Semi-Retired ;-) CDL B To CDL A, Lord Willing!

That had to be a scary feeling, glad it worked out for you! My company gave me seals so if a shipper doesn't give me one, I throw one of those on.

Yeah, our company does the same, I just haven't picked any up. But I'm due for maintenance sometime next week, so I'll be sure to grab a bunch!

The weeks have gotten longer for some reason. Think the last couple of days, I was watching the clock too much, instead of just focusing on the driving.

Not a ton of miles, but plenty enough to keep the lights on.

The navigating has had it's challenges, for sure. The worse one was both of my gps units were wrong. Took a turn to get turned around only to find out, there was no place to turn around. That turned into a 50 minute detour back to where I needed to be. Doh!

Another time the one gps unit was spot on and the other wasn't. That turned out to be a programming error in my work tablet software, in whereas someone misspelled the street name and that was the problem. That got fixed within a few minutes of me calling that problem into dispatch. Yeah!

The week before last I got brought into the yard for some tractor maintenance and that happen to take several hours, so that ate up some time that could have been used for driving; so fewer miles that week.

Overall, my confidence is up with driving and finding parking spaces. Rest areas are good if you don't need a shower that day.

I found an old truck stop last Thursday that had a diner. Just a handful of parking spaces, but I only needed one. ;o) Everything was rather run-down, inside and out. But the folks there were super nice and the burger platter I got was top notch.

Tomorrow head back down to Fort Wayne, IN for a live load then head down to Pine Hall, NC, for a second time, for a live unload scheduled for Tuesday.

Take care! Until later...

Thanks for the update buddy..keep on trucking’ 💪🏼

Thanks for the update buddy..keep on trucking’ 💪🏼

Thanks, ZJ! Wow, it's been two weeks already since the last post; time sure has a way of flying by when you're having fun!

Most exciting part occurred towards the latter part of last week where I got some extra practice driving all around Pittsburgh, PA early in the morning before daylight. Eight weeks solo driving experience under my belt and I was able to ace it.

But, unfortunately, at my pickup point, I snagged a concrete barrier with the trailer skirting. I was focused on lining up for the scale and didn't pay attention to the trailer. It sure looked bad. The skirting bent up underneath the trailer looked to be trashed, I thought; however after backing off the barrier, the skirting popped right back into place. Luckily for me, it has these flexible brackets that can flex 180° and return to their original position without damage whatsoever.

There ended up being a scratch on the trailer from the fence pole, though. Fortunately, it didn't go through the siding.

I wasn't in a hurry, or anything, just had a moment of not paying attention. Could've been worse, for sure. And I'm sure to not let that happen again. I'm super bummed that it even happened at all.

Looking forward to nicer temps and cleaner roads.

Until later...

As G-Town is fond of saying, "Watch your wagon!" At least there was minimal damage. Think of the excitement had that been a fuel pump, fire hydrant, or a minivan.

Now the last couple of weeks have gone by quickly!

Just got a call the other day informing me of a new dedicated lane opening right in the area I live. Three deliveries a day, 5 days a week, and home nightly. It's an answered prayer, I tell ya! We had just asked St. Philomena for a job that will get me home nightly and basically the next day I get a call from dispatch.

Practically no downside for trying it out. If I don't like it I can just keep on doing what I'm already doing. So I opted to give it a try. My friend, who also works in this company, also opted to try it out, as well.

For now, we'll use our sleeper trucks. The dispatch said that they don't have a day-cab for us as of yet. If we still like the dedicated lane after a month, or so, we can be transitioned into one.

Until later...

What type of deliveries?

Now the last couple of weeks have gone by quickly!

Just got a call the other day informing me of a new dedicated lane opening right in the area I live. Three deliveries a day, 5 days a week, and home nightly. It's an answered prayer, I tell ya! We had just asked St. Philomena for a job that will get me home nightly and basically the next day I get a call from dispatch.

Practically no downside for trying it out. If I don't like it I can just keep on doing what I'm already doing. So I opted to give it a try. My friend, who also works in this company, also opted to try it out, as well.

For now, we'll use our sleeper trucks. The dispatch said that they don't have a day-cab for us as of yet. If we still like the dedicated lane after a month, or so, we can be transitioned into one.

Until later...

Automotive parts. Don't know what specifically, as of yet, but they're headed to Dexter Axle.

What type of deliveries?

Now the last couple of weeks have gone by quickly!

Just got a call the other day informing me of a new dedicated lane opening right in the area I live. Three deliveries a day, 5 days a week, and home nightly. It's an answered prayer, I tell ya! We had just asked St. Philomena for a job that will get me home nightly and basically the next day I get a call from dispatch.

Practically no downside for trying it out. If I don't like it I can just keep on doing what I'm already doing. So I opted to give it a try. My friend, who also works in this company, also opted to try it out, as well.

For now, we'll use our sleeper trucks. The dispatch said that they don't have a day-cab for us as of yet. If we still like the dedicated lane after a month, or so, we can be transitioned into one.

Until later...

Weeks are flying by, again. 13th week solo driving in the books; not that I'm keeping track; haha, no, I am keeping track!

Well, the dedicated lane deal fell by the wayside. Only little bit I heard was that there was staffing problems on the other end. Guess God wants me OTR after all, haha. ;o)

Friend of mine sent me a pic with my name on it...

Funny thing is, I don't know what the criteria are for this achievement. Friend of mine insists that I'm kissing someone's butt. LOL Anyway, it appears I'm doing something right and I'm glad to be doing a good job for the Keller brand.

I've had some great back-ins and I failed miserably at one just the other day. The dock was wide open, nothing in the way and I managed to get all janky upon backing into the dock. I goaled and noticed I wasn't parallel to the space. In thinking about what happened, I determined that I didn't go enough forward to straighten out the trailer to get parallel in the first place. I had misjudged the space in front of me, and it wasn't enough. So I should have turned like you would for a 45° set up and it would have been fine. Lesson learned. I went into that space with too much confidence.

Other than a detour exit that got me off a bit and a missed exit altogether, totally my goof, as I misread the GPS, traveling has been good. I've got some neat dashcam videos and I think I'll post some to Rumble in the near future to share with you all. PackRat has seen a couple already involving some scary fast people; one on a motorcycle and another in a small SUV.

Keep the shiny side up!

Until later...

A month and a week later...

The dedicated lane venture fell through completely. Last I heard the other company couldn't fulfill their end due to staffing issues. Probably for the best anyway. Though I'd be home every night, I wasn't liking the thought of the repetitive nature of the job and some other details about the job that wasn't sounding too good.

Otherwise, business as usual. Keep gaining experience with many facets of the biz; from backing to paperwork. Even navigating highways has gotten better. Sounds simple enough, but there are times when changing from one interstate to another may require getting over 3 or 4 lanes within a couple of miles; again sounds simple, but depending on traffic can make things a bit dicey.

Nothing too exciting in the past five weeks, just keeping it between the ditches. Oh there's the several 4-wheelers that dart in front of you and the excitement of a traffic jam or slow moving traffic and fast moving traffic in the Chicago, IL area (in the same day no-less), and the many, many miles of just driving.

I have been working, if you can call it work, on fine tuning several fuel efficiency metrics. Over the past 5 weeks I have improved quite a lot. There is an overall rating of the drivers, and out of 285 drivers, I eeked my way to number 14. I thought I was headed for the top ten, but that hasn't happened yet. Unfortunately, not driving on the weekends just sets me back in the ratings and I have to work my way back up over the course of my 5 days on the road. My goal is to break into the top 10. I found some other metrics that are being tracked so I'm working at improving those numbers as well.

Hope all is well for you that read along. Good luck to my friend who recently changed jobs and got back into trucking!

Until later...