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
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.
On occasion I get to go to a place called Springfield Underground. It started life as a mine for limestone and is now and underground storage facility. If you never thought you’d see a big rig driving through a cave, well here’s your chance!
I LOVE “normal” life. We got lots of errands done, I sold some stuff on Craigslist and Randy had a little pinstriping job – we made more money today than his last paycheck.
He keeps saying how nice it is to be home, and I keep telling him how nice it is to have him here. Home will soon be somewhere else, and we’re going to start moving tomorrow.
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
Posted by
Rhonda on
11 January 2010, 5:27 am
If you are the type of driver that thinks about the cost of doing business for your employer or the trucking industry in general, you are in the minority. If you’re not thinking about it, you should be – it has a major effect on your paycheck.
Life on the road is not getting any easier for Randy, and life at home without him is getting even worse. He’s due for home time and we’re hoping it comes real soon. This is getting to be unbearable.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, On The Road In Training, Rhonda & Randy's Story, Stories of the Road, truck driver training, truck driving lifestyle
I love being a truck driver, and certainly plan on doing this for a while. I’ve also found that as my experience grows, my enjoyment also continues to grow. I’m still considered a rookie with only 8 months experience, but the little experience I have is already paying off.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, First Solo Months On The Road, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
Last week was National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. It certainly was nice to feel appreciated for a week. The list of sacrifices that drivers make can go on and on for days. Most of the sacrifices can’t be explained in words, they simply have to be experienced to truly be understood.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Current State of the Trucking Industry, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, driver responsibilities, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driver appreciation week, truck driving lifestyle
Posted by
Rhonda on
1 November 2009, 6:44 am
Sometimes you’re put in a position as a driver where you just can’t win. One day I was leaving the shipper with a heavy load and was pulled over to see if my weight was legal. Problem was, I never got a chance to weight it myself – they nailed me on the way to the scale. What is a driver supposed to do?
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, Great Stories, Stories of the Road, Women In Trucking, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, being a truck driver, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, Women In Trucking