Nervous About Going Solo? You're Not Alone - Article By Rainy

We have another awesome article from Rainy:

Nervous About Going Solo? You're Not Alone.

Rainy shares some awesome stories of her first terrifying months on the road and talks about how much better things have gotten over time.

Everything becomes more fun as you get better at it. In the beginning with a new job, a new hobby, or a new skill you're going to be a total klutz. There's no way around it. You're going to make a lot of mistakes, frustrate yourself, and probably embarrass yourself to boot.

It's important to keep things in perspective and understand the learning process is indeed a process that you have to work through. The key is to do everything as safely as possible and never give up. Before you know it you'll be the master and you'll enjoy looking back on the mess everything was in the early days.

Like Rainy says, you're certainly not alone being nervous and feeling unprepared when the time comes for going solo. This article will certainly help you understand what lies ahead and be better prepared for it.

Nervous About Going Solo? You're Not Alone.

Those are great stories Rainy! Every trucker has them, but some of us have more than our fair share. The article shares a great truth about trucking - we're completely unprepared for the realities of it at the beginning, but if we can stay calm and learn from our experiences and mistakes we will slowly develop into the kind of professional who is enjoying themselves out here, and making a good solid paycheck while we're at it.

Always enjoy reading the most informative and interesting articles from Rainey.

Keep em' coming!

Thanks

Hhahha thanks guys.

these are just the ones i thought i wouldnt get fired for posting. I had way way more than my fair share. But im still here.

Last night I saw a new guy backing into a dock.in the dark in the pouring rain and i was so glad that im past that stage. man i got soaked in that storm trying to.help.guide him back. in a year he will be great.

i guess my point is that it is just growing pains and we all go through it

Hi guys. I figured i would continue to humiliate myself for the benefit of others lol

I got assigned a new truck, not only did i go from a Cascadia to an International, but a manual to an automatic. NOTHING is in the same place and although the International has a lot of room in the inside, it seems to be a lot of useless space without storage. Not good for me who has a ton of crap.i should probably throw out anyway. i couldnt even find the air horn, turns out both horns are on the steering wheel.

So i do the inspection on the truck, everything looks good. I decide to.drive it around the parking lot. I push the drive button, release the brakes and expect it to roll. nope. i hit the pedal and nothing. i really press the accelerator and the rpms go so high they met God. still, the truck didnt move. i gave up.and went inside to take the automatic class. "i already broke the truck". Guess what, i missed the class, it was the day before. sucky.

Oh well, i try again and roll which sent the oil PSI so high it met God. i figured before i annoyed God further, i would send it to the shop. it gets done and i try to move, again it wont move. i try again it moves, yay! im going home to get my stuff.

I roll to the outbound bay of the terminal to fuel and when done, i cant move forward again. This is getting annoying. I got all sorts of "rpm out of range" error warnings and the truck shifted like a first week student.

After a few more times of the truck sometimes moving after i park and sometimes not wanting to roll after being parked, i realized i need to leave it in neutral before i release the brakes. if i hit the drive button and release the truck is confused and doesnt move.

i drove 150 miles on the turnpike with my hazards on at 50mph in a 65 to 70 zone. and of course it was pouring rain and i was terrified like a rookie. even the cruise control is different. So here i am pressing a non existent clutch, grabbing a phantom stick shift and pressing cruise control adjustments that arent there. muscle.memory sucks!!!! even the key is on the opposite side from my truck.

I just backed under my first trailer with this truck and was so nervous i kept stopping and the guy next to me shook his head and walked away. Thats right dude, stay out my way and leave me alone.

But hey, success!!! im hooked. now im waiting for a load near Philadelphia. im ready to go back to bed, but my awesome comfortable mattress doesnt fit!!! grumble grumble.

so anyone who feels stupid, clutzy, or incompetent this week, be aware, you are not alone. Im right there with you. But you have an excuse, you are new. you arent supposed to know what you are doing, i am. and whats worse, i am a trainer!!!

its gonna be awhile before i take a student lol

stay safe

The auto-shift transmissions in the newer trucks (possibly older ones as well, not sure) are air-actuated. Point being, it may be necessary to wait a bit especially after getting under a trailer with no air in the tank, for the pressure to come-up to where the trans is fully operational. This happened to me a couple of times yesterday. It may also indicate an air leak somewhere in the system if this occurs once underway.

I feel for yah Rainy...I too felt like a fish out of water a couple of weeks back when I was in a KW T680. Having spent years in a Cascadia, took a while to get the feel for it.

Good luck with it...!

Thanks...i hate change. toooooo much change at one time. lol

i had 3 mustangs in a row cause i hate change. lol was perfectly happy with the 2 cascadias i had. this truck only has 175k miles tho. so maybe i can keep it longer than a year.

I was in Springfield last week to take the instructor training courseload. One of the classes we had to take was the automatic transmission class.

I found it interesting that in our class of about 30 there was exactly one guy who had a manual truck.

When the auto trans class started the instructor asked if anyone drove a Peterbilt, about 3 hands went up. He then explained that he would be showing a video from Freightliner about Freightliners and explain the minor differences for Peterbilts. Apparently Peterbilt still hasn't put out a decent video about their automatic.

He then paused and sighed before asking...

"Anyone in here drive an international?"

No hands went up...

"Good!!!"

It got worse.

My fire extinguisher exploded while driving. Then i locked myself out of.the truck. yep, what i warn everyone about. total rookie move.

lesson here is that you can drive for years and still have a horrible day. This is the first time in a loooong time i wanted to just park it and say screw it. i didn't. but wanted to.

It got worse.

My fire extinguisher exploded while driving. Then i locked myself out of.the truck. yep, what i warn everyone about. total rookie move.

lesson here is that you can drive for uears and still have a horrible day. This is the first time in a loooong time i wanted to just park it and say screw it. i didnt. but wanted to.

This happened today? Because I know you have locked yourself out at least once.