Comments By Steven N. (aka Wilson)

Way to go MG. I know exactly what you mean when you say you are too tired to write down all your adventures. I really had good intentions going through school and orientation. But I just couldn't keep up with it. I have had lots of adventures as I am sure you are having as well. Just let us know when the opportunity arises so we can all be in on what is happening at Conway with you.

Stay safe and watch you trailer!

Well I am at a receiver with a little time on my hands. They are across the street and I can't unload until tomorrow morning. So I thought I would share just a little about my training time. The new truck we drove had 23 miles on it when we started. When I was dropped off at the terminal at the end of the 3 weeks, there was over 9300 miles that we put on that truck.

Here are the loads that we hauled:

1. Oklahoma to Connecticut - Fencing material.

2. Connecticut to Indiana - Slinky coils.

3. Indiana to Colorado - Aluminum "eye to the sky" coils.

4. Colorado to California - Rebar slinky coils.

5. California to Idaho - Scrap copper.

6. Idaho to California - Scrap aluminum.

7. California to Texas - Roofing rolls.

8. Texas to Iowa - Cable spools.

The last load I did not make to the shipper as I was dropped off at the Tulsa terminal en-route to either get a set of keys or a Greyhound bus ticket. You already know I got the keys.

So now I have my new ride!

Woohoo!

So now comes the real learning. All on my own and the steep learning curve of being quick on your feet and an effective problem solver.

My very first load was a disaster! Thank God it was nothing major. It was all little things. Instead of running through the entire story, I'll just list them as bullets.

- After I found my trailer and hooked up to it, I drove 3/4 ways through the terminal before another driver ran over and stopped me to let me know my tarp box was open.

- All I had was a map (atlas). The navigation was not yet turned on in the truck.

- I thought I would be slick and write the directions on the windshield with a dry erase marker. My eyes read I40 and my hand wrote down I44. Needless to say, I "got lost" and was about 45 minutes out of route. It took me awhile to finds an adequate place to pull over and figure things out. Once I was stopped, I used my smart phone to give me a clue on how to get to the shipper from my present location. I didn't look like it was that far away, but an hour later, I was close. I went over the directions they supplied and I was going down gravel roads before I finally found this place!

- I get to the shipper and discovered that the load was already on a trailer! I thought that was nice until she said that once I got it secured and tarped, she wanted my empty trailer in the bay after I take the loaded one out. I cheerfully said, "I can do that!"

- Then there was a problem with the securement and I had to consult with the Melton Safety Dept. Once that was all sorted out, I was able to secure it and tarp it.

- It was raining and it seemed every time I had to do something outside, it involved a mud puddle.

- I dropped my sweat rag in a mud puddle.

- When I was doing all the hooking and unhooking shuffling the trailers around, I backed too far and the kingpin went over the fifth wheel.

- When I was ready to roll, there was a message on the Qualcom to just bring the load back to the terminal.

That was my first time out and it seemed like it would never end. But it did and I was able to get another shower at the terminal. The next day, I received my second load. I went to Norman, OK to pick up some air conditioner units to haul them to our terminal in TX. I thought this would be much better than the first load. I found the place pretty easy and got it all secure. They wanted a "smoke tarp" for the front condenser unit to keep the bugs and anything else from getting in the 'radiator' looking thingy.

This one had a successful ending!

My current load is going very well. My navigation got turned on so I am a little more comfortable now. I am hauling pipe from our TX terminal to Arkansas.

Here it is all secured ready for the tarp.

Here it is all wrapped up like a Christmas present.

So that is about as up to date as I can get. It's a whole different world being on your own. There is no one there to say, "Watch your trailer." "Check your mirrors." "Don't forget the 'Load' tab on your status." But even in all of these little things that have happened, I must say that I am having fun!

My last load with my trainer was two cable spools: 16.7k pounds each. The shipper laid the dunnage and we had to secure it properly to the trailer. They were laid suicide fashion. We ended up running 5 chains through the arbor hole on each spool to hold them in place. It's hard to tell from the picture what the securement was for sure, other than "inadequate." But I only see one chain and that little strap. Apparently this is a lot like going down the mountain. You can go down as many times as you want too slow but only one time too fast. With securement, you can 'over secure' as many times as you want but only one time with too little.

It has been a very exhausting 3 weeks out with the trainer. He showed me many things. We put over 9300 miles on that new truck of his. We went from OK to CT to IN to CO to CA to ID to CA to TX and back to OK again. What a haul! I learned a lot. Time management was a big area that I was able to grasp. I found out that you really have to manage lines 3 and 4 down to the minute if you want to optimize your money making. As far as load securement and tarping, there were some times I didn't think I was going to make it. This flat bedding is kicking my butt! It's very fast paced and this old man is not in the shape I thought I was. But it is getting a little easier each week.

So I get dropped off at the terminal in Tulsa and the longer story made short, instead of a bus ticket, they handed me the keys to my own assigned truck! Whoopee!!!! I got the truck yesterday and did all the inventorying and inspections, etc. Today, I go on the board and will be getting my first load as a solo rookie driver. I have so many mixed emotions it isn't funny! One of them is that I am scared to death. I just don't want to make a mistake and I know the odds are that I will eventually. I just hope that I will be able to show the abilities that I have learned before anything negative happens and that the mistakes remain minor ones.

We shall see. Thanks to all on the site for your advice and encouragement. You all have helped in more ways than you know. I will be happy when I complete my first load and I look forward to seeing you out there sometime.

Woot!

Thanks, Old School. You are an example for us n00bs to follow. I am finding flatbedding to be VERY challenging. If I dwell too long on it, I start asking myself "what have I gotten myself into???"

Gratz, Jimmy.

Feels good, doesn't it? Now impress those guys at orientation the same way.

Thanks all. I hope to learn as much as I can. I am already preparing my mind for the months following when I get my own truck. I am expecting it to really "suck" at first. But I am also in Melton's support system being at my fingertips to help me along when I have questions and when I get stuck on some of these Rubik's Cube loads.

I can show you my trainer. He appears in this video around 23 seconds into it.

My trainer is in this video.

Oh my goodness this is great! I can't wait to hear more about your adventures that are coming up!

Thanks.

I hope to keep something going but I am not sure yet how the schedule will go with updates. Hopefully, I'll be able to post something. If the training all goes good, I'll get my own truck in about 21 days!

Just a quick update. I have been too busy to really give a good report on how things are going and what has happened. But.......

I just graduated orientation at Melton.

Tomorrow morning sometime, I get on the trainer's truck and we head out to Connecticut. We would have left today, but the truck had to go to the shop to get something installed. Maintenance had to install a CB radio for the trainer. You may wonder why now. Well, here's why:

Your biggest clue is the 5th wheel.

Yup. Brand new truck for the trainer, and I get to go with him and drive this for training!

Woohoo!!!!!!