I'm guessing you stopped somewhere near Nashville, had I known I would have bought you a cup.

Steve, I must have missed it in a previous post. How did you obtain your CDL? Did you test using someone else's truck before you bought yours?

Thanks for the offer. Yes, I was near Nashville. I just stopped at a rest area that resembles an operating room in a hospital. This place is cleaner than anything I've ever seen. I just did 130 miles and stopped to make coffee and stretch my legs.

I ended up going to a school here in New England. I called one early Saturday morning expecting to get the answering machine and the owner of the school answered. I ended up meeting him that morning around 6am. I told him I was still working and wanted to do this part time. We both hit it off and he offered to teach me himself when it suited us both and it worked out well.

Thanks steve, for posting your story. It is an inspiration to me and my hubby. We are thinking long and hard about buying our own truck and trailer. He is a lease driver and we just feel like our wheels are tuning and we are getting nowhere sometimes.

We want to get a 02 or newer truck and a stepdeck. We want to haul LTL since this is where his niche is. We want our own authority too.

Please keep us up on your travels. Be safe out there....Merry Christmas wherever you are!! 8)

tootie

Well, the end of my 3100 mile destination is in sight and will get within 50 to 100 miles of the customer site and shut down for the night. I could probably make it this afternoon but would rather get up early and be there when they show up in the morning. It's Carlsbad CA so I'm expecting a lot of traffic and would rather beat the morning rush.

The trip has been pretty good the Southern route was a good choice for sure. Thanks to all who suggested it.

I'm on my 100 mile coffee break right now in Arizona about 450 miles from LA. My schedule has worked pretty good.

Get up 1am
Fool around on the net, coffee, laundry and shower
On the road at 3am
stop after 100 miles and have coffee and take a walk
stop after 250 miles, eat breakfast and take a 2 hour snooze!!!
stop at 350 miles and have coffee and take a walk
stop for night at 500 miles around 3pm. Walk around the truck store, why, I don't know, same old stuff, different state! Play video games, watch 50 year veterans pull into spots with inches on either side and like 2.3 seconds!!!

Getting into the truck stops at 3 has been good as you have your pick of spots to park and usually straight in parking. Sometimes I practice backing into a spot with a truck on either side cause I'm not holding up the crowd coming in.

Two times already I've parked at a non chain truck stop and they are the cats meow for sure!!! They usually don't have a sign on the highway but are listed in the truck stop directory. Loves is good for nothing. Tiny lots and usually just a subway. The private owned truck stops have great stores and the restaurant is very good.

I was pulled into the weigh station entering Oregon when my prepass red light went on. I have an Oregon number so I wasn't sure what was up. They told me to park the truck. I went in and they said I had a safety violation. Come to find out, it meant I didn't have my safety audit yet and that was OK. Not sure when that's happening, I got a call months ago asking if I was ready but they haven't called back yet.

My schedule that I'm keeping has it's ups and downs. You always get a great parking spot and easy to get into. Never wait for a shower or the laundry machines and the pumps are empty. Passing through big cities is easy even at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I make some good time from 3am to 7am. You do miss some great scenery during the morning hours, rest areas are all filled to the max so don't think your going to stop for a pee break for at least 2 hours when they start heading out and freeing up some spots. Weigh stations are closed.

I never know what day it is anymore and measure time by how close I am to the customer and if I do 500 miles a day, I'm happy. I could do probably 600 but that would get old real quick.

I don't have heartburn anymore from wondering if I'm going to have to back up in a spot or if I'm going to have to pull out in the morning with trucks on either side of me with 2" clearance or driving through NY construction at 8am in the left lane with barriers 1" on the left and 2" from the cars on my right. I don't think any trainer can help with this, it's something you just have to deal with yourself and it's taken me I would say 5 weeks to feel confident about my skills in those situations.

I haven't seen any trouble at all and most have been real nice to me except for Georgia. Not sure what truck stop but a major one. There was a guard shack to get in. The guy comes out and hands me a ticket. I ask what it's for and he goes back inside and slams the door. He's black by the way. I go inside to the restaurant and up to the buffet. I say to another guy, nice day out today. He ignores me. He's black. I notice when I'm eating that if a white person come in, a white waitress waits on them and visa verse. WTF!!!!! I'm from New Hampshire and this stuff just plain does not happen. I felt like I was back in the 70's and watching TV and what happens in the South. Not a good experience. The CB at that truck stop was going non stop talking about black people and it was bad. I left, broke my hours of service and ran for another 100 miles and parked at a rest stop instead.

Last night I stopped at a Conoco in Arizona. As soon as I parked a guy came up and asked if I would like to come up stairs to the church for a free Christmas turkey dinner. I asked what strings? He said, non. I was hesitant. I'm somewhat religious but don't want to be preached too. What an awesome feast it was!! It was put on my the church for truck drivers and it was great. Nobody said boo to me and when I left they gave me two Christmas presents. I got back to the truck and the boxes were filled with all sorts of goodies. Work gloves, home made cookies, ruler, flag pin, pens, little pad of paper, candy, peanuts and tons of other stuff. Made my day.

There was 2 Jamaican guys who pulled up next to me in an old Freightliner pulling an old refer. The refer motor did not sound too good and the truck was held together with duct tape. The radiator had a leak and they had to put a gallon in every day they figured. They had temp plates on both and had were just bringing it home. They pooled there money and got there authority. They were pretty funny. Talk about starting out on a shoe string. I'll bet those suckers run there ass off and make it. Good for them!

Well, that's about it for now. Coffee break over. 150 more miles and happy time is nap time!

It seems that you have found a routine that works for you, Steve. I prefer the mom and pop or independent truck stops, too. The food is nearly always better than the chains and prices are usually lower. One of the best benefits is that they always seem to appreciate your business. Most of them have been around for many years, some longer than the chains. You will find more seasoned drivers stopping at the mom and pop truck stops. I like the idea of keeping them in business. Parking is usually much easier at them, too.

The Georgia truckstop you describe sounds like the Petro on the west side of Atlanta. Fits the description anyway.

I'm sitting in the middle of the Mohave Desert right now on Rt 40. Been driving for a long time and nothing in site. You best have enough fuel if your on this road. Pretty cool watching the trains off in the distance out there in nomans land. I would go outside for a walk but there are things crawling out there that want to suck my brains out, I just know it.

:shock:

That place is f'n crazy!! Been there once, and will not make that mistake again.

Steve, In your last narrative you mentioned going through Oregon (?). Did you mean Oklahoma ? In my mind, I'm trying to figure out how to go the southern route, thru Oregon, to Ca. You must be mentally exhausted.