First Week with the T.E.

I’m Baaaaack!

Dear Readers…

Many apologies for the much too, too long delay since my last post, but ya know, I have been busy, and have not been near an internet connection long enough to send you anything. Those of you who have attempted to sign on and read about my latest adventures are probably better off for it!

So what has been happening? I’ll do my best to fill you in from memory, as I was also lax in writing anything down the old fashioned way.

On Monday, April 16, I drove over three hours to Willard, Ohio to take my CDL exam. I was cautiously optimistic about my chances, in spite of the fact that I had been forewarned that it is extremely rare to pass the CDL test on the first attempt. I started out with the Pre-Trip Inspection. In this phase, the “applicant” (me) points out several items on the truck and explains what to look for in the way of problems. There are 90 items on the Ohio pre-trip inspection list, and one needs to get at least 67 of those items from memory, and you have a 30 minute time limit. I got started and when I was finished, the examiner told me I did extremely well, I only missed 10 items – mostly little things like the windshield wipers, trailer door hinges and so on. I felt pretty good and pretty stupid at the same time – only three days earlier I had the entire list up at Green Bay. Oh well. I passed,

Then on to the maneuverability portion. First item was a straight line back. Piece of cake. Nailed it easily. (“Well, duh!” I hear you say) Then to a right side offset back. This maneuver is simply backing the truck from an existing position to an “adjacent” dock, while staying within the boundaries. Took one GOAL (Get Out And Look) and popped it in there. I was surprised, for I had struggled with this simple thing at Green Bay. Was feeling good!

It wasn’t to last.

The next was the 90° alley dock. I will spare you the ugly, sordid, messy details, but I really, really REALLY screwed that up. CDL test was now done – I failed it because of my crappy backing. So now I need to have Green Bay reschedule me for another try sometime later. Damnit!

Get over it Dennis, and get on with your training!

I called Gary, my Training Engineer (TE), with whom I would spend the next 7 – 10 driving days in learning about life on the road – the real world where I would start putting into practice the things I had learned at the STA. I was to meet Gary in Kenton, OH, that evening where he was going to be picking up a load. I hit the road from Willard to Kenton; a little over an hour away. I was almost there when Gary called me as I was stopping to fill up my car in Upper Sandusky. On that call he gave me info on the load: a truckload of paper cups from Kenton to Hudson, WI, and he wanted me to do a basic trip plan before we left. Not a problem I told him.

As I was turning towards the gas pumps, my car suddenly wouldn’t steer. The engine was running, but the darn thing power steering wasn’t working. I immediately guessed the problem, and was mostly correct – my serpentine belt had broken. The rest of the problem was it had broken because the idler tension pulley broke. So there I was, blocking gas pumps at the Marathon station at 8th and Wyandot streets in Upper Sandusky, my car not going anywhere. The folks at the Marathon were very helpful and gave me the name and number of a repair shop only three bocks away. I called the shop to see if they could do the job, as it was already 4:30 p.m., and I didn’t want to be surprised if they were closed. The guy on the phone was even nice enough to give me thee phone number of the local AAA towing company, so I could save time instead of going through AAA’s central dispatching 800 number.

One hour and $160 later I was on the road.

Can you see that my first day was not going too terribly smoothly? When you’re done wiping your tears, you can read on. It is going to be okay.

Timing was good. I got to the meeting spot within 30 seconds of Gary. I was on the phone with him as I approached the plant, and he said he was only a block behind me. He parked his truck, I transferred my clothes and other road things to the truck and we sat down to discuss the nest couple of weeks. Nice guy, but he does not look like your stereotypical truck driver! He wears a short pony tail, tropical shirts and has a rather “beach” or “surfer” look about him. Intelligent guy – masters degree, retired after 20 years in law enforcement and now doing something he really gets a kick out of.

We bunked down in the truck for the night and at 7 a.m. were on the road across town to pick up our loaded trailer. The route I had worked out was the one Gary would have used, so we went with it – US 68 North to US 30 West. Follow US 30 all the way across Indiana to Gary, grab I-94 West to I-294 North to I-290 North to I-90/94 North, stay on I-94 all the way to Exit 2 fro Hudson. Gary started driving and about Warsaw, IN, we took a stretch break and I got behind the wheel. He planned it that way so I could get experience in city traffic – namely Chicago. The easy part was that we were on the outer bypass (I-294 / I-290) and we weren’t exposed to the infamous Dan Ryan Expressway. If you have ever been on the Ryan in the last 20 years, you will wonder as I do why in the world they call it an “expressway!”

Finally we arrived at the consignee, about 9 p.m. Room enough to park, so time for sleep so we can unload first thing in the morning. I slept very well that night and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed about 6 a.m. Only problem was the receiving dock wouldn’t open for nearly three hours. We checked the truck over, caught up on paperwork and put the truck to the dock. My wonderful backing skills took up a great deal of the three hours, so it all worked out. Well, maybe not ALL of the three hours, but it sure seemed like it.

Unloaded and word from the home office was return to Kenton to pick up another load – this one destined for Brooklyn, NY. I was of mixed feelings about that – New York City driving is tricky enough that most trucking companies pay drivers extra to make stops in any of the five boroughs. However, I had never been to NYC – if you don’t count just flying in and out of JFK twice and LaGuardia once – so I was looking forward to the run. So we get back to Ohio, sack out and rise early to grab the load and run.

We were sitting in the lot, had just hooked up to the trailer and I was ready to start driving to Brooklyn, when Gary said to wait for a second, he wanted to check the satellite message system before we were rolling (the message system – Mobile Communications Terminal – is inappropriately named because it will not work when the truck is rolling) Guess what? We had been assigned a different load; this one to just outside Memphis. Oh well, I guess I will have to see New York some other time!

The drive to Memphis was a good one. All week long we have enjoyed beautiful weather, and in Tennessee the trees are nearly fully leafed out by now. I-40 from Nashville to Memphis is a rather nice drive! We arrived at our location in plenty of time for the scheduled appointment of a midnight unload. A pretty busy place this dock was! Nine doors, all busy, with 10 more trucks in the lot waiting for their scheduled delivery times. Not the biggest place, but what was there was in a constant state of motion, just like clockwork. Once our appointed time came, we backed into our slot and they began the unload. Gary and I bunked out during the unload and the rumble of the forklifts on and off the trailer gently vibrated the truck and rocked me to sleep; a sleep only to be interrupted by the dock hand banging on the cab, handing us our papers saying we could go. We pulled to an empty lot next door and parked for the night and out DOT required 10 hour break. In the morning – Back to Kenton again!

This is probably enough rambling for now – in a day or so I will fill you in on details of Week 2 with the TE. Before I go, a brief word about the runs we made:

Gary is a driver for what is known as a dedicated account. Schneider, as do most large trucking companies, has some shippers (manufacturers, retailers, etc) that they have entered into contract with, in which a certain number of trucks, trailers and drivers are “dedicated” to hauling fright for that company and that company only. As such, these drivers have more predictable schedules (although never totally predictable), and fairly well known and established routes they become familiar with. That is the reason that we deadheaded (deadhead means hauling an empty trailer) from Hudson, WI and Arlington, TN back to Kenton where the shipper is located. Once I am driving my own truck in what is called “system,” I could be sent anywhere in the country to haul freight for anyone. System drivers will occasionally have deadhead miles, but not very likely will it be 500 or 600+ miles like Gary and I did. There. Now you’re smarter. Don’t you feel better already?