Comments By Charlie Mac

Thanks guys! 😁

Heck Charlie, I still remember your first preventable accident.

Remember when you tried to jump over the diesel hose while fueling your truck? Yep, you got all tangled up and skinned your knee!

Fuel Island = 1 Charlie Mac = 0

Rofl! Ah, the dangers of the fuel island are many. 😂

I'll try to pop in more often & warn the greenhorns against playing jump rope with the fuel hoses. 😇

Just found out the misses & I are expecting a second child in November! Fingers crossed it's a boy this time! I don't know if my heart can handle living with 3 women 😉

I learned in a stick & now drive an auto. Every 50k miles when the truck's getting a b-service I use a loaner that's a stick. Once I'm in the highway it doesn't matter one way or the other as the Cruise Control is set. It has a "manual mode" so you can select which gear you want to use when descending a steep grade or bumping a dock. All I gotta do is push a button on the Jake & it switches to manual. Pulling towards me raises the gear, pushing away lowers. Easy Peasy.

I'm proud to announce I became a certified Class A CDL driver 1 year ago today! Out of 40 students in my class (we keep in touch via a Facebook group) fewer than 10 of us made it through our Rookie year.

A lot of my colleagues had winter incidents. Jack-knifes, black ice skids, following to closely, fender-benders at truck stops when they were tired from driving all day & didn't GOAL just 1 time. Some just missed their families to much.

I'm not saying I'm perfect... I cracked another drivers headlight at a truck stop once (early morning, May 19th @ a Flying J in Oklahoma...I'll never forget). I was straight-line backing into a hole to take a shower after driving all night. Another driver (on my blind-side) was starting their day...decided to pull out of the hole next to me while I was adjusting my angle. Took just a second & I failed to notice them pulling forward as I was backing in. I GOAL'ed... but it was too late. The plastic shield covering their headlamp was in pieces all over the ground.

But I took my lumps, learned from my mistake & moved forward. I'm mighty proud to have made it this far & not a day goes by I take this for granted. It can all end in a split second!

Just last week I was coming over a bridge in Terre Haute, IN on I-70 & traffic was at full-stop on the other side of the bridge. I had +40k in the box and thank god I didn't panic. I threw my Jake on high & applied steady pressure to the service brake, coming to full stop about 6 feet from the bumper of a Honda Civic.

3/4 folks in my class didn't make it this far. I'm proud to change my status from "Rookie solo driver" to "Experienced driver" today...but I've got a lot more to learn.

Stay safe friends & KEEP THE SHINY SIDE UP! ☝

TMC has some nice looking trucks! I've a buddy who went to school with me that recently went flatbed. (Gypsum Express).

The first thing he told me he noticed was the turning ratio. Apparently the trailer doesn't respond to your input as quickly/sharply as a van.

Wish I could give you more. Best of luck! 👍

...and I finally know how to correctly pronounce you're last name. 😁

Podcasts are all I listen to while driving! Woo-hoo! 👍

Thanks Brett & Co. ❤

This program single handedly prepared me for my tests & expectations in the industry. I was ranked top in my class thanks to the High-Road program.

"One ring to rule them all!"

As a student driver, I'm glad you posted this picture. Just how easy is it too do this?

If you're not in the proper gear before heading down a steep grade... a lot easier than you would imagine. You've got 2 relatively small pieces of metal slowing down (up to) 80k pounds of weight...that's before calculating (speed x weight=force).

While I was descending Donners Pass, I was in 8th gear & using the Jake brake...I didn't have any issues. I think I touched the service brakes less than a half dozen times total (only during turns). There are multiple "mandatory" brake inspection stops for trucks to pull off along the way & it's better to use these than the escape ramps...if you catch my drift.

There's a reason fire extinguishers are mandatory gear.

My run confines me to the relatively flat mid-west...although I did run Donner's Pass while OTR. There was snow on the ground in summer...I'd hate to run that route in winter!

I've unfortunately never had the privilege of running Donner's pass and probably never will now that I'm on a regional gig. That's crazy though. Which terminal are you out of?

I'm (technically) Columbus OH now...but have had DM's in Menasha, WI. Gary, IN. Rochelle, IL. Memphis, TN & SLC, UT.

They used to pass me around like a bottle of cheap booze. 😂

I still routinely work with Memphis, TN & New Boston, MI. (my shuttle affiliates).

I should mention....this isn't my truck. 😁

Uh huh suuure...

My run confines me to the relatively flat mid-west...although I did run Donner's Pass while OTR. There was snow on the ground in summer...I'd hate to run that route in winter!