Comments By Victor P.

Stay positive! You got this!

yeah i must stay positive! right offset means i start left, and left offset mean i start right, i thought life was confusing enough before i got into trucking school! even my sock puppet is "Confucius", lol

Ya gotta love those light bulb moments

Now get some good rest and pass that test tomorrow!

Woody

test will be next week they say, we are going to be on grass! stupid i know! cones on grass! i guess if i can do it with no lines, i can do it blindfolded next! crazy school eh?

I run teams with my brother so I can trust him with my life. He is a good and safe driver. I would not team with anyone else hense why I was solo for a year and a half with JB Hunt.

Teaming is not for everyone. I sleep great but i am used to sleeping in a moving truck. If the truck stops i wake up. But to me the advantages far out weight the disadvantages.

Privacy in the cab is not an issue. Of course with teaming it helps not to have much modesty.

The miles are great. Basically we get a little more than half again a solo driver gets. Meaning a solo driver can do roughly 12,000 miles a month. We get between 25,000 and 26,000 a month. Which means over all we get to do 3 to 4 more trips extra a month. Money is money and I will take it where I can get it.

Having someone there to help when needed is awesome. If you ever chained a truck up during the winter time then you would agree that the extra help is awesome.

Like i said teaming is not for everyone and I would not do it if it was not for my brother.

well lets see what this is like! teams sounds like more money, but not according to stevens, they are solo based! i want to see if i just pass my backing up tests right now! and i have yet to do much double clutching so i am far away from employment right now! and don't get me started with the alley backing! wow you trucker are good!

Victor, all I will say about teams is do good research and make the right choice for you. By reading your posts I don't think you will have any trouble doing the research

Here is where I stood on teams. Sure the truck moves more miles, and you are getting paid for all the miles it moves, but typically you are making half the cents per mile of a solo driver. Granted teams may typically be getting longer runs due to the nature of the beast and therefore end up with over all more miles at the end of the week. To me it just did not seem worth it to give up my solitude and have to share such a small space with another person that I may or may not know, in most cases the not.

I also did not want to be trying to get my beauty sleep while the truck was bouncing down the highway. While with my trainer when I was sleeping every time he just got out of his bunk to step outside (sometimes not even that far) the truck would move enough to wake me up. And I am a pretty deep sleeper. These trucks are setting on airbags so it really does not take that much to get them rocking. For me I couldnt imagine getting enough quality rest while the truck was moving to be able to perform my job properly.

The other issue I had would depend on the company. Some companies pair up new drivers to run teams. Now nothing against the new guys, as I am one of them, but I did not want to be sleeping in a bunk trusting my life to another guy that has just as little time under his belt as I do LOL.

Stevens seems like a good company, I spoke with them many times when making my choice on who to work for. The one thing that was a deal breaker for me was that I was told I must run at least one year OTR before I could even consider trying to get a regional job. Their OTR program is like many in that you earn 1 day at home for every 7 days out. I simply wanted a little more time at home with my family after being out for 3+ weeks. Where I am now if I'm out for 7 to 10 days I can have 2 to 3 days home giving me time to enjoy being home and get a few honey do's done. But home time is relative to the amount of money one needs to make and how many days they can afford to take off.

Woody

i think i will follow your advice , i want this to be my last job! and i have to really check out the company well! do my research and check everything out! interview drivers and trainers at truck stops whatever! check out financials make sure this company is going to be here 25 years from now when i plan to retire at age 80! lol google the heck out of these companies! knight seems to be a good choice also, very close to me, like 35 minutes away! but they have yet to send a recruiter to my school? so far only werner and stevens have shown up! i need more pens, rulers and stuff! lol

the 45 degrees and all that finally made sense to me! i was able to offset right and offset left during a test, str8 line backing and i messed up on the parallel parking. i turned the wheel the wrong way at the end! i only had like 3 hours sleep the night before, i was so tired ! my knee was trembling by the time i took the parking test! the examiner said i had it in the box almost! but i steered the wrong way at the end! :( but now i will pass next time for sure! i can't double clutch yet but i am rather good a doing the

puerto rican triple clutch! lol

i am sure i will get the rhythm down!

the more i get into this course the more i respect what you guys do!

every one of you are very special!

even my sock puppy "espy" is amazed at what you guys do all day long!

yeah at 56 i am having fun with a sock puppet!

the instructor says it's good to joke around, we need to break the stress and lighten up!

so out comes my sock puppet! lol

by the way my facebook is "victor perez"

remember what "espy" the sock puppet says

be happy or be very well medicated!

:D

There are chapel services at almost every TA truckstop in the country that you can stop at for two hours on Sunday. While it probally will not happen that you get to go to YOUR church you can get to a church at a truck stop.

While a persons faith is important to them you have to remember that your job comes first and you may be stuck in the middle of no where when Sunday comes around. It happens.

If you need to have a "restart" for two hours each Sunday then you can do that anywhere cause church is where your worship your god and you can do that in your truck also. The chances of you being able to go to a real church every Sunday will not happen due to church locations. Most times they are in places you can not take a truck and if your under a load then you cant leave it just sitting there unattended.

You have to bend a little and if you want to drive a truck you have will have to realize you will miss some Sundays in a real church. If that is not acceptable then trucking will may not be for you. Just remember your faith is your faith and its up to you to take care of it but trucking companies expect you to get the load there on time and if your late for pickup or delivery "I had to stop for church" is not a valid excuse.

There are chapel services at almost every TA truckstop in the country that you can stop at for two hours on Sunday. While it probally will not happen that you get to go to YOUR church

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ this is what is very important to me ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

you can get to a church at a truck stop.

While a persons faith is important to them you have to remember that your job comes first

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ hmm can we agree to disagree here?! my eternal soul is far more important to me than any job! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

and you may be stuck in the middle of no where when Sunday comes around. It happens.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ well ok if sunday comes around and there is no church, god knows i tied to get to one! great point! but really a place with no church wow! but no problem God is everywhere!

but the bible says forsake not the church

Hebrews 10:25 New International Version (NIV) 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you need to have a "restart" for two hours each Sunday then you can do that anywhere cause church is where your worship your god and you can do that in your truck also. The chances of you being able to go to a real church every Sunday will not happen due to church locations. Most times they are in places you can not take a truck and if your under a load then you cant leave it just sitting there unattended.

++++++++++++++++++++++ good point! i understand that the load has to be in a secure place, a lot of money there

but i hear the truck stops usually have it, maybe i can find another christian and we can have a church service, all you need is two to have a church service

Matthew 18:20 New International Version (NIV) 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You have to bend a little and if you want to drive a truck you have will have to realize you will miss some Sundays in a real church. If that is not acceptable then trucking will may not be for you. Just remember your faith is your faith and its up to you to take care of it but trucking companies expect you to get the load there on time and if your late for pickup or delivery "I had to stop for church" is not a valid excuse.

++++++++++++++++++++ certainly you make some good points, maybe solo is the way to go! stevens sounds nice so far! $50 for just visiting a church, i have many relatives in dallas, and i hear they have hot spots in the trucks, also they can pay you to unload the truck up to $250 not bad! but my instructor told me don't count on that! so now i am not too sure about the unloading of the trailer part, i hope they told me the truth here? the recruiter said you can unload the trailer and make some money, or get someone to unload the trailer for less than i can get from steven and make money while i sleep!? what the freak!? also i spoke to my two sons about getting into trucking , one works for rooms to go, maybe they might even pay for him to be trained! they have a big warehouse near knight trucking in polk county! or we can work teams and make over a grand each! ....legally! i was told by werner that teams make over $1000, stevens says they are more geared toward solo drivers. what do you guys say? was the recruiter honest or not?

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears, take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

no doubt stress like drugs will magnify who you really are! i expect stress in any job! cabbing or trucking or doing a comedy show at a private party! but even the director and the manager sided with me! first you learn, then you deal with new skills and how to handle stress! i used to have a girlfriend who was a kung fu instructor in new york city, for graduation they used to close the street. then the student had to jump out of a second story of a building, hit the ground rolling and come up doing a move! i am sure they didn't start throwing students out the window the first day right?! :D nah you build up to it! most companies when you first dive a cab, they will tell you straight up the bad zones! why, because they don't want to lose the driver the very first day out! it makes no sense! now if later on i want to take my chances and pick up a person in the middle of the night and he looks like oj simpson with a bloody knife in his hand, then that is on me right? i am a grown man and i am taking a chance that i will make money or die trying! did i have to take a guy who has murdered two people and looks like he just killed some more in my cab, to be sitting behind me!? lol i will deal with the driving stress when i am behind the wheel of a rig with my trainer , but for now, that cone is a piece of plastic! not an old lady with a stroller i just dragged down the street! that while line painted on the ground is most like some they purchased at home depot maybe lowes, not a baby in a baby stroller! even police academies start you off small right, reading laws, getting in shape, learning how to use your weapon, they don't tell you , hey , we know it's your first day and we are going to send you to the site of a bank robbery where armed gunmen with heavy body armour on have been mowing down all the police and swat, and we think it would be nice to for to get some experience with this new stressful situation! lol maybe i am wrong here, what do you think?

I never said i need sunday off i do believe, just two hours for sunday service, i hear teams keep the wheels rolling 24/7! i have a hot load i have to get clear across the country! :D

I read this thread yesterday but wanted to wait and think about my reply.

First let me say I think the descriptions they are using are in very poor taste, but trying to get you to think of your practice as more than just cones and lines on the asphalt is not necessarily a bad thing. Fortunately my schooling was nothing near as stressful as what you are experiencing, everyone was pretty laid back and allowed us to make mistakes and learn from them. But I can tell you my time with my trainer on the road was much more intense.

Not that I had a bad trainer, he was a good guy that helped me a ton. He rarely raised his voice when I was driving even though he had told me before we started that he was going to yell but would explain why after we were out of the danger and apologize. But my tensions did run high at times when he was on the phone arguing with people.

Here is my concern, and please take it as trying to honestly help. If instructors on a closed course yelling give you so much stress that it makes you ill what are you going to do when your out on the open road. Let me tell you it is stressful, especially for a new driver, at least that was the case for me. Rolling down the highway with 70,000 + lbs and running up on standstill traffic can make your butt cheeks pucker like you wont believe. Traveling through stop and go traffic with 70 feet of vehicle to control while cars are weaving in and out and doing things that you would not think anyone that could obtain a drivers license would even consider doing is stressful. Learning how to float gears, take turns, control your speed in mountains while not burning up your breaks, watch your mirrors, protect yourself and the people in cars around you that are driving like they dont have a brain in their heads, while still reading every freagin sign you pass is stressful.

I am a REALLY laid back person, it takes a LOT to get me going. There were times in heavy traffic that if my trainer had said one more word I would have wanted to pull over and beat him with my tire thumper! And again I feel like I got lucky with the trainer I received, I have read many stories that were MUCH worse than what I experienced.

As I said, I do NOT agree with the way they are relaying the information. But if you can learn to let it roll off you and not let it effect your performance of the task at hand one day you may actually want to thank them for stressing you out. You have already stated that your going to push through and not let them stop you, and that is the right attitude. But my advice is to take it one step farther and really try to make this a deeper learning experience in dealing with the stress they are laying on you.

I hope this post does not come across as trying to come down on you, it is not. Just trying to relay my experience in that I expected driving a semi to be stressful, but not NEARLY as stressful as it actually is. As a 45 year old adult that has not had an accident since I was 17 or a ticket since I was 21 it is really hard to bite my tongue and listen when someone else is trying to tell me how to drive lol.

Woody

that is very good right there woody!

should have said i am not trying to start any trouble! now i'm stressed out ,lol! nah, doing comedy, that is stressful , driving while a guy has a gun to your head , that is stressful, driving for me is a pleasure! i can't get enough of it! it clears up my mind and helps me see things clearly! when i drive my cab slowly i can last 15 hours, when i drive too fast , because passengers hurry me up and dispatchers, then i can drive less, over here driving a truck, it is rather different though, you have only a 14 hour on duty window, with 11 hours of driving! and according to the stevens recruiter it might be 8 hours total driving time per day! if the federal government has it's way! but if everybody rejects my idea in every company , then i will drive solo! then i control what i do and where i do it! i just wanted to see if this contract can be done with a 120 minute sunday morning exception. lets see if it happens! take care everybody , i will be double clutching in a couple of hours and i need my sleep! lol

Victor....I am also a Christian. And I know the valley of spending time in your church. But getting a trucking job that gives you every single Sunday off at your home is a tough one for an experienced trucker to land. And when you are a new driver, you have to put in your time, work your way up the ladder, prove what your made of, etc. Now if the company you choose happens to have a regional run,or a round robin short haul that they offer to new drivers...thats great, and I'd like to see you get into that. But for us that have been around for awhile..we don't hear about alot of those types of jobs. That would be something that you would have to ask the recruiter, when you talk with them. I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way. That is the trouble with the written word vs face to face conversation. Had we been sitting and talking, you may have seen the light hearted humor in my words....And you would have seen that I am not a SIR...I am a Lady Professional Driver. Good Luck with your research.

forgive me my sister. i didn't look at your profile. i'm sorry and believe me i was trying to start something. or looking for trouble here. it's just that i really would like to try team driving, for the money and also for being with someone, two can put 10,000 to flight! i just think all the people in my class are told, what is important to you! well that is number 1, if everybody reject this, then ok, i will see what else is out there as far as jobs are concerned! i just think even we a team drives all week monday to saturday straight through, then we both should be out of time way before sunday! 70 hour week would be over before, but if for some reason we still had driving time available, i want to see if i can get it in writing that 2 hours be put aside for church. i know at least one company stays closed from friday to saturday because they are 7 day adventist. i don't care about home time. and i am willing to drive like i am driving miss daisy during my time behind the wheel to keep stress down and safety up and drive nights or whatever it takes, but just like clint eastwood says at the end of the movie, a man needs to know his limitations, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2JnCXvm_Qc church attendance for me is going to happen, it might not be in the trucking industry but it will happen for sure.