First Week Of Solo / Shadow Training Is In The Books

Just finished my first week of "Solo / Shadow Training". The week started off early Monday morning at 12:30 A.M. with a run down to Auburn, NY where my trainer and I switched out two empty trailers for loaded ones. Then it was off to Orangeburg, NY where we did a drop and hook and swapped out the loaded trailers for two empty ones. I was still a little shaky when it came to backing up the trailer in tight quarters my trainer was on the ground and assisted me it took a couple of pull ups but I got into the slot. Then came the first of may big challenges when I moved over to pick up my empty trailer the yard muts had put all the empty trailers side by side so there was no room between them so you could not crank up the landing legs. I got lucky because the trailer was sitting on a bit of an incline so when I backed up my tractor under it lifted the trailer up enough to lift up the landing legs off the ground so I could pull forward enough to crank them up. Then it was a short trip up to Newburgh, NY and another drop and hook with a load of cardboard heading to Solvay, NY. Again my loaded trailer is shoved up against another trailer again I had to drag it out so I could crank up the landing legs- I joked to my trainer that he and my fleet manager had coordinated these two early challenges for me. Once we hooked up and made it back to the ’Cuse to drop off the cardboard. Our next load was waiting for us and we hauled pallets of “Ginger Beer” down to Bristol, PA so we did a quick turn and burn in ‘Cuse and headed back down south stopping in Binghamton for the night. Tuesday morning started early with a 4:00 A.M. departure to Bristol, PA we took the Turn Pike and made good time we arrived at the warehouse listed on the BOL and I pulled into the driveway and a guy come up to the truck and asks “Picking Up?” I said no I’m “dropping off” and he looked at me funny and that started a rousing game of rong>“Stump the Dummy” rong>He said “wrong warehouse you have to go across the bridge to our other location”. So the morning challenge became was to bac out of the driveway and back onto the street the driveway was steep so when I backed out my trailer DOT Bumper came close to scraping the street. The lesson I learned here was when in doubt park on the street and check before I pull into a place in-case, I’m in the wrong location. So we headed another warehouse across the bridge and that was the wrong warehouse! Back over the bridge and to the correct warehouse which was ironically across the street from the first warehouse we initially stopped at! By now we were half an hour past our unload time we checked in and the warehouse manager only had one door available so we would be unloaded one at a time. Long story short it basically took all day to get bot our trailers unloaded we actually ran out of HOS time and had to report to our safety department that we were using our “Safe Haven” option to move and get to the TA truck stop in Boardertown, NJ. Wednesday morning we headed up to Cranbury, NJ and picked up more cardboard and headed back to the ‘Cuse . Our next load was -you guessed it back to Bristol, PA we headed back out and made it down to the Pilot / Flying J at New Milford, PA when we shut down for the night. The next morning we left at 7 A.M. To insure that we would not run out of time while waiting to be unloaded in Bristol. This time it actually went a little quicker because my trainer got a door and I got one; but it still took time to get unloaded we got there at 10:30 and I did not get fully unloaded until 3:30 P.M. then it was back up to Cranbury, NJ for more cardboard and we made it to the TA Truck stop in Columbia, NJ for the night. Next morning, we made the uphill run back to the ‘Cuse and that ended the week. On a whole the week went well there were a couple of rough spots especially Wednesday - I could do nothing but grind gears and it got real frustrating I was cussing up a continuous blue streak lol. This coming week starts tomorrow I’m meeting my trainer and we are heading out to Lafayette, IN bob tail and picking up empty trailers and getting them loaded in Walbash, IN then head back to the ’Cuse. The fun part of this week is I get to plan the trips and be in the lead as we head out. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Did you live unload at Solvay? That is a sort of challenging back.

Grumpy wrote:

Did you live unload at Solvay? That is a sort of challenging back.

Yes it is. Usually we drop in Lot "B" but yesterday we had to drop across the street in Lot "C" I've been lucky so far I haven't had too much of an issue backing the trailer into a slot. Though the other day I was backing in and I kept thinking that I was crooked when in fact it was the trailer next to me was. I pulled up twice trying to get myself straight.

Grumpy wrote:

Did you live unload at Solvay? That is a sort of challenging back.

Yes it is. Usually we drop in Lot "B" but yesterday we had to drop across the street in Lot "C" I've been lucky so far I haven't had too much of an issue backing the trailer into a slot. Though the other day I was backing in and I kept thinking that I was crooked when in fact it was the trailer next to me was. I pulled up twice trying to get myself straight.

I haven’t had to live unload there yet, but I see a lot of trucks backing in with scars on the right front from that guardrail. Lol.

Watch out for the mud hole in front of the building as you are leaving. I hit it idling in 3rd the other day and everything in my overhead bins bounced out. Holy crap!

Grumpy wrote

Grumpy wrote:

Did you live unload at Solvay? That is a sort of challenging back.

Yes it is. Usually we drop in Lot "B" but yesterday we had to drop across the street in Lot "C" I've been lucky so far I haven't had too much of an issue backing the trailer into a slot. Though the other day I was backing in and I kept thinking that I was crooked when in fact it was the trailer next to me was. I pulled up twice trying to get myself straight.

I haven’t had to live unload there yet, but I see a lot of trucks backing in with scars on the right front from that guardrail. Lol.

Watch out for the mud hole in front of the building as you are leaving. I hit it idling in 3rd the other day and everything in my overhead bins bounced out. Holy crap!

We are lucky since we are local we just drop loaded ones and hook up the empties and head out no live unload. Though we have gone in and dropped but there were no empty trailers to take back to our yard.

Great to read your update for the past week. Seems you’re doing well, too!

Good to have the challenges now with the trainer present. Good luck and be safe!

Grumpy wrote

Grumpy wrote:

Did you live unload at Solvay? That is a sort of challenging back.

Yes it is. Usually we drop in Lot "B" but yesterday we had to drop across the street in Lot "C" I've been lucky so far I haven't had too much of an issue backing the trailer into a slot. Though the other day I was backing in and I kept thinking that I was crooked when in fact it was the trailer next to me was. I pulled up twice trying to get myself straight.

I haven’t had to live unload there yet, but I see a lot of trucks backing in with scars on the right front from that guardrail. Lol.

Watch out for the mud hole in front of the building as you are leaving. I hit it idling in 3rd the other day and everything in my overhead bins bounced out. Holy crap!

We are lucky since we are local we just drop loaded ones and hook up the empties and head out no live unload. Though we have gone in and dropped but there were no empty trailers to take back to our yard.

What company do you work for?

Keep up the great work!

Chris, that’s a great detailed account. You must be taking notes whenever you stop to remember all that. Keep up the great start you’re having!

BTW, I hope you’re not afraid of your shadow. Lol