From desk to own authority
I figured I would start another thread to mark my progress for all you wannabies. I’m 52 and have been an engineer since I graduated college in the 70’s. I worked for Digital for 11 years then went out onto my own as a consultant doing embedded systems programming with a specialty in device drivers and operating systems. For the past 2 years I’ve held a full time job working in a laboratory aiding scientists with there experiments by creating custom programs running on various platforms to collect data or control there test. The past 10 years has not been real fun like the old days when the phone rang off the hook with recruiters trying to buy me away from my current job. Now it seems that every contract or job is just temporary and you can’t count on anything other than being employed day by day and planning on the future with your current job is just plain non existent.
I’ve always loved trucks and figured now was the time to take the plunge. I was sick of always waiting for the axe to fall. I found a local school here in New England and got my CDL/A doing part time at nights and weekends at a cost of $3,600.
Over the years I’ve saved some money and enough to buy a good used tractor and flatbed trailer. I got my own authority which wasn’t a big deal but the insurance was a pain in the neck. I was able to get liability through Progressive at a cost of $4,200 and Cargo through a local agent for $1,100. After that I spent most of my time fixing little things here and there with the truck and pretty much just riding around on the weekends. I was told by my boss at work that the company was being sold and they wanted me to stay on to finish a few things that should take 3 weeks. Well, it’s been over 3 months and no end in site so I handed in my resignation and started full time trucking on November 17th. All in all it cost me about $100,000 for the truck, trailer, authority, lettering and outfitting the inside with all the goodies.
I signed on with The Internet Truckstop load board and immediately got my first load from Mass to Utah. I’ve been this route before and it’s pretty much a straight shot out west on Rt 80. The trip was about 2,200 miles and the rate I quoted was $1.40 per mile plus $100 for tarping and tolls. The load was advertised as crane parts and only straps were required. When I arrived at 7am I found out it was the whole freaking crane I was pulling, just in parts with huge 45’ steel beams. I needed both straps and 10 chains to secure the load. The load wasn’t ready so I’m in my bunk reading my book on load securement even though it seemed like a no brainer. I chained and straped the load no problem and the shipper had no problem with what I had done. They put my 2 tarps onto the top of the load and left me on my own. Well, 4 hours later and all 100 of my bungee cords and I was done. Now it was 7 at night and I could hardly walk and shut down for the night in the parking lot. I woke up about 1am and all my arms and legs were cramping up to a point I thought I was going to die. It took about an hour and it finally went away. I drank a whole gallon of water. I figured I was dehydrated. So, on the road at 4am with 39,000 pounds. Nothing like right into the fire. I stopped at every truck stop, truck pull off and rest area I could find for the first day checking everything under the sun. Just the sound of my air tanks releasing excess air sent me though the roof freaking out. I shut down the first day not far from leaving. I think I made it 350 miles and was just exhausted from the stress. I had 6 days to make the rest of the 1,700 miles so I was in no rush.
I ended up stopping early around 2 or 3 in the afternoon at the truckstops and usually had my pick of where to park without having 2 inches on either side as it was near 5 or 6 at night when the lots filled up.
The ride was great through Iowa and Nebraska and easy driving with no problems. I was pretty comfortable at that point with driving and the load was secure. If I was tired I would pull off into a rest area or off the highway into some small gas station with lots of room, turn on the TV and take a snooze for an hour or two. I made it to Wyoming and stopped for the night at a piece of crap Flying J. In the morning I would take the next exit off Rt 80 to route 191 into Vernal UT. Well, that was it for civilization as I knew it. Holy crap, nothing but desert and big ass mountains off in the distance. There was a sign that the road was only plowed on the weekends and to watch out for free grazing game. They weren’t kidding, wild horses, wild antelope, big rabbits and I’m sure I saw big foot. I had over 100 miles to go on this road and no cars, no nothing. No cell coverage but I did have a signal on my Verizon wireless internet so I was good to go.
Everything was pretty cool for a while, nice and flat and then started the up hill climbs and I’m starting to see snow on the sides of the road and ice patches. Now I’m getting nervous. I go to light a cigarette and the lighter doesn’t work then I realize it’s due to the altitude. I’m climbing hills now that stretch for miles in 3rd gear then all of a sudden the fan kicks in and I just about hit the ceiling till I realize what it is. The temp was climbing in the coolant but the fan brought it back pretty quick. I make it to the top of the mountain with a sign that says to check your brakes, 9% grade coming up for the next 20 miles with switchbacks. You got to be kidding, talk about into the fire. I pull out a printout from this forum by Rocky something, I think he’s an instructor who wrote about the jake brake and how to descend. I first start out and get into 5th with the jake on low. That got used up pretty quick. Now into med them full on jakes and the truck is picking up speed real quick so I brake enough to downshift to 4th and now I’m using the stab technique but that needs to be done about every 3 seconds and I remember Rocky saying I should be able to have my feet on the floor and do nothing so I brake hard and come to a stop, put it in 2nd and start rolling with the jake on full and it works. I’m crawling along at like 15mph switching between full on jake and med and everything is cool. It took about an hour to make it down and I was deaf from the sound of the jake. I roll into the little town of Vernal UT about 4 in the afternoon, find the customer site and shut down for the night and watch TV.
The guy that bought the crane is in his early 30’s and supplies the drilling companies with pipe and other stuff. He said he has 38 trucks but had to sell a bunch because he can’t get anyone to drive them.
They unload me and he says there is a big snow storm headed our way and for me to get my chains ready. I say WHAT? He said it’s a law that I have to have chains but I don’t have to put them on. I tell him I don’t have any and does he know where I can get some. We hop in his pickup and he takes me to lunch then to an auto parts store where he obviously has a good relationship with the owner. The owner tells me to go back and get my truck and he will custom fit the chains so I do. He takes a few links out here and there and shows me how to put them on. I got a full set of chains for all 8 tires on the drives and a single set for the trailer and he charged me $390.00. I know he gave me a deal and it must have been his cost.
So now I’m off to to a lumber place to pick up a full load of 2x4’s headed for Colorado. I roll into a real small town around noon and park on the side of the road downtown across from a laundry place. I do my laundry and walk to a Mexican restaurant and have dinner then shut down for the night right there. I show up at the lumber mill the next morning and get loaded (with lumber). I can’t get the straps over the top so I get my ladder and it’s pretty dicey up there as they are covered in plastic and it’s snowing out so I’m pretty nervous. This is a short trip about 170 miles and pays $600. I put the address into my GPS and it gives me a route which about 75 miles is on a secondary road. I check the Atlas and if I don’t take this road the trip will be about 400 miles so I head out. I turn onto the road and once again I’m in the middle of nowhere, lots of snow but at least it’s plowed.
I drive for about 25 miles then come to a sign that chains are required. I get out and get ready to put them on and 2 trucks go by without chains so I head out also. I go around the first corner and all I see is straight up and a hair pin corner at the first turn. I say, holy crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m committed now and keep on the gas. There is no way I could back up around the corners and I would probably start skidding backwards if I tried. My leg is shaking so bad it’s making the engine sound like it’s skipping. I have no idea what the grade was but it was off the scale. There were signs that just showed trucks falling off the mountain instead of listing the grade (kidding). I’m coming to the first corner and now I’m laying on the air horn warning anyone coming the other way. I am completely shitting a brick. I make it around the first corner and it levels out and I think I’m home free but all I see is that I’m heading around a sort of bowl and I can see a 90 degree corner then straight up again. At this point I start talking to God. I see another truck heading down and it looks like we are both going to be at the corner at the same time. I can’t afford to lose any speed as I would probably lose traction so I slow down so he just gets around the corner as I’m heading into it. It’s a long stretch and I’m not going to fast and trying to get my speed up and I feel myself losing traction. I let off the pedal and press like I’m on egg shells feeling the truck and being ever so easy trying to balance getting my speed without losing it. This goes on for about ½ an hour and I finally make it to the top and now it’s time to go down. I have the jakes on full and the truck in 1st gear and it takes me probably an hour to get down. One mistake and it’s over the side and about a 9,000 foot drop and no side rails or anything to stop up.
I make it to the customer site and deliver the lumber then look back on the ordeal and realize I probably made a lot less than what I though due to all the fuel and time it cost me. I check out the truckstop directory and there isn’t anything around and figure I’ll head for Denver and a real truckstop. I pull into a T/A and just about melt from the experience.
I figure it’s time to start heading home so I check out the load boards and not much leaving Denver at all. I sit for a day and a half and then the phone rings. It’s a hot load going from a place 5 minutes from where I am to Texas which is about 700 miles and the rate is $2.00 per mile. The load is a 27’ pole and 3 small crates that all add up to about 500 pounds. The pole is aluminum. They called UPS but didn’t realize they couldn’t fit the pole in the truck.
The load had to be there at 8 in the morning the next day. I told the shipper I could not guarantee that due to the weather and they said ok. I head out and try and do as much as I could the rest of the day. It’s a blizzard and only one lane on the highway and it’s getting covered over with snow and no plows out my way. I’m doing maybe 20 miles an hour on a 70 road and I have a line of cars in back of me so I pull over and let them go by. Nobody moves. I realize they want to follow me as 2 cars are flashing there lights and want me to continue on so I do. I can’t see more than 100 feet in front of me and it’s real bad out then all of a sudden I lose traction and the tractor skids a little side ways but I recover. Keep in mind I’m real light this time and not like the lumber load which gives you a lot more stability. In about another 10 miles I lose it again and this time the trailer skids sideways a little and I say, that’s it. I see a sign for a rest area coming up and I pull in. It’s a small place with maybe 5 parking spots for trucks and I’m the 3rd one in. Across the street is a gas station and Subway. I call the customer and tell them and they tell me to sit tight and that my safety is more important than the load. I was VERY happy to hear that. I get something to eat then hop into bed and watch a few movies. The temp outside is -14 and the sign says no overnight parking. Yea, right….JUST WATCH ME!!!
I wake up the next morning and the whole truck and trailer is a giant ice ball. It’s about 1am and the snow stopped. I have a few cups of coffee and once again, thank God for crappin in the cab. No restrooms and talk about freezing your ass off, I don’t think so. Let me say that little bucket with the clip on seat saved me more than 25 times in my 3 weeks out.
The drive was nice and starting to get a lot warmer as I get closer to Texas. Now I’m on the original Rt 66 in New Mexico and all of a sudden there’s a rabbit sitting on the side of the road. I’m not talking a little bunny rabbit, this thing is the size of a German Shepard dog with ears about 1 ½ feet tall and standing straight up, HOLY CRAPOLA I say. I’ve heard about them but never seen them. Now I’m playing dodge with the deer also. I figured I must have just missed at least 20 of them. They stand at the side and must say, ok, get ready, here comes a truck……wait, wait, wait, ok, JUMP.
So I make it to the customer site which is a small town in Texas and I find out I’m carrying a Dopler Radar system for there little airport. It’s probably 70 out and my truck is just caked with ice so I use my winch bar and start banging huge chunks of ice off so big that I have to drag them from under the truck and trailer as I wouldn’t have been able to drive over them. Took me more than an hour to do that.
Yet another ordeal and I’m looking forward to just taking some time off so I look at the truckstop directory and decide to head to San Antonio where there are plenty of truckstops. Once again I do laundry. I realize I need a one piece coverall suite. I end up sitting there for 2 days and nothing coming out that will get me closer to home. Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of loads I could take but all going back to either Utah or Colorado. I didn’t plan as well as I thought and there were some bills and a doctors appointment that I needed to get home to take care of.
I send email to Gman and crab at him and he pretty much says to make a big pot of shut the F up ya big baby. Not really. By the way. This time and the time before when I sat without a load the phone rang 3 times with a load that I missed because I wasn’t carrying my cell phone when I took a walk or went inside the truckstop place. Each time when I called back the load was already gone. I found out when they call you it’s do or die on the spot. I had one call when I was driving and asked if they could call back, they never did. Now I carry my cell phone everywhere and have a pen and a little pad of paper with me at all times.
Finally I get a call with a load and guess where it’s going. Less than 100 yards from my house in Merrimack NH !!!!!!!!!!! There was also a stop in Boston. They ask me for a rate and I don’t want to lose out so I say $1.40 per mile and they say ok. They fax me the agreement to sign and they give me the $1.40 plus $200 for the tarping and a drop off and a FSC which totals to $1.85 per mile which was a real pleasant surprise!!! I load up and I’m off and have plenty of time. The loads don’t deliver until Monday and I will be home late Friday plus I have a secure place to park my truck with the load.
So, back off into Colorado and the snow. I’ve been doing between 400 and 500 miles a day with one day at 650. I stop maybe every 100 to 150 miles and take a break, walk around, make coffee and check my email. My phone doesn’t work all the time but it seems my Verizon wireless is always able to get a signal. It’s getting late for me and it’s around 8pm. I tend to stop early and drive half my day at night. I’m in a small town with huge parking on either side of the road. No truckstops for 200 miles so I pull over in the center of town and call the police and ask if it’s ok to shut down. They say no. I ask if there’s a parking ban and they don’t answer and tell me not to park in there town. A-HOLES!
I start driving again and once again in the middle of nowhere, snowing and I’m tired and out of hours for a while. I look down at the oil pressure and it’s like 25 pounds and my heart stops. I feel like I have no power and think I’ve toasted the engine from all the Jake breaking I was doing or something. I see a sign for a port of entry 2 miles up the road and try and make it there. I let off the pedal and try and take it easy. The more I let off the gas the lower the oil pressure goes. I coast into the port of entry and the oil pressure is 0. All sorts of things are going through my head like where am I going to get the engine rebuilt and how to get home and how to deliver the load. I get out of the truck and lift the hood and all seems fine, no smoke or smell. I check the oil and it seems like I’m almost empty!!!! I then figure I’ll call a cab or something to get back to that little town and maybe get some oil and that will help. I just checked the oil yesterday and it was fine, how could this happen to me and out here!!!!!!! I sit in the cab and it’s starting to get cold and realize I have to do something. I have an electric heater but that would only last so long and without the engine I wouldn’t have any heat. I go back outside and check the oil again and it’s perfect. I realize I checked it too soon after shutting the engine off and it all didn’t drain down and it was perfect. I get back in the truck and start the engine and the oil pressure is 0 but the engine sounds fine. I sat there with my head hung down in my hands saying wo is me. I look at the gauges again and then it dawns on me. The oil pressure is 45 pounds. I was looking at the turbo temp gauge the whole time!!!!!!!!!! The slower I went the lower the turbo temp got. What an idiot…..I was SO happy!!!!!!!!!!
I shut down for the night in yet another place that says no parking. I wake up early the next morning and go out side to check things out with my flashlight. I look down and there are fresh foot prints all around my truck and tire tracks from a car. I figure it was the police but no ticket or note anywhere. I wonder if he tried to wake me?
So, I’m off and running fine once again and heading into Colorado and the snow is coming down hard but I’m so use to it now it doesn’t phase me at all. I keep my distance from everyone else and do the speed limit and I’ve been fine. I don’t see how lots of these truckers can follow so close within 20 feet on snow covered roads edging the people in front of them to go faster. I’ve been keeping at least 300 feet.
Coming up on the Rockies and flashing signs that say chains are mandatory and a chain up area on the side of the road. Ok, here we go, first time chaining up. I stop and get out and see lots of trucks going by without chains and I consider it but figure I have plenty of time and I have to learn sometime. It’s cold, wet, windy and probably couldn’t get any worse. I get my shovel and clear the snow away from the front and back of the drive wheel and lay the chain down on the ground then drive onto it. It seems to be about 3” too short and I’m trying to stretch it, YA RIGHT. I finally get one end hooked then drive a little forward then back and I’m able to get it hooked up after about an hour. I’m real tired, sore, wet, cold and filthy dirty once again, got to get those coveralls!!! I go inside where it’s warm and change clothes and make some coffee. Back outside again and someone is just pulling up in back of me. I go back and ask if I can watch and he tells me how he does it. He laid the chains over the top of the tires then drove forward a little. His chains had little half moons that gave him like 2” of slack then a little tool that rotated the moons and took up the slack and he was done. I’m going to have those put on mine for sure. I go back to my truck and do the same and I’m done in 10 minutes.
I take off and there’s probably 4 to 6 inches of snow on the road but with the chains it was unbelievable. I could freaking roll over SUV’s with these bad boys on. I was doing maybe 40 and it was awesome. All of a sudden I’m passing tons of trucks stuck on the side of the road without chains on. Some are getting tickets from the police for no chains and others are being towed. I realize a little later there is a herd or Rams on the side of the road licking the salt from what I was told. This caused people to slow down and they trucks without chains lost traction and got stuck. I figure I passed at least 50 to 100 trucks stuck. It was a parking lot.
Oh yea…I forgot…..In New Mexico I was doing about 70 and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something come at the front of my truck at like 200 miles an hour. I didn’t hear anything and didn’t think much of it. When I stopped later I saw a big black bird stuck to my grill. He hit so fast his heart came out of his chest and was stuck to my radiator. There were some fins bent over and my bug screen was toast.
So anyways, I continue on at a relaxed pace and make my way back towards home. Going through NY is once again the worst road conditions I have experienced and to top it off, you have to pay a lot!!!!! I make it home late Friday and walk around with my coat on for 2 hours waiting for the house to heat up from 45 degrees. The hot water heater is going to beat the band and also takes 2 or 3 hours before I can take a shower.
I spend the weekend catching up on bills and all the mail that I got. Monday morning I take off for Boston to make my delivery. It’s right in down town at a construction site where they are building a new hotel. I get there early and park on the side of a side street and I’m out of the way so I’m feeling pretty good. I walk maybe 100 yards to where I’m going to deliver and they tell me to pull my truck around and come in. I come down the street and realize there is no way I can make the turn. I’m in the left lane with my right hand directional on and people are still squeezing by and ignoring the fact I’m trying to turn until someone flashes there lights but it’s no good, it’s too tight. I end up having to go around the block so I can enter in from the other direction. I had to make 5 right hand turns blocking all lanes of traffic on each turn so I could make it. This was probably my worst fear that I always dreamed about and I did it. I pull into the job site with inches on either side. I get unloaded by a huge crane which was pretty cool. I have to buy a hard hat!!! There was scrap lumber on my flatbed and I started to pick it up and walk over to a dumpster 50 feet away. I was stopped by a union boss who told me I couldn’t do that because it was someone else job. I was told to get on top of the flatbed and drop every piece of waste onto the ground wherever it was closest to the edge of the trailer! They guys were great who unloaded my trailer and the boss told them to take down the 10 foot high fence in front of me so I could drive straight out which was very cool.
By this time I am happier than a pig in slop. I figure I have survived some of the worst things I will have to encounter. I’m heading to the highway which isn’t too far away and I’m in the far left lane to make a tight turn to the left on a 2 lane left turn. Big mistake, can’t do it and have to wait until all the traffic in the right lane stops so I can swing all the way out. The light is red by this time but I put my nose out already and people realized what was going on so everything turned out ok. I make it home and all is well.
I’ve survived my first 3 week trip out on the road!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been home for a week now and getting ready to head out again in a few days. For the past week I’ve been very busy fixing little things on the truck like a new bug screen, new TV, cleaning, IFTA sticker, PM, buying coveralls and a million other things. I had a CB installed in my truck and a KILLER stereo system.
I got a call the other day from the same people I hauled the crane out to Utah. They wanted me to haul another crane from close by up to Maine about 170 miles away for $3.00 per mile. I said ok and loaded up on Thursday. I get up to Maine and it’s going to a boat builder in a real upscale small town. There is no way I can make the turn into a small street right in the middle of the small town. I call the customer and tell him and he drives up from the site. This small town is VERY busy on Rt 1 with tons of traffic. The only way I could see doing it was getting across the street and then coming across at an angle and entering the street to the left of an island in the middle of the road. The customer walks over to the police station and they bring all the cops out and stop traffic in all directions and I make it in.
So, to sum it up as a newbie.
It’s easy to do it. The tarping, chaining, loading, unloading is a lot of work but the general idea of a new person doing this seems to be straight forward. I’ve had no problem getting loads. The problem would be for someone trying to get home at a predetermined time which would be difficult. In my case I had no deadlines so I could go wherever the loads were.
I left home with $4,000 in cash and it all pretty much went in 3 weeks. I spent about $1,000 buying tire chains and a CB (which I couldn’t install myself). The rest went for fuel and food.
I lost 6 pounds. I found myself only eating one big meal a day. The rest of the time I ate fruit and granola bars and gorp. Most of the time I didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting into a truckstop then eating so it was easier to stop at the rest areas and eat what I had. I also bought tons of canned tuna, chicken, pickles, carrots, cauliflower and other stuff that keeps for a long time.
I hit it right on the head with everything I had in the truck. I never once wanted to stay in a hotel and my truck was extremely comfortable.
I always stopped around 3 in the afternoon and had my pick of places to park. I still suck at trying to back into a spot with a truck on either side so this worked out great for me. I would take a shower, eat a big meal, walk around, watch a movie and the news, send email, surf the web, look for a new load and just plain relax. Get yourself a privacy curtain that covers the windshield instead of the built in privacy curtain. You have a lot more room and you don’t have to expose yourself to anyone outside when starting your truck in the morning still in your under ware.
Never once got pulled in for a check at the weigh stations when other people did, not sure why? I always did the speed limit and kept a big clearance between me and the person in front of me.
Found that everyone I met was VERY friendly and in the same boat as me. Did no know anyone and was more than happy to talk. Lots of new people driving trucks having a hard time backing into a spot and EVEYONE on the CB helping them and not a single person busting there chops. COOL!!!!
My new name is DRIVER. It’s not Steve any more!
Everyone loves to see and unload a flatbed and they are all waiting just for you!
Always make sure your tanks are full before heading out in the winter.
Nobody does pre trips, they walk around once and drive away.
Nuts and bolts on truck and trailer need to be checked and tightened.
EZPass and Pre-Pass are the only way to go!
My average so far has been about $1.65 per mile
If you don’t think you can make it into a spot then DON’T try. Ask the customer for a recommendation or ask the police for help!
You must have fax ability in your truck, wireless internet and a cell phone or your up the creek trying to get your next load when your out in the middle of bum F*** no place.
When all else fails, call GMAN.
Here are some pictures.
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