Comments By DSTURBD

The mental picture of cars and semi's that comes to me is mice scurrying around the elephant's feet as we all make our way down the road, ha ha. It helps me to think of it in that way as the mice just don't seem to realize that running under an elephant's foot just might not be the smartest thing for him to do, LOL!

DSTURBD

08/06/16

Hey Chickie and Scott (and everyone),

Sorry that I haven't been able to stay on top of this the way I'm used to doing, but we have been pretty busy.

Chickie- Our meat load was out of Liberal, KS and had five stops across New England. Yep, crossed NY and the GW bridge...WOW!! Most of our stops were no big deal other than finding them, ha ha. One, however, a grocery distributor kept us waiting seven hours to unload five pallets!!!! We were on time for the appointment and backed into a door 30 minutes later, then sat........and sat..........and sat! My trainer was not a happy camper, to say the least! Then we picked up a load in New Jersey (ughhhhhh) coming back to Fort Worth. Now I'm sitting at the home yard doing a 34 reset and plan to head out again Monday. So, we've had a couple of short hops and a couple of good mileage loads. We're hoping to go west next, to check off some of the mountain requirements. I particularly like the days that I can spend the majority of my eleven in the driver's seat. My trainer has been super at making sure I get all of the miles possible. He only drives when necessary, which helps us both.

This tractor is an eight speed, and I must say that I'm getting quite good with it all around. Not a thirteen speed like I used to have, but a good tranny and simple to refresh the skills on. They keep saying that we will all have autos eventually though! I just hope I get a fresh tractor with a standard and then they forget about me for a good little while, ha ha!!!!

Scott- Yeah, still loving the driving, but not so much the sitting at shippers and receivers, ha ha. Gotta go to Walmart tomorrow and stock up on some things that I ran out of in between laundry opportunities. Can't have too many clean pair of undies, LOL!!!!!!!!

I'll update soon, I hope.

DSTURBD

I've been meaning to tell you. Keep your eyes peeled while you are out there. Transam and Stevens go to a lot of the same places, especially the meat houses. Ya never know, we might run into each other!

Hey there Chickie!

Yes, I do really like the T680, also, its' kinda cool that every time I see another one pull out to pass me or whatever, I know that I'm driving the same beautiful truck!! LOL Silly, I know but like I've said, I've been a gear-head all of my life! I'll just be happy to get into my solo truck as being in the top bunk SUCKS!!!!! But I imagine that's the same in any of them. It'll be nice to be in the bottom bunk with all of the storage for my things and the bigger, more comfortable bunk! Climbing to a top bunk is not for a sixty year-old guy!! LOL

You are absolutely right, I am seeing Trans Am rigs everywhere! Our load tomorrow is a meat load, so I'm going to get to go through the Thermo King set-up and all to prep the trailer for the load. Looking forward to that as it is one thing that I think I'm pretty solid on the theory and procedure parts of it.

I will definitely be on the look-out for you!!!! It would be great to get to say hi and maybe have a quick visit!!

DSTURBD

Good to hear. Are you enjoying the driving?

Hey there Scott!

Yup! Lovin' the driving! We've done a couple of short hops so far, but we pick up a load in KS tomorrow going to CT so there will be some good miles there, as well as giving me a better idea of how the long trips develop as you go along. A ton of stuff to learn right now between the Qualcom and all of the various paperwork!

DSTURBD

Where do you do these tests? Do you have a laptop or tablet?

Hey there Scott,

Yeah, they're on-line and I have my lap top with a USB modem from Verizon. 4G speed just about anywhere!! Works great. I have used some of the free wifi at different places just to save my data, but usually end up using mine as it is so much faster. I especially don't want to take chances with my training stuff getting lost in cyber space because of a sketchy connection!!!

DSTURBD

Passed my last test for Phase One at 100% (they all have to be 100% or you get to watch the video and take it again, ha ha).

It now says: You have no assignments. (Phases 1-3 are all seven day minimums before the next set of videos and quizzes will come up.) My next set of training materials should show up Thursday or Friday and I can start on those.

DSTURBD

Pretty soon, you'll be sayin', "Okay, where do ya want it? And give me a challenge, none of this easy stuff!!" LOL

DSTURBD

7/24/16

Okay, been on my trainer's truck for two full days now (today doesn't count as we are waiting for our delivery appointment at 0600 tomorrow morning. We only drove about 88 miles this morning to get close and my trainer drove it to save my hours and get me a 34 hour reset for our next load. It's pretty cool as he put me in the seat from minute one and I have done all of the driving up until late yesterday afternoon. His plan is to get my training done in five weeks or better, get me in grad school (4 days) so I can go solo right away, and then he plans to take some time off. We picked up a short trip Friday, and then a re-power from a guy Saturday morning who was running short on hours. We are in MO now to deliver it in the morning. He is hoping for a long trip next for me either to the west so we can get some of my mountains out of the way or back east to get that requirement taken care of. I have to hit all four major regions of the country, and in the north-east I have to either pick up or deliver (or both) at least one load. There are a bunch more requirements as well, but those are two of the big ones. Oh, and by the way Chickie, I got lucky as his tractor is a T680 KW, just like I was hoping!! Sitting here now getting ready to take my last test for the Phase One block which consists of 29 videos and quizzes, but I wanted to check in here first.

Let you know more later,

DSTURBD

Thanks Scott and Chickie!!

Yeah, he's already here getting cleared to go out again. I guess every three months we have to come in and get cleared, whatever that consists of. I imagine permits, etc. as I have seen drivers at the central clearance counter with the girls going through their permit books and updating stuff, giving them paper supplies and stuff. We also had drivers sitting in on some of our safety briefings as well.

Sooooooo............I will meet him at dispatch at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning! Getting a little anxious, but excited too. Our training is broken up into six stages throughout the time we're out and I got the entire first stage's on line quizzes and videos done today, so I'm ahead of the game, for now anyway. Can concentrate on learning his ways and his truck for the first week or so.

Will try to keep the updates going.

DSTURBD

7/20/16

Hey there guys!

Thanks for thinking of me! It really does mean a great deal to me! As a matter of fact, Chickie was right on the money, we have been doing 16 hour days for the last three days, but it was really cool. Classes all day and then driving and maneuvers until about 10:00 at night. And speaking of money, today was my first day as an official Stevens Transport employee! We finished up all of our orientation classes on the Qualcom, etc., got our fuel cards and learned how to use them for fuel (truck and reefer, our own cash from payroll, etc.), got my picture I.D. badge and Rand McNally Truckers' Road Atlas (lots of essential goodies to play with LOL), and..........got my assignment to a training driver. We leave the yard together Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. to begin my 240 hours of road training!! He sounds like a really cool guy and is exactly the same age as me. Talked to him on the phone this afternoon and I think it's gonna go quite well.

Maneuvers were really cool and a lot of fun. Also, it was kind of funny as the instructors I hadn't worked with yet all looked at me after a few minutes and said, "You've driven before, haven't you? Okay, this is going to be easy." Made me feel kinda good that I still had some noticeable skills, 'cause I wasn't sure they were still there at all!! One of our main classroom instructors got in a really good final parting shot on me last night during dinner. He comes in and says my name kinda loud and I answered, "Yes?" He says, "You're on med hold." I was shocked and turned around saying, "Whaaaat?!?!?!?!?!?" He busted out laughing as he couldn't hold a straight face......I about had a heart attack!!!!!!! He got me good though and I had to admit it. The classroom instructors are the ones who work closely with us all the way through orientation and have really been encouraging and pulling for me. The other one told me earlier today, "Hey, this is the first time you've gotten to the last day, good job!! I'm glad you stuck it out." The day before, I noticed him looking at me kind of pointedly and was wondering if I was doing something wrong or something, so I asked him what was wrong. He said, "Nothing. I was just thinking that when you get to doing something, you really stick with it! With everything you've been through on this, I'm really glad you stuck with us, a lot of guys wouldn't have."

Made me feel really good to know that they were concerned about it, too.

My next goal is to try to beat the record for completing road training. As they were explaining all of the various stages today, they told us that it has been done in thirty days only four times, ever. All of the check-offs, requirements, and 240 hours of driving time in thirty days......hmmmmm.....I wonder?!?!?!?!?

Anyway, thanks again guys, and I am moving forward and looking forward to the next stage of working toward going solo!!

DSTURBD