The more I read about Novacane's job the more I like mine... :lol:
But if she (?I think?) likes her job then I'm for it. :!:

Novacane I just want to say post the negative things as well as the positive. If people don't like the negativity then they can stop reading. I for one really enjoy your posts. Your posts also helped me in making the decision to go with Roehl. I start school there July 10th and I will be going flatbed as well. So thank you for taking the time to let us in on your experiences. :D

Mike

I couldn't do an update yesterday because I had to spend the night at a rest area close to the consignee. I delivered this morning with no major hiccups, and after a short wait I got another load, didn't get the specifics, but I was on my way to find out. I got about halfway to the shipper, and the qualcom beeped.

Something told me I should check it, so I grabbed the next exit and it was a message telling me to relay my empty trailer with another driver who was a trainer so the student could get some extra load securement education, and so that he could go home since he had been out for 2 weeks and this load took him right by his house.

Cool, so I called the other driver, and we set up a place to meet. We met and swapped trailers, did the inventory, you know the drill. I grabbed his trailer which of course was already strapped and ready to go, and took off for a 300 mile trip down to WV just below the D.C. area, oh no, I remember the last time I was there, horrible drivers, and few places to park. The other driver told me that about the closest truckstop would be about 150 miles away, but I didn't give it much thought because Chris can find me places like a pro. He uses a book called the next exit, truckstop books I have picked up from various places, and the internets many sights on truckstops.

Anyway, it turns out that the driver was right, but I still had enough time to make it to the consignee tonight(Tuesday) and would really like to make it and save the hours for tomorrow. But it was late in the day and the consignee wasn't open. No wal-marts or lowes in the area, and since I had never been there before, and the fact I would be out of hours by the time I got there and couldn't afford to spend time looking, I decided to play it safe and stay at the truckstop almost 150 away. :x

Now I have been unlucky here lately with the prepass and have been red lighted almost every time, never had to pull around back, but still there is always that chance. I got to thinking that I hadn't scaled the load with my truck, and even though I should be ok, since the other truck scaled it, I just wondered if my truck might be heavier or something like that. I wasn't too concerned with it, UNTIL I seen a weigh station sign, then I started thinking the worst, lol.

But as I got closer and closer, I seen that the big word was lit up, so that helped me out. It wasn't too much further past it that a truckstop with a scale came along, so I scaled to be sure and I was fine 4k under gross and the axles are fine. Worried for nothing. :roll:

So I made it here and after going around the parking lot, found a horrible parking space, but it was the only one left, and even though there were 2 trucks parked illegally in front of it preventing a easy straight back, I set up the best I could and started backing. I was turned enough that I lost sight of the trailer on the drivers side, and decided to G.O.A.L. to be sure, since I have seen 4 different parking lot wrecks over the past couple weeks.

WHEW! Boy am I glad I did. My trailer was close to touching, but even though it would have cleared by a inch, the straps were another story altogether. One of my straps was lined right up for a collision with his mirror, and another foot back, I would have touched it, and whether it would have caused damage or not is anyone's guess, but I didn't want to find out.

So, even though I had to pull up 2 more times, I finally got parked. And since I was dirty from the lumber tarps from my first load, I decided to get a shower, but I don't know if I came out any cleaner, it was by far the dirtiest shower I have ever been in so far. I griped at the manager for a little while even though it did no good and decided to hit the sack.

So all in all it was a pretty good day, and I hope today is just as good, I just hate this area, and can't wait to get a load and head somewhere else, no offense to the people who live around D.C. but I just don't care for it my my truck.

I looked on the internet and got my check information, and even with all the short trips last week, I managed to turn in around 2600 miles, which surprised me, and gave me a bring home check of 646 and a gross of 920 something I can't remember. I know most of you would scoff at that, but it makes me happy, and I should have about the same amount of miles for this week as well.

Well, it's about time for me to head out, so wish me luck with the traffic, and I will hopefully update tonight if I get out of this area of no truckstops.

Didn't have a great day today, but here we go. I left off with getting ready to hit the road, but I was delayed yet again by dead batteries. Again, nothing was pulling power from them. I have got used to unplugging everything before I go to bed at night, so nothing was using battery power, not even the laptop since I was sitting in bed when I wrote my update this morning(Wednesday morning) and was too lazy to get up and plug it in, lol.

But I qualcom in that I have dead batteries, and start looking for a boost. After I finally find someone who will help me out, and we get close enough in the crowded parking lot for the cables to reach, and the batteries have time to gain some strength, a hour had gone by.

Oh well, if they had fixed the truck when they had it in the shop, this wouldn't have happened, and it's starting to get aggravating to say the least. I finally get on the road and head toward the consignee. On my way there I get a phone call from dispatch and he proceeds to crawl my butt because I won't be able to make the appointment on time.

I tell him that if they fixed the truck, this wouldn't have happened, but it did no good. He asked when I thought I would get there, so I told him I am just over 2 hours away, and that he should give me 3 to be safe. Ok, I get that worked out and keep driving trying not to let it ruin my day, I know the batteries going dead have nothing to do with me since I have got used to making sure everything was unplugged and turned off, because if I so much as leave the radio playing a little while, they are dead, and it just takes more valuable time away from my day.

So I make it to the consignee which is actually a construction site. I get there and inform them I am here and find out where they want the truck so it can be unloaded. Well now, it seems that Roehl didn't realize what I was hauling, and sent me to the wrong site, they thought I was hauling rebarb, but I was actually carrying steel beams.

I am told that the other site is only an 8th mile or so away, but I would have to get back on the interstate, go down another exit and blah blah blah, more or less drive 10 miles to be a 8th mile from where I am. Well, I follow directions and they don't make sense, and when I call the number I was given, there of course is no answer.

I finally see a truck(4 wheeler) with the construction name on the truck, and thank goodness he actually had a cb. I talked with him and asked if he knew where I was supposed to go, and by sheer luck he did. Turns out the directions I was given weren't even close, I had to go down dirt roads off the main roads that lead to the "new" roads being built around the building and parking lots. Someone assumed the new road was finished and hooked up with another main road, and since it didn't, I couldn't find the place, thank goodness that driver came along.

When I arrive I send the the arrived at consignee macro and get another phone call with yet another yelling session about being late. Again I explained that there was no answer at the consignee, and the directions weren't even close, and then I told him about how the roads were connected with dirt roads that were unlabeled. Again it didn't make any difference.

The construction people were really nice and had me unloaded in a jiffy, and I was soon on my next run to go and pick up a load of insulation. I got to the shipper with no problems, and got loaded pretty quick, but I was having to use lumber tarps, and since I have to many of them right now, I had to play shuffle the heavy tarps from one place to another in order to get equipment and so on. So it took me almost 2 hours to get strapped and tarped.

It took a longer time than usual cause I had to lug the lumber tarps to the top of the 13 ft load by hand since no front end loaders were around after I got loaded, they were too busy with other trucks, so it was understandable. So finally finish up in the nice weather and soon I am on the road with another whopping 300 mile trip down into Virginia.

But since the load is less than 8k pounds, the mountains are a breeze and the trip should be sweet. I got about halfway to the consignee and had to shut down for the night, so even though I had a small run followed by a small run, I managed to still put almost 600 miles in my pocket today, and that brings the grand total for the week to just over 2k, and it's only Wednesday, so it should be another decent week(for me) for miles.

I was also contacted again about being a trainer, but after talking with them for a little while, I was told that I would never be able to train men, but there would be many women I could train, but the catch is that they would be training for van, not flatbed, and since flatbed is what I would really like to train in(if I was considering doing it) it doesn't look like I will be a trainer. That doesn't seem fair to me, but I guess I can understand it, after all, I am a weak little girl who couldn't protect herself from a big strong man, lol. :roll:

I am just tired of being yelled at for something that is totally out of my control. I have begged them to replace my batteries, cause it would be nice to be able to go to sleep with the radio playing softly to drown out the noise of idling trucks parked next to me like I used to be able to do. Or to have a cold drink by lunch time(it takes my thermo cooler a long time to cool down drinks) and not have to worry every morning if the truck will start or not.

I wish the smaller cordless battery boosters would work on the truck as good as they do on cars, since I have one(well Chris does) and it would make things much easier and faster when they went dead from now on. I guess my only choice is to set the icon system and let it start the truck through the night to keep the batteries topped off, I just hate to do that and burn fuel when I don't have to considering the problem seems to be intermittent. Anyway, it wasn't a horrible day, but it wasn't good either, so lets go to Virginia(actually I am already here, so I guess I should say lets go DEEPER into Virginia, lol).

It is too bad that Dispatch was in a bad mood today, I hope you and they have a better day tomorrow.

I don't understand how the Qualcomm will work when the batteries are dead. Doesn't the Qualcomm operate using power from the batteries? Are you trying several times to push the starter button before giving up and calling the batteries dead? If not you may just have a reluctant starter.

My personal theory is that you have a bad starter, or perhaps a bad starter circuit that will not allow the truck to start sometimes. This is the checklist I go through when something won't start.
1)check headlights
2)if no headlights or are dim then charge/boost batteries
3 If headlights work check them while attempting to start.
4) If headlights continue to work fine, then starter is not engaging at all, check # 5, if headlights dim while trying to start, then brighten again after, then you have starter motor trouble, recommend rebuilt/replace starter, if headlights go out completely and nothing else works test/replace batteries.
5) Do you hear a click/clunk when attempting to start? If NO then replace solenoid/starter switch.
6) Does the truck go RRRRR like it will start for about one half a second and then stop dead, with no lights after? If yes test/replace batteries, one is broken
7) Does the truck turn over fine for two or three seconds but not keep running? If yes then the problem is more likely with the engine, not the batteries.

Of course you can't go telling the mechanics exactly what the problems is, because that is sort of like telling a DOT officer that they are wrong. :lol: Besides they have to earn their pay somehow. What you should do is record the symptoms carefully as I have outlined and hope that the mechanics have a clue.

I have a theory about the tarp problem. If you put the tarp you will need on the deck of the trailer before they are finished loading, then the forklift operator will need to help you move it before he can finish loading, and it will be just as easy to put the tarp on the top of the load as move it off the trailer onto the ground. Of course this won't work for all loads, but it might work sometimes.

Yes the qualcom works off battery power, but even though there is enough juice to run it, and even the interior lights(you can tell they are dimmer than usual) it isn't enough to turn the motor.

The headlights will burn extremely dim, and the volts gauge is around 10. My theory is that there is a bad cell in one of the batteries, and it only drains the batteries when it has been jostled into a certain place before parking. Other times it sets back "into place" and doesn't drain them. Just one dead cell in the group of batteries could do it, and that to me is the only explanation.

One bad cell will probably explain it, given the symptoms you describe. I have also had batteries where the post or terminal became disconnected from the mass of lead inside the battery. Sometimes it would make contact and sometimes it wouldn't. According to Murphy's law it will always work then the mechanic goes to check it.

Have you tried unplugging the qualcomm overnight or for several days to see if that solves your battery drain? :lol:

What I would do at this point is see if I could borrow a "battery load tester" from a local auto parts store or garage next time you are home. This will allow you to test the batteries. The only hard part is that you need to disconnect the batteries from one another and test each one individually, so it takes a bit of work. I suppose you could also set up the ICON system and then report that the truck runs most of the night to keep the batteries charged. If you burn enough fuel you might get them to fix it. Good Luck.

batteries
 

Hi there. I am a p/t truck driver full time golf course mechanic. When checking batteries, put a load on them like all lights accessories and such. Then take a volt meter and check voltage across the posts of each battery. If you have one bad one it will show a lower voltage than the rest. The lower the voltage the more this will show up. Like when it won't start. For example, in a set of 6 - 6volt golf cart batteries I will discharge them down to 31 volts then with the dis-charger still applying a load I check each battery. You don't have to disconnect them just check across the posts. They will average 5.75 or so. The bad one will be 5 or less and with a load on it you will be able to see the voltage drop. I am not sure what a 12v system will check out but look for average across the good ones. If they all check the same either they are all bad or it is something else. One other thing check the disconnects. Check the nuts, the one under the the cable tightens the post and some times it loosens.

i have a theory the truck is a poj and hasnt been maintened, icon is a waste of thought.
you schouldnt of turned down the oppurtunity to train in van, even with your experience level. as far as gettin yelled at for being late when the truck wouldnt start id told the ahole to route it to ellenwood theirs plenty of other companies with better trucks that start with none of the drama.

Rohel might be a wonderful company to work for...but most of their trucks I see on the road are pretty old and some are pretty crappy.

How old are most their trucks? 10 years old?


If you want to do flat bed, then keep on doing it. Ignore the people who tell you to go to van :D

dont ignore/hate the people who dont drive flatbed.were truckers 2.
im not found of falling off the step of the truck let alone climbing up 13 feet and falling straight to the ground.
dont forget to put the equipment issue in the survey they sent you novacane if we all right it in mayb theyll get the idea. flatbed and van driver alike.

I would never say that or even think it, shoot I got my start with van and enjoyed it greatly(and would take my first job back in a heart beat!). If I sound as though I am "putting down" van drivers, then I am coming off the wrong way, I just happen to love pulling a skateboard, it's simply my preference. It's just when I picture a "trucker" in my mind, like when someone tells me their husband drives a truck, or I hear something about a truck driver in a song or whatever, my mental picture is of a flatbed.

It probably has something to do with the fact my favorite uncle drove flatbed, and every time he would pull up, that's what I would see, I used to get so excited to hear the whine of a turbo coming down my grandfather's long driveway(it's almost a mile long, and this was the grandfather that recently passed away) and to see the dust from the gravel road cover everything alongside the road, you could see the "dust storm" long before you could see the truck.

But I never meant to "put down" van drivers, and I have to admit that I won't rule them out when it comes to driving, especially after what I heard today, which is something that I would almost certainly get in trouble for posting in a public place like this considering I have been "warned" by other people about what I say on here, so sorry if I offended any van drivers, I never meant to sound that way.

Now, for all the suggestions on the truck batteries, I appreciate it, but I talked with other drivers and they told me not to mess with it unless maintenance specifically tells me to, or I might be the one that is having to pay for the repairs, so I am weary about messing with it unless I am told to, but I appreciate everyone trying to help. On a side note, I have heard that if I have a flat and it's damaged enough that it can't be recapped, or fixed, then I would be charged $150 for it. Now I admit that I have searched the Roehl "bible" over and over trying to find something that confirms this, and I can't, so for now it's only a rumor, can anyone confirm this either way?

Now back to "my day". So far since I have been letting the icon run the truck, no battery problems. But anyway, I had a load of insulation when I left off, and I made it to the relay point, to find the other driver there waiting since last night, cool, normally I am the one having to wait. We swapped trailers, and done all the normal things you do when you relay.

I sat there for about half an hour and finally get tired of waiting, so I send in a message asking what was going on, and could I at least get an address so I can get on the road. The other driver only got the information on where to relay with me, so he had no idea where it was going either.

An hour later and I have been there a hour and a half, and still no address. Now I am sure that most are thinking why weren't you on the phone, or sending message after message trying to get the information. The answer to that is, that they were sending me messages, many of them, 3 load comments, 2 additional load comments, something about blind billing, and so on. The thing is that the messages were arriving a few minutes apart. Like I would get one, then 5 minutes later another, then 15 minutes later another, then 10 another, you get the point. The thing is that I just assumed they were getting everything in order and were sending stuff as fast as they could, and that the information I needed would be coming any minute.

Two and a half hours after my arrival, I got a call with an angry dispatcher asking why I was still sitting there and not on my way. I told him that I didn't even know what direction to head in, and that they hadn't sent me anything telling me, just the load comments and such. Turns out the other driver forgot to send in the macro letting them know I have the load, so they didn't realize that I was hooked up, and they thought they would send me all the information they could thinking I wasn't even hooked to the trailer yet, so in their eyes and from what they knew, they were on top of it, but in reality, I was waiting. As soon as they found out the problem, I got my address and directions, and was on my way.

Well, I was few hours into the trip when mother nature started to call my name loud and clear, and I noticed that a rest area was just ahead. I was contemplating whether to stop or not when the qualcom beeped, so I took it as a sign to pull over, so I could kill two birds with one stone. I emptied the bladder and went back to the truck to see what the message was.

It said "stop, call dispatch asap". Uh oh, I feel another bI$& session coming on. I call, and dispatch said wait a minute, the boss wants to listen in on the line, now I know it's gonna be bad. Well dispatch didn't say much but boss was yelling constantly wanting to know why my appointment times have been being set back 2 hours most every load.

I explained that shippers refuse to load the truck the way that I want them to, I have tried southern charm, being a a$$hole, being forceful, you name it and I have tried it. But they know everything, and I am just a girl, and I can't count the times that I have been told "we load a hundred trucks a day like this, don't you worry, it will be fine".

Well, add to that the fact that shippers won't let you leave the property unless you are tarped if it's required(90% of my loads are required to be tarped). So I have to watch them load it to where I KNOW my steers are gonna be over weight, strap it, tarp it, THEN I have to drive to the nearest scale(most of my shippers rarely have scales on the property unless it's a steel load, and they know how to load the trailer) get the ticket proving the steers are over, return, un-tarp, un-strap, put the tarps up out of the way(tow motors can't just run over them after you get them off the load). Plus most of the time, they are busy with another truck, and can't get to me, so I have to sit and wait for the load to be re-distributed.

After they get done loading it the right way, I have to strap and tarp again, and hope that the second time around will scale out ok, and most of the time it does. But because the shippers won't listen to me, what should take 2 hours to get loaded and tarped and on the road, turns into 4 to 5 hours depending on how far away the scales are, and how busy the shipper is.

Now keep in mind he is reaming me out over the phone, and dispatch is saying nothing, not a peep. The boss says "well, did you inform dispatch that this was a problem?" I said I sure did, EVERY single time, and not just after they loaded me, but while they were loading me, hoping that maybe he could call and tell them my truck is funny or something to make them believe me. Finally, the boss asked dispatch if that was true, and he says, "well, yeah, now that I think about it, she did call about that several times". Of course this makes no difference.

Then I get chewed out about the batteries. Boss says "well if you have been having problems with your truck, why didn't you bring it by a terminal?". I told him that it had been an ongoing problem and if he would look over the qualcom records he would see just how many times I have complained about it, AND I DID finally get to bring it into the terminal, and they didn't do anything about it. Again dispatch is quiet, and when boss asks him about it, he says yeah, she is telling the truth, and told him when and where I took the truck to be looked at. Keep in mind that he has been chewing me out for 34 minutes straight with no help from dispatch except when specifically asked.

Well, boss doesn't care, tells me I am on the bubble, and it's about to pop. Then tells me that they will try and have the truck looked at next week, and that I would be leaving the truck at the terminal and taking a loaner, so that should be really nice, I just hope this ones not as bad as the last loaner.


Anyway, that was yesterday, and today I decided to start fresh. The next time the shipper won't load the trailer correctly, I will do something, and I will get drastic if I have to, these guys are gonna cause me to lose my job. My only other choice is to do it once, and run it illegally, which is just stupid to consider. So today I didn't get to exercise my new attitude since I am hauling fiberglass hoods out of Columbus again, and they can't be loaded wrong. And it's a decent run, so my new start is off to a good one.


I also mentioned that if they didn't have a bolt preventing the 5th wheel from moving(it has a sliding 5th wheel, but won't let it work) that none of this would be a problem most likely since I could probably adjust it out. He said that they prevented the 5th wheel from moving because too many drivers were damaging trucks from having it adjusted too far up, and then changing trailers that would hit the truck during a hard turn because they forgot to slide it back where it is "supposed" to go. So even though I have a sliding 5th wheel, it doesn't work, and it would make a lot of difference to me at this point.

Why do you put up with that crap? I'd be finding a new company yesterday if they bitched at me like that.

Because I like the company, I know that sounds stupid, but keep in mind that I have had some really good times with them as well, and so far the good still out weighs the bad, but I must admit I have looked other places, and am considering a few of them.

Plus, it's kinda my fault I guess, I mean, I should have found a way to make the shippers load the trailer right. But I have tried and tried to make them listen, and only get through to them 10 percent of the time, I need to make that 100, I just don't know how I am gonna do it.

It all boils down to the fact that I have to buckle down, and get things done, if I have to continue to re-tarp the loads, I will just have to start getting it done quicker I guess.

i was being sarcastic about ignoring van drivers, but the fact remains you r on a one way course. they hav identified you as a problem. over and over again. youll find all this stress goes away when you switch to van.
for what ever reason your not gettin the job done from what u said they said with a flatbed.
so be an adult with somewhat of a rational thought process, make the switch to the van division at roehl or another flat company not because pulling flatbed to you is cool but rather this a job and it must be treated as such. i understand you have an idea on what a truck driver schould be or what they/you schould pull. hell even my grandfather drove a truck way bac in day onehand on the steering wheel onehand holdin the whisky but u dont c me holdin no whisky. Thats not being realistic. and the end result is your just closing doors on yourself. do yourself and yur family a favor follow the path of least resistance, roehl is definetly one of the better carriers out here. on yur day off take awhile and think about what you really wanna accomplish out here i hope you come to the answer of gettin paid.

thanks thatl be 500 for the advice no charge for common sense

Granted the stress of flatbed specific problems will go away with a switch to van, but driving and switching to van brings other stress along with it. Getting used to the whole van delivery process, I don't know anything about lumpers, or how the whole delivery process is made. I have a pretty good idea, and would be able to figure it out, but in the first couple weeks, it would add stress learning the van world details. Add to that the fact that I would be away from home even longer, and the stress reason is out the door. Plus I wouldn't be doing what I want to do, and what I am capable of, this isn't a problem just for me, I have my little circle of friends that drive van and flatbed, and I am not alone when it comes to these little problems, I am just the only one who posts about them.

I will admit, that in the long run van would make me more money, as a matter of fact, one of my best friends who has drove van for 13 years, and is a O/O for Roehl just made the switch to van, and his miles have almost doubled. It took him from barely scratching by, to having plenty of money left over through the week and is very happy.

I also have to admit that I am so fed up at this point, that if they offered me the same home time, I would probably go ahead and switch over. At the same time, I figure if I am going to be away from home twice as much, and have to switch to van, I might as well go with one of many companies that will let me take Chris with me, AND pay me 6-12cpm more than I make now.

I don't know how to go about quiting even if I did want to make a company switch. I know they don't provide you with a ride home if you quit, and quitting under a load is a major DAC no no, plus they don't deserve it. Neither of my cars are reliable enough to make it to Atlanta, let alone Gary or Marshfield. Chris's car is more or less a race car, and would cost $200 for the trip. My camaro is a POS and is only good for going around town. Now don't get me wrong, it would probably make it, but if it didn't, the tow bill would bankrupt me.

I just don't know what to do, all I know is if the shippers would listen to me, and the truck would start when it's supposed to, then I wouldn't have these problems any more. There's no problem with load securement or driving, and the only other thing I know I did wrong was forgetting to send in the macro's after I arrived at a place.

Macro's aren't a problem any more, I haven't missed one since I got in trouble, and if they fix my truck next week like they say they will, then all I have to do is figure out how to make the shipper load the truck like I want them to, instead of the way they want to. If I can't make the change for all these problems this week, then I will sacrifice my and my families happiness and needs and switch to van and be gone a lot more than now, with a little better paycheck to show for it.(hopefully)

these r all exuces i wouldnt expect you to go and switch to van and roll 35oo miles a week i would expect yo to try out south regional.
in order to quit all you have to do is write up a 2 week or less notice minium24 hrs fax it in from a truckstop. dont forget your confirmation page.theyll route you were you need to be maybe before the 2 weeks are up just for spite.
as far as stress its no harder then picking up a load and delevering it on time on time on time. your capable of being a rocket scientist as all of us r but we decided to be truckdrivers instead.
my last advice to you on this thread of yours.you know what you need to do suck it up and get it done.
good luck!

I can't do southeast regional in van, if I could I would switch just to see if I might be happier. They only offer(at least when I got hired anyway, and I am pretty sure it hasn't changed, let me know if it has) national for vans where I live. I think they have a SE regional van division, but you have to live within 150 miles of ellenwood, and I live just over 200, so I would have to go national and be out 7-10 days at a time minimum.

When you say that they will route me by where I need to be, do you mean the ellenwood terminal, or home? I understand what you are saying, but being home every weekend is a need, not a want, and I can't really bend on that, maybe every once and a while, but not every week. It doesn't even have to be the weekend, just home every week to take care of things that only I can do.

Since you drive van, what is your average trip length, load, and unload times? Where do you live, and do you get home every weekend? How many times have you had to fingerprint a load? Do you ever have to get the load redistributed, or do you just adjust the tandems to make up for it? Where do most of your loads pick up and deliver to, stores, warehouses, terminals............

Thanks for all the help Ken

You put up with more crap and lower pay than just about anyone i have seen on this board!!! If you are dead set on flatbed and really actually would like to make a change...need to be home everyweekend and want some good money.......please go to TMC or Maverick.....your stories amaze me on a weekly basis. i dont mean that to sound rude...but WOW....you have quite the list of stories and very few are good......go to a flatbed company if you want to stay with flatbed and make it without going crazy.

You need to start looking on your "have to be home" weekends for a local stakebed truck job. Like delivering for Home Depot, etc. That way, you're home every night as well as weekends and you still get to strap loads and maybe even tarp some if that's what you feel you need to do. Don't need to worry about how many miles you drive a week, being overweight, or anything. Hell, even try at Sears. That way you've got an all day window to wander around before you finally bump into the house waiting for that new stove instead of those pesky set delivery times. Not as awe-inspiring as getting to tell people "I'm a woman flat-bedder", but should fulfill your "needs". Just a thought.

Now that I am home, I wanted to write and send a few pics of the construction site I went to(the one I couldn't find earlier this week)
http://images5.pictiger.com/thumbs/9...7a28e9f.th.jpg


As I was getting closer to where I had to unload, I realized I would have to cross a wood bridge, and it looked rickety to me, and I had second thoughts about crossing it considering I was right at 80k, but I saw another Roehl flatbed in the area where I was supposed to be, so I figured if he crossed it safely, I should be able to as well, but I just kept seeing the picture of the truck that collapsed the wooden bridge a few months ago. You also can't tell, but the bridge is shaped like a "A" and was pretty steep on both sides, it was scary just before crossing, but once I felt how strong it was and realized I was ok, it was all right.

http://images5.pictiger.com/thumbs/8...3f3bc86.th.jpg

This was a low bridge I had to go under, in this picture you can't really tell, but a condo wouldn't had made it. My truck barely made it, with the stack being an inch from the bridge(I had to get out and check several times, I was nervous).

http://images5.pictiger.com/thumbs/a...85c5ba4.th.jpg

Here is a closer look, pay no attention to the bugs on the windshield! Compare the height of the bridge with the truck on top.

http://images3.pictiger.com/thumbs/1...bf65d1d.th.jpg

And here is the big load the other Roehl driver was hauling, if I had known how light his load was, I would have been even more nervous, thank goodness I seen this after I crossed the bridge, lol!

http://images3.pictiger.com/thumbs/b...56a3abc.th.jpg

Nova, those pics look like the "Mixing Bowl" mess of 95/495 in VA, specially the last one, see a concrete truck that looks very familar, like a Cardinal/Virginia Concrete truck with that color scheme. If so, bet that was a real fun site to drive around :roll: :D

[quote="Novacane"]
Now you're talking sense :D

You are correct, that is exactly where I was, give this man a cigar! It wasn't too bad to navigate, but finding how to get in using the dirt roads was a challenge, but I got lucky and had a construction worker help me through.

Now for an update. When I started my day Saturday for my trip home, about 4am, I woke up yet again to dead batteries. So now, it's the weekend, maintenence isn't in yet, and weekend dispatch isn't the best in the world. Nonetheless, I called dispatch to see what I needed to do.

Now, keep one thing in mind, when I was getting yelled at mentioned in my previous posts, one of the reasons I got in trouble was because I got a boost instead of having a truck sent. Now I called in and done the whole reporting it deal, but I figured I would be able to get a boost long before truck could arrive, and if that was the case, I didn't want the company to be charged for a service call when I was able to take care of the problem myself, that's me trying to help out the company I work for.

Anyway, I got in trouble specifically because it took too long to get boosted. I searched for a person who would boost me, that took about 30 minutes. Then, it took another almost 45 for his truck to charge mine enough to start, so it took me the better part of an hour and a half to get on the road, and that of course ate into my delivery time, so I got in trouble both for being late, and for taking too long for the boost, and was told next time to let a truck come out and fix it so it would be faster(they don't know how long it takes these trucks to get to me, I have always had bad luck with these places taking forever, is it like that for everyone?)

So..................Dispatch asks me if I can get a boost, ha! First off, I don't want to get in trouble again, and second, it's 4am on a Saturday morning, and knocking on doors and waking up drivers who are trying to rest while they work over the weekend isn't the best way to get some help. So I politely tell dispatch nope, and to send a truck on it's way, he says that maintence won't be in for at least another hour, but he will have them call me and set something up.

By this time staying on hold, having to repeat the situation, and talk back and forth, it's 4:30 am. So I wait, and wait, finally at 5:45, I call to talk with them again. To my suprise they were in, I asked why in the world they hadn't called me, I needed to be on the road. They said that dispatch indeed gave them my information, but put a note on it that I would call in myself at 6am! I DID NO SUCH THING!!

But I talk with them, and tell them how the batteries have been an ongoing problem, and that I needed someone to come take care of it. They say ok, someone will be on the way. 8 am rolls around and he finally shows up, and has a cordless battery booster with him(the kind like I said I wish they made bigger) just like Chris's, so I already know it's not going to work.

He hooks it up, and all that happens is the lights get a little brighter, and the truck will turn over about 3-5 times very slowly, not even close to starting. So he realizes that's not going to work, so he hooks up his truck(just a regular size half ton truck) to the batteries and tries to boost me off, nope, well, let it sit a few minutes, 20 minutes later, not even close.

So he decides to leave, to go and pick up a bigger battery charger with a 100 amp boost(again, Chris has one just like it, lol) Half an hour later, he is back, 45 minutes later, the truck finally starts. But something is different this time, it's not charging like normal, it's actually dis-charging a little. I am freaking out thinking that I will be stuck here, and not get home for mother's day weekend. But he tightens all the battery posts again, and it started acting normal, whew, HOME HERE I COME!

So looking back on it, I could have spent an hour looking for another driver to boost me, then another 45 charge time, and I would have been gone in less than 2 hours, like usual. But since that way was too slow, I did it the "proper" way according to dispatch in order to save time, and it only took me 6 hours to get on the road(4am to just almost 10am).

Still, that's no big deal, the guy was trying, he just didn't come prepared(isn't that the point?) and did the best he could, plus it shows that my way was faster in most cases. But one problem it did create was the fact I wouldn't be home in time for a 34 reset, but I didn't realize it at the time, so I just head to the house with my load of hoods.

I get home around 5pm, pay for my parking, and call Chris to come pick me up, I didn't feel like driving the truck home. Well, after the dead battery incident earlier that morning, the rest of the day was wonderful, and we had some awesome weather, and since it was so pretty out, he drove his nova, and that's usually pretty fun, we met and dated in that car(met at a race track) and we both love it, so it was a great day. We had errands to run, some cell phone problems to take care of, and hit the local sonic, ahh, nerves are settled.................

We finally make our way home after a couple of much needed alone time, and that's when I sent the pictures of the construction site. My delivery time was Monday morning in AL. so I knew that I would need to leave sometime Sunday, and realized that there wasn't enough time for my 34. I also knew that they planned on working on my truck, and would most likely make me get my 34 there at the terminal, and that would mean me losing too many hours, so again I called weekend dispatch, thinking that nothing would happen.

Now, I have 2 choices, wait till my 34 reset, and leave around 3am, and get there with around 6 hours of drive time left, which the company doesn't like, or leave early, miss my 34 and pull a reset while the truck is in the terminal which I figure is a waste since I was only a few hours away from my 34 here at the house. So I more or less call and see if it's ok for me to wait for the clock to reset before I leave, and arrive at the consignee with only 6 hours of drive time left, besides I would probably wind up being at the terminal for that long(2 hour drive to ellenwood from the consignee).

He tries to get me to do the reset at the terminal, but then realizes how close I am to the reset here at the house, and he helps me out and says it's ok, and this time I made sure to have him write a note about him ok'ing it for me so I won't get in trouble for it.

So for the first time since I started weekend dispatch actually helped me out, and didn't tell me to wait till regular dispatch got there. So I leave around 4am and much to my amazement, the truck actually started, whoo hoo, I am on a good luck streak now! THEN I make it to the consignee 45 minutes early, THEN they actually let me unload early, and get it done quickly, whoo hoo! :D

So as expected, they route me through ellenwood, and instead of putting me in a crappy loaner truck, tell me to hang out and let them fix the problem, and do a pm since it was over due for one. This rules, I hate the whole loaner truck deal, no I just hope that they can get it done in a timely manner.

Well, they work on the truck, pull it outside and tell me I can head out. I hadn't got my dispatch yet, so I figured I would grab the truck wash right quick and clean some of those bug guts everyone seen on the windshield and the front of the truck washed off.

Guess what, THE TRUCK WON'T START!!! after they just finished "fixing it" the truck won't start. I go back in and tell them, and their reaction was, "are you serious?". I say yep, and they pull it in and start working on it again. An hour later, she pulls back out under her own power and again they tell me it's ready to go. Still no dispatch(I had been inside talking with them about it) so again I figure I will wash it.

It actually starts this time, and I get it washed, get back in the truck after I was finished and she fired right up again, whew! I had got a message over the q/c while I was washing, and what do you know.................it's a over 800 mile run GOING TO TEXAS!!! I only had about 2 hours left for the day, and grabbed my trailer of spooled cable and started hauling a$$ baby! lol

Atlanta traffic was a mother, but I finally made it through, got on 20 and starting laying down the miles. I was shooting for a pilot I stay at a lot and when I arrived I had about 15 minutes left of my day, whew, that was perfect, grabbed a groovy parking space and hit the sack. I am waking up just now, and I usually don't sleep that long, so you know I was tired.

So that's where I am at, having a good luck streak, awesome load, and should be able to put 3000 miles in my pocket this week, if everything goes ok, only time will tell. I just hope the truck keeps starting good, that would be my biggest problem right now, but as it stands, I should be in Fort Worth on Wednesday in the am, so wish me luck. Now lets head to Texas! :D

Good luck, hope all of your problems are behind you for good.
I am in Gary now finishing orientation. I saw them getting some new trucks ready for flatbeds. Maybe you will get one.

:D It's been a good couple of days!

Let me start off with a question many have pm'ed me about, what did they do to my truck to fix it?

NOTHING! I got a PM done, they zip tied a rubber hose over one of the rear air ride hoses because it was rubbing on a frame bolt, and they checked the starter, batteries, and altenator. Of course they didn't find anything wrong with them, so I don't know what to think about that, but I must admit, other than a few "slow" starts(cranked slowly, just barely enough to start) it has been fine. So the only thing I can think of is they "fixed" it by checking the stuff, as in it was a bad connection or something, or I have simply been lucky, I don't know, lol.

Anyway, my trip to Texas went great as usual, I really like this state, the people are really great. Anyway, I made it within 4 hours of the consignee, and had to shut down for the night. I had to be there at noon, but was capable of being there by 7am, and I thought long and hard about that.

On one hand, there would be a chance of getting unloaded early, and maybe getting another good load since I was early. On the other hand, they may not even be open at that hour, and I could wind up getting up early, and wasting the day waiting for them to get to me. So I decided to shoot for a 9am arrival.

Well, I got there at 15 till 9 and what do you know, they don't start recieving until 9, so if I had left really early, it would have been a waste of time, whoo hoo, good decision! So I get un-chained and strapped and wait to get unloaded, but even though I was early, it still took them till 10:30 to get to me, but that's ok, got unloaded a hour and half early, cool. 8)

So I am finished and waiting on word from dispatch on where to head to and they got back with me pretty quick, yet another good thing to chalk up for the day. But it gets even better, it's over a thousand mile trip!!!! :shock:

They wanted me to to got about 250 miles south down to Cleveland Tx. to pick up a load of plywood and run it up to a town close to Knoxville Tn. Cool, that puts me driving right past the house, but sadly I won't be able to stop, not even to have lunch or something like that, but it's cool, just being close seems good for some reason.

I made it down to Cleveland in about 5 hours due to slow traffic, and a wreck, but nothing bad, just a hold up around 15 minutes off the trip. The people there were pretty nice as well, but again they were giving me grief over the way I wanted the truck loaded. I tried everything in the world to load the truck the way he wanted to, but I simply said "look, I don't want to do this twice like in the past, so if you don't want to do it my way, you need to pay me since I will be losing time and money coming back to get it redone". Of course that wasn't even an option, but I stood my ground and he loaded it the way I wanted.

But even though he loaded me my way, he put too much on the trailer, and I know it would have been over gross, but he kept on stacking it with me telling him he is wasting his time, but he knew what he was doing, so when he was finished, I scaled out and am over by 1800 lbs. So he took the part I plainly told him would put over back off, and put on a smaller bundle, and it was just right.

So, by that time, I was pretty much out of hours, but they wouldn't let me park there, so I got directions to the nearest place to shut down, and half an hour later, I am in a parking spot, no internet access which is why I didn't update.

I sleep, and get a early start the next morning(yesterday morning) and drove up to west Memphis Arkansas where I had to shut down last night. I got up bright(well it was dark actually) and early this morning, and now I am at a fuel stop watching a guy wash his truck in the fuel island. I don't mean the windows, or a fuel spill, he is taking the water hose, and the windshield washer squeegee and washing his entire truck(not the trailer lol). Oh well, to each his own I guess, shoot its free and there isn't anyone behind him, so more power to him.

Got more good news yesterday, dispatch called and more or less gave me a choice of loads(this would be my first choice of loads ever!) and both of them being high miles to boot. I would have to pick up one of 2 loads out of Ky, and either go to Nebraska, or up to Marshfield, miles are about the same, around 825 loaded, so with the empty miles that would be yet another thousand mile run, whoo hoo, 2 in a row baby!

My check was only 488 this week, wasn't able to turn in miles in time, so I only got payed for 1930. But that will give next weeks a huge boost, and put me just over 3k for the week, plus this run I am on now will be a booster for next week with a thousand miles done by monday, with hopefully another thousand trip up north to add to it, plus what I can get done the rest of the week, and considering I would have to be back down south, that would mean I would have a minumum of 2300-2500 for next week, and while most of you laugh at that, it sounds really good to me.

Anyway, just one more thing, if this update is hard to follow I am sorry, I had to write bits and pieces here and there, so I didn't get to write all at once, plus the spellcheck isn't working for me either, so good luck!

Aarrrgghh!!! How can I follow you around, if you don't tell me where you went??? :lol:

I hope you took the Nebraska run!

??????

You are really touched aren't you? Stop chasin' them skirts....going to get yourself in trouble. :P

Hi Novacane is your truck still running ok if not try and get it up to Iron Mt. . I've had my truck for a little over a month and pulled in there to get ABS on trailer looked at and told them about batteries and they changed all four I had old ones used from other trucks. look at the dates on your batteries and truck numbers that will let you know how old they are. keep us posted and hope to see you in a terminal soon

Oh another thing my boxes behind cab where messed up and maintenance said it was a safety issue with the chains falling out the bottom

Ahh, it's good to be back, I have had some pc problems, and up till the past couple days have been pretty busy. I just kept putting off posting thinking I will do it tomorrow, and wham, this is what happens.

That combined with me getting a blog set up and learning how to use it and all that, plus the holiday weekend didn't help all that much either, lol, but it was wonderful, just perfect, which is why I decided to start a blog so I could talk about everything thats going on instead of just the driving part.

Anyway, I only had a few minutes to write in and thought I would take advantage, but a better update will come tonight and I will let everyone know how it's been going. Anyway, got to run for now, I got a whopper of a load, a whole 75 miles, lol.(this after a huge 300 mile run) plus I am pulling curtainside and have to figure out how to secure the sides, wish me luck(by the way, I am in Fon du Lac, the south just keeps moving north).

I hope you're not at that OLD OLD truck stop in Fond du Lac but I bet you are cuz it's the Only one in Fond du Lac :P
Place was old when I started in '78 but the Food is Decent but the people who work in the Little Convenience store are a Bit Nuts :P

Nope Yoopr, I was at a customer's place delivering stone, but I think I know what place you are talking about though.

Like I wrote earlier, I will be starting a blog, so my little run that has got over 30k views will soon dwindle deeper and deeper into the archives, but it was a good run, and I will still update it, just not as often as in the past, plus I will make other posts when something interesting happens, I am not leaving the forum, but "My day" will slow way down over the next few weeks. Of course I will post a link so people can still follow me if they desire, but you will have to skip over the parts that don't pertain to driving if you aren't interested.

Anyway, last week was a busy week with decent miles, I got just over 3k miles and my check this week was 678, so needless to say I am happy, but this week hasn't been all that great, oh well, here we go with the good times come the bad times saga again.

So it turns out that I never got to choose between my loads, I was told to take the Marshfield load, but that didn't bother me any, miles are miles baby! So after I delivered the load I had, I deadheaded around 150 miles home, due to pick up a load in Ky Monday morning which gave me a decent little weekend, better than the normal 34 hours I am used to.

I grabbed the load and it was a drop and hook, needed to be tarped, but oh well, that's what flatbed drivers do. I took it to Marshfield and got there early again, hoping that my good luck streak with high mileage loads would continue. I was disappointed that I only got a 100 mile run, but it was no tarp, and delivered the same day, so no wasted time, that's cool, maybe the next will be better.

So was the next one better, well, it is the longest dispatched run I have ever got 1700 miles!!! whoo hoo!!!! I thought it might be a typo until I noticed it was going to Miami, cool, delivering early has paid off.

Well, I told them a while ago that I would need Memorial day weekend off, but since most everyone wanted off, I figured I would get screwed again. I needed it off because my families Decoration was on that weekend, and since I have missed the past few get togethers, I really wanted to make it to this one, so they were asked to make sure I had the whole day off on Sunday, I would give up all other days, but I really needed Sunday.

As I made my way to Miami, I kept checking in with dispatch to see if they were gonna get me home, and it wasn't looking good, so I was getting nervous. I got to Ellenwood and had to stop for fuel, and while I was there, I was pulled off the load to Miami since there isn't any freight coming OUT of Florida right now, and I would've had to wait maybe a few days to get something, plus I would be out of hours even if there was something to pull.

I still got almost a thousand miles out of it which is huge for me anyway, so I was still happy, plus it was awesome to see them work to get me home. I sat there for over 3 hours waiting for them to tell me where to go, and finally was sent deadhead to Talledaga to pick up a load of plywood, and it was a full tarp, and the way they stacked it made it difficult to cover to say the least, but I got it done and was on my way home.

I got home early Friday morning after a short easy day of driving and didn't have to leave until MONDAY!!! nice weekend with the family, ALL the family from different states, only person missing was my Grandfather, but he was there in spirit.

It was hard to get back into the truck on Monday morning, but after I was in the hot seat, I felt strangely at home again. I had to take the load that was so heavy I couldn't even fill the tanks all the way up to Grand Ledge Michigan. I got there a few hours early and picked up a load at the same place, to take to a Lowes store. It was a mixed load, I had a little bit of everything, plywood, stone, pvc, lattice, siding, brick borders and much much more.

It was only a 400 mile trip, and they had me due to deliver at 7pm the next night, and I could easily make it earlier than that, so after a argument on delivery time, I finally got them to move it up a few hours so I could make the most out of my day. I made the delivery and then deadheaded about 85 miles to Green Bay to pick up a load of steel.

All right, so the miles have had a certain amount of suckage to them, but again, with the good comes the bad, so I decided to grin and bear it, the miles will come, the miles will come, say it with me, the miles will come.

Well, the Green Bay load was due this morning and like every load since I was scalded by dispatch it was early. Ok, now the miles will pick up right? Wrong, my next load is a relay load to pick up and deliver in Kaukauna for a whopping trip total of about 75 miles. Now the low miles are starting to get to me, having to throw tarps for an hour and drive an hour is getting old, but I keep my cool, keep in mind, the miles will come.

Now, surely the low miles are over, but nope, I was told to pick up a curtainside(and a cut in pay for pulling it) with stone on it, and run it down to Fond du Lac and a huge 50 mile run, but no tarps are involved so I just go with it. I had to learn a few things since this was my first curtainside, but it wasn't too difficult.

Now, I have had it with crap runs, I am up north, which I don't mind, pulling curtainside which I don't mind, but those added to the fact that I am getting no miles shows that I am willing to bend over backwards and I have reached my bending limit, so I call dispatch and tell them to get me the miles I am tired of waiting(I had been talking with dispatch about the mileage situation earlier) so they reward me with a 50 mile deadhead down to New London to pick up a load to deliver in Rome, ahhhhhh finally some miles, around 883, but this won't help my paycheck out this week, I won't even break 2k for the week and that includes one over 800 mile trip.

If they jerk me around like this next week for that many loads, I don't know what I will do, but I won't put up with that mileage for long, I am hoping it was just a small glitch or something since the miles were so good last week. Now I am on my way home, but since it is over 100 miles more than Roehl wants you to log in a day(even though you could go further IF everything goes perfect which it hardly ever does, but it COULD) so I will be stuck about 100 miles from home, I hate when that happens, but oh well, at least I have some miles.

Sorry for the story being so choppy, I didn't mention when my days ended, and all that, but I will start again soon, I just have to find the time. So lets make a left at the guitar and head on home!

Nothing really jaw dropping to add today, but I did manage to put 600 miles in my pocket, and considering that I had a wreck that held things up just south of Chicago, and the traffic in Chicago and Indianapolis was really heavy(I came through Chicago during EVERYONE'S lunch break).

I made it as far as I thought I would, about 2 hours from home, I am on the Ky, Tn state line, and even though I had a lot more driving time left in me, I had to stop for the night since my 11 was up.

On a side note, there is talk of the yearly dot crackdown happening next week, I think the 6,7,8th and I was wondering if anyone else heard about it. I have only been through the whole deal one time, and that was with the nursery, so I was light and never got the red light, didn't seem like that big a deal, but this year pulling for Roehl, I worry that the chances are greater of getting the red light since I am heavier and run for a huge company.

Needless to say that I am keeping everything squeaky clean, but I still get nervous, are there any horror stories from other drivers on the boards that got nailed during the magic 72 hours(or however long it is). I am thinking that it is more exaggeration than anything, or maybe last year was a easier year than others, oh well, only time will tell.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I had to brake at 100% today, which is only the second time I had to do it since I started driving. I was coming through Chicago, and a 4 wheeler cut me off and slammed on the brakes for no reason, there was nothing around for many car lengths.

My only guess is that she thought that was her exit and then realized that it wasn't. If people only knew how many times their lives have been in danger for doing something stupid like that in front of a truck, maybe they would be a bit more careful.

I had to get on the brakes all the way, and when something like that happens, I usually get on the air horn all the way, screw the city horn. Of course she still had the nerve to flip me off, I was boiling there for a few.

And if all that isn't bad enough, there was a roadway truck behind me, and my international almost got bred by a freightliner. Thank goodness he was keeping a safe following distance, new drivers pay attention, DO NOT FOLLOW TO CLOSE, PAY ATTENTION DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!! cause at the very least you will get a big fat preventable, and the worst is too terrible to mention(everything in between is bad as well).

Oh and just one more thing, she wasn't even a Chicago local, get this, she was from Nashville which is only 70 miles from where I live!

Sorry bout that Nova. That stuff happens everywhere anymore. Had 2 trucks here burn to the ground after they ran into one another due to a 4 wheeler cutting the one off. Cops are not happy and are still looking for the 4 wheeler. 2 trucks were beside one another on I-95 which was 3 lanes at that spot. Car came out of the left lane and would have caught the truck in the center lanes bumper. Truck jogged right towards the right lane to keep from wrecking the reckless car. Ended up smashing into the truck next him in the right lane. Both trucks caught fire, one was hauling furniture and the other was hauling trichloride in his tanker. Since the tanker truck had chemicals that react with water, the firefighters had to let that one burn to the ground and the one with furniture took a while to put out as they had to move it from the tanker in case of a leak.

Where do you live Novacane? I only live about 70 miles or so from nashville myself.

That doesn't surprise me MrFord95, and the funny thing is that if the public were more educated about us, I am pretty sure it would get better, of course there will always be bad drivers though.

Before I started driving, I got mad at truck drivers all the time for holding me up, I always wondered why in the world they would run side by side(didn't know they were governed) or swing into the turning lane and make me back up, I thought to myself many times "they think they own the roads because they are bigger than everyone" but now that I have been a driver it has affected my 4 wheeler driving as well as my whole families.

It was a lack of understanding, and instead of running all the ads about how you can sue truck drivers, they should have a commercial about how hard it is to stop one of these trucks and why they do some of the things they do, if people had a reason as to why we swing so far or whatever the case may be, I think it would help us out, but that wouldn't make any money for all the lawyers, so it will never happen.

I just make sure that my eyes are on the road, mirrors, and guages at all times, you can't afford not to pay 100% attention, if there was ever anything I could pass on to new drivers looking for tips, this is number one, don't get "comfortable" behind the wheel, wait for the 10 hour break to relax, and even then you have to watch for other drivers hitting parked trucks, cause I have seen almost as many wrecks in the parking lots of truckstops as I have on the roads.

I really feel for all the truck drivers who have had accidents caused by 4 wheelers, and even though it's not the drivers fault they are the ones that pay most of the time.

Jagerbomber, I live in Cookeville Tn, about 70 miles east of Nashville, exit 286 to be exact.

I just found this thread.. I must say it is SO great to read how a trucker's day goes, especially for a noob like myself that is planning to become a professional driver. The only thing that beats this is actually being out on the road experiencing it for yourself - not to mention it's much better than reading through all of the beginner forums; reading other peoples questions get answered and such.

I think if anyone wants to know what it's like for a person to live as a truck driver, they should read this entire thread.

You have some awesome tips here too, thanks for that.


Ant ~ :)