During the two hours spent awaiting the arrival of the tow truck, I once again questioned whether I was cut out for this. For all I knew, this would mark the end of my brief trucking career. I had, however, learned another hard lesson.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, driver responsibilities, First Solo Months On The Road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving stories
I learned two things from a recent misadventure: first, that being safe out here requires being careful and being lucky and, second, that I needed to keep my head screwed on straight in a time of crisis. I had made the wrong initial decision, but I had gotten lucky—next time, I might not.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, driver responsibilities, First Solo Months On The Road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving stories, trucking accident
On September 10th of 2009 things changed. We have to go back to school!!! Before that date for the Netherlands it was enough to get your Truck Driver’s Diploma and that was it for life. In order to get this diploma you had to do three courses: Traffic rules for Big vehicles, Auto-(truck)Technique and Administration (paperwork and HOS). But from September 2009 on all truck drivers who live and work as a driver in the European community must go back to school.
After loading up some drywall that had to be tarped on a rainy day in a muddy mess of a parking lot I began to question whether or not becoming a truck driving was a mistake.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, driver responsibilities, First Solo Months On The Road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road
I work the night shift and haul carfuells. That work goes on for 24 hours almost 7 days. The Netherlands is not that big and most of the work is in our own part of Holland.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, Trucking In Europe, Women In Trucking, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged driver responsibilities, Great Stories, hauling car fuel, Stories of the Road, Trucking In Europe, Women In Trucking
The first delivery of my first full solo week was to Simpsonville, South Carolina. This one, thankfully, went very smoothly; the directions were accurate, it was easy to get to, and they had me unloaded quickly. This trend, however, would prove to be of the one-in-a-row variety and I came across some odd sitings!
Filed under Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged being a truck driver, driver responsibilities, First Solo Months On The Road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
After saying goodbye to my trainer, it was time to set out on my first solo run. And what an adventure it turned out to be!
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, being a truck driver, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
Recently, I was contacted by an individual who is interested in becoming a truck driver. He asked me several questions about the trucking industry and about my job. I thought they were excellent questions and decided it would be great to share on my blog for any of you interested in becoming a truck driver. I hope this helps answer some of the questions you might have!
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, being a truck driver, driver responsibilities, getting your CDL, life on the road, truck driving career, truck driving lifestyle
The first couple of weeks on the road driving flatbed were hard, because my body was not conditioned to this pace, this type of work, or these long hours. I lost most of the feeling in the tips of my fingers, and I had aches in places where I would have sworn I didn’t have muscles.
Filed under Becoming A Truck Driver, Great Stories, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Becoming A Truck Driver, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road, truck driver training, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
Wow, it’s hard to believe, but I’ve been at my current employer for 1 year as of today. I began Truck Driving School in January of 2009, completed that in February of 2009, and was hired on in March of 2009. This post will simply serve as some observations that I’ve made as my first year of a truck driver.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, being a truck driver, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, First year on the road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
The Qualcomm system at most companies have directions to customers listed, but a lot of the time the directions are wrong. Unfortunately, even when dispatchers and customers know the directions are wrong nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it. Here’s an example of the mess it can cause.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Cathy and Steve's Story, Great Stories, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Bad directions, Cathy and Steve's Story, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Qualcomm directions, truck driving lifestyle
Until recently, I had never actually been on Donner’s Pass in California. Donners Pass is usually touted as one of the more dangerous areas for truck drivers and is the site of many fatal accidents. It’s quite an experience! I had the pleasure of going through it at night. I would have liked to take it during the day so I could see some of the scenery around me, but I’m sure I’ll get that chance in the future. I was still able to make some key observations though…
Posted by
Guyjax on
25 February 2010, 10:23 am
Would you drive a truck if the trucking company you worked for only paid you enough to cover your bills at home and your meals, but nothing more after that? For me the answer would be yes. I love driving and I would do it for free. Trucking is in my blood. Do you love driving a truck? Really love it? If so, then trucking is in your blood. To me, there is a difference between liking your job and loving it. Liking your job means you enjoy going to work, you enjoy the people you work with, you enjoy doing your job. Loving your job means you would do it for free! For me, trucking fits the bill.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, driver responsibilities, Knights Of The Road, life on the road, truck driving career
In the past, truckers were known as “Knights of the Road”. Those days are long forgotten, though, and through time the truckers and their rigs have lost their knightly reputation. Truckers are no longer depicted in a positive light and the situation looks like it may be getting worse for a number of reasons, including our own (lack of) pride and personal discipline, attitude, driving skills, and factors outside of our control including the media, more dangers on the highway, and recent waves of terrorism. Is there anything we can do to improve our reputations? Oh indeed there is plenty we can do.
Posted by
Rhonda on
20 January 2010, 3:00 pm
With all the fuel that drivers purchase, it’s wise to get the driver payback cards from the truck stops that offer them. Its free, and it’s a way of saying thank you to the professional driver. For each gallon of fuel purchased, you get 1 cent/point put on the card. You can use these points [...]
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, Women In Trucking, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories, Women In Trucking