April 1, 2007: Day 2

Writer’s block is a terrible thing.

I am sitting here wondering how to begin, so if it sounds awkward, that’s because it probably is!

We got started today at the usual time with the bus loading us up about 6:50 a.m.   Of course by that time most of us had partaken of the continental breakfast in the hotel lobby.  If you ‘ve ever stayed in such a hotel that provides this fare, you’re familiar with the spread -except THIS place has real waffle irons!  Nope, none of that “Eggo-in-a-toaster” stuff here!  Pour the little cup of pre-mixed waffle batter onto the waffle iron, flip it over and wait for the timer to ding at you two and a half minutes later, and there you have your fresh, hot, crisp waffle!  But for some reason, I could only find the maple syrup, there wasn’t a fresh strawberry nor a dollop of whipped cream in sight.  O! The Agony!

Today we started learning about Driver’s Daily Logs.  This is going to take some getting used to, for there are a whole bunch of weird federal DOT Hours of Service regulations that we must know, abide by, and record accurately in our log books.  There’s the “10 Hour Rule,” the “14 Hour Rule,” the “70 Hour Rule,” the “34 Hour Restart,” Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4, etc., etc.. 

… oh, and since we might occasionally have to make a run into Canada, our friends in the Great White North have slightly different rules, so we will eventually have to become familiar with those rules too.

To gain practical experience we were all issued temporary “practice” log sheets to track and log our time during the next two weeks.  Our workbooks have several exercises in them as well, and we got started on the first one.  For a long time I was aware of the existence of truck drivers being required to log their driving, but I was not totally understanding of the detail that goes into what must be recorded, and how it is to be recorded.   It is a rather sobering thought to learn that from this point on, and as long as I am in this line of work, EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE will be recorded in a Driver’s Daily Log!   Yessirree, even when I take a week’s vacation, THAT has to be accounted for.   While the rules seem a bit odd and complicated, think about that the purpose of them is to help make sure that those who are piloting 40 tons of metal down the road are reasonably well rested.

…Did you know there is a right way and a wrong way to get in and out of the cab of a truck?  Sure enough, we saw a video on that today.  It does make sense to use some common sense in being careful in entering and exiting the cab; after all, if you’re not paying attention it wouldn’t be all that hard to take a tumble and get a boo-boo.  And possibly a serious one at that:  imagine, you’ve been driving through snow and freezing rain for a few hours and you have some of that built up on the steps of your cab.  You stop at at Ma’s Home Cookin’ Diner & Bait Shop for some lunch, swing the door open and hop right out, smackin’ your lips in anticipation of Ma’s Famous Chicken-Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly Quesadillas.  Uh huh.  Because you’re not careful, your foot hits that glop of slippery, frozen mess on your step and you do a Louganis from five feet up, dislocate your knee and smack the back of your pumpkin on your Pumpkin (your “head” on your “orange Schneider truck”).  Ouch.  Oh, and since your knee is messed up, gonna be hard to drive for several weeks.  Funny how disability pay / Worker’s Comp checks aren’t as generous as a real, normal “I-worked-hard-for-this” kind of paycheck.  Yeah, real funny.   Hey Schneider Occupational Health Department – I am listening!

It’s amazing the amount of stuff they threw at us today.  It is only scratching the surface so far, but we got an introduction on certain safe driving acts.   Tom (our instructor, remember him?) told us he rarely uses the word “accident,” he prefers to call them “collisons.”  And you know what?  I agree; he’s right.  After all, almost everything that we commonly refer to as “accidents” were most likely preventable if someone was following good safety procedures.  It reminded me of a firefighter I once knew who liked to say that  the only accidents are when you and a lightning bolt occupy the same space at the same time.  Everything else can be attributed to an unsafe act or unsafe condition.  Please think about that the next time you get behind the wheel.   I know that in the [mumble, mumble] years I have been driving, I have developed certain habits, not all of which are golden.  You, too?  Now, however, I am glad for the opportunity to have the dedicated instructors here do their jobs to teach me some excellent new habits. 

Tom, (our instructor, remember him?) is starting to get to know us, and he’s starting to loosen up a bit, tossing in a little humor here and there.   Yesterday was all paperwork, all sorts of boring stuffiness – you know what it’s like to sit around a fill out forms.  Don’t get me wrong – he is most definitely serious about the material, and it is apparent he cares about what he is doing.  He is not trying to audition for a slot at the Improv.  But he does relate some issues with real life stories and he works hard at making sure we are enjoying our time in class so that we are paying attention and wanting to hear more.

Now on a somewhat unrelated side note, I am liking my hotel room.  Don’t misunderstand me – the room itself is nothing remarkable, your typical hotel room: 2 queen beds, small bathroom, sink & counter outside the bathroom, hair dryer, iron & ironing board, TV, free WiFi, plain white towels, cute little bars of soap …   Yet…  Schneider provides our rooms while we are in training here at the STA.  It is set up for two to a room and you get the luck of the draw with roommates.  The only considerations they make are no co-ed rooms (unless husband and wife training at the same time) and smoking/non-smoking.   I was the first one to the registration desk Friday afternoon when the bus pulled in, gave the clerk my name, they gave me my keycard.   Took my stuff into the room and unpacked, waiting for one of the other guys to walk through any second.   Finally, a couple of hours later as I was heading down the street to grab a Thickburger at Hardee’s, I asked the clerk if she knew who my roommate might be, and if maybe he got lost walking the 30 feet to the room.   Sure enough, he had JUST checked in a few minutes ago, he had driven his own vehicle up from Illinois.  Ok, that’s cool, he’ll probably be all settled in by the time I get back from dinner.  Well, he wasn’t. At least not in this room.  I still haven’t seen nor met him (don’t even know his name).  

 Guess what boys and girls?  I have the room all to myself!  Now PLEASE keep this quiet – I don’t want to jinx anything!

Ya gotta count your blessings.

Since it is going on nine o’clock here, and that alarm goes off RDE (Real Darn Early), I am going to wrap up this installment.  I got my homework finished a while ago (some sample driver’s logs and a short quiz on logging), I am thinking about watching a little TV then turning in.

 Be safe, and keep the shiny side up!

Welcome! It’s starting ….

(Author’s note: the title of this blog was borrowed from the tag line of www.pumpkindriver.com.  Many thanks to Orange Boy, site administrator for kind permission to borrow) 

For those of you who might know me, yes, I am really doing this.  And I am excited about it too!

For those of you who don’t know me, this blog is a simple journal of my life and career change to that of an Over The Road truck driver.   I spent the last 29 years of my life (my entire adult working life) “driving a desk” in a variety of white collar jobs.  Most of that time was spent in the financial services industry, most recently with a well known national financial advisory firm.  I was feeling a bit burned out and things were beginning to feel more and more like a J-O-B.  It was time for a change.

So now, I am on the road (well, only figuratively speaking at this juncture) to starting a new life in a totally different kind of work.  The purpose of this blog is to merely replicate and imitate what many other folks are doing in recording the day-to-day aspects of the training, learning and experiences of being an OTR trucker.  It will probably be boring.  I have been accused of such in my life (“dry white toast” as one woman referred to me).

But what the heck – if I get too boring, the internet is filled with much more interesting and fun things to do.  I am sure you will find them.

March 31, 2007 – Day 1

To begin, happy birthday to my brother Brian.  Wow – 46 years old today.  I still remember when Mom brought you home from the hospital.  Thanks for being one of the best brothers anyone could ever hope to have! (Of course, it goes without saying that I am the other “one of the best brothers” anyone could ever hope to have!)

I am sitting in my hotel room in the glamorous and tastefully appointed Baymont Inn in beautiful Green Bay, Wisconsin, on this, the first day of new driver training for Schneider National, Inc.  If you travel America’s highways, you are no doubt familiar with Schneider National – one of the nation’s largest trucking firms.  Schneider runs the decidedly orange trucks and trailers you see everywhere, which units are affectionately called “pumpkins” on the highways, and the drivers are commonly referred to as “Pumpkin Drivers.”

I arrived yesterday afternoon (3/30/07) on a chartered bus that picked me up in Indianapolis, IN.  Schneider operates an Operating Center in Indy – one of many they have scattered across the U.S.  Several of my fellow students boarded at 8 a.m. for the 7 hour excursion to Title Town, the corporate HQ of Schneider and where they run one of the 5 Schneider Training Academies (STAs).  Not much to do yesterday but check into the hotel room, unpack, relax from the not-so-relaxing trip up, and scrounge around for dinner.  Tadaa! A Hardee’s just down the street to feed my hedonistic desire for cholesterol in its many delicious manifestations.  I was all set.  Get some sleep and start the journey in the morning.

The STA shuttle bus picked us up at the hotel at 6:45 a.m. and took us to the training facility.  We shuffled into the classroom, all of us caught somewhere between wide-eyed anticipation of the next two weeks that are designed to prepare us to drive the Big Rigs, and that of fighting to keep our eyes open at that early hour.  Our group is not terribly small, 48 in all, and they split up into two groups of 24 each.  I like how these people think – instead of making a big issue of how they would split us up, they just cut the list in half alphabetically.  I mean, why complicate matters unnecessarily?

My group, the top half of the alphabet, moved into an adjoining classroom where we met Tom, our classroom instructor for the next two weeks.  Then it was down to business – PAPERWORK!

Yes, we filled out some paperwork.  Then more paperwork, then paperwork and paperwork, followed by more paperwork.  After a brief restroom break, we reconvened in the classroom and did some paperwork, then some paperwork, then paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and finally, some paperwork. 

THEN we got to watch a video! I won’t bore you all with the details of the video, it was an interesting subject, but like every other “industrial” video I have ever seen, it lacked some of the finer aspects of great movie making to be found on MST3K reruns.  After the hour long “cinéma sans pop-corn,” guess what we did?  PAPERWORK!  We wrapped up the morning session by starting a “Check For Learning” (aka “test,” hereinafter abbreviated “CFL” ) about Department of Transportation safety regulations.  The upside was that it was all open book, so if anyone messes it up, well…(on a positive note, scouring for the answers in the 596 page Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations manual kinda made one learn a few things!)

Our time expired before we were able to finish all 49 multiple choice questions, so Tom (the instructor, remember him?) passed out our lunch vouchers and told us to take the books back to the hotel, finish it up tonight and bring it back tomorrow.  For now, it’s the end of today’s session and lunchtime!

Now keep in mind that Schneider is a trucking company, and the STA exists to train potential drivers in the safe operation of 80,000 pound vehicles – it is NOT Le Cordon Bleu.  Schneider has an excellent reputation in the industry for providing some of the best training in the business, albeit intense and demanding.  Having said that, lunch was, well, “provender.”  And provided at no cost to us.  

Upon finishing our midday fare, we congregated outside the facility to wait for the bus driver to take us back to the hotel.  While waiting for the driver, we got to observe several 2nd-week trainees practicing their backing skills on the driving range right in front of us.  None of us were critical of their exercises, for who knows how well any of us will do a week from today when a new class gathers to watch us as we stage a similar show for them?

Presently, the driver shows up, loads us on the bus and heads back to the hotel.  The rest of the day to finish our DOT regs CFL, relax, contemplate what in the world have we gotten ourselves into, and figure out if it is Subway, Hardee’s, Wendy’s, Olive Garden or pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow the real push begins. We’re excited.