Profile For Bucs/Clips-Nation (aka Nelson)

We had a friend who did the dumb bell thing. he would lay on the bunk,with his legs running up the back wall, with his head over the edge ( aimed at the shifter) and run his arch from the floor to the bed next to him. from the looks of his arms and washboard abs ( and YES, I did look), his system musta been doin' something right. We had an O/O friend who hung a small punching bag in his truck...he said it was great for stress relief...lol

hahaha never thought of a punching bag, well i'm going to grab the dumbbells for sure either way so I'll try your friends method and see how it works out for me. Have to get creative out here on the road

I've always liked to stay pretty fit and after 6some months of driving i'm getting to skinny for my likes. I switched from a 386 pete to a freightliner and with the extra space I was thinking about getting a small foldaway bench and some dumbbells to bring with me on the truck. It's just kind of awkward getting into a decent pushup position, I mean i've done it and it works haha, but what are your thoughts on being able to fit a small bench in between the shifter and the bunk? Hahaha does this sound crazy?

Right on, appreciate it fellas. I've got a lot of research to do

I know the wait is pretty long to get into either company, but I've been talking to guys out here on the road and they're talking about a 5-6yr wait!?? Is this true? I'm going to get started with looking into all the local and maybe regional jobs I can get back home in Cali once I get hometime. UPS is something I've wanted to do locally for a while now so that would be ideal. I've heard that you have to start in the warehouse regardless of having a cdl or not though... I'll have to look into all that

Humm....OTR versus local in CA.....lets see...OTR...different states, different speed limits....local in CA...traffic, 55 mph tops....nope...give me OTR...

I forgot how much you love California haha. I'll admit, it has become my least favorite state to drive through. I'll give cali drivers one thing, they know how to enter the freeway! I've learned to appreciate that. I enjoy driving cross country, but I'm using this otr lifestyle as a tool for personal growth and opening doors of opportunity for the future. From the get go I planned for a year otr in order to land a local gig back home

Exactly. Every step you take you better yourself. This is only the start. I fulfilled my contract, now I want to work for Prime and become a trainer, after that I want to do regional tanker for Williams Tanker Company based out of CA. That's my long term plan.

And I really don't enjoy CA. I'm only there if I'm going home or leaving haha. Just as a heads up, check out Gordon Trucking. They have a driving job where you drive CA, AZ, NV, NM and you can be home every weekend or every other weekend. I know a few people who work there and I got accepted into the position but I ended up rejecting it. Just something you might be interested in.

Appreciate it, I'll check them out. Ideally I'd like to get back to a mon-fri deal, but the idea of weekends off could grow on me as well

Who is your DM? And where are you based out of?

Eric h. Is my dm, I'm out of fontana.

Hey, I never got any calls from you like I was expecting.

Glad you're having fun out there. Keep a positive attitude and count your blessings. Here's for another successful 6 months!

Hahaha I was close to calling u up a couple times. It's crazy how much unnecessary stress I put on myself starting out. Just glad I can laugh at it now as I continue to learn. What are your plans, u should be done or just about done with your contract right?

Yeah I'm actually done with it. Quitting in a few days. Just got to finish a load to Phoenix and then Oakland. How are you liking Central?

Nice man, congrats! All in all, I like central. Had to put my foot down a couple times, u know how it is, they'll try hard to push that clock. but as long as you treat everyone with respect you're good for the most part.

Humm....OTR versus local in CA.....lets see...OTR...different states, different speed limits....local in CA...traffic, 55 mph tops....nope...give me OTR...

I forgot how much you love California haha. I'll admit, it has become my least favorite state to drive through. I'll give cali drivers one thing, they know how to enter the freeway! I've learned to appreciate that. I enjoy driving cross country, but I'm using this otr lifestyle as a tool for personal growth and opening doors of opportunity for the future. From the get go I planned for a year otr in order to land a local gig back home

Hey, I never got any calls from you like I was expecting.

Glad you're having fun out there. Keep a positive attitude and count your blessings. Here's for another successful 6 months!

Hahaha I was close to calling u up a couple times. It's crazy how much unnecessary stress I put on myself starting out. Just glad I can laugh at it now as I continue to learn. What are your plans, u should be done or just about done with your contract right?

I loved meeting people from all walks of life pretty much on a daily basis. It was a heck of an adventure!

Yeah man I love all the different personalities you come in contact with. Thick accents, stories with to many twists and turns to be true hahaha. You'd be surprised with what happens when a bunch of truckers are in the lounge watching the Maury talkshow, I'll never forget that day

What's going on guys? It's been a long while since I've posted on here. We'll I'm about to finish up my 6th month on the road, and I must say I see how you can end up otr for much longer than u first planned. My goal is still to finish up my year contract and find something local back in california, but there is a lot to like about otr even with all the cons

What kind of trucks do the new company drivers usually get at central?

Freightsha.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.akers

Haha yeah everyone has been pretty much getting new or just about new freightliners. I really like them actually, not complaining one bit with the Pete though haha

You got a Pete as a company driver? Wow you got lucky. Hey i could give you my number so you can call me if you need any help with anything or if you don't know something if you want. Won't bother me. I know how difficult it can be and the time with a trainer doesn't exactly prepare you.

Yeah real lucky! They were real short on trucks so they asked me if I was cool with going to Arizona instead of waiting, to get a recovery truck from someone who just quit n left the truck at the yard. Has a little front bumper damage but hopefully they'll repair that when time off comes around. I'd really appreciate that man, PM me your #

Nice man glad to hear you're still alive. This first month is always the hardest but it gets progressively easier. Learn from each mistake and don't hit anything, never take chances. What's your truck number and what kind of truck/color? Gotta look out for you on the road

Truck # is 24759 I got lucky with a black 2012 386 Pete. Love how it feels behind the wheel, turning isn't the best but really not as bad as people made it out to be

Much appreciated everyone, after everything is said n done the good outweighs the bad. Keep on trucking haha

Well I'm halfway through my second week of solo driving with Central! I've learned so much about myself through this process, and it's just the beginning. So many challenges that bring a sense of accomplishment or failure. The accomplishments are great, but I'm getting the most out of the struggles. I was the type who would really focus on my mistakes n pretty much let it ruin my day. I'm so thankful to be developing a short memory when it comes to that now, learn from it n move on. I know I made the right decision for myself in choosing this path because I see myself becoming a better person from it. I'm having a good time out here and praying for the strength to get through those times of doubt

Is it reliable and am I able to take the directions and fuel stops given to me through the qualcomm and input them to have the entire route there for me to look at?

Yes, it's very reliable. It's just like mapquest. It bases its directions as texts. In other words, it's not like a real gps where you can see over your truck all around you. It just shows you a picture of where you turn. So if you're going to get on I25 from I80 it would show an overhead image of your turn. It's not a simulation like every other gps is. Personally I never use it because using my McNally, Atlas book gets the job done for me. And obviously mac 27 for customer location directions. If you want to use it go ahead, but it just complicates it for me.

No, you cannot input your fuel stops on the route. I hope you write everything down on a journal of your loads. What I do is I write my fuel routing and fuel stops at the back of the page so you always have access to what your fuel stop is.

thanks man, yeah during training I would copy the route down in my notebook and follow that way. It would just be nice to be able to see the route info displayed, such as how many miles out, time before I reach and such

Thank you Brett, and yes my trainer was the same way he would always have at least two references to go along with

Passed my final driving and written exams yesterday, just taking some home time while I wait for my truck. After learning all the trip planning stuff, I really wasn't a fan of the old school map book way. I plan to use my Atlas to confirm my routing, but I would much rather have a navigation system going as I drive. My trainer was a living Atlas so I never got to see how the navi on the qualcomm was. Is it reliable and am I able to take the directions and fuel stops given to me through the qualcomm and input them to have the entire route there for me to look at?

My dad taught me to use my landing gears as reference points. I.E. once your outside landing gear (depending which way your turning) 1/2 is visible in your mirror, then start turning the other way. Of course this is mainly use for offset, parallel, and 90 degree alley dock parking.

Yeah that's exactly how we learned at school, I did pretty well with that. Haven't needed to use any of those on the road yet though, school was like dmv world, completely different out here on the road. I did much better today, we were able to pull into this completely empty lot and practice for a while. I was finally able to come to understand what kind of adjustments were needed for the trailer to move where I wanted it to. Thanks again everyone