My First Week Solo...

After completing my road training with Swift, I picked up my truck in Phoenix AZ and got dispatched on my first load...picking up bales of hay from a farm outside Phoenix. I missed the turn because the "road" was a sand path with a painted piece of plywood for a street sign. Got turned around, and had to make a perfect 90 degree turn onto two metal grates over a ditch that were maybe 6 inches wider than the tires, then up over a railroad track, then 12 miles driving on sand...not a road...sand. If I went faster than 15 mph my empty trailer would start to fishtail, and I was scared to death I was going to get stuck!! I was like, is this a test? Finally get to the farm, where no one spoke English, get loaded, drive the 12 miles back out, and head for Los Angeles to deliver.

Stopped in Thousand Oaks to park for the night, and as I was trying to back into a spot, I had someone pound on my trailer, making me think I had hit something. Jumped out to check, and the person (I don't know if he was another driver or not) grabbed me and pinned me against the truck. Not going to go into a lot of details on that, but I managed to get away, got back in my truck, and booked it out of there. I know I know, why didn't I call the cops? Because I was majorly stressing out and exhausted and not thinking clearly. Anyway, find another truck stop, get parked, and head out the next day to deliver. I had to blindside back off a one way narrow street with cars parked on both sides, a power pole and a fire hydrant in my way, and had to back between two 10 ft tall brick walls with about 1 foot of clearance on each side. It took me almost 3 hrs to bump the dock, but since I didn't bump anything else, I figured I did pretty good. Had a heck of a crowd watching me the whole time, was very nerve-wracking.

I left there and after fighting LA traffic, went to pick up a 44000 lb load of furniture coming to Denver CO. My fuel stop didn't come through until after I was already on the road, so I found somewhere to stop, hit reroute on my GPS, and started driving to my fuel stop. I think I did about 100 miles before I realized I was heading right back to Los Angeles. In my defense, the route I was on was different than the one I took out of LA, so I didn't have a wait a minute this looks familiar moment. Anyway, called in to get a new fuel route, and parked for the night at a Loves, where I found a pull through spot, so I didn't have to back in. Yay!!

Wake up the next morning to find I had a flat tire. Thank goodness Love's had a tire center, so I get that fixed, get fuel, and hit the road. Coming across on I-70, made it up the Rockies ok, lots of downshifting though because of the weight. Get to the top, go through a tunnel, and start coming down the other side, way too fast. I tried to do the stab braking and down shift, but couldn't get it into gear, had to force it back in to 8th. It's dark out, I've got 44,000 lbs behind me, and I'm standing on the brake pedal trying to get stopped. Brake pedal was going all the way to the floor, and I'm just gripping the wheel thinking, "I'm going to die."

Black smoke pouring off both sets of drive tires, and I finally managed to get slowed down enough, then I popped the trailer brakes, my thought process being, they aren't smoking, hopefully they will work. Well it did, like hitting a brick wall, ended up with a heck of a bruise from the seat belt, and thankful I didn't damage the tandems. I jump out to see if I was on fire, which miraculously I was not. Called in, and was told to come the rest of the way to the Denver terminal to have the shop check it out. Being new, I didn't know I could refuse and demand a tow truck. So I limped it to the shop where it was determined my engine brake was not working at all.

They fixed it, and I picked up a load coming to Topeka, which was going to be my first home time in 4 months. Was very frustrated because I didn't have enough drive time to make it back, had to stop 100 miles away for the night. Froze my tail off because I couldn't set my idle interrupt (also broken) and the bunk heater didn't work either. Get up the next morning, make it maybe 20 miles down the road, and my truck totally spazzed out. The interior lights turned on and would not turn off, the exterior lights turned off and would not turn on, when I hit the 4 way flashers, the interior lights flashed, the wipers turned on and would not turn off, and the side mirrors were waving at me. I called in again and flat out refused to drive that truck another mile and demanded a tow truck. Had to wait 10 hours (keep in mind I'm 80 miles from home) and they towed me to our shop in Kansas City. The shop asked what the truck needed, and I said, "It needs a freaking priest, because this spawn of satan is possessed, and I'm not driving it anymore!!" Took 4 days home time, came back to be assigned a different truck, and headed on down the road again!!

So that was my first week solo. Many adventures, many learning experiences, many scary moments. To be honest, I seriously thought about quitting at that point, and at many other points during the first two years. But now I'm 4 years in, and I'm on a dedicated fleet where I'm home every night and weekends off, salary of $850 per week, which may not seem like alot to some, but its more than enough for me. I love my job!!

Wow. I don't know if I would have stayed for a second week. Hats off to you sir.

Rob, I realize there's no way for you to know it but Ahmalia is a female - A very brave female!

That is a heck of a story!!!

I know you said you weren't going into much detail, but I am very curious about this part:

I had someone pound on my trailer, making me think I had hit something. Jumped out to check, and the person (I don't know if he was another driver or not) grabbed me and pinned me against the truck. Not going to go into a lot of details on that, but I managed to get away, got back in my truck, and booked it out of there.

What the heck was that all about???

Don't really know how to explain it. He was drunk, was pretty much copping a feel, and ended up slamming me against the steps. I punched him in the nose, he let go, I jumped back in the truck and hauled butt out of there.

Rob, I realize there's no way for you to know it but Ahmalia is a female - A very brave female!

You're right, I didn't know. That changes my opinion.

Double WOW. To deal with the aforementioned and this alpha-male industry is an incredible achievement. My hat is still off but you're no sir :)

Wow Ahmaia, if that all happened to me i might have quit. You are an amazingly strong person to be able to deal with all of those issues.