. I don't have a TV or anything for entertainment so I just ended up listening to the radio and browsing the net on my phone. I'm going to work on getting better prepared as the funds become available.

Running out of time now as I've got to start preparing to go. Not looking forward to the traffic this morning. Philly traffic always sucks.

More later.

I don't proofread any of these posts so my speelcheck sometimes changes words perhaps destroying the meaning but you'll get most of the meaning anyhow.
 
Thank you for the information. I know in the years my Bride and I traveled via motorhome and chasing the NASCAR circuit across the U.S. of A., we stopped at truck stops now and then to fuel up. It seemed as if they were always filled with truckers trying to grab forty winks before moving on. Rest stops along the interstates were as bad, if not worse and it all proves, "America's needs move by truck."

I read an article one time awhile back that said dependable drivers were a valuable commodity in the trucking business. I know, from your posts over the years, you are the type of employee they are looking for.
Guys like you give the industry a high mark in quality service.

Keep the reports coming and no worries over spell check. We all understand.

Damn spellcheck, anyway!
 
Made it to the load location. That's always a worry never have been somewhere before. Trust me, these locations are not obvious in the least. I missed a turn but realized it right away. I was able to backup and get going on the right direction. Even when I finally did pull into the complex I found that there are probably 30+ businesses here. There's nobody to tell you what direction to go but I was finally able to spot the place and get to their shipping/receiving office before they showed up for work. I was on time. Just barely but that doesn't matter.

So..... This kinda a neat place. I had to pull on scales outside to get weighed. Then I had to drive into this huge building full of railroad tankers. They are filling me from one of the tankers. Apparently the first tanker does not have enough to fill mine. I'll have to pull back out and get weighed again. Then, back in to top off from another railroad car tanker. Then, back to the scale. It's a little strange driving inside trying to miss railroad cars, totes, shelving and the like. And I get to do it twice.

Time to pull out and get scaled. I'll be back
 
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