Comments By Lil'RedRidingHood

Yeah I like my students listening to.music or audiobooks... Talking on the phone is a no go for students though

I tried to let them during low traffic times or areas.... But then arguments ensue.with family and their mental abilities go to hell. They focus on the road less.

BTW.... Do u know I wrote and published audiobooks? If u enjoy thrillers... I have a great one about the Zodiac killer. I will give you a free one if you like.

Kearsey 's Books

Thanks Kearsey. I did know. We talked on the phone for an hour or better remember? Last winter. You were stopped for a snow storm.

Would love one of those books.

Thank you so much NaeNae. I like the idea of front loading the dark hours.

And thank you for “this is how it is”. At this point I sure hope I don’t get stuck with a third or 4th week before team starts. The long resets makes that a possibility.

Hope I can sleep in the moving truck. The idea of music and no screen-time is good.

Thank you so so much Kearsey!

This was exactly what I needed. Now I know he’s not doing it to be mean.

Yes I will ask for the 4 hours instead of 5.

Only 1 shower every 2-days - and likely no time to nap for an hour, but I might get 15 to 30 minutes. I’ll take it.

We only stopped for a sit-down meal once, so likely that one’s out of the picture.

But—I can do smaller versions of these tho. If a sink is present—wash hair & face. Put the energy bar in the microwave. There’s a hot meal.

I’ll definitely start with the 4-hour interval, and make sure to exercise.

So appreciate you. I don’t feel ready to hop off a building anymore.

Lil’Red

Thank you so much Rob. Especially appreciate all the tips on how to stay awake and not get blinded.

I may love nights later. I’m a night-time person. Traffic being better for sure.

I just feel very unsafe about it right now, especially if I cannot stop to stretch or eat. A split I would do now, say run till 2AM or start at 4AM. That would give me some hours of daylight.

The training is 6 to 9 weeks depending. Team starts after 100hrs if student is ready.

At least the megas’ ban on trainee graveyard shift tells me I’m not entirely crazy here.

And it had not even occurred to me that my company could have a policy on this also.

Lil’Red

Hi, got a little bit of a situation on my hands, and know this fine community can tell me what is normal and what is not.

I just finished my first 3 1/2 days of training and am on my three day layover. Long 1300 mile run (one way) - dedicated 4 drive-shift route;—which explains the awfully short work week.

Just to fill in some blanks: I’ve been welcoming all, including dirty porta potties, napkin baths, energy bar on the fly for food, because THIS shows me from day one what I must do when running hard. I’ve been pulling 500+ mile shifts, 8-9 hours, and asked to go to 10.5, but handed over wheel on 2 occasions when I felt unsafe to drive. The other 2 short-shifts were due to other reasons, like needing to shut down in a particular place (not my decision). I have drawn the line at not eating or drinking (I will pass out). I can drive 5 hours and not pee.

Trainer has a pleasant personality btw. Their teaching (each thing) is effective, albeit erratic. Our personality match could be better, but it’s not awful.

But for this one issue, I would not be posting….. GRAVEYARD SHIFT:

Week 1 was to have been night pickup, but was changed to day shift 6 hours before pickup (drop / hook) & we have window.

I was thankful, as the thought of running heavy hills & city driving - graveyard shift and running hard;—scared the crap out of me.

Now we are to do graveyard again. Not split, but full-10 graveyard shift. We got no backing / fueling etc in last wk, due to tight schedule (I’m fine w/that).

This coming run / week we will do backing training, chains etc, in the dark.

So—question: How soon during solo-phase is too soon to run full on graveyard? What is normal?

I’m not too worried about chains / backing etc. He will NOT like my speed doing it, I know that. But I will back, safely, within my limits.

I’m scared I will crash my body, which sure could crash the truck & kill everyone on the road. My stamina is not to 11 hours yet. I get so tired. I don’t want to kill anyone. Being stressed & not eating properly will be so much worse at night. I have brought it to trainer’s attention. He wants graveyard and is also upset I take too long to eat.

Am I being a baby here? Is graveyard full 10 normal right away?

I’m looking to learn what is normal before I talk w/anyone at terminal.

Last: This is a good company, with a good program. Yes I may seriously ask for a different trainer, if for no other reason than the 3-day reset every week.

Thank you so much for your input. Love you guys!!

Lil’Red

Nope. This makes no difference to me.

Good luck as you start working.

Thanks so much Packrat. Trainer and I set off tomorrow morning. Been in this hotel for almost two weeks now, so I'm itching to go. Hoping for fair weather and smooth traffic for my virgin run.

I'll get diary 2 going probably on my 34; --I have a feeling I will be mostly passed out when not driving or on duty learning the 1000 things a trucker has to know..

Till then, thanks Packrat and everyone!

49 years at 400 miles per day, every day of the year is 7.1 million miles.

Totally get your point.. :) Admit to not checking their claims... These three all started very early. Not sure if they count experience before getting their chauffeurs license or what. You would have to meet them to decide for yourself.. :) To me--these amazing gentlemen did the impossible. They were the schools' "fixers" for those hard cases. They were kind, calm and full of stories and advice. One of them had decades as a driver trainer elsewhere.

I'll PM you info on your social media if you're curious.. I just don't feel right doing that here....

7 million and 8 million mile drivers. How old were these people? 100 to 105? Don't believe everything you hear. I know one 6 million mile driver (Candy Bass) that just celebrated driving 50 years earlier this month.

I can PM you the info Packrat, if you want to. :) And got your point, people lie a lot...

7 million and 8 million mile drivers. How old were these people? 100 to 105? Don't believe everything you hear. I know one 6 million mile driver (Candy Bass) that just celebrated driving 50 years earlier this month.

Two of them in their late 70's, one in his 80's... I could provide proof, but this is a public--very public forum, so I'm giving only so much detail... The point is--these amazing people helped me.

Continued...

Now to choose a carrier...
But first--go see family and friends; will be a long long time till next time..
I wore my hubby out with the company pro/cons, go here or go there during the trip, and after LOL.
It came down to two, both with excellent and long training--which I felt was mandatory. I turned away those who had the shorter training, and focused solely on that. All companies in my line-up I felt were quality operations; chosen based on my 20 years of sneaking around in trucker forums and reading all that I came across, checking safety scores, watching YouTube, scouring TT, pestering people, and so forth...

My little problem was that the choice was HARD. I couldn't do like at the shoe-store, buy both LOL... I had to pick one.. But, let's back up..
Just the fact that I had multiple choices.. SEVEN prehires, and more offers from the companies that recruited from the school, is to me kinda incredible. Here I had gotten sick years back, and chosen my body over the grind.. So my extensive and good experience was so far in the past it might as well not exist anymore. For all intents and purposes I had NO work experience...
And yet--SEVEN prehires. Is that mind-blowing or what?

It so happened that the recruiter I'd been working with since March was on vacation.. And company 2--equal in most ways to that carrier was right there, moving at the speed of light... As they'd done part of the background check earlier, it took all of 30 minutes for them to hire me..
Wait what? FAST card, long experience in positions requiring background clearance (not security, just background); TWIC, all endorsements, not even a parking ticket.. I'm easy to search. FAST card came in two days too.
I waited and waited for company one.. It was Monday, and recruiter was just back from vacay.. And here, company two would fly me out in two weeks.
Why oh why does this have to be so HARD? At the same time--who says beggars cannot be choosers lol... Here these companies were rolling out the red carpet.
I ended up choosing away company 1.. for a few reasons.
I had to find some, because I could not work at both places lol.
My chosen carrier is smaller. The folks I have met and interviewed that work there, were all extremely happy. I scoured the net, and not even T-report slaughtered them. Their owner still drives his truck. My CDL school teacher loved it when he worked there. It FELT right. The lanes were perfect. They could get me home often. My 80lb dog can ride with me..

So I - a little sad - contacted recruiter for company one and told her I'd chosen a different carrier, but would LOVE to come on there after a year or two. Amazing soul she is, she's holding that door open for me, provided of course I don't mess up in the meantime.

As it is, I am thrilled with my new employer..

Want to know who these two companies were? Read my carrier-training diary.. I'll put a link to it once it is up and running.

Finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the kind folks on TT who offered their kind advice. And special thanks to Laura, Anne and Kearsey.

~LilRed