Comments By Brian K.

Is everyone keeping warm out there??? Hope so!

I still driving and having fun but it been extremely cold for a Florida boy. Probably cold for anyone. In my last post I mention we were headed to Virginia to pickup a load going to Tomah, Wisconsin with a drop in Mankato, Minnesota. Well we made Tomah on time and got unloaded. We move on to the nearest truck stop and spent the night. Next morning we figure we leave around 11 am to make our Mankato MN drop, which was at 3 pm, which gave us plenty of time. Wouldn't you know it, we got about 5 miles from the truck stop and two trailer tire blew out. Of course, as the trainee, I have been doing all the driving. Another call to Stevens and 6 hours later we were back on the road. The drop was reschedule for the following day at 3 pm. So I did not get many hours behind the wheel yet this week. In summary, I had 3 tires damaged and caused damaged to the faring on the driver side. None of it I feel was my fault but still kind of feel bad about it. Keep thinking if there was anything I could have done to prevent any of this from happening. Well, if you want to look on the bright side, I am getting well trained on what to do when I have one of these things happen to me when solo. I also saw many, more than a couple, semi's off in the ditch and a couple dozen cars. Stevens sends out reports over the qualcomm informing us to drive safely adding the number of accidents, jackknifes, roll overs, out of control, etc.... From what I read, about 8 Steven truck had some sort of major problem. I only had a 3 damaged tires and a faring. I guess that is not such a big deal from what came across the qualcomm.

We are off to Cherokee, Iowa to pickup a load to Industry, CA. Hope it's warmer there!! Oh, yea I did not mention, everyday and night has been below 0. At night, almost 20 below and during the day around -4 or -5 sometimes colder. Need to get somewhere where it's above freezing. Hoping our trip to Ca. is uneventful with warmer weather.

Much of training part at the Stevens lot in Dallas is over and this Diary was meant to for perspective students and others to read and consider if Stevens is a place they would like to go. If anyone reading this would enjoy reading my exploits over the next 4 or 5 weeks, that's when my training period should end, maybe sooner, let me know. I can post my travels once a week or so.

So please every one stay safe, warm, and keep it on the road.

Brian

New Day, new adventure,

On the last post I mentioned we were headed into Long Island, NYC. That really turned out to be way better than I thought it could ever could. We left Vince Lombardi Service Area right outside of the George Washington Bridge around 1:30 am and arrived at our destination in Long Island about 2:45 for our 3 am delivery. My trainer drove and there was very little traffic going in. We got unloaded right away and now it was my turn to drive out of the city. Now I have drove in NYC before, not Long Island, but the trip going out was a bit more traffic but not what you would expect in NYC. Made it through with out issue. We stopped back at the Lombardi Service area to fuel. I continued driving the rest of the day, but there was unknown trouble lurking ahead.

We were dispatched to a cold storage place in Harrisonburg Va. to pickup our load. My trainer said we don't normally dead head that far but the load need to go and there was no one else close by to pick it up, so no problem. I left the service area and everything was going good until I got south on interstate 81 just crossing into Virginia. The traffic was the normal, a few trucks in front of me, some cars to my left, when all of a sudden there was this skinny metal pole about 6 feet long with a sign attached on the end, all metal. I could not move to the other land and I had a few trucks right behind me. All I could do was to try to straddle the metal and hope for the best. I slowed down a little to about 45 mph and ran over it. It made a big thud under the truck but it didn't seem at the time it did any damage. None of the gauges on the dash showed any changes, no air loss or temp rising. We pulled into a rest area a couple mile down the road to get a better look. Found out one of the trailer tires had a small cut and was loosing air and the side faring covering the gas tank was busted up a bit. Who was driving you ask, me of course. We had to call it in to Stevens's safety department. They understood it was unavoidable and the my trainer said the same thing, Actually he said, this stuff happens all the time out here and not to worry about it. After he spoke to Safety, then the insurance department, we spoke to road service and were given a location only a few miles down the road to get the tire fix. We probably spent 2 to 3 hours making the calls and get the tire fix. The trucks damage is only cosmetic and can stay the way it is until we get back to Dallas. Wow what a day.

Anyway, we got our load and we are heading to Wisconsin for the first drop and then on to Minnesota. Right now we are in a Loves in Clifton Forge VA at a Loves TS. We will be heading out around midnight if the weather doesn't bring any freezing rain.

To compare this to when I used to drive pre-2000, there is way to much paper work (QUALCOMM) info you have to do each day. Every time you move, literally, off duty, truck and trailer number and load info, messages, they even tell you where to buy fuel and how much and give you the route to drive. I never had to do this when I drove. Of course we did not have cell phone either so it make it kind of hard to keep the communication going as well. But the trainer is having me do it and it getting easier. It takes me about 30 minutes at the end of the day, take my trainer about 5 minutes. Guess I get faster after a few weeks on the road. Also, I am still every now and then putting my left foot to the floor reaching for the clutch and really missing the gear shifter. I really, really, really miss shifting gears up and down. My trainer says I will come to love the automated trucks but after a few days I'm not feeling it, lol

I got to go. In a few days I write some more of my adventures. I am having fun though.

See ya,

Brian

The Driver training is on.

As I mentioned in previous post, Stevens requires 240 hours of driving time with a trainer before issuing you a truck to go solo. I left Dallas Tuesday morning was flown to Tampa Fl. to meet up with my OTR driver trainer. I arrived at the TA just outside of Tampa around 2 pm and he was waiting for me. He was a nice enough guy. Very enthusiastic about me getting my hours asap. I threw my stuff in the truck and I started driving right then and there. I drove a little south to pickup a load of orange juice, 42500 lbs, going to Long Island, NY. This is going to be a good first trip, lol. Well all is well so far. It's Wednesday evening and I am writing this from a Flying J truck stop in North Carolina. near the Virginia line. So far I have done all the driving, So I would say things are going well.

About 4:30 this morning we are going leave here and try to make it to rest area just out side of NYC near the GW bridge. The trainer feels we can get there about 4 pm, maybe 5, get some rest and then leave out around 1 am for a 3 am deliver. He said he would drive in but I would need to drive out of the city to get my NE quota. I think I can handle that. It's been a while since I drove a semi in NYC, but I'll give it a whirl.

Like I said, things are going good, mostly flat and straight roads so far. Had some thick fog this morning for a few hours but finally the sun showed through. It's 8:00 pm EST and I best get some rest for the drive to the GW tomorrow. I'll let you all know how the drive in or out of Long Island when I get a chance.

Bye for now, Brian

Brian's a happy camper. Got a txt from Stevens today and was told to call this driver trainer. The text message did not give any info except for a name and telephone number. Well, I spoke to him and I could not be more pleased. The Driver trainer seemed really cool. He is a company driver instead of a owner/lease driver and runs OTR. If he feels confident I can handle the truck after a day or two, he said he will let me do all the driving and help me get my 240 hours asap, mountains and all. He also said other things that made me feel that we will get along just fine. Hoping anyways.

I leave Tuesday morning to meet up with him and we will be heading down the road. This will give me a chance to get my stuff ready, get well rested and be able to watch the Super Bowl as well.

It really bugged me that after almost 20 years of over road experience no one would hire me because I did not have any recent experience. I'm finally going to find out if this is something I want to do for a few more years and mostly it was a challenge to myself to see if could still drive and manage all that comes with it.

It's going to be awhile before I can update this post with more info. If your following this, check back around the 13 or 14. This will give me a few days on the truck.

Until then,

Brian

Update 2/4/21, Hi and I have some new stuff to go over. First of all, the orientation almost gave me an aneurism. We watched a lot of film and signed so many papers I think they could just about do anything they wanted to me because I probably signed something saying so.

Anyways, I am out of orientation and waiting on a driver trainer. The deal here is to get 240 hours of driving time and complete two mountain passes, one in the west and one in the east. That will get you a truck and be able to run solo. I have to admit they did offer me a driver trainer but it was with a dedicated Kraft Driver running in the east and north east. I spoke to the guy. He was nice enough but at first, he said any mountains he would drive those. That was a red flag for me. After we spoke a little more and I mentioned I had 15+ years driving pre-200, he then said I could drive his truck over the mountains. He was a leased/owner driver and I can understand he wants to keep his truck out of danger but that’s not helping me any. As we talked a little more, he said I would be with him for only 21 days and then move to another trainer, that’s not too cool. Did not care for that much either. There were other little things he said that also made me hesitate. So, I had to pass it up.

Two of the other students behind me in line got OTR drivers so I not sure why they keep offering me dedicated route drivers. I’ll give it another day two and see what they come up with.

I’ll update when I finally get a driver trainer and let you all know what’s what. That’s it for now.

Brian

Off to second day of orientation, just wanted to add a couple of picts.

The entrance, some owner/leased trucks and a training area.

Brian

Hi I'm back,

It's been about 4 days since my last post and things have changed a bit. Tomorrow, Sunday I start my 4 day orientation after that I will be an official Steven's Transport employee and will be placed with a driver trainer for 240 hours of over the road driving. Some of the past students say you can complete the hours in 4 to 5 weeks or maybe 6 if you have weather issues or if loading or unloading is delayed for what ever reasons.

I like to do a comparison between Steven's and other training companies but haven't any knowledge of any other companies. I think, as far as the refresh program that I went through, it could have been streamlined a bit more. Since I hadn't any recent experience in over 20 years I had to do 3 weeks of training and will be doing 4 days of orientation. I feel I could have done all the training without skipping any thing in less than two weeks and that is being gracious.

On my road evaluation, I drove around town, down the interstate, and spent the better part of an hour driving around having fun. The evaluator told me in about 20 minutes into the drive that I was really good on my turns and a few minutes later remarked, "Your going to orientation". That made me feel good and took some of my nervousness away. I had mentioned earlier in the blogs I have driven over a million miles pre-2000 and it all seem to come back to me pretty quick. I only went out twice before the evaluation and only for a short trip around some side streets near Stevens.

I'm not sure how long I will stay. I would like to get enough recent experience to be able to move to another carrier if I find Steven's is not the place for me. I thinking 6 months at the least and anything after that will be extra. It's not that they are a bad company but I never seen so many rules and regulations. Make you pay for everything. If you damage their equipment in anyway, you will pay for part of the damage. You have to sign a piece of paper documenting this. If you jackknife their truck, which is pretty severe, it will cost you $2000.00 dollars. That is the most and it goes down from there. If your reading this, is this a common thing among carries these days? I drove in the 70's - 90's and not one company ever told me anything about paying for anything. Luckily, I never had an accident while driving a semi.

One more thing, I like to add some pictures of Steven's training yard and a few others and I'm not sure how to do it. I tried sending them to an address I found on another page but it bounced back to me. If a moderator is reading this can you let me know how to add about10 picts please.

Thanks, that's all for now.

Brian

Hi All, things are starting to pick up. Although the only thing I did was to drive about an hour on the road, I felt like I accomplished more today than any other. Out of 25 or more items on the instructor's check list he only checked off two he wanted me to work on. One was going around a turn from a stop light or stop sign. Stevens do not allow you to drive more than 13 mph when making a turn. Second thing was I let the truck roll back a little and needed to reply the brake. You know, you let your foot off the brake for a sec and notice the truck start to move backwards and almost instantly tap the brakes again. And lastly, viewing the cross traffic sooner while approaching an intersection. Not bad for the first time in 25 years driving a semi. For those who may be following my exploits, I am going to or will have some pictures of Steven's yard and the place call the hill where all the training is done. All the trucks parked in line are owner operator’s leased vehicles leased from Steven’s and a few others as well.

Tomorrow, I think they are going to schedule some more driving time for me and by the end of the week, I maybe going out with a trainer driver. We will see.

That's if for now. Check the 12 picts out if you have the time. The Internet connection is really bad, guess I will have to upload the picts a little later. I got one to upload, more later.

Brian

Saturday, the 23th. Not much to tell, Friday we did "Off Set Backing" and more pre-test. You might be thinking for someone in a refresher course why so much pre-trip. Well since I am part of a group of students who just pass their written test and they now have their CDL permit. It's mandatory they past the pre-test before being able to take the road test. So they push a lot of pre-test practice. Monday they said CDL holders will be doing "Parallel Parking" even though after 20 years on the road I never had the need to parallel park a tractor trailer. The trainers I spoke with agreed with me but said it is required to pass the CDL test and therefore need to teach the maneuver.

Today was a half a day. We were in the classroom doing a few test. The instructor went over the material before hand and in depth and in the end no one fail any of them. More formality than anything else.

I only have one week left and things should get exciting. According to some, one more day of off set and parallel parking then possibly road test, 4 day orientation and off with a driver trainer.

Next week's post will probably be more exciting as well.

See ya later, Brian

From what I understand Stevens either own it or have a contract with them. I know a Stevens's coordinator on is running the show. And they were honest about the fact that the students will have to pay back to Stevens the cost of the room etc.... Stevens doesn't pay for anything! Found that out before I came here. It's about the only thing the recruiter was honest about.

I start my third week Monday and hopefully this will be my last one before going out with a trainer

Going to get some sleep, I'll keep updating when I can.

Brian