Well I am getting the itch to get the new gig started. I do my LAST day of shuttling 100,000 pounds of eggs this Sunday. I found a neat website with hundreds of truck pictures. The following is potentially one of the trucks I will be driving. It is the same company delivering to one of the paper mills (Millinocket Maine).




It looks like the photographer did some part-time trucking himself as many of the pictures originate in Maine and Texas.

See: http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/andy_bruchey.htm

You might just see yourself... :wink:

Anyway, I will be driving all day Thursday of next week (part of orientation). It will be good to get back on the highway again!

 

Well I got my taste of real trucking today. Started out at 5 AM and did several firsts:

1) Hooked up to a trailer (outside school)
2) Slid tandems
3) Fueled


Note: Rawlco, I fueled in your back yard (Newport, at the Irvin Station).
Funny story: When I retired from the military 7ish years ago, and we moved to Maine (or my family did--I was stuck in Danbury CT for the first 1.5 years), I used to visit this same Irvin station. I bought a Dodge Ram from a local dealer, and my then 9 year old daughter and I used to eat breakfast at the truck stop while we waited on the D-Ram to be serviced (tires, oil change/etc..). She used to look at all of the big trucks in awe, and I confessed how I would like to drive one of those some day. She just smiled as we continued with our breakfast and listening to the truckers talking about their day. We never took a booth. We alway sat on the swivel chairs.

Anyway, I came home and spoke with my daughter yesterday saying--"guess where I fueled today for the first time", I answered, and she smiled--only this time with more meaning and size


4) Working with an actual log book. This one counts..lol
5) Drop and Hooked a few times.
6) Drove hillish roads for 260 Miles (To and Fro a papermill in Woodland Maine-- near Calais/Eastport).
7) Getting stuck behind a stalled truck climbing a hill, therefore causing me to stall and start from scratch on a steep incline.
Oh, I blew another hill ALL BY MYSELF. :roll:


I BETTER GET THIS HILL CLIMBING AND SHIFTING DOWN PAT BEFORE WINTER!!

8) 8 ) Hauling a 53' box vs 48'

My trainer told me I did well, and I surprised him twice during tight and complex backing routine at the mill. Backing is still the funnest part of trucking for me...lol.. I seem to get a rush from it.

My biggest challenge remains THE HILLS. but, I am doing less grinding while downshifting going from 10th, 9th, 8th...I need to look at the TAC vs relying on the Sound/RPM's. The clutch on this truck (Mercedes engine/2002 Freightliner) was very tight. Luckily we were only hauling 11 tons of Core (tightly bound Tubes for HUGE Paper rolls).

I got better as the day went on, but I was still making repetitive mistakes.
I asked the trainer for an overall assessment. He said there is not doubt that I can drive. I need more coaching vs training, as I was basically self taught at the simple shuttling job that I used to do with the eggs. Therefore I have some bad habits to break. I go out again Sat and Sunday...can't wait. This will give me a lot to think about while I am sitting at my desk doing my "IT" job tomorrow bored to death.

:shock:

 

Well I did my first Solo Run on Sunday after hitting 3 mills on Saturday. We drove about 275 miles on Saturday, and I got plenty of Drop and Hook and Tandem sliding under my belt, so I did a SOLO Sunday Morning run to JAY Maine. I wanted get there well before the scheduled appointment, so I Pretripped and hooked early. I got to see a nice sunrise gleaming off of the Androscoggin river heading over the bridge to the mill.

The Mill is in the back of this picture.



It was a peaceful ride, and I got a chance to reflect on what I am trying to achieve and the enjoyment that I am getting out of trucking.

Normally, I would still be in bed sleeping my life away. :wink:

Here I sit at my desk -- waiting for the weekend. There is a chance of a JAY week night run?

 

I think I will change my middle name to JAY. I am now going to the Jay Mill at least 3 times a week. I head there tonight and Saturday. I have my own truck now. It is an older 2001 Freightliner (Detroit 430 HP) sleeper Cab. It is our backup truck for this dedicated account. As I am the only part-timer, I am also the Guinnea Pig. The Bossman wants me to assess the the truck, so we can ID any faults or concerns before Winter kicks in. Beats split seating the daycab, as I can get used to the torque, gearing, turning, mirrors.......of this beast. Luckily I remembered to pick up fifth wheel Pin Pull at a PILOT last night since I do mostly drop and hook work. I did pre-trip it and bobtailed it around the yard last Sunday. I also drove the other Sleeper truck for 300+ miles last weekend to lose that DAYCAB experience.

Still lovin it! (truckin) 8)


PS: I am getting used to doing the Daily Logs too (HOS). Thanks to some previous posts on HOS 70/8 rules... (especially Rawlco's and Crackaces))I think I have things figured out. I had to correct my dispatcher on NOT sending me out too long this Saturday, as I will only have 7.5 hours left for tomorrow (Saturday). He had me doing approx 11 hours of work/driving. It was a good catch. Had I been totally green/oblivious, I could have put myself in a pickle.

The dispatcher appreciated me catching and understanding HOS so early in the game (me = noob).


Thanks again to this site!

 

Well, it's been about a month, so I will add a few more lines. There is nothing too exciting to report. I learned a new HOS rule....the "16-hour duty period" exception in Part § 395.1(o), .... I will explain later. Plus I pulled a few ROOKIE moves.

Rookie moves first! On my 2nd or 3rd solo run in my Sleeper Cab I was in one of the paper mill yards doing a drop and hook, and I got my 5th wheel stuck under the kingpin. After getting used to the truck, terrain of the yard, and the same ole trailers, I heard an unusual CLICK, and I seemed to be set back pretty far. Yep, I had lowered my suspension like always, only this time things were different. As my stomach hit my boots, I realized my fifth wheel passed under and was wedged against the kingpin. It could have been a lot worse, but I was able to track down a yard dog (trailer mover) to assist me. We inched our way right, forwards, right forwards......... until the 5th wheel was no longer held prisoner by the king pin, and I was slowly able to pull away. It did make me think about if I were stuck on the side of the road somewhere trying to get out of this mess without assistance. I guess I could have taken the next resort of letting air out of my tires to gain that extra 1/2 in or so of clearance. Then using my portable air hoses and attach them to the GLAD HAND and add the air back (I don't even want to go there). Luckily I rarely make the same mistake twice, so I now check for depth of the king pin as well as alignment when I nudge the 5th wheel under the trailer, and I take my flashlight to inspect (etched in brain). Not having enough fear of close calls, the next night I was pulling away from a trailer (I was crawling) something told me to stop (did not feel right). Just before I stopped, the Trailer came down on the Frame and Tires. Yep, same mill/yard. I got out to see how critical things were and if I did any damage (and here I thought my egg days were over. READ BACK [last job]). Nope, I was cleanly on the frame and tires, so I get a good "work out" raising the landing gear to gain a 1/4 inch clearance and pull away. Then I continued to raise the trailer for the next guy (yard dog). Actually, without notice he came by to move the trailer in the next 10 minutes.

Bottom Line: I am glad I pulled the bonehead moves early in my Rookie Stage -- got them out of the way early.

Now to the HOS rule. I have a pretty good understanding of the HOS and how to comply. I did overlook an aspect of the 14-hour continuous rule, and how it can be "extended". I was wrong, and only by chance was I able to work it out with safety. Meaning they found the ruling--not me!

Maybe because I said that I can't do anymore Friday nights, as I will be cutting the 14 hour rule too close. Especially if I get caught up in bad weather/traffic/etc.....The problem stems from the fact that I already work an 8 hour day from my full-time job before I go trucking (long story..)

Anyway, my out was that I am a local driver and my trips are within a 100 air mile radius. Also, I return to my home base. There is an allowance/exception for one to EXTEND their 14 hour continuous Workday to 16 hours. This is only allowed once per reset/week.. AND IT CAN’T BE A PLANNED SCENARIO!

See cut and paste details below from the reg:

********************CUT AND PASTE******************

C-7. May a "100 air-mile radius" driver utilize the "16-hour duty period" exception in Part § 395.1(o)?
Yes. A driver normally operating under the 100 air-mile radius exception in
§ 395.1(e) may also meet the requirements in § 395.1(o) enabling the driver to have one period of 16 hours on-duty each week (or after a 34-hour restart). However, on the day in which the 16-hour exception is utilized, the driver would not meet the 12-hour duty-period requirement of the 100 air-mile radius exception and would therefore be required to make a RODS for that day.

********************END OF CUT AND PASTE*******************



This all happened 3 weeks ago, so I had some good lessons. Not that I am looking for drama, but the last 3 weeks have been uneventful

As a matter of fact, I am not even needed this weekend. I guess it is a good thing because we just got our first snowstorm --- COINCIDENCE? :P

The woes of being a spare driver I guess. I found myself last weekend finishing up a 2-hour gig wishing I did not have to pull into the yard. Instead I was yearning to head for Northern Maine --another paper mill-- another 8 hours. The trip was too short, and it was a bright sunny day.


Well that's all that I have to report, I guess I will be playing with my Rosetta Stone Software (Spanish) and hopefully kicking butt in my fantasy football leagues $$$$$$. I am in the playoffs in 3 out of 4 leagues.

CIAO!!

 

Thanks for the update, Nomad! Sounds like you're having fun! But, you may have to take on and ADDITIONAL P/T driving job to fill up those "short" days! Can't have you going through withdrawals! :lol:

So.... how did you miss the kingpin with the 5th wheel? Are you lowering your suspension before hooking up? Or did the yard dog set the trailer too high for you? I always carry a couple blocks of wood for those situations. Drive your rear drives up on the wood after getting under the nose, and just as you contact the kingpin.

How's the traffic on your runs? Are you mostly on 2-lanes?

Will you have to do much chaining up this winter?

 

Hey Hobo, Nice to hear from you. My biggest mistake is letting myself get rushed. I am one of those punctual people (to a fault). Even though I did switch from a day cab to a sleeper (my permanent truck now), I had been to this yard 6 or 7 times prior. I had only used the sleeper cab on two or 3 drop and hooks prior, but it was really a case of me being careless. I lowered my suspension as I always do. I flashed my flashlight at the kingpin and the fifth wheel for line up (I did not simply back up blindly). I guess I did not notice how high the Kingpin was in comparison to the mouth of the 5th wheel. Because I use up 40 hours of my 70 hours HOS during the week, and I cut it close to going over the 14 hour rule on Friday's I try not to waste any time. I want to save as much time to drive on the weekends (if called). Once again speed kills!

Maybe the yard dog did raise the trailer higher than usual, but I should have caught it. I am a lot more observant now (consistently). Thanks for the the tip on the wood piece. When I was doing the egg gig, I learned quite a few tricks of the trade (that involved loading). To answer your other questions I do a mix of highway (I-95 North/South) and back roads on all of my runs. My runs are a mixed bag of terrain and distance. The trips can be as short as 60 miles round trip to 350 round trip (all to Paper Mills). AND YES, I am going through withdrawls. I am soooo hooked on trucking it ain't funny. I only have 6 months experience at the end of December, so I will probably wait a bit longer to find a 2nd P/T gig if my miles continue to drop. I am on a dedicated gig which is pretty hard to find for a rookie. It pays .326 per mile. There is an LTL (Land and Air Express) company that at least interviewed me 3 months ago. They have a dedicated route to Calais Maine on Saturdays (300+ miles roundtrip). It is directly accross from our customers location. They never got back to me, so I went with my current company. I don't really want to get into the LTL work right now, but I also don't want to sit on my hands either. We will see how this winter goes. On chains, we don't use them atall.
After making some of the Northern Maine runs, that surprises me.

In closing, have a great holiday season Hobo and stay safe!

 

I was taught to hook with the suspension raised. First, it lessens the chance of low hooking or overriding the fifth wheel. Also, it picks up the trailer before the pin goes into the "V" on the fifth wheel which can move the trailer sideways if not perfectly lined up - if the trailer moves sideways while there is still weight on the landing gear it can bend the gear and make it hard to crank up and down. Of course, sometimes the trailer was dropped low enough to require the suspension to be dumped to not hit on the frame and you should dump before pulling out from under a trailer. To recover from an override the normal procedure is to crank the trailer off the fifth wheel and prop the back of the fifth wheel up with a piece of wood or something so the pin clears the front of the fifth wheel.

 

Thanks for the Tips RoadRanger--makes sense. I should have been more descriptive. On both of the tractors that I use, 90 percent of the time I have to lower the suspension for the trailers (hence my as always statement). I do backup and do the bump test and decide from there (too much resistance/etc..). On rare occasions I can proceed in one go. What I failed to do is BETTER INSPECTION when I viewed for alignment below the trailer--rookie mistake!

I have not been close to making the same mistakes since.

 

Monthly Update:

I am going on 6 months of P/T trucking, and I only have driven 3-4 K miles. What's that, about 1.5 to 2 weeks of a normal regional/OTR driver and maybe 3-4 of a local? (Rhetorical question). Then again, I was only shuttling eggs for a whopping 25 miles for the first 3 months.

All in all, I can't complain. With my new gig, at least I don't feel like a dreaded trucking hobbyist anymore. I am also glad to say that I have not had any repeats or close calls with either dropping or hooking trailers ops:

It's getting routine now. The problem with me is I may miss a weekend of work. So after 14 days of being away from the truck and then only driving it for 3 hours, I still make some shifting mistakes here and there. I still misjudge the low range gears (1-4) when I am pulling off the highway with a load or negotiating in heavy traffic or hills. Mostly I drive at night, so I am pretty mirror intense. Other than trying to figure out and maneuver around tight paper mills—things are good. I took a load of fiber cores to the Millinocket (Northern Maine) Paper mill the other week (night) and the gate guard gave me some goofy directions. :evil:

I am sure some of you have had that spidey-feeling when you know something is wrong. Well it was Murphy’s law for about an hour. The directions the guard gave me had me cross two railroad tracks and hug along a couple of tight corridors/etc.. The problem was when I got to the T there were no instructions to go right or left. I saw a set of railroad tracks in front of me after going through a trailer parking lot. After getting my tandems past the first set of tracks, I said "NO WAY" everything in front of me (across the tracks) was fenced and I saw no corridors. I started to backup, but I had a heavy load and the trailer was battling an incline. The last thing I wanted to do was damage or break the differential and get stuck on the tracks, so I proceeded forward. I must have had to GOAL 10 times and make a 15 point turn to get out of a small parking lot (made for cars). Luckily I was hauling a 48’ so I did not need to swing the tandems. It took me about 20 minutes to get out of that pickle. It could have ended a lot worse. I went back to the T, guessed right (actually left) and found the correct bays. Oh, I did pass those tracks again. 8)

On the way home a Snow Storm came in (my first experience), and we do NOT carry chains. My trailer was empty, so I took it real slow (45MPH). It was not a heavy snow, but it was cold enough to be slippery with the crosswinds. The 4 wheelers lined up behind me on the I-95 were trying to get me to speed up. I could feel the difference in my steering, so I slowed down even more (35-40). I got a few flashes and honks as the 4 wheelers went by. A few minutes later I met up with a few of them again, as they apparently flew off the highway into the gullies. I was tempted to hoot, but I just carried on. Their flashers were on and assistance was coming. The usual 3 hour trip turned into 4.5, but I got home safe. After backing into the home-base bay, I noticed there was ice in the parking lot. So I am glad I got back when I did.

Well that’s all until Feb. Oh, I will be helping out one of the regular drivers and pick up 3 full days, so he can take a longer vacation. It will be the last 3 days in Feb, so I will see what mother-nature brings. So far it has been a very mild winter in Maine.