Comments By R0adRa93

I passed my company road test and I am assigned to a truck. I spent over an hour attempting to back a trailer into a tight spot at Kraft.
After leaving kraft, I thought I found a pull through at 3m to drop the trailer heh let's just say it took me over an hour to get the TT out of the predicament I was in. I didn't crash into anything and I learned a valuable lesson...
I then spent several hours lost at 3m trying to locate the dock to finally being told that I needed the trailer after all. I then was told to look for a long dock, when I finally found a dock that looked long it was the wrong dock. They decided to load me there, but I did spent 30 minutes trying to back into it, as it was a blind side and I gave up and looked for a place to turn around so I could back in sight side heh smooth as butter after I turned around.

While driving down the road the truck started pulling hard to the right and vibrating strongly. I contacted breakdown and they sent me to a TA that shop said I needed an alignment and they didn't have a machine so they sent me to the petro across the street. The previous driver, had the tires replaced but they were NEW tires and the other side of the truck were retreads. I learned what MISMATCHED tires are the hard way. Suffice to say, due to this mistake they have to replace the bushings on all the rear springs in order to align the rear drive axles.

When i was a bus driver, I was assigned a bus with a lot of problems by the end of the month, all the major problems were resolved and driving the bus was a dream. I have a feeling I am going to go through the same process with this truck. I am a stickler for making sure my CVs pass the pretrip and anything wrong I do report it.

I know it's taking money out of my pocket to sit, but I rather be ALIVE than DEAD and that's worth more than any amount of money in my pocket.

Is that power inverter something you can install yourself?

Actually, ALL the trucks have inverters and if they go bad the shop replaces them. The recruiter and the safety supervisor in GA told me that if I purchase an inverter the shop will install it for me no problem.

Hanging out at the hotel, waiting for tomorrow. Some things I have found that maybe worth while... Some I already have some I have down on a pad to purchase.

The biggest thing is, $100 in CASH to cover stupid expenses like Scales, oil, washer fluid, etc.

Unlimited Verizon 4G LTE - A bit pricey at $185 / mo but so worth it if you stream as much as I do. Amazon Prime - Amazon Music Commercial Free Radio Stations + Movie Streaming + free 2 day shipping Netflix - Movie Streaming 2,000 WATT power inverter, need to power my laptop, charge my devices, and power other items. The truck has this load shedding feature that causes all the 12v ports to shut down. Quite annoying especially when fumbling around in the dark. A small AC Light as the truck shuts off the in cab lights when it load sheds. All in One (AIO) Printer, I have been to truck stops that had a broken transflo system and we had to travel truck stop to truck stop looking for a working transflo, my trainer was getting annoyed as it was coming close to being due. I know they have an app on the phone but I like to print out the confirmation and staple it to my paperwork and I like the idea of having a PDF saved in-case there is an issue. Also, if you end up in an accident in some states you have to print out a form that needs to be filled out in a timely manor. I am almost 20 days past the date of the accident and have yet to get the file printed. I really need a printer YESTERDAY. CB Radio (Driving gets boring need some form of entertainment) Trucker GPS that doubles as an Android Tablet so that I can listen to my Amazon Streaming while I am driving. (My other tablet can be mounted above my bunk and I can use it to just watch movies.) Some sort of external stereo speaker system for the tablet as the sound can not be heard over the damned refer. Mini-Fridge - eating at truck stops is expensive Crockpot - eating at truck stops is expensive A 2 qt pitcher that boils water - eating at truck stops is EXPENSIVE - eating Chef Boyardee straight out of the can SUCKS Rubber Mop - Gotta have a clean truck Those Multipurpose Cleaning Wipes - Gotta have a clean truck Dish Soap - Gotta have a clean truck Floor Cleaner - Gotta have a clean truck PAPER TOWELS - Gotta have a clean truck Windex - Gotta have a clean truck One of them bluetooth headsets, so much better than those earbuds. They also have noise cancellation on the mic that helps reduce the road noise. A Windows Phone eventually it's actually at the bottom of my list as my flip phone does it's job.

I may find some other things, but it's still a pretty big list and it's close to $1,000 in additional expenditures I didn't anticipate before I started to drive. For instance, I have an AIO printer sitting in storage, I would have brought that with me, but I won't be home for at least another month and I don't want to be penalized by MA because I didn't fax in that paperwork. I found some at walmart for $70, it won't do for pictures or professional quality prints but it will do for black and white fast draft prints and scanning transflos. :)

What a whirlwind of a month and a half. I started training on the 5th of January and it is now the 20th of February. I am on my last load with a trainer. I logged over 12,000 miles and am finally ready for the final test on Monday.

I have done everything my trainer told me to do. My trainer and I got along pretty weel. He ended up with a 6 month probation though... something about u turn lanes... we were hit by a lady that was out of control due to the snow. I got an unavoidable and my trainer got a 6 month probation.

So many more stories and mishaps that I would bore you all.

ComCar has a flatbed fleet. I am still in training here but so far I like it.

I got mine on my 4th attempt. It was the Alley Dock that got me. I was able to parallel park... They had me go through the PreTrip, straight line, offset every single time. It was a tossup on the parallel park and the alley dock and since I nailed the parallel park on my first test I had to do the alley dock over and over again. On my 1st attempt I made it through to the road test and stalled out the truck over 20 times.

You'll get it, even if you have to stop and breath and threaten yourself during the test (like I did).

I spent my first night on the truck last night. I slept pretty good, I woke up happier than I have in a long time. I hope this feeling remains. I am enjoying driving and I prefer the night driving over day time driving. :)

It was supposed to MCT it stands for Midwest Coast Transport... Anyway, it's mostly refer and they have some hazmat tanker accounts as well.

I passed the physical, drug test and preliminary road test. I go out with a trainer starting next Tuesday the 4th. I am quite thrilled over this next phase.

I have been chomping at the bit to get out on the road since I stopped driving a school bus. The highways are calling and am heeding the call!

I am currently on a bus heading to atlanta. The first bus was comfy, this one is really painful. Orientation on Monday I am stoked.

I have chosen Comcar CMT division. I am quite thrilled over this next chapter in my career path. I leave for Atlanta, GA on Saturday where i will begin orientation.