Profile For Tab O

I'm all about being positive but I'm standing in a truck stop lot at 1pm on a sunny hot day and it reeks of urine.

I'm nearing the end of my second week in truck driving school. We drove an hour to a truck stop where we set cones in an alley and are practicing our backing skills. There are five students and we stand outside while one practices. The smell of urine is unbearable. It's not just in this Lane but throughout. Here is my concern: these truck stops will be my home when I go out OTR.

I have no desire to live in what smells like a trough urinal in a rundown stadium. From what I have been told, what i smell here is not unusual. Is that true?

Thank you all for the great advice! I'm looking forward to the hard work and travel. I know it'll not be the trouble-free glorious road some recruiting ads make it out to be. It'll be what make it out to be.

I look forward to gaining the time and miles to eventually be on the other end of the questions.

Hello all!

I am a "sub-rookie" with my CDL learners, which I got using the training materials here at TT, and my DOT physical. I am still deciding between company training and a CDL school at the local community college. I need to decide because both start Monday. I've searched and read a lot over the past few months as I gradually decided on making driving a second post-retirement career. I only have one lingering significant concern: personal hygiene and using the bathroom.... or not.

At home I shower once and sometimes twice a day if I am working outside. I know that some drivers may go a couple of days without showering, that showers are available at most truck stops, and some drivers have rigged up showers in their sleepers. I'm fairly confident I can work through the shower challenges. Using the bathroom is another thing, however.

Last April when I began to think seriously about becoming a driver I joined CitizenShipper and got two hauling jobs. The first took me from home in Virginia to Georgia where I picked up a bumper-pull travel trailer and delivered it to Utah. On the return I picked up a motorcycle in Colorado and delivered it to a neighboring town here in Virginia. Along the way I stayed at truck stops and rest areas and slept in the back of my full-size SUV. I talked to truckers, clerks, waitresses, and observed and listened. And, three times at three different rest areas (one was actually just on the shoulder of an onramp), I saw gallon jugs that were either lemonade or pee. I'm quite sure it was the later and that totally grossed me out. I know that the majority of drivers who use receptacles in their rigs dispose of them properly. Still, peeing in a cup? Bad enough alone but what about when I am with a trainer?

I realize there is no Do Not Disturb button for when nature calls. With the song Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown in my head, I was standing outside along I-40 around 11 one night trying to figure out which way to pee in a whirling 35 degree 40-45 mph wind. I know it is much easier to pull over in an SUV with a 22' trailer as compared to a tractor trailer. So, what do you do? What do I do in the middle of the night when I am rolling with a trainer and need to get up and go into the truck stop, rest area, or nearby shrubbery? Even if one decides that peeing in a cup is fine in an emergency, what if last night's buffett is rumbling in your gut and whatever the next place is with a toilet you're parking and rushing in unbuckling your belt along the way? What if you're on I-70 with the nearest off ramp still an hour away? What if you're stuck in line at a 2 AM delivery with a dozen other trucks around you and no john and no private spot outside?

I've looked at options from camping supply stores and even read up on how astronauts do it. (That would require tapping into the air brakes, ouch!)

I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.

Thanks for the help!

Ha! I just drew it on a napkin at a Ruby Tuesday's and see it clearly. Maybe I should keep napkins and pens handy. 😀

Thanks G-Town! I really appreciate the explanation. That helps a great deal.

Yea, I don't recall enough of the breaking question to give it better context. I'm a former editor so I tend to automatically redline spelling glitches. A local TV station once attributed a bus accident to failed breaks! I guess those are the brakes. :)

Thanks again.

Welcome Tab O...thanks for stepping out of the shadows with your first post.

You wrote this:

The other question asked which followed the "widest path": the drive axles of a bobtail , the axle of a 28' trailer, or the tandems of a 53' trailer. Simple. The power unit, and its drive axles, go wide and the tandems of the 53' trailer take the shortest path possible. That's offtracking and simple geometry. I got it wrong. Virginia's correct answer was the 53' trailer following the widest path.

I'm new and have yet to even sit behind the wheel of a tractor. Am I correct in thinking the state is wrong or maybe just gramtically challenged?

Not sure... The first question you referenced: "braking or breaking", without the benefit of the text, difficult to determine what they were asking or why.

Second one (in quotes above) is far simpler and easier to explain (and you might be over-thinking it a bit). When Bobtailing (sans a trailer) I can almost drive it like I would a pickup truck. Add the trailer, and you absolutely must compensate for the length and the pivot points of the 53' trailer. I know it may be difficult to visualize this, but the trailer axles always take the widest path (arc) through the turn, the tractor is just compensating for the trailer. We have a saying; you don't drive the tractor, you drive the trailer. This concept of widest path is very easy to see when watching an experienced driver setup at a dock for a back. Many times a tight, full 180' turn is performed and if its a warm day, the tires will mark the pavement. By far, the trailer tires always leave the widest arc.

Another way of thinking about it is in a straight line...on a highway. Holding the lane is an important skill for any driver, especially so for a tractor trailer driver. While travelling at highway speed in a straight line, adjusting the steering direction ever so slightly, either left or right, the trailer will drift much further than the tractor will from one side to the other. Again, we drive the trailer and spend almost equal parts of time looking forward as we do looking in the mirrors. I had an instructor, and although it's been many years, I still remember him barking at me in his Southern Drawl; "Watch your wagon driver, watch your wagon". Truer words were never spoken, or never forgotten.

To demonstrate this, you might want to purchase a small diecast tractor and trailer toy. 1/48th scale is a good size, Walmart or Amazon is a good source. Try different things with it and you will see exactly what I am trying to explain. This toy truck will also come in handy as a tool to help you set-up and learn how-to back.

Good news? You passed...a touchdown is 6 points, be it a yard or 99. Congratulations and best of luck for what's next.

Hey all,

This is my first post. I'm retired from one industry and gearing up to start a second career in trucking. I am still deciding between an indy school or company training. In the meantime I have my DOT Med card and just took and passed my CDL written using the TT training here. (Thanks TT!) I got 89 of 95 correct giving me a score of 94%. However, two of the questions were squirrelly.

I don't remember the exact wording but the questions in question were like this:

One was about braking and two of the four choices were definitely wrong. The other two were so close that they needed some thought. One of them referred to emergency braking and the other to emergency breaking. I chose the braking as the correct answer but the state said emergency breaking was correct. I really hope I never have any emergency "breaking!"

The other question asked which followed the "widest path": the drive axles of a bobtail, the axle of a 28' trailer, or the tandems of a 53' trailer. Simple. The power unit, and its drive axles, go wide and the tandems of the 53' trailer take the shortest path possible. That's offtracking and simple geometry. I got it wrong. Virginia's correct answer was the 53' trailer following the widest path.

I'm new and have yet to even sit behind the wheel of a tractor. Am I correct in thinking the state is wrong or maybe just gramtically challenged?

Thanks!

Tab