Well friends, after my fiasco with Swift, I've been looking for something in terms of a local driving job. I was tentatively hired on with the local school bus company, but that job really doesn't offer too many hours of driving.
The other day, I responded to an ad on Career Builder. It was listed by a small local father/son company running on their own authority. I talked with the owner and we got along well. He promises to keep the wheels rollin' and has a good viewpoint on safety and legality issues. No multiple logbooks and no nonsense. He has 16 years of experience and seems to be an upright guy.
I'm essentially hired (as a contractor) .... we're just waiting for the results of the drug screen. It should be back today and he said that he'll probably have me out by Monday or Tuesday.
The catch is this. Even with a couple of years of experience 27 years ago, I still would have liked to spend time with a trainer. I am, in reality a newbie.
I'm a little worried about correct log book entries but I'm more worried about backing into docks. The school I attended was like most of them, I imagine. They teach you enough to pass the test, but really don't offer any real world dock experience. If we knew where to look for the colored rocks on the backing range and the marks on the trailer, we could get set up well enough to pass the alley dock test with or without a couple of pullups.
When I drove years ago, I was the second seat driver on a HHG truck. The only time we had to hit a dock, was when we had to load a car. I think I remember that happening twice in two years. Otherwise, we just pulled up to the curb in front of the shipper's house, did our thing and then disappeared into the sunset. I was lucky to have hooked up with a good friend and a good driver during that time. He taught me a lot.
I also ran some freight with the same driver later, and had to pull into a dock a couple of times. I sort of remember how he taught me to do it, but it's going to be an adventure in trucking when I have to drop my first load. I guess that even if I have to do 23 pullups to get it in, I'll have at least gotten it in there. I'm a strong believer in GOAL'ing, and I anticipate putting a few miles on my shoes.
Somewhere in my surfing the Trucking websites, I saw a pretty good tutorial about alley dock backing. (NOT the one that is interactive and is around everywhere you look) The one I saw, had a pretty good description on how to do the setup, like when to cut the tractor out from a row of docks, landmarks to look for and some good safety hints. If any of you know the one I'm talking about, I'd appreciate you shooting me a link to it. OR, if any of you feel like taking the time to describe your setup techniques, I'll sure appreciate any hints you can offer. I'll also appreciate any suggestions you can offer about scale/checkpoint protocol.
I'm not too worried about gettin' the truck from point A to point B, it's just what I'm going to run into along the way in terms of DOT type things, and what the heck I'm going to do when I hit that first dock.
So, if any of you folks see the old FriPilot out there looking dazed, confused and lost with a truck that's nowhere close to being properly set up, feel free to holler "hey dummy! Do this or do that!" I guarantee I'll listen!
Thanks, guys and girls.
FriPilot