Comments By Nate_K

Fuel is full now but have weighed at various fuel levels and it don't matter.

Vehicle is a 2016 International.

Last load was:

Steer- 12,040 Drive- 28,940 Trailer- 28,875

Today

Steer- 12,100 Drive- 29,180 Trailer- 24,460

That last load was the lowest my steer have ever been. Usually they are between 12,100 and 12,180

My steer tires are always over weight.

When with my trainer we never had this issue.

I have read that steer tires are effected by 5th wheel placement. I have slid my tandoms all over the place but steer tires always read 12,100.

Just like joining the military. You answer NO to everything.

Hope Werner works out for you.

So you're telling him to lie? If you lie, and they request your past medical info, then you lose credibility and you're done.

No I am not telling him to lie. He already went through the process.

Like myself, he was in the military and when you join they tell you to answer no to everything or else it slows down your enlistment and causes problems.

I guess you have to go through it to "get it."

So got my truck Wednesday night and my first load Thursday morning.

Roads were garbage. My truck computer is not usable when driving so having directions to shipper on the screen like I did with trainer wouldn't work. Ended up missing a turn and having to do 20 miles to a safe place to turn around. Not a good start.

Second stop, over weight on steers no matter what I did. Kept going over 34,000 on either drive or trailer. Couldn't get a balance. 6 weight tickets later had the drive/trailer legal but steer were still 400 over. FM said take the load back for adjustment. Get back to shipper and she sends a message saying to Just deliver load as is. Hours wasted.

Auto-start in the truck is preventing sleep. Basically sit up waiting for my 10 hour to end so I can just drive.

Deliver my load at 6am and next pick up is scheduled for 1630 and us less than 2 hours away. Head straight there and get in and out before 1300.

Deliver the load and shoot across the State only to realize I left my lock on last trailer. Oops. That was an expensive mistake. Last load was now a freebee.

Delivery was scheduled for 0800 tomorrow but FM changed appointment time to 1400 because she said there was no way to make it on time. Here I sit 20 miles from consignee and could deliver as early as 0500 if I am awake. Next pick up is preloaded trailer about 45 minutes from current drop.

Even with the things going wrong I am having a blast. I just can't afford to forget anymore locks.

Just like joining the military. You answer NO to everything.

Hope Werner works out for you.

Not sure where you heard Roehl has older equipment?

They put me in a 2016 right out of training.

Less than 90,000 miles and still has the new truck smell.

In your situation I would suggest getting your trainers phone number and talking to him in advance.

I know in the truck I was in a fridge would not fit. But strapping a cooler to the catwalk would of worked great.

I must admit, your story reminds me of this family I knew that owned a gentlemens club as a family business.

The 1 brother was a bouncer, the other brother was the bartender. The sister danced and the bartenders wife danced. It was a train wreck.

But if you think you will fit in then I would get through training and keep on trucking. It's all experience that will help you in the future.

Now if your trainer starts asking for your urine to keep him warm I would re-evaluate.

Good luck.

Well this morning I tested out for going solo.

Testing out consisted of a road test, a truck stop pull through, and backing between 2 trailers at a 45° angle.

They didn't have any trucks ready for me today so hopefully they will have one ready on Wednesday which is my scheduled launch day.

This will be my last entry for awhile. I am now on what is called phase 3 of training which is basically running solo but having a FM who is supposed to hold my hand I guess.

I will post again when I am done with phase 3 or sooner if I have something worth reporting that could be beneficial.

A summary of my time on the road with a trainer.

My biggest fear when I started down the road of becoming a truck driver was the time spent with a trainer. I have spent a lot of time on the road travelling and I have seen many of the stereotypical truckers at truck stops across the Country. The idea of sharing a small space with a big stinky truck driver who ****es in an empty soda bottle while I am asleep in my bunk really bothered me. It bothered me so much that the amount of time with a trainer was a major factor in the company I chose.

So after I finished orientation I got a call from my FM telling me who my trainer was and when/where to meet them. When I got home I immediately looked them up on Facebook. I was so happy to see they were not 800 pounds.

The first morning I sat in the drivers lounge waiting for them to arrive. He showed up on the phone with his FM trying to track down a empty trailer so no words were exchanged. We walked out to the truck and I breathed a sigh of relief when his truck didn't stink and was pretty clean.

With all this I felt pretty good going into training on day 1.

I already gave a pretty good recap of how my days went so I am not gonna go through day by day again, instead I will go into more of the behind the scenes life with a trainer.

I had read many posts about trainees bringing way to much stuff with them on the road. So I knew I didn't want to be one of those guys. I purchased 2 bags for the road. Bag 1 was a medium duffel bag that held all my clothes, extra gloves, and my power cords and headphones. Bag 2 was a backpack that held all my shower and personal hygene items. I had 1 sleeping bag and 1 small travel pillow. I brought 1 jacket and 1 insulated flannel shirt. I wore work boots but had a pair of tennis shoes in my duffel bag (that I never wore). My trainer provided me with 1 cabinet to store my stuff but I ended up putting all my food in the cabinet and left my bags on the end of the bed. I am 6'2" and could lay flat with the bags barely in the way.

My trainer said he don't eat in the truck when training so we stopped at truck stops for meals. I ended up eating most of my meals with him (felt guilty eating my food while he is sitting inside) and I did not bring enough money. My trainer loves the buffets and while I tried to avoid them the menu items are not really much cheaper. On a side note: If you are not used to eating out like that already I highly suggest bringing some pepto or something similar. Very thankful I did. On a few occasions my stomach was in knots from the food and I found myself eating pepto chewables like candy and drinking a ton of sprite to combat the pain.

My trainer loved to talk politics and he was able to find a political discussion in anything he saw. Personally I hate politics and enjoy listening to music and keeping the chit chat to a minimum. I found it easiest to just say "yup" or "nope" in agreeance to whatever he was saying to get it out of the air asap. Now in no way am I saying that I was miserable because he always wanted to talk politics, in all my trainer was a very nice guy and I was getting along with him very well. For the most part I don't partake in much small talk and can enjoy hours of silence so being in the truck and having someone wanna talk a lot was an adjustment.

I did almost all the driving. The trainer drove from the time he picked me up to our first pick up (about 30 minutes from terminal) and then I took over and drove all the miles except when I was out of hours. They wanted me to drive at least 300 miles a day and I usually had over 500. Now my trainer did say that I drove more than any other trainee he has had in the past. On a few occasions he asked if I wanted him to drive through Chicago and I would laugh and ask why? Apparently most students are afraid of Chicago and had him drive through it.

The biggest gripe I have of my trainer is that he would always tell me what lane to be in. Usually way before the sign was there. I know that sounds pretty minor but that was my biggest gripe. So I guess that shows how good my trainer really was.

For some reason when I went out with my trainer I started having some problems downshifting. I never had a problem down shifting in school or during orientation so no idea what caused it. I blame it on the truck. All my training was done on an International and my trainer had a Freightliner. But it only took a little Chicago rushhour traffic to give me all the shifting practice I needed.

On a side note: You have no idea how bad people drive but after a week in a semi you will have an eye opening experience. Also realize that a lot of people driving truck can not keep their truck inside the lines to save their life. So when being passed or passing pay extra attention to the other truck. I couldn't count how many times a truck passing me would cut into my lane forcing me on the shoulder.

When you are out with your trainer be vocal with them. If you feel your struggling with something or feel you need a little more practice on something tell them. Or if you are unsure why something is done a certain way question it.

Your trainer is your last stop before going solo. Take the time to do everything yourself. Do the check ins, do the fueling, do the macros, do the driving. I couldn't believe all the stories my trainer told me about previous students who wouldn't do check ins or macros.