Comments By Phoenix

Congrats Brian!! My 13 tools in one comes in really handy! Water is a good thing. I'm sure there will be lots of suggestions. Don't forgetl your toothbrush like I did lol.

Congrats!! And of course, the obligatory bananas lol

Hmm. I must be the ONLY driver who actually sets the cruise to 55 then!

Nope. Here's Another!

and dense dog and a drizzling rain

dense fog

You are awesome ;)

Umm..ok lol...thank you, Rainy. .(said with a quizzical look).

Another great day!! Rough start, but got much better. Lots of things so I'm gonna try this point form so I can get some sleep.

-very VERY little sleep last night ( an hour, maybe two) due to a need for "mom"

-slept through alarm and started two hours later than planned which messed up my planned schedule

-a tense beginning to the drive to Dallas due to: early morning hours and dense dog and a drizzling rain with a trailer that made me nervous

-got within an hour of customer and pulled off to call them at the last truck stop I would pass, knowing I would be 5 min late if they couldn't take me early. (2300 appt, but if I drove straight in, I would have to take a 10 five minutes away ). They were having a slow day and told me they could take me early, just not before 1600!! So I took my 30 min break...actually an hour...called my husband and discussed the middle of the night phone call I'd received, called my DM to discuss a pre assignment..then headed into Dallas and the customers

-did a back up I didn't HAVE to do for practice, since there was ample space and time, and have to say I'm very pleased with myself! No overcorrecting, just little adjustments, and that baby went EXACTLY where I wanted it to!!

-ate my lunch and crawled in the sleeper until they called me with a dock number. An hour and a half later, they called me with a trailer number instead...my reward for the initiative I took by doing a practice back? Lol

And so, here I sit at the worst laid out TA I've seen. I'm scaled, I'm legal, I'm good to go!!

....to sleep lol. Night all!!

I'm so confused now.

Forgive me Robert but i dont see the value in wasting hours on your 70 like that.

As someone who frequently has days of few hours due to very long waits at Wal-Mart DCs, I do see where that could help me, Sue. Especially when I'm running team and we have tight deadlines, which we almost always did, once they got us straightened out in this fleet's system. There'd be days I would have 3 hours or less to recap because I'd be on duty for an unload, then for the reload.

I believe my first week solo has been successful. The only thing I squashed was a poor little raccoon ( size being relative to my truck, that is). Yes, as I expected, I teared up but for safety's sake, had to force myself under control. I think I apologized for a good hour though. Yeah, seriously lol. I planned my stops so they'd be at times I was most likely to find pull through spots, so I've still only backed twice, once poorly but accomplished, and once perfectly the first time. Yay me!! I drove 3000 miles, then had to swap and stop for a reset. At first I wished I could've done more miles, but honestly, I feel regenerated and got all the personal chores out of the way for a few days.

Many brother in law is faring much better! He was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Daryl is itching to come back out, but right now, I hope to stay solo for just a bit longer. I miss my husband terribly, as he's wonderful company and a great co driver, but this past week has kinda toughened me up a little. I've had to face fears ( like backing), and I've had to complete trips from start to finish, rather than just parts of them. And, as I mentioned before, the trip planning is completely different, so I'm rounding out my competencies. I'm actually beginning to feel like a truck driver... er... trailer puller..., and not just a passenger that sometimes gets behind the steering wheel. Besides, I like the way I've got things organized now lol.

Drive the time you need on Wednesday to get to your delivery and let the on duty clock run.

I'm guessing you mean stay in "on duty loading", instead of going into sleeper berth?