Profile For Pete B.

To continue the hijacking of this thread, at one of our OC‘s last year a truck caught fire, which spread to four other trucks. I shot a real nice video, as I was close enough to feel the heat, which I then uploaded onto YouTube. Two days later I got a phone call from my driver manager asking me very nicely to please take it down. Which I did without hesitation.

I drive tankers for Schneider, but see plenty of their dry vans at the OCs; I assure you, our equipment is top-notch. The support system is phenomenal. I can’t imagine a better ‘first company’ to work for.

I believe you are under the mistaken impression that the job you take will affect your level of fitness. Maybe I should have led with this point. If you are not in the habit of exercising and maintain a poor diet, flatbedding isn’t going to change that. You aren’t going to get your heart rate up enough often enough tarping loads to make a difference physiologically. With regard to exercising, nearly every Schneider dry van OC (and they’re lots of them) has an exercise room. And you can always walk outside. You need to fix your diet regardless of what company you drive for. 40lbs is no joke. Know what I’ve put in my stomach today? Coffee, apples, and yogurt. I’m about to fix dinner... a salad w/reduced fat Wheat Thins. It’s not that difficult. You can do it. Stick w/Schneider for one year, then re-evaluate your options.

Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep. He waits.

Best of luck to you Jmart; if it was putting undue stress on your family, I’m glad you chose family.

This isn’t even close to the beauty I saw today driving through The Rockies in southern Colorado, but it’ll do for my 10hr break. Chama, NM.

That’s wonderful , Old School, I’m so happy you get to spend time with your family in Dayton. It’s also a great real-life example of how all the things you write about pay off handsomely for you in the end. Enjoy the time off!

There’s a nice collection of mutts on here, but none as cute as my Popa (pronounced “poe-pah”); sadly, she’s not traveling with me.

Me w/my better half:

A bit late to the party here, but I too used High Road’s HAZMAT training exclusively, passing the HAZMAT tests in Montana and Texas.

First I’ve heard of it. My company passes the detention pay on to the customer. In my particular line of trucking it would induce chaos. There are several other ways we are paid besides cpm’s.

I need to give up trying to use the quotes.

I've driven past that sign in Wisconsin many times. Always gives me a laugh. Should be at mile post 420.

That’s hilarious... I’m surprised some of the local teens haven’t thought of that yet... erecting an honorary milepost sign. Or maybe they do, and as soon as it goes up, the law takes it down.

After I’m all done driving, maybe I’ll stop by…

I took a girlfriend skydiving for her birthday, a present that I enjoyed as much as she. It was our first time, so of course it was tandem. I hardly noticed the person strapped to my back. It was one of the greatest thrills I have ever had. I don’t know which I enjoyed more, the free-fall or the floating once the chute opened. It was a gorgeous day, mostly sunny with a few clouds, with the temp in the 80s. The jump occurred near Williamsburg, VA, so there was plenty of water and land all around. This was in the mid- to late-90s, so unfortunately my video is on VHS. But I still have it.

You’re a better man than I, Old School. I probably wouldn’t have ordered her the egg rolls, pretending to forget to add them to the order. I’ve found my fuse is incredibly short with people who are always seeking the easy route, preying upon the benevolence of others. I commend you for your efforts, even if you almost killed her!

I have given urine samples in the states of Montana, Texas, and Indiana; not once did someone observe me providing the sample. I am bald; to obtain hair for the hair follicle sample it was removed from my arm with a razor.

The only people I’ve known to remove all of their body hair are swimmers and triathletes; if an overweight or out of shape person shows up with all of their body hair removed, I would consider that highly suspicious.

Paperwork!

Good luck with the dump truck gig; just be super-careful obviously. I don't know of anyone on here with that type of experience to lend you advice, but the challenges are well-known. It's almost reckless to begin driving them at such a young age with no experience, but I'd be a hypocrite if I thought it wasn't reckless for my own company to cut me loose on the roads driving tankers, with only about 8 days experience driving. Keep coming back here for questions as you have them, there's great emotional support to be found here as well as the particulars of driving big trucks.

I'm using the Coleman electric cooler... works great. It says not to use it as a refrigerator, but I do anyway. I unplug it about once a day for a few hours, so the fan doesn't ice up. I lay it on its bottom, like a chest, not standing vertical. Don't have to stack things as much that way. I've had it for almost a year; I do keep a supply of spare fuses on hand... but they're cheap. Sometimes they'll go bad once a week, or last a month. The one I have in there now is going on over a month. I recently spilled the contents of my crock pot in my truck, and it splashed onto the fan/motor area of the cooler, so I took it apart and cleaned it out; I mean, really cleaned it out! There was a ton of dust and grit that had built up inside the motor/fan blades; now it's purring like brand new again. I've been meaning to buy a filter and attach it to the intake area of the grill. I've never had anything spoil. The only danger is that it can get too cold; I've had lettuce freeze, which ruins it. Less than $100 at WallyWorld.

Bumper

I’ve never understood the purpose of that stretch... is it simply for looks or is there another reason?