Comments By Airborne

The electricity from lightning strikes flows through the path of least resistance and tends to move along the outside of a vehicle. In a vehicle that has a considerable amount of metal, the electricity will move along the body/frame, and sometimes moving through internal electronics like a radio.

The electricity itself is not a danger to you as a driver/passenger. It is mostly the risk of a fire starting from the extreme temperatures the electricity can generate as it runs through your vehicle that you should be aware of. If your vehicle is struck by lightning, make sure you check for signs of fire starting.

If lightning is getting a bit crazy around you, just pull over and sit tight. Pulling over is important because of the risk of fire, the chance you get caught off guard and jerk the wheel, and because lightning can kill your engine and cause damage to other parts. As long as you are pulled over, have a fire extinguisher ready, and are staying inside a closed truck, you should be fine sitting through a lightning storm.

As long as your in your truck you should be safe unless your truck is directly grounded, your tuck is insulated from the ground thru your tires otherwise. Be sure to not get out of your truck if there are downed powerlines near or around your truck, call 911 if there are and ask for assistance.

ClassA, Thank you for the kind and spot-on advice. I HAVE been afraid of irritating the instructor by getting out of the cab and looking at the positioning of the combination at each step of the backing maneuvers. I have wished that I was a bird so I could fly over and get an aerial view. And yes, he has instructed me a hundred times to stop "overthinking" this. Yet, I am to concentrate. My brain is a hot, chemical soup and yes, it must be affecting my ability to perceive what I am looking at. I must also be directionally challenged. A tattoo of L and R on the back of my hands, maybe? At least I'm smiling again. You rock.

If the instructor gets mad for you looking at your setup to hell with him, your trying to be as safe as posible and thats what matters!!!

Day 8: Today was a scorcher, temp on our tractor said it was 109F! Plus humid North Carolina climate made being outside the truck for even a minute unbearable, and one of our three tractors A/C broke, so everyone rotated every 30 minutes, big pain in the @&s. So we practiced all day, two tested out on the 6 maneuvers. Tomorrow the rest of us practice some more and we all should test out by the end of the day. Wish me luck!

Trust me I know what your talkin about dude, I spent a little over 2 years stationed at FT Bragg, lmao. You should see them goofs trying to drive in snow, cars were everywhere when I was down there, ROFL

Finally got my start date for training. I start next week in Conyers, GA! I will be posting my experience starting from the first day on.

Good luck dude and wish you well

Day Twenty - Home Stretch, Baby!

I reported at 0800 today. My backing practice session was scheduled for 0845, and my backing test was scheduled for 1300. I picked up a trainer and a fellow student for a road drive after my backing session. We returned from our drive with a few minutes to spare before lunch (hot dogs and chips) was served. I was a bit sloppy today, picking up 9 points of a maximum 12 to still pass. It was good enough for the DOT; so it’s good enough for me.

Road test tomorrow, class meets at 0615.

While I know that certain things during the road test will incur points (another lowest-score-wins test) such as “coasting” - moving more than a very few seconds with the clutch disengaged or “excessive grinding of transmission gears; and some things are automatic failures (violation of any law, striking a curb, usually on a right turn), I can’t really peg down how well or poorly I anticipate performing. I will just drive, following my examiner’s instructions, and take what I’m given for a score. If needed, I’ll just practice more, rectify my mistakes, and try again until I pass.

Well done dude, hope you pass with flying colors all the way!!!

I'm in a situation where I have my cdl but I had to wait a few months for a few things to fall off my record before some companies would hire me, so here I am, I spent the last couple weeks researching companies and talking to recruiters and waiting on phone calls and I got OKs from several companies such as Western express, Hogan, pride, and I loved pride they had sexy trucks and they trained and they had a flat bed fleet but the downside is they don't train on their flat bed fleet and that's what I wanted to do with them so I marked them off my list until maybe after I get more experience so now I'm choosing between Western express and Hogan and Hogan is offering 1100 a week after the training and home time every week end which I thought would be a good way to get my trucker legs under me as I start a new carrier but Western express has flat bed and that's what I want but they don't have a rout through my area where I'd get weekends off which kinda sucks cause a weekend would be nice but they said they could lease me a truck and I'd be my own boss and could take weekends off whenever I want but that sound great! But so shady at the same time but I'd like to own my own truck some day but starting out right out of the gate as a lease operator sounds like too much stress pressure and responsibility for a rookie, but anyways let me know what you professional brother truckers think would be a good idea, thank you for reading and God bless

To me, getting into a lease program right out after starting would be a BAD idea, specially if you don't have any business experience. I'm not a trucker yet nor have I gone to school yet but the lease program to me is a bad idea from the get go but guess we all have to learn sometime or another. I really hope this insight helps you dude.

Day 12 - 2 Hours of Pre-trip Inspection , 3 hours of practicing for the skills test, then driving the rest of the day.

Can we talk about shifting? I am learning to like it.

When I went into traffic the first time, I was horrified. And shifting sucked donkey's balls. When I hear about Mega-Carriers all going to automatics, I though, "Thank the Heaven's above." But, by the end of today, I'm starting to get more into the rhythm of it.

Release the clutch/allow the truck to get moving/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/accelerate...

Rinse and repeat. You all know the drill.

I like shifting.

What I never knew is how complicated driving a truck is:

Green light/release the clutch/allow the truck to get moving/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/accelerate/make sure that guy in the silver sedan doesn't pull out in front of you/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/try to find the next gear/grind gears/curse/grind gears/curse/look in mirrors/make sure that pedestrian doesn't walk out into the street/press clutch/finally find the right ****ing gear/light turns yellow/brake/brake/press clutch/get into neutral/tap accelerator/press clutch/downshift/release clutch/light turns red/brake/brake/BRAKE/try to smoothly come to a complete stop with adequate distance between your vehicle and the car in front/have some random car pull into that space you just created/curse/brake/press in clutch/come to complete stop/splitter down/place into 3rd (because our student trailer is empty, we don't need to start in the lowest gear)/look in mirrors/monitor intersection/green light/release the clutch/allow the truck to get moving/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/accelerate/is that cop behind us?/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/splitter up/look in mirrors/look at gauges/look at road/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/HOLY ****, THAT GUY JUST PULLED OUT IN FRONT OF US/BRAKE/BRAKE/curse/look in mirrors/press clutch/get into neutral/tap accelerator/press clutch/downshift/release clutch/check mirrors/remind yourself to hug the ones you love when you get home/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/look at upcoming intersection/how long has the light been green?/check mirrors/hey, that chick walking on the sidewalk is kind of cute/wait, what gear am I in?/do I need to shift up again?/what are my rpms?/dammit, I should have shifted already/make sure that woman in the PT Cruiser doesn't pull out in front of you/check speed/check mirrors/press clutch/get into neutral/release clutch/press clutch/get into the next gear/release clutch/accelerate/uh oh, the light ahead just turned yellow, I just upshifted for nothing/break/break/break/press clutch/get into neutral/tap accelerator/press clutch/downshift/release clutch/light turns red/brake/brake/BRAKE/BRAKEBRAKEBRAKE/try to smoothly come to a complete stop with adequate distance between your vehicle and the car in front/hey, nobody pulled into that space this time/smile and be thankful for small victories.....

That doesn't even cover turns.

Honestly, how do you guys do this every day? I'm exhausted.

I said at the beginning of this diary that "...after decades of bookkeeping and office administration work, I am looking forward to a change...if I can at least look out my window and see an open road and wide expanse of prairie, or mountains, instead of the same lifeless office block, that alone will be an improvement."

I was thinking about this today. At my old office job, I know exactly how this past week would have been. I don't even have to step foot in that office to know what happened. I was there about five years, I know. I know the calls I would have taken, the e-mails I would have sent, the conversations about TV shows I would have had with my co-workers. How do I know? Because that was how every week had been.

Since I've started this adventure in trucking, every day has been different. New experiences, new things to learn, new skills to practice. I got to watch the sunrise as we did our pre-trip practice this morning. My old cubical didn't have any windows. The office didn't have windows.

My new office is going to have really great windows. I'll finally get to see the sun rise and set once is a while. It's all worth it just for that.

Have a good weekend, everyone, I'm going to bed.

watch Youtube videos on shifting, they'll tell you how to float the gears if can't already dude, lol

So I just completed my first week at the Truck driving Institute in Sellersburg Indiana. I now have my CDL Clase A learner's permit. We start driving on Monday.

First 3 days was just studying to get the CDL permit. Not much to it. We took the test on Wednesday and I aced it. I did study using the High Road training program on this website which was awesome. Thursday and Friday was dedicated to route planning and using the driver's log. We also did a little bit basic Theory on turning and stuff. The instructors are pretty decent guys. They don't BS around and tell you how it is. We also are very good at explaining things to where you can understand.

Other than the schooling the school really pushes you to apply to as many jobs as possible. They demand that you have pre hires on file. I really already have a company that I want to go to. They bring in companies Representatives from driving companies to try to convince you to work for their company. It is almost like a salesperson trying to sell you something on an infomercial except they're trying to get you to work for them. Some of this stuff they tell you is a straight up lie. So make sure you do your research before signing on with somebody. Honestly I get the impression that the school gets paid if they push drivers into one of their list of companies. But I do not know that for certain but what I can say there is no lack of jobs hiring at school which is a very good thing. Companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, TMC, and other major companies hire from there. It is a really good school to go to if you're looking for local or Regional work in the Louisville area.

That same school and Roadmaster in Columbus have contacted me wanting me to come to those schhools so far. Guess we'll see what happens with the VA

How do you rip off trailer doors?

Very careful bud, ROFLFAO

I talked with one of their drivers Saturday and he said they was going to auto's cause most of the new drivers these days can't figure out how to work manuals

That of course is total baloney. It's simply for better fuel mileage.

Brett, for one I'm not into lying about something I was told, and two I was told those exact words from the driver at the Melton Terminal. I got no reason to lie or pull anyones leg!!!!