Profile For Steve L.

Steve, you can wait for Old School to get to the forum, or you can post your question here. But there are other skateboard drivers here who could offer advice much quicker. If you ask "publicly", you'll get an answer faster.

Also, your question and the answers will be available for other TT members should they be in a situation similar to yours.

Understood. My questions are very specific and right now I’d prefer to keep them private.

Thanks!

Old School, I need your advice, not sure how to get in contact with you.

Brett, my apologies for using this to get OS's help, but need that experienced Flatbedder's advice.

If you can talk via phone, my email is stevelitton@bellsouth.net. If you email me, I can email my cell # to you or vice versa.

Thanks, all!

Congratulations!

There will be days you are tested; patience, fools on the road, load changes, weather. But you’ll also have good in those days and, when you’ve had a rough day and make it safely to a parking spot, remember to thank Him. I’ve even noticed a ray of sunshine peaking through, after a very tough day and I know He has my back.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

My advice is; that “review” stuff? Try to treat it like it’s your first time. Sometimes, if we look for it, we learn something new. You probably knew this, but...anyway, good luck to you and kudos for your perseverance! 😊

Congratulations! Maybe a few years from now YOU will be the guy people are looking to for advice. 😎

I have devoted every day of my life over the past 13 years to helping people get their trucking career off to a great start. My favorite part of this journey is the community of incredible people we've assembled right here in our forum.  The people in our community enjoy sharing their journey with others who have chosen the same path. Those of us who have been down that path love to help others navigate the challenges and find their own success. 

We've helped many thousands of people get their trucking career off to a great start and we've all made a lot of friends along the way. I'm so proud of what we've accomplished that it's hard to put into words. This mission is something I've always been passionate about. It remains as inspiring as ever to this day, and it will continue to inspire me for many years to come. That's why I'm always looking for ways we can get better.

The other day, I spoke with one of our moderators, Kearsey (formerly known as Rainy), who is as good as they come. She's an amazing driver and an amazing person who is just as passionate about helping others as I am. We had a fantastic conversation because she helped me see how we could get better.

Kearsey made me realize that we've become too harsh with folks. We're too focused on the negatives. It's good that we want to prepare people for the tough challenges they'll face in trucking, but we've gotten away from the most important thing we can do for people who come to us for help:

empathize, encourage, and inspire. 

I've always prided myself on being tough, and I am very tough. Growing up, the saying I heard more than any other was, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." I'm so thankful that my parents taught me how important it was to be tenacious, relentless, and unshakable. 

But they also inspired me at every turn. They didn't just criticize me for falling off the horse. They empathized with me because they've fallen off many times themselves. They encouraged me to brush myself off and get back on again because they knew that's what it takes to become successful and live an amazing life. They inspired me when they helped me understand that I could be anything I wanted to be in life if I would just keep pursuing my dreams, especially when they seemed out of reach. 

Kearsey helped me see that though our intentions are good, our methods must improve. We need to be more friendly, more helpful, and more inspiring. Yes, we should still point out the difficulties people will face and let them know if they're taking the wrong approach. But we should always make sure we empathize, encourage, and inspire. 

I can't thank Kearsey enough for pointing this out to me. I asked for her advice and she really let me have it, the way only a Jersey girl can. Bless her heart for that. I needed it. That's what a true friend and caring person will do for you. They'll tell you what you need to know about yourself so you can get better.  

My new goal is to make sure I always empathize, encourage, and inspire. I will be better at doing those things, starting today, and that will help make this a better community where people aren't afraid to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. 

Another new goal I have is to make sure I give people the answers they need and to help them find new goals to shoot for instead of just shooting down their misconceptions or pointing out their mistakes. It's far more important to point someone in the right direction and encourage them to keep pursuing their goal than it is to criticize them for getting off-track and telling them why they're failing. In both cases, you want to see the person succeed, but if they're afraid to come to you for fear of criticism and condemnation, they won't give you the opportunity to help, which is an opportunity we'd all love to have. It's why we're all here.

As a constant reminder to myself and to our community that our goal must be to empathize, encourage, and inspire, I have put those words at the top of our forum. We must follow our good intentions with the right actions if we hope to help people the way we'd like to and reach our goal of being the friendliest and most helpful community in the trucking industry. If you know me, you know I never settle for being second best at anything. I know the people in this community, and I know you feel the same. 

Thank you, Kearsey, for telling me what I needed to know about myself so I can get better, and thanks to all of you who have given so much of your time and yourselves to make this community a truly special one. 

Our mission is inspiring and noble, and we must be equally so. I will embrace that challenge.  

   

And THIS is what sets THE BEST apart from the rest.

Thanks Kearsey and Brett! And thank you Moderators! Five years ago tomorrow, I took, AND PASSED, my permit test using only the HRTP to prepare. It’s likely I could not have achieved what I have without this website and the Moderators here.

Thanks again! 👍

Congratulations! You’re an inspiration and I appreciate your insight every time you post.

I hope this position brings the hometime and joy you seek.

Congrats again!

Congratulations!

Thanks all! I really appreciate it. I went with C&T Truck Stop on 78/I-22 exit 48. Plenty of parking & a clean restroom. That’s all I need.

Shipper took longer than expected, but it’s all good.

Thanks again!

I never see anyone parked there used to go by multiple times a week when I was local. There is a flying J in Olive Branch.

Yeah, I’m just trying to plan. Stuck at shipper and if Flying J is full when I get there later, I’d like to park at the weigh station.

Thanks

Anyone (maybe Erol) know if Northbound weigh station (US 78) in Olive Branch allows overnight parking?

Thanks!

Weigh stations in Florida are great parking spots, except I-75 Northbound near Ocala, under construction.

Just be sure to do a good pretrip after your ten-hour break. You never know who’s watching.

True.

Congratulations!

And I bet it was less stressful than many 2,000 mile weeks.

Congratulations!

“the rest I gave up because I had difficulty resetting after being told to reset, nobody had ever had me set my self up during practice and I'd never reset before.“

EVERYTHING in truck driving (in my opinion) is about the setup. Backing, getting through an intersection, getting the miles you want and even getting the job you want. I believe this is the most overlooked factor in any situation.

If this job is a good fit, I wish you the best. But please remember; the best (like Old School) at anything make it look easy. He won’t tell you it’s easy, he’ll tell you the truth.

Great success usually comes with great challenges. It’s up to US to rise to, and overcome, those challenges.

Please forgive my misunderstanding. Are you saying you completed a 160-hour course (with the exception of testing) and then you were given tests each day for ten days and were unable to pass nine times?

Are you also saying that, from a stopped location, directly in front of a parking spot or dock, you could not back straight into the hole, using no more than two get-out-and-looks?

I’m just trying to get a better understanding.

Congratulations!!!

(Hey, Donna. Did you catch that the warning mentioned Tons and your scale ticket is in pounds?)

Your 44,000 pounds is 22 tons, so you're way under the new bridge limit. But praying never hurts. :-)

Yeah, but if she’s anything like me, my truck & trailer are about 16.5 tons empty with fuel. So that would put it over the limit.

I saw one today, near Sturgis, MI (farm road) and the sign said 62T. 😳

Friends. I miss my friends.

But, I cherish watching Andy Griffith with my 11 year-old Daughter when I’m home.

Don’t dwell on what you’ll miss. Family time seems to be better quality than it used to. And the blessings that have come with this job are too numerous to count.

Write your own story with incredible chapters on overcoming obstacles and pushing new horizons. Make it exciting in a positive way. Be the person you want to see in others. You may be the only positive truck driver they see. 😎