The main thing is you did deliver the product safely and that is all that matters. We are all nervous and forget everything we learn once we are by ourselves. But we soon remember what we were taught and do just fine–like you did.

Get a extra set of keys as soon as you can as they really are needed. My truck also locked me out in Kansas City one day. I was not pleased at all. Luckily there was a short in the electric locks and I was able to get back in after beating the door to death while waiting on a 4 lane city street and all wondering what I was doing to that blasted truck!!!

Looking forward to many more stories.

Oh, I would love to be able to tell you that ordeals like this were rare, but they’re not. That was an exceptionally rough couple of days, but certainly not out of the ordinary when it comes to life on the road. There are just sooo many variables that can have a major affect on your life out there that when the stars align just right (or wrong, for that matter) things can go really, really well or really badly – and in a hurry!

But life on the road is a never-ending roller coaster ride of highs and lows. In your mind you learn to keep a balanced and relaxed middle ground as often as possible – and you’ll get much better at it as you get more experience on the road.

Folks, I’ve known TruckerMike for a while, and he’s a very sharp dude. When I knew he was getting ready to make his first solo run, I sent him an email and gave him this advice:

“I’m always thinkin about ya out there and I’m wishin ya the very best of luck, happiness, and safety! Keep learnin, keep enjoying yourself, drive with the utmost care and patience, and always remember the golden rule – don’t hit anything. You can be late, you can quit your job, you can throw up on a truck stop buffet, you can give the Pope the finger when his limo cuts you off – and none of it will matter for more than a short time. Safety in the end is all that matters. Enjoy yourself – I’ll talk to ya soon!”

I drove for 15 years, and I know life on the road as well as anyone. I knew he’d have struggles like these because we all do. I knew it might even be on the very first solo run of his career, and it was. This is the entire reason this website exists – to help everyone learn about the trucking industry and life on the road so that they can get through the tough times safely, just like TruckerMike did here.

I wanna give TruckerMike a ton of credit. I knew he already knew the advice I was giving him, but I wanted to keep it in the front of his mind in case things got stressful for him, and sure enough they did. But just like I would’ve predicted without second thought, he handled it all like a pro and successfully navigated the mine field out there on his own, and made the right decisions, kept his head, and will live to fight another day.

There is nothing easy about life on the road, my friends. It can be incredibly rewarding for those of you who are the type of people that can handle it, but it is rarely ever easy.

A huge congrats to TruckerMike for handling this like a pro, and a big thanks for sharing everything he went through. Definitely one of the most interesting writers I’ve ever come across. I’ve been there a million times, dude, and I know what it took to pull that off. You were certainly cut out for this, and there’s a ton of us that really look forward to hearing a lot more of your adventures in the future.