Comments By FR8 M4N

Hi Christopher!

I started with a class B, too. Having went to a company sponsored school, I had to do everything over again. It might vary from state to state. I reside in Michigan and tested in Ohio and had to take a test, do pre-trip, and a driving test.

Good luck to you! If at first you don't succeed, don't give up. I failed the alley back portion of the driving test and had to re-test and passed that time.

Laser lines so you can see in poor light conditions. So cool! I've only been to one place that had those and they had 3 docks lit up with these lines.

Well, well, well... What do we have here? A one year anniversary?! Already? Time flies when you're having fun learning the duties and responsibilities of an OTR truck driver.

Actually, it was Nov. 21st, and a couple of weeks ago I received a call from the company informing me that my one year is coming up. Then received a text on the day of the anniversary.

Met a few more employees during my travels. Sometimes at the same business or along the way at a rest area. Also on the CB. It's always a joy for me to talk with other drivers, whether from the company or not. Seems we're a talkative bunch of people once you get going on a subject, which in turn may lead to another subject; then another subject; and then another... until it's time to part ways. Then I'm left wondering if, or when, I'll ever see them again. Depending on you're kind of trucking job, I suspect one could go years before bumping into the same driver again, if ever.

I continue to enjoy driving and living on the road 5 days a week. (Kudos to those drivers that stay out for longer periods of time!) I get to talk to my wife while on the road every day and that makes this job easier for both of us.

Interacting with the people at the guard shacks/offices is always fun, except when I experience a really grumpy one, but they are definitely not the norm. In either case, I hope I make their day a little bit better by the time I leave.

Until later...

That's awesome, Tigersfan93!

It's sure a pretty good feeling achieving that CDL A. I was so nervous I didn't pass the first time. Seemed devastating at the time, but power through it, because it's not the end of the world.

Good luck with your future endeavors!

A coworker kept getting warnings with the radar system. The maintenance guy found that the sensor was installed facing the wrong direction! It was facing the cab, not the road. I would think the engineer would have made it so you couldn't install it backwards.

Ah ha! Figured out the ranking chart. It appears to be only mileage related. So the miles driven in a particular time frame, determine your relative ranking.

As for the metrics, got them figured out and are working on making them all 100 in score. It's a bit tricky and depending on the time frame I pull up will determine the scores for that time frame. However, the 30 day view keeps getting better all the time, as long as I'm working towards those metrics.

Received a call from Keller one morning 1 week ago. He explained that he normally calls on drivers that are low in fuel efficiency metrics and offers some advice on how to improve. Only this day he decided to flip it around and call on drivers who are doing good and give them an atta-boy. Well, it turns out that I have all 100's and that I'm number one in the fleet! Woo hoo! I was excited to hear this news as I have been working on it for quite some time. He asked for some advice on how I was managing 100 in the idling metric. We then discussed some strategies that he could pass onto the others.

Driving and backing continues to improve. Amazing how many times I back in with limited pull ups, and such, compared to a few months ago. Not to toot my own horn, because I still can screw up a slam-dunk back in once in a while. ;)

The covid scam will be pushed out again. Though many of the lies surrounding this plandemic have been uncovered and debunked, for whatever reason, they are again trying to assert their tyrannical control of the population. DO NOT COMPLY. It only works for them if we do. Our freedoms and rights are at stake, to say the least.

Until later...

The last couple of weeks have been rather short on miles. Seems the freight volume plummeted for us, I guess.

Happy to keep working on my metrics, though. I'm getting them dialed in and figured out how to get the coasting score up. I was messing around with the cruise control and I could get the truck to do more coasting, but it wasn't having any affect on the metric. I figured out that I have to cancel cruise control and just manually coast to actually increase the points in that metric. Sounds simple enough, but it had alluded me for a while; silly me.

Also figured out the ranking, like to be in the top 10, has a lot to do with how many miles are driven during the week. I suspect the pecking order is down to miles and the best metrics. Though I'm not entirely sure, since I placed #2 one week and my metrics weren't nearly as good as they are now, but I had a lot of miles.

Went to a place I'd been to before and was sort of dreading it. Well, maybe dreading is too strong of a word, but was thinking about it and hoping for a particular dock that would be easier backing in to. Turns out the dock I wanted was in use. Doh! But I surprised myself with maneuvering into the other with ease. Actually got to back up to both. I had accidentally jumped ahead of another driver, so I apologized and moved so he could take that spot. Overall, with more experience, the backing is improving.

Until later...

No more waiting outside for the bus...

Straddled a family of Racoons; 5 young ones and an adult. Tractor tires didn't get 'em; don't know about the trailers tires, though.

I passed a spot, one other day, where there were 4 dead racoons all in the same area. Now I see how that probably happened.