Profile For Pete E Pothole

Excellent diary, thanks for sharing. Enjoy the journey, that's the fun part of the job.

Bill is an excellent instructor and a great person. I didn't go to school in Trenton but chat with him when I get to the terminal and the opportunity arises. This next week is the tough one. I'm not trying to scare you, just want you to expect the stress, don't add to it yourself by expecting perfection. Welcome to Millis, may run into you sometime and I can congratulate you in person.

Welcome to Millis. I didn't get to make the trip to BRF, Black River Falls, myself during school. Enjoy the journey.

In all honesty, friendly greetings, pleases and thank yous that sound genuine, save you time out here. Customers, and people who work at truck stops don't have time to care if they make some who is an asshat late. If you do want to drive I would recommend learning how to manage niceties and pleasant short conversation. I've been in and out of many places quickly, shown up early and put straight to a door, and the people at the windows did it for me just because I was nice and the last guy was rude.

Agreed. Check with millis. I’ll be starting potentially August 17, if I can get my cdl permit and dot done by then. If not, I’m looking at Sept 14. My biggest fear/concern is with backing. I’ve tried ( and sucked at) backing a utility trailer and a uh auto trailer with my Ford Expedition a few times, but it never goes how I want it to. I’m confident that with training, I’ll get it figured out. Hopeful, anyway. If I quit my job and then don’t make it through training, I’ll have a whole new set of problems, lol.

Bill will get you fixed right up. Takes work and focus but he is an excellent instructor.

Millis requires at least 6 months experience of you get your CDL elsewhere.

Harder: Dealing with the anxiety of when I will be off a dock heading to next load. Easier: Making turns safely.

Welcome to TT and Millis. Listen, focus, and remember sometimes good is good enough.

Well I left my status unchanged, as I have always heard you will learn the most in your first year solo. So I considered that year my training period. Now I just have to watch out for over-confidence, stats I have seen show most accidents happen in careers between six months and two years experience. A bit of relaxing, and perhaps biting off more than you can chew so to speak.

Just calculated my earnings for my first year solo. Check dates are July 6 2019 to July 8 2020. I grossed 66.5k, and brought home 48.6k, I didn't achieve the goal I wanted to hit but I came close. I did not go through and calculate the miles I ran in that same time period, but the GPS i started using when I went solo shows 135k miles.

Usually going to school with a company is recommended here. One of the primary reasons is that the company has time and money invested in you, and are typically more lenient when it comes to preventables. They will happen, the company wants you to succeed and would be less likely to tell you to hit the road over something minor.

There have been some changes, but nothing major has changed that I have noticed.

Pete, how far west do you run? When I was there, Texas, Kansas or Minnesota was about it.

On my way now to Terre Haute, then Valley, NE, and final is Mackenzie, ND. We do have some runs to Denver on occasion, we also go to Shelby IA and Ames regularly.

There have been some changes, but nothing major has changed that I have noticed.

Just short of 34k for me. The 24th will mark my one year solo.

Those are some really solid miles Pete! Nice going!

Thanks Mr OS, learned slot from many of yours and others posts here. I have a great dispatcher, and I do everything in my power to keep rolling. Still much to learn, but loving this career. Most days I still grin when I think they pay me to do it, and pay well.

When freight is good I will be preplanned, when freight is slow I find out when I hit ready, or shortly thereafter. My last few checks have been 3400, 2600, 2500, 2700, 2700, 2900, and 3100 miles each. I've been running as hard as appointments and freight allows.

The day you stop worrying about hitting stuff is the day you will hit something. It's ok to be nervous, downright scared even, but take as long as it needs and get out as many times as you need to. Cant say I was ever too careful while performing a backing maneuver. One day you will have a moment of clarity that will ease much of the fear and nervousness. From then on please remember to guard against complacency.

Congrats Big Scott, thought about you when I drove through Joplin just a few minutes ago.

Yea little less than 20, here in pottsville waving at all the swift trucks I see moving.

I may have grabbed that load you dropped Friday, in Richfield Sunday. Delivering to Pottsville Walmart dc @ 0700 tomorrow.