I am back home now, after a good visit with my husband. We weren't able to stay overnight due to not having the finances to get a hotel room, so we stayed late and drove back. We still got to see him around 5 hours, and took him to get some groceries.
I also met his trainer, and found out what their plans are from there. Apparently, my husband isn't due back in Olathe until Friday as thats when their normal training begins. My husband went out with a trainer on Wednesday only because it was Thanksgiving week. So he should be back in Olathe to test for his own truck on Friday. They are going to attempt to make as much of a run to Cheyenne, Wyoming, then across 80 to New Jersey as they can before then.
His trainer is a nice enough guy around me and the children, but admits to having an anger problem and opening his mouth when he's angry. Seems to be thats his only "reason" for the things that have transpired with my husband.
They are stopping on their way to Wyoming tomorrow long enough to pick up a few things I forgot to take to him, since they will be going up 287 which brings them directly through here.

Anger management issues are universal in trucking. Thats why people expect a trucker to be rude and when I am nice and professional, they are sometimes surprised. Be aware that your husband is developing stress issues himself and is becoming sensitive to what is said to him and may even resent being told what to do. Even if he wont admit it.

He may automatically do the fueling and clean the windows and take out the little trash baggy just because he doesn't want his trainer to tell him to do it when it should be his trainers turn. The lifestyle change of being gone, being stinky, and eating out of a can and still experiencing financial shortfalls is something that all truckers have to come to terms with.

The stress will mount until an internal descision is made to accept your own priorities. Like, money versus hometime. Like a local job versus higher pay being gone more often. These choices are the most common, because if you are home weekends, most likely the paycheck suffers. If you drive locally, the pay is less than over the road. Being gone to make more money means less time at home to enjoy what lifestyle you have left.

For myself, my first years driving, hometime was more important than a bigger paycheck. I still tried to keep up with friends at home. When I was home I was too tired and unmotivated to go play and too broke to go have fun if I wanted to. I decided that I don't want to be home if I have to be broke. So my circle of friends is down to just one, but bills are getting paid off and my wife and I are able to own 5 houses on my average paycheck. That's more than a lot of truckers can say.

I used to be a trainer with Werner and I had students tell me that they figured they knew more than me about trucking. Its frustrating to hear that and very arrogant on the part of the student to think that. If a student knows so much, why arent they already a qualified driver?

An experienced driver will have bad breath, stinky arm pits, fart stains in his shorts, speak out when others don't want to hear it, scratch his butt and crotch in public view, have stinky feet, take a shower without changing clothes because there's no time to wash clothes, etc. For a new student this is contrary to the daily routine that they grew up with and may appear that this trainer is stupid and overall unqualified to be a human being much less a driver.

All I can say to a student who judges their trainer is, that you've got the nerve to have an opinion without having been there and done that. I think the real poetic justice is that a student will become a mirror image of his trainer if the student becomes a qualified, experienced driver.

I and he will willingly admit to him being over sensitive to remarks at times, that really has nothing to do with the facts here.

No comment like this was made from my husband, or anywhere near to it. He is very aware of needing the training, the issue is he's trying to GET his trainer to LET him do the things he needs to be doing. The trainer was looking at him like an extra $$$ not a person, when in fact he lost money the first week with him, which is something the TRAINER wasn't prepared for, not my husband. Whether they've been on the road 1 year or 20, some people are just NOT cut out to teach, some need a little sharpening, and some are excellant at it from the get.

Interesting that you should mention this. First of all I think this is a somewhat outdated thought. Secondly, my husband fits much more in this category already (something we won't get into other than a statement of FACT) than his trainer does. His trainer has been driving for 5 years and fits none of those, while my husband fits several on a daily basis. The cleanliness aspect of this is NOT an issue for him, nor a base for judgement from either side.

If nerve is what you want to call standing up for yourself and some basic human rights, than go ahead. My husband is not criticizing his knowledge of the road, routes, etc, or his method of doing things, although he may not adopt all of them for himself. The only judgement going on here is based on somebody's angry mouth threatening things and talking when they shouldn't, which his trainer openly admits to as well.

I don't know if your goal here is to preach to us, or just comment. Either way quite a lot of what you said doesn't apply here, and my husband is learning from this experience, as is his trainer. Besides, he hasn't given up, or tried to "fix" his trainer other than mutual learning, which in a calm moment, both admit to needing.

POW,

I hear what you're saying and can appreciate your point of view, especially since you were a trainer at one time.

However, I feel that you are making a lot of assumptions. Such as stating that:

or

I am sure there MAY be cases as you described, but I know for a fact that not EVERY driver is as you state.

In summary of our last few days.
I am much more at ease with the whole situation than I was before spending parts of 2 days with them. Although my husband's trainer definitely has issues, everybody does. He does seem to be showing effort to improve and learn from their time together, as does my husband. They will never be the best of buds thats for sure, but I am no longer worried about my husband's personal safety in the matter, as his trainer is mostly bark and very little bite.
They stopped in Wichita Falls long enough for me to come get them and go out to eat. They were both glad for some "real" food ! LOL. I wanted a home cooked meal but just didn't have the chance. They left this afternoon for the straight shot through to Wyoming, which they drop in the morning, then off to New Jersey. They are running full team, but that was expected the last week of his training and no longer an issue.

My husband has maxed his 11 hours driving for 2 days in a row now. He says his endurance is building and so is his confidence. When I talked to him tonight he was around the Nebraska/Iowa Line, headed for New Jersey. They are supposed to drop in New Jersey Thursday sometime. Then they will be headed back for Olathe. I found out by talking to one of the training staff at TransAm that he is due into Olathe by Monday, as thats when he'll start his testing. He'll be testing for 3-5 days depending on him and the availability of yard trainers.
We are debating going up to Olathe (6 hour drive) and spending several nights there with him. He would get done at 5 each day, and not due back until 8 am so we would have some time. My thought is to go up Tuesday night so that he has Monday to rest and recoup. We will see if the finances allow it however.

My husband was in the Pennsylvania mountains tonight. They drop at 3 am tomorrow in New Jersey. My husband says he enjoys the challenge of driving the mountains, and is having no problem with it. He is having less trouble with his trainer then before, as they see less of each other this week since they are driving team. He's looking forward to testing out and having his own truck.

[quote="Piece Of The stress will An experienced driver will have bad breath, stinky arm pits, fart stains in his shorts, speak out when others don't want to hear it, scratch his butt and crotch in public view, have stinky feet, take a shower without changing clothes because there's no time to wash clothes, etc. For a new student this is contrary to the daily routine that they grew up with and may appear that this trainer is stupid and overall unqualified to be a human being much less a driver.

All I can say is thats nasty . :roll: :shock:

A good driver always finds time to shower . is that the way you roll piece of work ?

Holy cow!!! Is tha really how you view drivers? I been in some bad truckstops at times, but not every driver lives like that.

A few, yes. But most do not.