Profile For Grumpy Old Man

I have a 2 year medical card. That is what is confusing about it. I have already gone to a doctor, had a physical and gotten a 2 year medical card. I see no reason to have that questioned or reassessed by another doctor who is going off numbers on a page. I have a lot of muscle mass, and i carry my weight in my thighs and butt....those do not constrict my airway. I think it is a bit presumptuous to look at a BMI and assume this person needs to throw out their perfectly valid medical card and go through possibly unnecessary testing...my main argument here is that I have already had a physical and been deemed fit for 2 years by a physician.

I have been with Prime 4 years. if you dont have apnea, it you will test negative. the test and machine were cheaper than the doctors back home in NJ with the insurance. i tested negative... gained weight 2 yrs later i was required to do it again and tested positive. i hated the machine

Cardinal Sleep is not a part of Prime... They are an independent that has a satellite office in our terminal. Phillips makes the CPAPs The machine that cleans the machine is SoClean.

SoClean's website specifically says to use a "reputable company like Cardinal Sleep when ordering replacement parts because conterfiet parts habe been sold on amazon"... something to that effect.

The Prime doctor is not evil either. i use them as my promary care... even got a pap smear and mammogram referrals there.

You get a 2 month card due to DOT regulations, not the company.

hang in there.... Primes great.

My company did the same. They want their own clinic or doctor, as it is easy to find a doctor to pass you on questionable things. For instance mine took my blood pressure multiple times until it was acceptable

Sounds exactly like my first trainer. Hopefully the company gives you another trainer.

Stick with it, and practice as much as you can. Backing takes repetition and challenges to learn.

Not while trucking, but in my previous life I did a job at a milk bone factory. Had to wear a hair net.

I said I’ve seen my dog eat his own crap, I’m pretty sure a hair wouldn’t phase him.

They weren’t amused

Yep. Slowly release and once it is out then give it throttle. Even loaded I only used 2nd, and sometimes 3rd or even 4th, if there was any downhill.

It may sound like it is going to stall but if you let it out slow enough you will be amazed at what you can move in 3rd gear.

FWIW, in CDL school we are being taught using Driver's Daily Log by JJ Keller & Assoc. It's the "Official Deluxe Duplicate Copy" system.

Yes, because if your ELD system fails, as it has in the recent past for many companies, you still need paper logs until they are fixed. You have to have 8 days worth of logs of some type.

You can only use paper, in addition to the examples above, if your ELD is not working.

They are plain and simple

This argument for paper makes me laugh. Nothing simpler than hitting a button only four times an entire shift. So glad I’m not logging this on paper:

Press log in at start of shift, press log out at start of break, press log in at end of break, press log out at end of shift. Literally that plain and simple.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Paper logs are a pain in the ass if you use them legally.

I bobtail home on a 10 ton limit rd right past a state troopers house every time I go home. My truck weights about 19500

I’m heading to Oshkosh myself. In Ohio currently

Went from richfield wi up to neenah wi now heading down to cherokee al for a Monday delivery. Looks like we all are hauling paper products this weekend!

Yep. I’m actually going to Appleton in the morning. Was going to shut down at Roadys in Oshkosh but stopped at the KwikTrip in Fond Du Lac and ended up staying.

Got big paper rolls going to Great Northern

I’m heading to Oshkosh myself. In Ohio currently

I work NE Regional for Wolding, and I get home weekly, and could get home 1 or 2 nights during the week if I wanted, though that would result in many short runs to keep me near home.

As it is, I run from Buffalo throughout the NE.

Where exactly in MA are you?

I definitely would have shut down.

I delivered to Walmart in Lewiston ME last week. All the way there I kept seeing digital speed limit signs saying 45, couldn’t figure out why. Then, multiple crashes mm 43, still no idea why. Roads seemed fine, I was having no issues.

2 miles from Walmart, saw this. Still no idea why, roads seemed fine.

Got out at Walmart to drop and hook and promptly fell on my ass. Solid sheet of ice. Finished my drop and hook, drove 5 miles to Auburn Circle K and shut down for the day. Messaged dispatch and let them know.

Their response was “stay safe, thanks”.

I was under the impression a second job must be counted as on duty not driving on your logs. Not sure how a driving job would be classified.

I could be wrong, but I would swear I read that

My company gives you a road test at orientation. They want to see where you need work, and make sure you are trainable.

You should be fine.

How did I finally get my career started? It basically came down to my desire. I either really wanted this, or I could just lay down and give in to the despair. I decided to go for it. I determined that I was gonna conquer this problem as if it were a mortal enemy. I determined to do whatever it took to make it happen.

Once again, Old School hits the nail on the head.

It ain’t over until you say it’s over. You can do anything you want, if you want it bad enough and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

I never worry about cars getting ticked off over driving slow. If they think that is inconvenient, wait until one flips in front of them.

On a straight road if I keep the inside of my fender mirror on the zipper or yellow line, I’m pretty much dead center. On curves take the outside as others have said.

Schools teach you to hug the yellow because the dmv examiner can fail you for crossing either, but he can’t tell if you cross the yellow as easily as he can the white.

“Get Your Motor Running...Head Out On The Highway...etc., etc.”

You’ve done that! Good for you. Safe travels, good luck and never forget to...

“Watch Your Wagon”

Watch your wagon, or your tandems, as GTown said. Always. Best advice you will ever get.

As my trainer said, you are not a truck driver, you are a trailer mover. Driving the truck is easy, it’s pulling the trailer that makes it difficult. :)

Also GOAL, Mark said.

Congratulations. In 6 months you’ll feel like you’ve been doing it forever. But you will always be improving and learning.

Sleep apnea maybe?

Driving at night is tough. 95% of the time I'm starting between midnight and 1am and it's just something you get accustomed to. Some days it's hard to stay focused because there's nothing to look at and if dealing with alot of 2 lane roads where people dont turn off their high beams it makes me more tired. It's even worse if I didnt get good quality sleep before starting. Usually pulling off for even just 30 minutes to take a nap fixes the problem for me. Hopefully it's nothing major. Either way you're doing a responsible thing by getting checked out to ensure you're able to safely operate that vehicle.

I bought some LED bulbs for my truck and that helped immensely. I could only drive 3-4 hours at night before and my eyes were always strained.

I just drove until 9 PM until 5:30 this morning and would have finished the last two hours on my block but couldn’t find parking any further ahead.

Also I will take a 30 minute nap or two if needed.

#4 hour breaks:

Yes, that two 1-5am thing is in the rules, but it is officially NOT ENFORCED. So you have 34 anytime hours to kick back in. Think one day plus 10 and that's the minimum break. You can take off longer as needed.

I may be wrong, but I think they removed it completely recently. In any case, Errol is of course correct, it is not enforced.

If you're engaging the Opti Idle, the batteries should never drop more than 25% of their charge.

Yeah, that's the thing. It seems to only turn off my power plugs, the lights still work and when I get up, the truck turns on fine when I manually start it. But if I wait for the truck to start itself during opti idle, then itll be another hour or two after my cpap turned off.

I thought about just leaving my marker lights on to help speed up the progress of when the truck idles, especially during the winter months when the batteries drain a bit faster it seems.

J

The truck will turn off the lighter outlets when the charge drops below a certain percentage. Then when it drops further, it will start to charge the batteries.

There should be one outlet set up to not turn off for cpap users.

The inverter should be directly connected to the battery and therefore will not be shut off.