Comments By Victor C. II

So I graduated on the 1 and wawas flown out to Pittsburg, PA to get my rig but then snow, ice was not nice, so I said the hotel will suffice till Monday and ta da I got my first load. Tcall to Connecticut. Dont know if I want to do that again haha. Tight as an acute angle. Sheesh. Then my second load which is an untarped load is lumber from Petersborough, New Hamshire. 48000 lbs almost. Pictures are coming...

Yall I got to get my body to bed cause I am doing an 8/2 split but here are some great photos of what I am doing. Also I flew a total of 8 times within 6 weeks! Love flying and that was awesome!

Tcalled this load and man am I glad I took time to inspect the tighteness of the straps and listen to wise counsel. Feeling better now. Also learning to drive a Freightliner versus the Peterbilt is interesting lol.

See you tomorrow.

Love ya Mamma Anne! Yeah your right about this site and I will ALWAYS love this site and community for what we have here and Brett Aquila is an incredible man and leader well as others in the moderators. Never did I think I would find a site that told as much reality and truth as this community! So yes I am thankful and grateful.

I agree and dont. I see Realdiehl's point because if a new person who has been told a bunch of lyes as facts comes in here and then states what they think is the obvious, and then some in here jumps on them, I can see where they would think that just confirms what the others are saying because of the defensiveness and then on top of that, it would also or could turn them away from driving altogether because who wants to deal with impatient people when they are just inquiring about something or stating what they have been told or experienced? No one. I think I would side with RealDiehl.

RealDiehl, I see your point, but on the other hand I personally appreciate the free spirit of this group - not a day care or some other institution bound by dozens if not hundreds laws and rules, but a community of very different people. Some are polite and soft, some are just the opposite, and some only read and keep silence, so we don't know much about them :-) And all together this is exactly what we call real life.

Victor, man, ya know I luv ya, kiddo . . . but keep in mind; because sometimes this is where YOU get askew. It's not about right/wrong, NOR taking sides. RealDiehl put shiz in perspective, and Brett supports WHOLEHEARTEDLY his theory....AS WELL as Andrey's.

Point being, this is a helluva site, geared to helping new folks peruse AND pursue their professional career, becoming a truck driver. This place was the 'Bees Knees' to you, back in the day. AND IT STILL IS, and will continue to be, to many!!! (Stay FOCUSED, man!)

Sometimes, politics DO intertwine with trucking; ie: the Vax mandates. Follow some trucking news channels; it's rampant. This is why Brett (the owner/developer/admin of this awesome site) ALLOWS some mixed emotions/theories/posts, regarding such.

Personalities are NOT cookie cutter fashioned, as we all know. FMCSA rules are, as we all know.

I wasn't going to even comment on this thread, but.. here I am, haha!

@RealDiehl (I know, the ampersand doesn't work here, oops!) I was ENAMORED with your original post in your thread. I had a reply typed out, but:

a.) Didn't want to be the first, because... um... I'm not a trucker!

b.) Brett beat me to it, and I'm SO GLAD for that.

c.) I read it thrice (or more?) and kept saying 'DAYUM!! NAIL ON HEAD!' to myself, in my sickly state.

d.) I'd had a bad winter cold; I'm at 80% BETTER .. YAY! (Non Covid... haha!) So... I'll be back around, Momma Anne will !!! (And haters will hate, haha!)

I could go on and on....

Best Wishes, Victor Jamie. I'm not picking on ya!

~ Anne & Tom ~

I agree and dont. I see Realdiehl's point because if a new person who has been told a bunch of lies as facts comes in here and then states what they think is the obvious, and then some in here jumps on them, I can see where they would think that just confirms what the others are saying because of the defensiveness and then on top of that, it would also or could turn them away from driving altogether because who wants to deal with impatient people when they are just inquiring about something or stating what they have been told or experienced? No one. I think I would side with RealDiehl.

RealDiehl, I see your point, but on the other hand I personally appreciate the free spirit of this group - not a day care or some other institution bound by dozens if not hundreds laws and rules, but a community of very different people. Some are polite and soft, some are just the opposite, and some only read and keep silence, so we don't know much about them :-) And all together this is exactly what we call real life.

Thank you Anne!

Always happy to read your updates, man!

Keep on keeping on!!!!! 02/02/2022 ... what a great # for a great day; following!

Best always,

~ Anne & Tom ~

Hey Yall I am graduating on the second of February! I am sooooo excited. I had an entire week and a half day off because my trainer went home for a week at home. It was fantastic and I practiced a ton of backing sure I will get more but I got to where I can instinctively put it in! I also watched all 3 seasons of Too Hot To Handle a Netflix reality series and even applied to be on it. It teaches people to make genuine emotional connections and relationships not built just on physical appearance and intercourse and I have learned a ton already I am really excited to Lord willing hopefully get accepted for the 4th season. I believe its only for a month or two but I could be wrong. Its for like the summer. Here are a few photos I took while on break which was needed and really nice!

Also fo you think we can get some video formats in here? That would be SOO cool!

Yes I am definitely having fun George, its a blast getting to know drivers in this area of trucking. Some can be lomg winded lol, like a good trainer for a friend of mine, he could talk for hours!

Yes Anne it was really secured becausenwe multilayered strapped it. Definitely was a job that day.

Looks like you are having fun and learning a lot. God bless.

Agreed, x10 !!

I'm just WONDERING, why the heck are those 'beams' (what ARE THEY, even?) staggered ... towards the front? Not much of a bulkhead; okay I get it; that's been discussed deeply by Turtle and Chief Brody (and Old School allllthetime!) in times past.

I just don't see HOW the heck.. (whatever that product is,) is secure from flying into the cab, in a hard braking event ?!?!

Victor; do you ever think maybe you got over your head with flatbed... ???? Just asking....for me, I guess!

God's blessings!

~ Anne & Tom ~

ps: Did you post this in the 'flatbed' thread? For advice? IDK.. just doesn't look okay to me...but what do 'i' know? Hauled a load of Jersey/Lennels w/Tom and it hopped to HECK. Never threw straps so fast (and ever) in my life. It's not for everyone, and wasn't for him/us!

Stay blessed, mi mano.

I just dunno.... don't like the looks, of it, but.. I DUNNO!

Looks like you are having fun and learning a lot. God bless.

Thank you! That helps a lot. This is what I'm hauling to Dug Gap, Georgia. Im nervous about Eagles Pass.

So what if you cannot keep them in that anglage? Probably butchered that word 😂. Im not sure if the stakeholders can hold two chains or more.

The second photo is how to get yourself killed.

Sure is. Not only is that dangerous, it is also illegal. The chain angle should not exceed 45°, per regulation.

Could you put more than one chain around a stake pocket or pocket holder? Our trailers dont seem to have the flaps that come up like in the first photo. Thank you for digging that up. We were taught to do the first two shallow and then the rest go out from there outwards.

Here’s a couple photos for you. The top one being one of mine. You can see how tight I kept everything, pulling directly down into the trailer as to never give a coil an inch. I’d rather destroy that dunnage pulling down into it, than to have the potential for the coil to roll.

The second photo is how to get yourself killed. That was a driver at a facility I loaded at multiple times a week. Myself and another driver saw this, stopped him and helped him fix it before bad things could happen.

I’ve hauled all sorts of open deck loads but have a bunch of experience with steel, coils and heavy haul doing machinery and equipment.