Profile For Davy A.

Bush, It looks really interesting up there, The Mrs and I are planning on going up there.

Thanks OS, you have helped me beyond words throughout this journey, All of you here have. This site is such a great resource. Hopefully I can give back to this community as I gain experience.

So, coming back from home time. I have to be back in Denver on the 28th to close out my rental (where Ive lived for the past 7 years). I clear it with my DM, will just take a reset there and run hard. He approves. I dont know if Im just getting used to it or if these loads seem a bit easier this week. Perhaps a bit of both.

First two loads are from the Golden CO Coors plant to Billings MT, then turn around and bring dunnage back from the Billings distributor to Coors. He has me scheduled for a Budweiser Ft Collins to Sioux Falls SD load, but it has an impossible delivery time, so we wait to hear back from them on adjusting it. I got in the terminal at 7:00 AM, let him know that the delivery time was suspect. Sometimes you wait, is what it is. He gets me the Coors loads instead as he never heard back on the Budweiser load.

I get the Coors load on the road about 6 pm after going up to Loveland CO and snagging an empty from the Walmart DC. its pretty heavy, 43k, Hauls good though. 0700 am delivery time. I drive all night, which I like night driving anyway, at least in the summer. I do 630 miles with picking up the empty. Arrive at the receiver at 5 am. Sleep for a couple hours at their gate. I end up doing a sight side 90, it goes in perfect til I get some well meaning drivers attempting to help. I have a ton of room once I get it turned so after slightly ignoring the helpers I put it in the hole in my original path. Cant really sleep anymore, Im out of hours and cant stay on their property. I ask my DM if I can PC over to the TA even though I have a load attached. He checks and says yes, good to go. TA in Billings has a really cool antiques store there. Worth the time to go look. I bought a couple interesting things for the Mrs. I get some sleep and I can drive again at 3 pm or so.

Back down to Coors. Im light, only 21K but the winds are not too bad. Its really smokey from all the fires. Stop at a cool vista point on 25. My window at Coors is up at midnight, but my DM knows that he says good to drop whenever (I ask him if Im ok on it about 3 times). I get into Coors at 2 am. Im still mentally struggling quite badly with missing a delivery time even though its planned and communicated. The industry before, it was absolutely forbidden no matter what the reason, and they would backcharge us to no end. But, I follow directions and protocol no matter how badly my instinct is telling me to somehow make it work with the appointment time on paper. Its been the theme of the week.

My next load doesnt load until afternoon and I cant drive til 3 pm anyway. I go down to the springs, spend the night with the Mrs. and head back up. Budweiser plant to Sioux Falls SD (they finally rescheduled it lol). Heavy, they have to rework the load, its at 34.5K on both the drives and tandems. I get detention pay for it. Finally get out the shipper at 11:00 pm. Delivery is Monday 7:00 AM. 690 miles. I need to put some miles on the load, Its Saturday, almost Sunday. I drive til 6:00 AM sunday morning mostly because there is absolutely zero parking along 80 on a weekend this time of night. I finally find a spot. I can drive again at 2:30 PM, with about 6 hours left to the shipper. Would put me there at 9:00 pm, which would mean I cant drive until 7:00 am, my appointment time, and if there is no parking, Id be screwed (which I anticipate there wont be). So I hang out and try to get some more sleep, I leave at 11:00 PM Sunday night, drive all night, get to the receiver at 6:00 AM, the Flying J nearby is still over full for capacity. I get unloaded, head over to the J, which now has spots avail.

DM sends me the next load, Riverside MO to Cheyenne WY, Walmart DC, So Ill look around and see if I can find PackRat, although Ill be getting in the WallyWord DC at 1 am or so. I have 350 miles of deadhead. (I get paid full mileage for it so ok). My DM calls, I have 5.5 hours left to drive, its 6 hours to the Shipper. He says dont worry about it, Go ahead and shut down, and get to the shipper when you can. The appointment was at 5:00 PM. I get there at 2:00 AM. Again, mentally struggling with it. I can tell already that unless by some miracle they do a super quick live load that Im going to miss the end of my window on delivery by about an hour or two. Sure enough, it will be an hour or two before I even get my door, then another 2 hours to load. I call dispatch and let them know, they thank me for the communication and are happy. Anyway, I have 634 miles to go, and 4 hours left on my 11 hour. I drive a couple hours, get it down to a manageable amount of miles left and shut it down for the night (morning) at 6:00 AM. Means I cant drive til 4 PM local, 3 PM delivery time zone. I have 498 miles left to go. My hunch, with breaks and pretrip, that Ill get to the receiver in about 10 to 11 hours, a bit past my original window. My DM called and the extended the window to tomorrow, so Im good. Onward and upward.

Hi everyone, so far in my search for a company sponsored training school. I have 2 conditional offers. Also a no go from one. From 3 I haven't heard anything at all. The search continues. 🙂

What was the reason for the no go?

Do newbees get the worst trucks?

They get whatever is available. That could be a brand new truck, or it could be one that has been around the block a time or two. I witnessed a brand new driver at Knight be issued a custom ordered truck for a million miler driver who quit during the time they were waiting for their truck to arrive. You just never know how that is going to play out. The availability of trucks for drivers is in flux every week. Sometimes there is an abundance of trucks available and at other times they may have to get a truck from a distant terminal or recover one that has been abandoned by a driver in some distant area.

I got a 2020 Kenworth with very nice amenities and some features enabled that werent supposed to be on (unfortunately they reset it when I last had it serviced) and low miles it had 147,000 on it. One of my classmates ended up with a brand new 2022 International, had 500 miles on it. As was said it varies. At least at Knight, you can state your preference and your DDM and or terminal manager will work with you, but it can be dependent on whats avail at your terminal. I was willing to drive down to Texas and get mine (They paid me to do that, paid all expenses and paid for my hotel while the truck was repaired and prepped) The thing is though, that I clearly stated what I wanted in a professional manner and let them know I was willing to do whatever they needed for it.

I also keep feeling a strange pull to at least try flatbeds. I'm nowhere near enough experience though yet.

Are experienced drivers saying you want to get decent experience in dry van or refer before trying flatbed? Or is that just your personal feeling? Or a combination of both?

With me its just personal feeling, Im usually pretty critical on myself and cautious. I want to feel confident in dry van before I try something else.

Continued,

I slept in my tractor in the parking lot, allowing them to empty a trailer overnight. I headed to the SLC terminal for a T call load to Coors in Golden CO. Had to juggle my clocks to get recaps on the road. Ended up pulling into Coors with 13 minutes left on my 11 hour and only 6.5 left on my 70 with no recaps till the following midnight. Found a place to hide the tractor for 10 hours.

I wouldnt be able to drive til 1:30 pm. The next load is to Jackson Hole WY. Im one day away from home time. Im exhausted. after looking at the recon in google maps for the delivery in Jackson Hole (Jackson Hole Distributors) and reading the reviews, I throw in the towel on that load. I call my DM, we had talked about this before hand and knew I possibly would not have enough hours. I tell him I might be able to juggle around time to barely get there, but it would leave me trying to do mission impossible after being up all night. this dock looks to me like it requires a blind side 90 off a busy street into the yard, then pull up into the street, slight blind side back into a recessed dock, partially inside the building with a roofline and building on the side. I think it would be prudent to have assistance spotting traffic and backing.

Im game for expanding my horizons, and constantly learning, but I want to give myself a fighting chance, not work against preventable hardship and my lack of experience stacked against me. I had an out with the hours, so I took it. I will master this dock when it comes up on radar again, but I will do it on my terms and in a safe, calculated manner. I know I possess the skills to get it done, but my instincts tell me it wasnt the right time to attempt it.

With that, Im finally off, and moving the rest of the stuff out of my house, I plan on buying in the next year. Onward and upward.

Well, the first experience with the hot load was challenging but rewarding. Lots of learning involved. I made it to Los Alamos at 9 PM the night before my delivery. I documented a good bit of the load here: Hot load from Las Vegas to Los Alamos

I spend a lot of time choosing my routes, planning my clocks, recon of the dock/drop and hook areas, entrance and exit strategies, parking before and after if needed. Perhaps too much time, but it makes me feel better. I hate that sickening feeling when I get into something somewhere that I overlooked in preplanning that might end up being catastrophic.

I checked the routes in, called the hotel and asked if I could park out front. I didnt check the routes too thoroughly though, but it worked out ok. The road in was very steep and tight. (I was puckering coming up it) In talking with the customer in the morning, he said take the other route out as the way I came in is too tight coming back down. I really enjoyed working with him (old general contractor) on getting the load safely into place and he had really on point observations and knowledge. I had called my DM and told him my concerns about safety. He said noted and left it up to me as to how to procede. Ultimately I got it in and done with a satisfied customer and let him know.

After He didnt get me a load and figured I was going to just do a reset. I didnt feel like parking somewhat illegally after a blind corner on top of a mountain for 34 hours. Also, I want to make money not sit around and I had recaps coming at midnight the next day. I expressed that to him. He gives me a load out of Albuquerque NM to Henderson CO. I head down off the mountain, Its still a pucker fest through multiple roundabouts, very steep downhills and tight mountain roads. I grab my load from the shipper after a fairly ungraceful but clean 45 back with not enough room. 16k of white wood for pallets. Im almost out of fuel, have about an hour left on my 70. Its 5 pm. My fuel solution is for the TA on I25 at I 40 in ABQ. Its a mess getting out, multiple accidents, traffic, I miss the exit. I spied an empty rest stop 44 miles north, and a Loves 80 miles after that, I have a bit over quarter tank. about 175 miles range if push comes to shove. I figure Ill call the night dispatch for a new fuel solution when I shut down as they are really cool about it and my DM gets uptight about it, and keep going. I make it to the rest stop with 13 minutes left on my 70. I fall asleep with the truck idling and forget to call for new fuel solution.

This left me almost dead on empty, had to backtrack down 16 miles to an off the wall tribal fuel station and call my DM. He was peeved, said to let him know when I have 20 gallons, not 6 left, and such. I apologized, said I wouldnt let it happen again and made a few errors in judgement. I didnt have a leg to stand on, but Im also not that tore up about it. Made the run up, dropped in mostly empty IFCO pallet yard, real cool lady. Completely mauled a straight back with more room than i could see. Circled around and nailed a textbook 45 in a dirt lot. Slept there, bobtailed out for my next load. Walmart/Sams DC in Loveland CO to Logan Utah. Again, DM offered reset prior to this load, but Im coming into hometime next week and want to keep running.

I check the route suggestion and it shows as truck safe, but it concerns me. US 30 to UT state route 30 to US 89 is all mountain driving. Looks tight (I had no idea it was THAT tight in some spots) But its 50 miles shorter than 80, 84, 15, 89. Im concerned about my 70 and my 11. These loads where Im running on recaps are tight in that the appointment times allow for 1 day of driving, the loaded miles are 514 but there is also empty miles and road variables. Its constantly fighting the clock, but it is what it is. I figure the mountain drive is the lesser of the two times. the state route portion is a very tight uphill and down hill with 8 percent grades, 20 mph turns, no run out and variable pitches, so one cant simply set the jake and forget it. Constant modulation of throttle, jake, service brakes and occasional shifting. Tons of traffic around Bear Lake. and then up 89. this load is 41K on the trailer, so Im heavy. 20 mph up most of 89. Going down is many miles of 35 mph turns with the same jake, throttle, gearing and service brake dance above. A ton of responsibility, there are sport bike riders knee dragging up the hill, sports cars and campers, its packed and Im hyper vigilant on keeping my trailer from off tracking into them on the LH turns, keeping if off the guardrail or cliff on the RH turns and keeping Edna from gaining speed on the steeps. I figure I must have done ok, most of the motorists behind me stayed behind me when given the opportunity to pass in the few passing lane sections. I felt like this was an internal challenge that went on for a few hours. One that I passed and learned from, but man the responsibility that we carry out here impacted me. OS has talked about it a lot, I guess it really hit home on this. The short clocks added to the pressure.

When I got to my Sams club to drop, I just wanted to decompress and settle it out. I didnt have enough time left on my clocks to get anywhere, so I made a deal with the reciever who didnt have any trailers emptied yet.

Congratulations on passing everything! Now forget the seams/cracks in the ground, the pizza slices in the landing the gear, and the Ricki Lakes you learned. That all goes out the window Knight did you a big disservice by not teaching the most important backing skill, the 45 degree/90 degree setup.

Sure they give you a fool proof way of passing your test to get your cdl but now the real learning begins with your trainer. I just hope you get a patient trainer and one that actually wants to teach you backing rather than use you for miles. Make sure you tell your trainer you want to back into every situation that you find yourself backing in. Don't let the trainer back. He's there to teach/train you.

This right here. Is so vitally important. Top Gun helps because we get to quickly learn 45s and 90s. but its the bulk of backing that you will do in the real world. Even with Top Gun, we still didnt learn Z and S 45's. Every chance you get to back in the real world helps.

Thank you for the support. Definitely is a learning process.

It sounds like you are doing some good homework. I too may look at pursuing flatbed at some point in the future. Whichever company you choose to go with, it sounds like you are on the right track.

I'm a musician as well. It's always weird for me personally driving with headphones on. Makes me feel sperated from the environment somehow. I also usually mute my music when in traffic and intense road situations like construction zones. Idk, I personally can't concentrate as well with up loud and I like to hear and feel what my motor and Jake's are doing.

I also keep feeling a strange pull to at least try flatbeds. I'm nowhere near enough experience though yet.

Congratulations

We will run across each other I'm sure. Will is awesome and a lot fun. Good luck in top gun.

Congratulations

*customer cleared enough cars to back in but not enough to pull in and turn around.

I'll send you this one Erroll, for that backing practice. Made it in, customer cleared enough cars. Blindside 90 off the street, 2 forward offsets to reposition more to the right. Then back again blindside around island, then pull up and reposition, then blind side into final spot. Lost count of goals. Crew helped spot traffic but not so good at spotting trailer.

Kinda makes that butt pucker a bit, don’t it 😂

the sphincter was on lockdown. the road in was nervous business. Id have a tough time with this even if empty.

Forgot to attach photo of lot

I question if this was an appropiate load for a rookie. Im making it work, but the road in was definitely at the limit of my experience. Way out of my comfort zone, and didnt seem very safe to me. I can definitely get turned around, either in the farmers market coop parking lot or the culdesac up the street. The parking lot is full to capacity and even if empty, proposes a very high risk of damaging curbs and trees. I have not hit anything yet in my fledgling career and Im not willing to risk it.

Ill talk with the consignee tomorrow am after I talk with my DM and explain to him that I will do a street load based upon conditions of the lot. Im at 55000 lbs total gvw. right now, I also question if that should be in the lot. I have photos to back up my position. Im also frustrated in general, but that will wear off by morning before I talk with people.

So I took SR 502 in to my drop (Holiday inn express). Its listed as truck safe in the Rand McNally truckers atlas, so is SR 4, to 501. 4/501 had a sign that says truck route. 502 is, Im fairly certain, a good candidate for worlds most dangerous roads. It resembled one of those shows on Discovery. Although its short from where 4 branches off.

My question is If you have delivered up here, have you taken 4/501 and was it better than the cliffs on 502?

Ill gladly wear it in there lol.

Well, made the 1:30 am appointment fine, In Layton UT. Krogers grociery, live unload. Got there at 1:15 am, they get me unloaded and take forever with the paperwork, I get out at 5:00 AM. First experience with lumpers. Seems like something out of Goodfellas the movie. Guido doesnt take no stinking checks. I call dispatch, explain Im new, get the numbers (PO number and Money code) give it to them and wait some more. I finally get shut down at 5:30 AM. My next shipper is the Proctor and Gamble DC in Corinne. ( I remember it from training). Its about 40 minutes north. Our terminal is 30 minutes south. Its 5:00 AM, I dont feel like gambling looking for a spot at the truck stops by the shipper while at the end of my clock, so I head to the terminal.

Cant drive again til 3:30 PM. I head up and get my load, in and out of P and G fairly quickly. AC starts puking out hot air, its 115 out. I pull over at a rest stop, check fuses, lines, etc. Get it halfway going, Pull over again at a Loves, check the valves, eat, let it sit. Finally have cold air again. All this plus Guidos mob lumper services will put me a couple hours past delivery on the load after this. This one is a 24 hour window, ill be fine. So I need to be in Phoenix at the Wallyword DC by Sunday 11:59pm for this one. (I make it at 7:30 pm). Then pick up from Home Depot DC, deliver in Vegas. hard appointment 11am Monday morning....no way. I calculate drive time and 10 hours off, puts me in Vegas at 2:00 pm best case on Monday. Stressed because I have a hot load out of Vegas that has to be picked up Monday by 6:PM. I call dispatch, let em know delays, cause by receiver on the Kroger load and truck issues.

My DM calls me a half hour before I hit the receiver on the HD load to Vegas. Will have to hit the receiver at 6:30 am tues morning, then go take Edna back to Phoenix for body work repairs and a reset, that he has to take me off the hot load. Im thinking the worst, totally over complicating things and assuming that hes unhappy with me for not hitting the delivery. I do explain to him that it was delayed due to elements out of my control. He says hes not worried about it. I tell him the usual, Whatever he needs me to do Im game, if he has a load, Illl take it. He calls me back after a half hour of me being in my head. (I have a hard time not considering a delay as a failure.)...T call the load I have at our Vegas terminal (2 miles from receiver) and still on the hot load. Cool. all is well. I tell my head to shut up lol.

Im tracking to be early for that hot load, which is fine, Delivery is 9:00 AM Weds. Ill camp out somewhere close tomorrow night. I have 14 hours left on my 70. I get recaps starting Weds. Ran into my trainer Doc at the Phoenix terminal, cool to talk with him. Saw my teachers there. Got to see the area around hoover dam (3 times in two days lol). Backing is progressing. Getting better at ones that dont have enough room for a decent 45 but still slow. Thats ok. I look a lot.

Drive times have varied between 8 to 11 hours. Miles have been 450 to 575 on days with shippers/receivers. Had a best of 649 so far on a driving day. trying to keep it at 8 3/4 hours so I can survive on recaps. Will be just shy of 20,000 solo squire miles on Wed. So about 2/3 of the way through the final leg of training.

Having just relatively recently got done going through a company provided school, They didnt offer transportation from the hotel to school either, There was a shuttle there though and I ended up getting rides from a classmate. We became friends and are still in touch today. Its not the employers responsibility to give you a ride to school. If you want it bad enough, youll do what it takes to get there, on time and learn it. I may seem cold, but its just the reality of it. How bad do you want a new career?

It follows suit with your education, your training, your solo time in the truck. I want it, so I pursue it. I constantly asked my instructors questions, my trainer questions, My DM and my DDM questions. I ask a ton of em here. Sometimes I dont like the answers, and those times are where its crucial to really open my mind and try to change, especially when its counter intuitive.

Take some personal responsibility and accountability is my take.