January 2002

Darren's School Journal

Male, 32 years young

Introduction

Well here I am researching and relearning everything. I drove for Swift in 1999 for a short period, things didn't work out real well there so I left them, I didn't abandon the Truck or anything I did it the right way so my DAC report is just fine. Anyway I am starting back driving with Schneider National on Feb. 4th. I hear they have a whole different way of teaching. I am cool with that, besides I really want to try that skid pad.. I have winter driving experience but you will NEVER know everything. I will keep up this journal the best I can.. And just want to add "isn't this a great website?" (Hey, thanks! :)  )

January 31, 2002

Sitting here surfing the NET waiting to return to the Big road, I drove for Swift in 98-99, but I'm not going to comment on that because it will most likely get my journal taken offline.  On Saturday Feb. 2nd I leave my Bluegrass home and head to Green Bay, WI for 11 days of training for Schneider National. Why Schneider, you ask? Ok that's an easy question. First of all, I used the Newbiedriver site as well as the Real Drivers site for initial research. The good and bad reports there played a big part on some of the other companies I was looking into. Then into the Truck Net message board and the Pumpkin driver boards. I know what you are thinking. "the pumpkin driver boards?" Yea they have a site that is for current and ex Schneider drivers as well as guests. And you think they are gonna make SNI look grand and everything. Well you do get input from everyone from the Newbie to the most senior Trainer. They were honest and up front. Choosing SNI after looking at the benefits and the way you are treated is all I needed. Granted, not all drivers are good for all companies.

I have to admit one good thing about Swift but it wasn't the training program -- it was the trainer. Any Swift newbies out there that are assigned to the Columbus Terminal, request Tony Stevens.  You wont be disappointed. He is caring and patient with you and will hone your weaknesses and have you work at them daily. Thanks Tony.  Hope my SNI trainer is just as good. (fingers crossed).

Only one bad thing with SNI but I am willing to deal with it. Heck we all have to pay our dues, right? I know that none of the NFL QB's are walk-ons without ever playing the game and every baseball player has ridden the pine for sometime. Anyway the one bad thing about SNI is the bright shiny OLD cabover you get for your first truck. Hey will it haul freight?  Then I am good to go.

Ok, enough of my rambling on. I am going to sign off now and I will post more every time I have the chance to.. Good luck to all of you and all your endeavors!

Channel 19
Lugnut!

February 03, 2002

Well I left the Bluegrass yesterday to start the SNI saga.  I rode the dreaded Greyhound from Louisville KY to Indianapolis, IN. Of course the bus left late and was packed. Very uncomfortable packed in like sardines. If anyone has ridden Greyhound before you can feel my pain.  I got offered to buy some nice quality stolen property while at the Lou terminal. Got to Indy and had to call a cab. The bus station in Indy is not in a prime location. Some guy tried to sell me that "Green Deodorant," whatever that may be; I passed. Watched a guy smoke the butts out of the mammoth ash can out side the station while waiting on the cab. Took my cab to the Sheraton. Don't ask me what sites were along the way cause I couldn't see out of the cab's windows. But Hey Don, The Sheraton? WOW what a treat, Swift put me up in the Red Roof Inn... I'm impressed.
 

While staying at the Sheraton I learned they were having a Kiss convention.. Hmmm ever been very tired, walking around a hotel in an area you don't know and you are a down home country boy and sit belly up to a bar with guys and girls dressed like Gene Simmons?? Let me tell you its an experience.. Don't know but I didn't know there were like 1000's of people that actually had the clothes to dress like Kiss. But let me tell you there were a ton of them.
 

Woke up and here I am at SNI's Indy OC waiting on my ride to Greenbay, WI. Ready to get to gear jamming.. Will write again when I get up there.

February 04, 2002

In Green Bay now, Made it through day one, kinda boring being that I have driven before and know the terms gear patterns and what have you. Going out in the truck tomorrow. Now I am ready to rock. So far from what I have seen from SNI I would recommend them to anyone looking to drive. Met the big boss himself today - yep - Don Schneider came in and talked to us  He is really down to earth, the kind of guy you would want to work for. Or at least you SHOULD want to work for. Other than that, not a whole lot in day 1. Will write about day 2 and see how I do after a 3 year lay off.

PS  If you train in WI and you are a smoker bring smokes with you, WOW 9 bucks for 2 packs..

February 05, 2002

Well Day 2 is now under my belt. I did learn something today, A cabover is a lot different than a conventional. The shift pattern is A LOT tighter. But I got the hang of it pretty quick and the instructor had me in traffic with in 5 minutes. All in all it was a good day. I can feel myself turning into a pumpkin already. Training tomorrow is an early day. Gotta be up at 330 to be on the yard for Pretrip and out on the road again,  Still cold as it can be in good ole' Green Bay. Only 9 more days of it.  I think I can handle that. Well time to lay down and check out what my eyelids are doing, 3 am comes awful early.

February 06, 2002

Well Day 3 is over and did 73 miles driving today. We were supposed to work on turns but I only did 4 and the trainer ate his grapefruit and read his paper. Guess that means I still "Got it" anyway. It was an easy day, no shifting problems, no backing problems, no turning problems. The only problem I have is I can feel a nasty cold coming on.. Been taking the Tylenol cold stuff and it seems to be helping. Don't want to get sick and be bed ridden. I got lucky and got the early shift from 3 am to Noon everyday. Its nice when you first get out on the road cause you are the only one there. But I got my nerves back and feel real comfortable behind the wheel. I am still dying to get out on that darn skid pad. Now that looks like fun as well as a good learning experience. Till tomorrow!

February 07, 2002

Another day gone.  This cold is really trying to keep me down but I'm not letting it.  Drove 40 some miles today, did some button hooks and regular 90 L & R, then onto some alley docking.  I just gotta remember I'm not driving a conventional anymore. Those things turn sharp but I did get it in on the first try with a pull up. Not so much worried about it being that I already have my CDL and don't have to sit there with someone scratching on a clip board making me nervous.
 

One more early day and then we go back to coming in at a normal time for some class room work. I think it is on logging or something like that. Really looking forward to next Thursday for graduation.
 

Well time for me to lay down and get this dang ole cold to be history, Any quick fixes??

LOL till tomorrow.

February 11, 2002

Haven't been able to post anything new the last couple of days.  Every time I tried it told me the net was busy and wouldn't take it. I am hoping this entry will submit.

Last Friday: Did a lot of driving and got our Week One Eval; they score you from 1-6, 6 being high and 1 being low. My instructor doesn't give 6's. I ended up with mostly 5's and a few 4's so you will not hear me complain. While he had us out we did a lot of button hooks and various turns. One of the button hooks had to be about a 160 degree turn. Don't think a conventional could have made it. Anyway I made it through with plenty of sweat on the brow. Overall I'm happy with my performance on it.

Saturday was just classroom -- no driving at all. We learned how to use a hand truck (powered) and had to do the dreaded lifting and stacking demo. Anyone else know that you had to Pretrip a hand truck? Its not so much a Pretrip but it is an inspection required by SNI before you use it.. Kinda got a chuckle out of it.  We also did some map reading with a little bit of trip planning included. I can still do it alright, but I have become accustomed to using my lap top and going to www.mile.com for my directions. It works well.

Sunday was a much needed day off.  We all just hung out at the hotel and relaxed.

Monday was half driving and half classroom. Drove today and had zero problems. Got the trailer to go into the hole backing with minimal effort. I really do think I have gotten all my skills back but backing is too unpredictable and you can lose it at anytime. I don't feel anyone is a professional backer. Classroom was on logging, Load Securement, DOT Regs, PS9002, Jake Brakes and other misc. short subjects and as SNI always does, a lecture on safety. Tests I have taken so far:

• Hazmat 100%

• Logging 100%

• Loss prevention 100%

• Mechanical 100%

• DOT 100%

It goes without saying that I am very happy about that. I hope to maintain it for 3 more days.

February 28, 2002

Long update...

Let's get everyone updated. I left Green Bay's frozen tundra back on Feb. 15th.  I graduated class up there with straight 100's. Pretty proud of that fact. On driving I left with all 5's because once again they don't give the top score of 6 while up there.  They think that if they send you on to your Operating Center with 6's they will make it look like you are perfect and they don't want that.

I was at home on Feb 15 to spend a late Valentines Day with my sweetie and lil one. Back to Indianapolis, IN on Monday for what they call JumpStart. JumpStart consists of slow maneuvers; i.e: backing alley docks and pull throughs. Very basic stuff, this week they beat the Pretrip and pump downs into your head. We spent half the day in class and the other half driving on the road and in the OC (operating center). I missed one question on the hazmat test...Dang, there goes a perfect record. Oh well I read the question wrong so no one to blame but myself.

On the road the instructor basically kicked me out of the truck because my driving partner "needed more work than me," and that's from the horse's mouth. I got that good ole bump and run and shifting back. So I was hanging in there for a week bored out of my mind. Back home and waiting on my TE (Training Engineer).

I talked to my TE.  He is from Alabama and runs on a dedicated account from Avilla, IN to Cottondale, AL.  An easy run. He is picking me up in Hamburg, IN on Monday night. at the Davis brother truck stop. He knew I drove with Swift in the past and isn't holding it against me HA HA. Anyway since I had previous experience he handed me the keys and said to drive to the Indy OC. Drove up to the OC and picked up another Newbie (Tony).  He has been with the TE for a week or so. Then we drove around Indy doing some button hooks. That night the TE put us up in the Sheraton and he slept in the truck at the OC.

Tuesday morning at 8am we head up to Avilla, IN to drop the current load. Surprised to see that a live load only took 10 minutes. Left with our load to Alabama. I drove till we got to Seymour, IN, where Tony took over. It was snowing the whole way down and when we got into Nashville, TN, coming around I-440 we hit nothing but solid ICE.  We were creeping along and came to a bridge and this pick up was sliding all over the three lanes and we had to stop. With only 22,000 pounds on you know what happens when you stop a light truck going up a slight grade. Yep we were stuck for 4 and 1/2 hours. Don't know what took TN so long to get the salt trucks out.

A little pick up ran into our trailer but only caught the DOT bumper and caused no damage. With the amount of trucks stopped you can imagine all the late freight that was sitting there. Anyway got moving and the TE drove into a little truck stop just shy of the AL line, where he got a hotel room and myself and Tony slept in the truck.

Up at 8am and back on the road to Cottondale. Made our load with 2 hours to spare and picked up another. Drove up to Muscle Shols, AL where the TE put us up in another hotel and he went on home to his house. Had a 3am wake up call to be on the road by 3:30am. Heading for Indy OC again where the TE has me scheduled to take my final road test with SNI. He set this up the first day I was on the truck. He feels I am ready for Solo once again. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for me. I will update this tonight after I take my test and let you all know how it works out.

Now I am sitting here in the Sheraton again. I passed my SQT test with no problems other than the fact that the truck I took it with was a cab over with over a million and a half miles on it.. After I drove an FLD with Swift and a Century for the last two weeks it was a bear, let me tell you. Even the instructor that is issued the truck has problems shifting it. Now its just sit and wait on them to find me my own truck and off I go. I most likely will go home for the weekend or so and spend time with the loved ones. I will update from the road when I have a chance..