Comments By Anthony R.

my pay for the week is way beyond what I imagined-forgot about detention pay etc. Just driving through W. NY yesterday and they had just gotten pounded with lake effect snow-the roads were entirely snow covered-the only road not covered was the thruway. Forgot that exit 48a is an entirely different exit than 48 in looking for the truck stop and ended up in the middle of Battavia-but went around a block and got turned around. Spent today in Pittston PA getting some bugs ironed out on truck and am itching to roll again.

My first week as a solo driver wasnt easy-first load to London KY went well-got held up for several hours as I wasnt in system yet for com check approval-got another load out of KY-six hour delay in loading and a snow storm put me way behind on the delivery to PA-held up for six hours at receiver to be worked in-got next load out of Kennett SQ PA-freezing rain and ice covered roads greeted me-load going to Haverhill MA-drove across GEO Wash. Bridge-cross bronx exp was amazingly moving well but the road in such bad shape-had to slow to 40mph to keep from hitting the ceiling on the bumps. Qualcom stopped working as I passed through nearby Pelham Manor NY. Arrived at the delivery next morning and was greeted by a very difficult dock-but driver jumped out and helped direct me in-but had to pull back out one more time to open doors-then truck wouldnt start-blocked the roadway for several hours-tow truck got air in brakes and was able to roll back into dock but with very little steering was not lined up well enough to get unloaded. Another crew came but could not determine the cause of the problem. Finally at the arrival of dusk, the tow truck returned and pulled me forward in third gear and started the truck. Finally got the trailer positioned to be unloaded-then bobtailed to nearby Londonderry NH in rush hour traffic-arrived to find the freightliner place closed-but gate was still open-the last man was about to leave-he got me in thankfully. Believe me, after that got to a motel in a taxi and my eyes closed when they hit the pillow. But felt good about overcoming the huge obstacles and still getting 3 loads delivered this week.

Am in London KY parked behind a shell station-lots of places to eat within walking distance but will have to let a shower go another day-delivery appt. tomorrow afternoon 3 miles away.

I agree with you fully in rejecting that new truck-it is your home and you certainly would never live in that kind of environment for any length of time.

My trainer wasnt really that bad of a guy-he always treated me with respect which I appreciated. Ive heard far worse stories-I did have to at times pry answers out of my trainer because he didnt explain things in detail at times-more than once learned things by trial and error. All in all, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be.

You are in the right place if you want to train-you may be eligible to train in 3 months-train those who have a cdl but need to go through the second phase. In a year you will be eligible to train new students with just permits to get their cdl.

I recently had an experience with a nasty driver who wanted me out of the fuel aisle faster-I politely told him I would move and he took out my trash-had me roll down my window-it blew my mind.

I turned the volume down to zero on the qualcom-there is a way to do that-was too irritated to listen to that voice.

I am a loner also by nature so I know how you feel about that-just made it through 3 months with a trainer and it was a huge sacrifice for me to give up my privacy for that long of a period. A lot of the details that Brett laid out in hisw comment will come but it will take time and patience. You may not always agree with your trainers decisions as he is only human-he may be right but there are times he may not be-my trainer made a bad decision to not fuel up and we ended up running out of fuel-I didnt agree but that was the end result. I had to bite my tongue at times till it got raw to make it through. Also experienced much in the way of winter driving-keep braking and acceleration to a minimum and increase following distance-but that is something that will benefit all the time. Wish you well on your training.

I have a Schwinn that I may bring with me.