I got like twelve dings on my school test then went to the dmv next day and got three dings.

Went around one of those loopy off ramps and my trailer crossed the white line and he said i didn't look at an intersection, which I did look, I just didn't turn my head.

 

that's got me wondering. do the school testers just push you harder because
they know you and your tendencies, where the examiner for the state does
not because they've seen it all?

or is it just pressure works for some and not others?

 

The last couple days have been pretty slow. I did a 34 hour restart (or is it called reset now?) and interstate night driving and got a lesson on weight problems.

Weight and fuel.
====
We got 44,104 pounds of beer, Couple this with the fact that a reefer trailer heavier than a dry van because of insulation and the reefer unit itself and you have problems.

We showed up with 1/4 tank of gas and drove down the road and scaled. This load was HEAVY 78,700 lbs gross. After sliding the tandems of the trailer we got it so that we had 33,800 on the rear 33,300 on the drives and 11,600 on the steers. That leaves room for 700 lbs on the drives and 400 lbs on the steers. that is only 1100 lbs for fuel.

If I remember right diesel is 8lbs a gallon. Since we are at about 1/4 tank (two 150 gallon tanks) which is 75 gallons of fuel we have about 800 lbs of fuel. That means if we fill up that will add another 2400 pounds. That would put us over weight.

also in this truck any fuel added about 60% of the weight goes on the drives and 40% goes on the steers. So if we just get 1,100 lbs of fuel that will put 660 lbs on the drives and 440 on the steers. Over weight again.

ALSO the fuel program central uses does not take any of this into consideration. It will tell you to fill your tank wherever the gas is cheapest. So what you must do every time you fuel is calculate how much you burned since you last fueled and how much room you have left without going overweight. Then you have to send a macro on the qualcom telling how much fuel you now have and it will tell you where to get fuel at based on the new amount.

Then you also have the fact that central is now using volvos which are alot heavier than the old freightliners they are phasing out and the kenworths the owner ops drive. This means as a company driver you will spend alot of time hoping gas station to gas station trying to stay below 1/2 or 3/8 tank of gas depending on your load sometimes.

Can't drive... can't park
====

As you know if you have been reading this I started out my training pretty hard. The truck didn't stop moving much. Well today after driving for 5 hours I get to the town our load delivers to but we are 5 hours early. my instructor says the pilot in town is always full so he said to stop in one of the rest areas before town, well they where also full.. and so was ever truck stop for about 100 miles before town. We get to the pilot... Full erg, we did eventually find a spot to park for the night but it was NOT fun to get into, I had to squeeze between a bunch of other trucks who decided to park here also on this little side/alley street. I had about 1/2 inch clearance between my trailer on the right and another truck and about an inch clearance between my mirror on the left and another truck. I am glad I made it through because I would not have been able to back back out.

This bring up something else.. While driving through the full truck stops and break areas I noticed allot of truckers pulled far ahead or backed far out of the spot. Is it that hard to line up with the trucks next to you? geez this makes the little ally ways SO much more cramped and hard to drive through.

 

Cockroach, have you found any good Tamales yet??????

 

Cockroach; Have you made it to the Northeast yet?Like Mass Or Maine?

 

we had a load to new jersey. I am sitting in South Carolina now. My trainer showed me a trick to get out of a receiver fast, get there early pull into the dock and they can't do anything with anyone until they unload us first

Then we are on the way back to memphis and onto alabama from there where I will do another 34 hr restart. It has been really cool, running 8 hours a day, the truck is stopped for about 5 hours a night. which is right when i'm done driving so its great for me I've been running evenings which is cool because I am not a morning person at all.

Today I ran into some interesting construction, the on ramp to get back onto the highway at a large truck stop had concrete barricades out, it was VERY narrow and jutted out into the intersection at the worst angle. I guess the construction workers didn't expect trucks to be using the onramp next to a truck stop hmmm...

Well it was about 2 inches of clearance coming around from one direction. A truck coming from the other way couldn't even make it, someone had to direct 4 wheelers while he backed back out into the intersection, plus they ripped out all the lights so he couldn't see anywhere.. It was interesting to watch him get out of that mess.

After 2 /12 weeks I am going to get my first paycheck tomorrow, woohoo.

 

It's always nice to arrive early!
Sure takes the pressure off from trying to find the customer with the arrival clock ticking!
....but don't count on that "trick" to always work!
Some customers can be well,.......not so accommadating to the driver! :wink:

 

You are right, this works best when they only have one dock I guess.

 

[/quote] DON'T FORGET TO PAY YOUR SKULL TAXES :shock:

 

DON'T FORGET TO PAY YOUR SKULL TAXES :shock:[/quote]

ok so take my training pay of 375, subtract taxes... subtract my cash advance, subtract my bills for last month that comes out to -$700 since SKULLTAX is currently at %15 that makes my tax -$105 woohoo i'm getting a refund this month :wink: :lol: When can I expect my check?