I Am Rookie, Hear Me Roar!!

I AM ROOKIE, HEAR ME ROAR!!

Or just watch me whimper.

After reading Old Schools article it got me thinking of all my Rookie mistakes. Boy, let me tell you, there are a heap of them. I haven't disclosed them to many people. Actually most everyone one of them, I kept my big trap shut about.

So here we go.

1) Taking the scenic route

I have actually done this twice for different reasons. First time was coming out of TA Chicago North (Russell Rd.). Up to that point I had only gone thru heading north. I wasn't aware you had to take a left out of the TA to go south. I took a right and went back to the overpass to get on heading south. What do you mean there are no entrance ramps heading south! So instead I went charging straight ahead out into the country to find my own way south. Dum de dum dum DUMB!!! An hour later I finally make my way back to 41 heading south.

The second time was me attempting to find a shorter route home. I wonder why my Atlas has a break in the orange truck route line. It must be a misprint. Wrong again, the truck route suddenly ended at a small little town. No trucks turn this way or that. Just a No Truck sign. Who are they to declare a truck route road ends. So full steam ahead I go. Get thru the little town with a really interesting town square which you have to make an over 90 degree turn to the right to get back on the road that heads north. I quickly find out after that the reason the orange line stops on the Atlas. As I am climbing a narrow, VERY windy "mountain road" in the large hills of southern Tennessee. When you take up the ENTIRE road to make a curve and you get to read the side of the trailer while your at it. Needless to say that is the last time I went looking for short cuts.

2) Which way do you go, George?

I guess my first scenario above fits into this as well.

But a most rememberable one for me was: I was coming out of a B&G Foods plant in NC. I came in from the east, but was heading west coming out. I get to the intersection that comes out of the industrial area. I came in from the left. My choices were straight or right. Right headed towards a town. Despite my gut saying "Go straight", I hook a right. Guess what. I quickly come across "No Truck" signs. I learned this lesson already. Time to turn around. I find a bank. I think to my myself: That looks big enough. Ummm, not really. An hour later I finally get out of there. Barely avoiding countless shrubs and signs. Only had to hop one curb. 4 or 5 times.

Now it is time to ante up.

What are your "Best" Rookie mistakes? You know, the ones you haven't breathed to a soul; because, you would be admitting you are an idiot.

I know I posted it previously, but mine is hooking airlines up wrong. We get our trailers brought to us and to help the shuttle guy/start my route quicker we hook up the trailer he dropped. When I hooked up to it the guy training me was always rushing me and I hooked airlines up wrong as in got them hooked up but blue one was on red. It was dark and the paint was faded. We ended up having roadside come take a look as we were losing air when sitting at lights. I felt like an idiot. Then of course there's the time I was down for 2 to 3 hours because my coolant was low. Yeah...im an idiot.

I'm pretty sure we have a limit on the amount of letters we can use... And the amount of boneheaded deeds I've done would far exceed it.

My first experience with a GPS was a good one though. I was with CRST at the time and my codriver decided we needed a GPS while we were in Beckley WV I think? As we leave the rest area he's pushing buttons... And happens to find the avoid tolls button.

Folks in WV don't try and avoid tolls!

Especially when it's winter and your heavy.

No gold trucks were harmed in the making of this mistake.But it was not a fun night.

Microsoft I think? Has a warehouse in Sandston VA and the road that runs next to it is a no truck road. I know this because the same codriver as before had got a ticket on that road while he was with USA truck.

His GPS took me to the entrance of the place we were supposed to go... And I passed it. Turned down the no truck road cause I had no choice at that point.

I get turned around and headed the right direction (still on the no truck road) and pass a cop.... who smiles and waves at us. My codriver was in the passenger seat and seemed a little miffed I didn't get a ticket.. He asked if the horseshoe I had in my lucky Axx hurt.

Seems to be a common theme with the GPS right?

I've got plenty more to fill the pages on this post but I think I'll keep it to myself.

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me! Dumb rookie!

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me! Dumb rookie!

Suck it In! Think thin! Think thin!!

Really hate those toll booths. This begs the question, is it legal for non oversize loads to use the, in some places, much wider oversize lanes way on the right?

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me! Dumb rookie!

Suck it In! Think thin! Think thin!!

Really hate those toll booths. This begs the question, is it legal for non oversize loads to use the, in some places, much wider oversize lanes way on the right?

YES!!!! It is absolutely legal to ise the very right wide load lane to avoid hitting anything...but they are still tight on the left, so watch that mirror.

When I was a real fresh solo rookie, this happened to me, and I wrote about it then:

"At the shipper last Friday, a delay caused me to burn up the remainder of my 14 while being loaded. While unfortunate, I wasn't too concerned since I still had till Monday to deliver. Plenty of time.

Once I was finally loaded I rolled over to a corner of the lot next to a couple other trucks and set up to get my 10hr break. Hung out a bit, watched trucks roll in and out, grabbed some chow, and hit the sack.

I got up at 0330 to head out. Imagine my dismay when I saw a locked gate blocking my exit... Uh oh...

Thinking someone will show up at 0700, I didn't sweat it but instead crawled back in the bunk for a little more shut-eye.

By 0800 I was still all alone in this lot. That's when the "duh" moment hit me: It's the weekend, nobody will be coming until Monday morning. This is not good.

So I called the two contact numbers I had. No luck, these were office numbers with a voicemail telling me the hours are mon-fri etc. I even googled the contact names hoping to get a cell number or facebook profile, something. Nada.

Facing the realization of spending the weekend here in this dusty lot, along with the fear of a service failure, I had to make the call of shame to weekend dispatch. He said he'd see what he can do, but he had the same contact numbers as I did, so I didn't expect much success.

At 0930 a pickup rolled up to the gate. Great, I'm getting out! He rolled his window down as I walked up to the gate and asks me "Are you the one who's letting me in?"

Um no I was hoping you'd be letting me out.

Turns out he was a contractor there to do some concrete work over the weekend. Someone was to be letting him in at 10am. WooHoo for me!

So the guy shows up and apologized profusely for not seeing me when he locked up the previous night. I'm not sure how he missed this big red truck of mine but nonetheless I took the blame for assuming I could park there. They do have overnight parking, but it's outside the gate across the road.

That was a valuable lesson, one that could've cost me much more than just the embarrassment."

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me! Dumb rookie!

Suck it In! Think thin! Think thin!!

Really hate those toll booths. This begs the question, is it legal for non oversize loads to use the, in some places, much wider oversize lanes way on the right?

Luckily for me, most of the toll roads in Ohio and Indiana have gate arms, so I was only going about 8 mph in 5th gear, coasting up slowly for the arm to raise. Had I been moving faster, something would have been broken on my truck. I like the ones in Illinois much better: stay at speed in the two left lanes.

I did one this morning at a toll plaza departing Ohio, heading west on I-90. I was too busy concentrating on not hitting my left side mirror, so I didn't. The right side one, though.....Heard a big "THUNK", as it folded up against the door glass. No cracked plastic or broken glass, thankfully, but that'll learn me!

If you thought that THUNK! was bad imagine what it was like for the toll booth operator 🛐🤣

No operator at all- EZ Pass lane.