Western Express

A lot of us old timers like reading about the new guys and gals learning and having fun along the path to success.

That's very true! I'm one of those folks that enjoy these diaries also. Thanks for pointing this out. I failed to mention it.

Day 6: Ok so the honey moon is over haha. Yesterday was frustrating not because of the driving...well I take that back driving in Florida sucks also because of that thing called lack of communication from the human race. Soooooo me and my trainer had to team drive to get from South Carolina to FT Lauderdale. I drove till my 11 was up and we shut down for like 4 hrs. I strap my self to my bed and my trainer takes over. ( This is the first time he has driven since I jumped on the truck...not trying to toot my own horn but toot toot.) The rand doesnt quite tell which building is our cosignee so we end up having to u-turn at customs. So we get unloaded and make a be line to lee fl. We get there wait an hour in receiving only to find out that our trailer wont be loaded until 6 am. Oh and Wednesday was supposed to be our first day of home time. I my wife and kids were not happy nor was I but it comes with the job. They let us shut down there it. The reason I didnt post yesterday is because I couldn't there was no signal. Last I trained with USA TRUCK 5 years ago I was single. Not being able to talk to my wife and kids till I go to bed. Luckily I got to tell them good night thanks to my awesome trainer.

Day7...I think. So did my backing at 6 in the morning no coffee soda nothing I didn't do to bad but didnt do to well either dropped at trailer hooked to another did my trailer pretrip then we got the hell out of Florida off back to SC. It rained most of the time. I had trouble backing this time. I think it was fatigue. I only had 1 hr left on my 11 hr clock so ya I was tired. My trainer kept asking if I wanted him to do in kept saying no I eventually got it in. So now the "new trailer" was old you could tell just by looking at it. The space was so tight I had put the landing gear up with me being sideways and using one hand... I didn't have room to push in for fast gear I got it up enough so it wouldn't drag. Because of this I couldn't do the trailer pretrip for under the trailer. So we pull it out and the passenger side tandems are just screwed (this is pretrip and posttrip is so important. we back it back In and bobtail to the dirt lot we are in now. It's so quiet here no roar of other trucks no air brake pops. Weird.

Day 8: We went back to the Nestle plant and got a new trailer that didnt suck drove back to the dirt lot huddle house in McBee SC stayed till about 12 then was told we could take some home time. I drove 2 and a half hours to the Gaffney SC where my wonderful wife came and picked me up.

Nice diary Mike, good to hear positive stories associated with Western Express, and the solid Trainer you have.

Sounds like things are going well at Western Express. Good solid company and sounds like you have a great trainer. Keep it up!

I mean hired me with me not driving in 5 years. One issue is I still haven't been paid for my first week in on the road.

Day9 10 11 12: home time

Day 13: got up at 3 am from Atlanta to FedEx I kennesaw Ga, drop and hooked and what do know one of the tandem tires was flat due to a huge bolt lodged in the tire. It took side four hours to show up and fix the drove all but 20 minutes of my 11 hrs now trainer is in the captain's chair to get us to NJ. We aren't going to male it in time but we will make it there.

Ok so I've lost count on days yesterday we drove from fedex in Jersey to somewhere else in Jersey. Why even make low bridges? From there we went headed to ohio stopped in PA. Reached the FedEx Today and drove to KY petro got get 12 to head to our shipper.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Truckers to be the longer your with your trainer the harder they run you. Some days we shut down after my hours are up sometimes we have to team drive. Sleeping on the top with a net is not easy but its doable. Yesterday I drove over the GW bridge. We have been in the north for pretty much 2 weeks tomorrow we finally get to go down south. Oh I did request a new trainer. Me and trainer wes were on the same page as this. He is a great trainer but i am only his second student and his first knew how to do everything he is having difficulty teaching me how to he can do it in the drivers seat but not in the passenger or out of the truck. So western is going to put me in a backing class when I'm done with training.

Top bunk sleeping? You aren’t being made to sleep in the top bunk while the trainer is driving, are you?

If so, that’s a major safety No No, with or without a safety net.