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John's School Journal Male, 50 years young
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My Concerns For The Future
I worry about finding a job and getting a good trainer. I’ve read horror stories on the internet about new drivers going to a company finishing school and winding up with the trainer from hell. On the other hand, I get along with most people and am generally pretty tolerant, so I hope I can make the best of it if I wind up in a difficult situation.
I worry about having to load/unload freight. It seems like the companies pay so little when the driver has to do it; you’re lucky if you’re getting minimum wage. In school, I helped with loading/unloading a 48’ trailer, and it was hours of work even for a group of energetic people. What if I have to load/unload a 53’ trailer all by myself? On the other hand, when we visited truck stops on some road trips, I got to see what real truck drivers looked like: they looked like ordinary people, and for the most part, they weren’t any more physically fit than I am (which is not saying much).
I wonder how long I will last in this new career. There seems to be such a high turnover rate, where people are quitting all the time. Also, the companies seem to be very strict, and will fire people for many different reasons, some of which seem fairly petty. Some companies seem to treat their drivers like “truck fodder” - bringing whole crops of them into the company, using them up and wearing them out, then tossing them aside as next year’s crop comes in. On the other hand, I have a mature and responsible attitude and a good work ethic, and I have done well in every other job I have had. I can do well here, too, even if it takes extra effort.
I worry about getting lost - it seems like it can be a big deal in a truck. You can’t just do a three-point turn in the street, or pull into somebody’s driveway. The extra miles you have to drive not only take extra time (while collecting zero pay), they can also count against you (as “out of route” miles).
I worried about, and continue to worry about, passing the DOT physicals. I don’t have a problem with most of it, but my blood pressure can be a little high. It’s not too high, or consistently high, but when I took the physical for school, the lower number of the two was right at the upper limit (90).
Other Interesting Web Sites
www.layover.com Lots of useful information for newbies. It’s not dedicated to newbies, so there’s lots of other information, too.
www.pumpkindriver.com Online forum for Schneider drivers, but they have a forum section for newbies. I always find it interesting to read about other people’s experiences and what they liked/disliked. The more information you can get in advance, the better prepared you will be to handle the rigors of training and the job in general.
www.trucknet.com General-purpose trucking web site; it has online forums, including for newbies.
www.jillysplace.com Trucker's web site with many interesting pages.
www.truckerspage.com/trucking.html The Trucker's Page, lots of links and stories.
www.ooida.com The web site of and owner-operator association, but they have interesting news articles relating to trucking. And you can be sure whose side of the issue they are on - the DRIVER’S!
www.bestdriverjobs.com Many links to trucking companies, some of which hire newbies. You should visit many trucking company web sites, just to get an idea of what companies are offering. It looks like a pretty tough business - due to competition, no company can afford to be generous. By visiting many sites, you can also start to learn what is fact and what is fiction. Some sites are full of recruiter-ish hype, but you can only make that determination if you have reviewed many other sites to see what is typical. Don’t fall for any deals that look “too good to be true”. As a rule, THEY ARE BOGUS!
www.fmcsa.dot.gov Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration - the Feds. All the rules and regulations, straight from the horse's mouth. There is also a set of pages called "guidance" on www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rulesregs/fmcsr/fmcsrguide.htm which is like an FAQ for the rules and regs. Read the guidance pages, they are very interesting. For example, read the logbook and hours of service guidance page at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rulesregs/fmcsr/regs/395reg.htm for all kinds of interesting tidbits on how the Feds themselves interpret their own regulations.
www.fhwa.dot.gov Federal Highway Administration, a big site with some items of interest. For example, go to www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/regulate/sw/index.htm to download a .pdf file that explains the federal bridge formula, a rather arcane topic.
www.safersys.org The SAFER site with accident and safety information for all trucking companies. Look up companies you're interested in, see how many of their drivers have been killed each year, see what their safety rating is compared to the industry.
This is a link to a .pdf document containing the complete DOT physical form, including a summary of the physical qualifications for drivers and the instructions to the medical examiner. You can see what they're looking for and what they consider important.
www.ccbc.cc.md.us/coned/OTC/home.html CCBC Continuing Education site, follow links to the truck driving school information. This is where I went to truck driving school. Unfortunately, there's not much information on their web site. The truck in the picture is not one of the school trucks.
Section 2 - On-The-Job Training
Introduction
I am keeping a journal to document the whole process of becoming a truck driver. Instead of posting new information week by week, I will try to post the journal in three sections. I wrote the first section in late December 2002 after completing truck driving school, but before starting a real driving job. The second section follows, below. I wrote this section in April and May 2003 after I found a driving job and completed the additional company training on the road. I will try to add a third section once I have completed several months of solo driving, assuming I get that far.
Getting A Real Truck Driving Job
As I explained in the previous section of my journal, my truck driving goal is to be a company driver hauling a dry van doing 48-state solo OTR. In the previous section of my journal, I related how I completed step 1, which was to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer truck and get a commercial driver's license. But there still were many more practical details that I needed to learn and skills that I needed to hone before I could become a productive truck driver. The usual way to achieve this is to get hired by a "training" company that hires new drivers straight out of truck driving school and provides lots of additional on-the-job training.
While I was still in truck driving school, I evaluated several "training" companies. I visited their web sites, talked to their company representatives, and asked them to mail me information and an application. I also did internet searches, including online forums, to find other opinions. Based on what I learned, I applied to three trucking companies: Werner, Schneider, and Swift. It seemed to me that Werner and Schneider had relatively good reputations as "training" companies. Also, they were both big companies that should have lots of opportunities for new drivers and plenty of OTR work nationwide. I applied to Swift as a "safety", in case Werner and Schneider didn't hire me. I had seen a lot of "Swift bashing" on the internet, and it seemed that their reputation wasn't as good. I assumed that they would hire just about anybody, since they seemed to have a high driver turnover and would need to keep all their trucks occupied and busy. Based on my evaluation, I eliminated a few other "training" companies, usually because I couldn't get enough good, detailed information.
The job application forms seemed to be designed for applicants who were experienced drivers with years of experience. With no experience, my applications had scant information, so I decided to provide something extra. I typed up an informal resume with details about my non-driving jobs and an explanation for any gaps in employment. My recent work history was spotty, since I had retired from my computer job and had been cruising around on a sailboat. By providing extra information, I was trying to show that I had a good long-term work history and could completely account for all my recent time.
Here's a chronological account of the whole job-hunting process (I have omitted some minor details):
Saturday 11/30/02 - Mailed in the job applications (plus my extra information) to Werner, Schneider, and Swift.
Friday 12/13/02 - I got a call from Swift: report for orientation on January 13. Although this sounded promising, it turned out that I wasn't hired yet. I think they just wanted to "claim" me as soon as possible. There were still many more hoops to jump through before you could be officially hired.
Monday 12/16/02 - I got a curious postcard from Werner and couldn't figure out what it meant - good news or bad? I called them to see what was up, and it turned out they had misplaced my application. By calling them, I was able to move the process along so they found it again, and they said to call back next week.
Wednesday 12/18/02 - Last day of truck driving school. We met with the director, who handed out the graduation certificates and gave us phone numbers of numerous companies soliciting new drivers.
Monday 12/23/02 - I called Werner again; they turned me down. They didn't provide any reason, which I understand is typical. Also, it seemed that none of the companies initiated calls to me. I had to do all the calling, sometimes multiple times, to prod them along the application review process, even to the point of calling them the final time to find out if I was pre-hired.
Monday 12/30/02 - I called Schneider; they turned me down, too. At this point, I was really bummed-out. I had applied to Swift only as my "safety" - the company I was sure would hire me since they hire everybody who's alive and human. I was really hoping to get hired by Werner, and if not Werner, then Schneider. Now I would have to concentrate all my efforts on getting hired by Swift, and they were a distant third choice. There were a few other companies that hire newbies, but I thought their web sites and application packages were so mediocre that I decided not to apply to them, on the basis of my unfavorable first impressions.
Monday 12/30/02 - I called Swift again, just to make sure the process was still rolling along, They said they were having trouble verifying everything in my application package. The company does a background check on all applicants, and it is quite thorough for the past three years. Unfortunately, this is when I was cruising around on my sailboat and when I had only two small jobs at a marina. So the past three years of my work history was very weak. It's also a drawback that I live on a boat and traveled around, so I don't have a conventional shoreside address. I think what they really would like is an applicant with a steady job who lives in a house, who has been that way for years. At this point in my life, I don't fit that picture very well, and it's causing me some job-hunting problems. This could very well be why the other companies turned me down. To avoid these problems, I had provided a lot of extra information with my job application, but apparently, it was not enough. Although I did document a long-term work history and a long-term shoreside residence history, this was from more than three years ago, and it counted for very little during the application review process.
Tuesday 12/31/02 - I called Swift again; they were having trouble verifying my traveling on the boat, even though I had provided numerous pages of information documenting every detail. They asked me to contact two of my references who were familiar with my boat travels and get the people to fax a letter verifying the details. I thought it was strange that Swift asked me to contact my references instead of Swift calling them directly. After all, these were the same people I listed as references on my application. But this seems to be part of a general mode of operation: having me do the legwork to provide them with lots of pieces of paper, then they evaluate the paperwork. It was also a little annoying that they seemed to discount all the extensive information I provided, as if they don't trust what the applicant says. Instead, they want other people to vouch for me, people who are complete strangers to Swift. I asked five people instead of two, since different people were familiar with different portions of my traveling. Friday 1/3/03 - I called Swift; they have been getting a few faxes and will forward my application package for processing, which is good news.
Thursday 1/9/03- I finally got a call FROM Swift! They confirmed my orientation appointment for Monday, January 13, and said to call tomorrow to get the final instructions and the motel reservation. But I'm still not hired - I'll have to wait for more background checking, which will be completed during orientation.
Friday 1/10/03 - I called Swift several times to see if everything was a "go" for Monday, but the responsible people were not available. I was getting a little anxious as it headed into late afternoon and I still didn't have things finalized for Monday. Finally, I was able to talk to the person in-charge, who gave me last-minute instructions and my motel reservation.
Swift Orientation In Richmond, Virginia
At this point, I was heading to the Swift terminal in Richmond, Virginia, for three-and-a-half days of new-employee orientation. Unfortunately, I was still not a new employee - I hadn't been officially hired. I was a little upset that I was investing all this time and effort, but Swift had not been able to give me a firm answer, not even a "pre-hire". Technically, I could go through the whole orientation process, and be told "no, we decided not to hire you". This was making me very anxious, since if Swift said "no", I'd have to start the whole job-hunting process over again. And I'd already seen that things were not going very smoothly for me, due to my particular circumstances. Oh well, I'll just take it one day at a time.
Sunday 1/12/03 - Orientation starts Monday morning, but Swift only provides a motel starting Monday night. I wouldn't even think of driving all the way from Baltimore to Richmond on Monday morning, so I drove down Sunday night and stayed at a Motel 6 at my own expense. I drove past the Swift terminal just to find where it was - it looked rather small and was crammed with vehicles. Last Friday, the lady had mentioned that I might have to take a driving test, but I didn't really know what to expect. I had decided to prepare like I did for the Maryland CDL test, and had brought my truck driving school textbooks with me. I skimmed through the CDL textbook and reviewed the range maneuver instructions in the yard handbook. I looked over all my pre-trip inspection flash cards to refresh my memory, in case I had to do a pre-trip inspection. I hadn't driven a truck in a few weeks, so I was worried that my meager skills had grown rusty. Also, all of the school trucks had nine-speed transmissions, and I was worried that the Swift driving test might have an unfamiliar transmission. I'm basically quite anxious, because there's a lot riding on this and I want it all to work out.
Monday 1/13/03 - First day of orientation. I was ushered into the orientation room where I met the other new drivers. Only four people showed up for orientation even though the whiteboard indicated at least a dozen were signed up. The first step was to drive over to a local doctor's office and take another DOT physical. Even though my DOT card from truck driving school hadn't expired, you have to take another physical whenever you change jobs. On my previous DOT physical, the hearing test consisted of a "forced whisper" test where the nurse whispered some words which I had to repeat - easy as pie! This time, I got an extensive hearing test that involved listening to audio tones in headphones while seated in a soundproof booth. Just like my earlier DOT physical, I was worried about my blood pressure, but I passed the physical OK and got my new DOT card.
Back at Swift, I had to fill out more forms for verifying my background. They told me that the rigorous checking was required by Swift's customers and by the insurance companies, and was not related to the 9/11 terrorist attack. They were basically worried about getting ripped-off big-time by a shady character, someone who might be good at all forms of deception (including job applications). The information they were gathering on me then had to be sent up the chain of command for approval, since my background was "non-standard" enough that they could not approve me at the recruiter level. The orientation manager didn't seem very optimistic that I would be approved. However, I did learn (to my relief) that I didn't have to take a driving test. Since I had graduated truck driving school within the last 30 days, my CDL driving test was recent enough to count as a current driving test.
Tuesday 1/14/03 - Second day of orientation. We watched a bunch of instructional videos generated by a computer system hooked up to a projection TV. Some of the videos were pretty dull, just watching "talking heads" rattle off lots of details about policies and procedures. We watched videos about driver policies, customer service expectations, on-the-job safety, cargo handling and accounting procedures, security and theft prevention, and sexual harassment (actually quite amusing, due to dopey exaggerated examples). We also watched some technical videos about various subjects, including logbook usage, coupling/uncoupling, how to install tire chains (very detailed), emergency and accident procedures, and the dangers of railroad crossings. This last video was quite interesting. On the road, you think of a truck as being so big and powerful that it can "win" any contest. But when tangling with a train, the truck loses big-time. They showed video clips of trucks getting hit by trains - the truck gets shredded and destroyed while the train just keeps rolling along like nothing happened.
Wednesday 1/15/03 - Third day of orientation. We watched more videos (there was very little "live" presentation of information): Qualcomm usage (the satellite communication system installed in each truck), how to do "xcall" for extra pay (such as to hire lumpers to unload your trailer), permits (very complicated, lots of possible permits, costly fines if you don't have everything you need), payroll and accounting policies, company benefits (complicated and not very generous). We got a free box lunch.
In theory, they were supposed to finish the background checking during orientation and give me a yes/no answer. The other applicants learned that they were hired and each was asssigned an employee number, but I still didn't know if I would be hired and I didn't get an employee number. It was very annoying to have such a major decision still hanging, up in the air, and it was making me quite anxious. The latest problem is that the recruiter processing my application finally read my medical information (even though they had had it for weeks) and noticed that I had injured my back many years ago. Apparently, this has to be approved by somebody and might require a doctor's certification, creating yet another hoop to jump through and yet another reason to be turned down. This last problem was extremely frustrating. The recruiter told me I might have to contact the doctor who treated me (years ago!), and get him to send Swift a letter certifying that my past injury would not prevent me from carrying out all the duties of a truck driver. Fat chance! There's a zero percent chance that the doctor would sign such a letter, or even a current doctor after a current examination. Due to the threat of legal liability, no doctor is going to ever say that a former medical problem wouldn't cause any problems in the future. Then yet another hoop was produced for me to jump through: Despite the fact that I presented copies of my truck driving school graduation certificate and grade records, a copy of the school registration form, a copy of my canceled check for the deposit, and a copy of my credit card statement showing tuition payment, they are still not entirely convinced that I paid for it myself (since I am claiming tuition reimbursement from Swift). I might have to get a statement signed by the school director on school letterhead confirming that I paid the tuition out of my own pocket. Cripes! Is there no end to the hoop jumping? Just how far do I have to go to "prove" something? They must get a lot of creeps and cheats coming through here trying to con them if they want such extreme verification of something that I thought I had already rigorously proved. It seems like they don't trust anything that an applicant says or provides - you always have to get somebody else to vouch for you.
Thursday 1/16/03 - Fourth day of orientation. The shop manager came in and talked to us for a while about how to take care of the trucks and what to do if something goes wrong. Then the terminal manager (who used to be a driver) talked to us for a while about all kinds of miscellaneous details, and gave us lots of very practical advice. Just a few items: Don't buy food at truckstops, instead get an electric cooler and go food shopping for the truck just like you go food shopping for your house. This is much less expensive and you can eat much healthier. U-turns are illegal at Swift - there's too much risk of another vehicle running under the trailer when you are broadside to traffic. If you get lost, get off the road, stop, and figure out where you are. Avoid getting flustered and panicking - this is a cause of accidents. Try to last a year - everything is hard in the beginning but it gets easier. After a year, you can start making the system work for you (easier job, higher income, better home time, etc.). Today's orientation session lasted half a day, then we were dismissed. Whoopee, I finished orientation --- but I am STILL not officially hired! They have asked me for still more paperwork, which I have to dig up at home.
Once I got home, I sent the orientation manager a 10-page fax with tax returns for 1999 and 2000, and current bank statements. I hope this is the end of it, one way or another.
Friday 1/17/03 - I called Swift to make sure they got the fax (yes). The recruiter said to call again on Monday.
Starting The Training Process
During the training process, I'm supervised by a training coordinator who works at the Richmond terminal, which will be my home terminal. The training coordinator takes care of all the logistics and monitors my progress. There are two phases to the training process. First, I am assigned to a driver trainer who is an experienced driver, and drive with him (or her) for four weeks while I get more driving experience and get trained on company policies and procedures. If I make it through the four weeks, I then get paired up with another trainee and spend an additional four weeks driving as a team and handling all of the company's business on our own. If I make it through that, then I can start driving solo with my own truck. That is what I really want, so I'm committed to making the best of the training and working my way through to solo driving.
Monday 1/20/03 - The training coordinator called me and said a driver trainer would be available tomorrow at the Swift terminal in Greer, SC. If I wanted to start my training right away, I could go to Greer; Swift would pay for a bus ticket. I told the training coordinator that I wanted to wait for something closer. Frankly, if I had to go to South Carolina, I probably wouldn't take the bus. It would be a very tiring and uncomfortable trip, even though Swift would pay for it. I would probably take my car, but I really didn't want to travel that far to start training.
Tuesday 1/21/03 - The training coordinator called me again with another offer to train out of Greer. I turned this down, too.
Wednesday 1/22/03 - This time, the training coordinator had a trainer in Richmond, VA, my home terminal. In fact, it was one of the driver trainers from Greer who happened to be heading north with a load; he would stop in Richmond to pick me up. The training coordinator said to be at the Richmond terminal at 6:30 AM tomorrow. Since it would be very impractical to drive down from Baltimore in the morning, Swift paid for a motel room in Richmond for tonight. After some frantic packing, I drove down later in the day and spent the night.
Sidebar: What I Brought With Me
I'm actually pretty good at preparing for a trip, since I've been a traveler and camper for many years (although I tend to overpack and bring too much). While driving with my trainer, we might encounter any kind of weather - everything from warm weather in the deep South to bitterly cold winter weather up north, as well as rain, snow, sleet, etc. We'll be on the road for four weeks, but I assume I'll be able to do laundry when needed, so I brought two weeks worth of clothes. Here's what I brought:
Carried separately - sleeping bag (packed in its "stuff sack"), pillow and pillow case (carried in a white plastic trash bag to keep them clean while transporting them).
Carried in a multi-compartment duffel bag - two weeks of underpants, socks, and knit shirts, three pair of pants, long johns (top and bottom), one pair of fleece socks, tee-shirt (for sleeping in warm weather), belt, light nylon windbreaker, fleece sweatshirt, three-season jacket, yellow vinyl rainsuit (top and bottom), two baseball caps, wool watch cap, wool gloves, two pairs of work gloves (a relatively clean pair and a dirty pair, wrapped in a plastic grocery bag), sunglasses, quarters for doing laundry (in a 35-mm film canister), spare AA batteries, alarm clock (with loud bell), money ($100 per week, hidden in the underwear), small camera, three rolls of film, aspirin, multivitamins, naproxen tablets (ache/pain reliever), No-Doze tablets (which I never used), a few bandaids, a few paper towels, prepackaged moistened towelettes, several empty plastic grocery bags, a couple of empty white kitchen trash bags.
Carried in a canvas "boat bag" - a book and a few magazines (rarely used), AC and DC adapters for cell phone, small vise-grip pliers, granola bars, bottled water (refilled from the sink afterwards), peppermint candies (very useful to perk up on long night drives), sneakers (which I never used), mesh laundry bag, winter parka (which didn't fit in the duffel bag), washcloth (in zip-lock bag), bath towel (in plastic grocery bag), small hand towel, toiletry bag (which contained: bar of soap (in plastic container), shampoo (in small plastic bottle), toothbrush (in plastic case), toothpaste, plastic cup, dental floss, toothpicks (in ziplock bag), Q-tips (in ziplock bag), hair dryer, electric razor, tweezers, nail clippers, nail file, antifungal cream, hand lotion, roll-on deoderant, small pack of tissues).
I brought a second pair of shoes, a sturdy pair of leather work shoes, which I wore. I also carried with me: small pocket-sized spiral notepad (absolutely essential for jotting down all kinds of info), fine-tip black pen, cell phone, wallet (with CDL, DOT card, social security card, phone card (for payphones)), change, pocket comb, truck keys, wristwatch. In my wallet I also had a piece of paper with important phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, etc.
Training With My First Driver Trainer
I arrived at the Richmond Swift terminal early in the morning and checked-in with the training coordinator, who told me my trainer's name. After retrieving my pile of stuff from the car, I hung out in the small and rather dilapidated driver's lounge. Every time somebody came into the room, I would ask, "are you James Stewart?", since the training coordinator didn't know where he was or what he looked like. Finally, I met up with Jimmy, as he preferred to be called, and we carried my stuff out to his truck (a Freightliner Columbia). Jimmy had driven up from Greer, SC and had spent the night in his truck at the Richmond terminal. After we tossed my stuff into his truck, he drove over to the fuel pumps to fill-up so we could get rolling.
Jimmy has many years of truck driving experience, including more than 10 years with Swift. Along the way, he has trained many a newbie. Jimmy works in the autohaul division, but his truck looks like a regular tractor-trailer with a 53' dry van. The van-type trailer provides much more protection and security than an open-frame car carrier, but it only has room for six cars (three on the bottom, three on a moveable rack halfway up). Jimmy picks up new cars at the port facilities where they were imported, and delivers them to car dealers anywhere in the country. He had recently picked up a load of cars at the port facilities in Brunswick, GA, and we would be delivering them for the next few days.
The first day, we drove up I-95 to New Jersey, where we delivered cars in Sayreville and Redbank. Jimmy let me drive from Jessup, MD to the first stop in Sayreville, NJ, and I did pretty well. His truck has a ten-speed transmission, which I hadn't used before (the truck driving school had nine-speeds). Although I got used to it fairly quickly, it still seems to me that a ten-speed has "one gear too many" (sixth gear), and I prefer the very simple shift pattern of nine-speeds.
At our first stop, Jimmy showed me the procedure for unloading cars at a dealership. You can usually pull into the dealer's lot, but sometimes the lot is so crowded, you have to unload in the street. Once you open the trailer doors, you remove four long aluminum ramp sections from racks on the backs of the doors. You assemble the ramps in the street, two sections per side, and hook them to the back of the trailer. This is how you get the cars out of the trailer and down to street level.
The trailer carries three cars parked end-to-end on the floor of the trailer. The trailer carries another three cars on a moveable steel rack halfway up inside the trailer. Each car is secured to the floor (or to the steel rack) with heavy webbing straps that go around a tire and clip to the floor (or rack). A ratchet mechanism allows you to take up or release tension on the webbing straps. Once the bottom cars are unstrapped and driven out of the trailer, you go inside the trailer and release locking pins, then use electrical controls to lower the steel rack to floor level. Before driving the upper cars off the rack, you need to reposition the ramps slightly.
Due to width and especially height limitations inside the trailer, you can't carry large vehicles like SUV's (we usually carried smallish cars like Audi, Saab, or Volkswagen). Jimmy always figured the weight as 4,000 lbs x 6 cars = 24,000 lbs. Since this is a relatively light load, we never had to scale-out or slide the tandems, and we never worried about roadside weigh stations. As a car carrier, we never unloaded at loading docks, so I got very little backing practice. Overall, the car carrying process was fairly easy - I remember being concerned in truck driving school about hand-unloading a 53' trailer full of boxes. We only carried six items in the trailer, and each item was self-propelled! Such a deal!
That night was the first time I slept in a truck. The sleeper area was surprisingly roomy, and although I had the upper bunk, it was spacious and comfortable. Although it was bitterly cold outside (temps in the low teens), the interior was toasty warm due to the truck's Opti-Idle feature. To use Opti-Idle, you start the truck, turn the heater on full, then turn on the Opti-Idle switch. You then set the desired temperature by pushing some buttons on a small control panel next to the sleeper berth. The truck's engine keeps running until the heater warms the interior to the desired temperature. Then the engine automatically shuts off, and the interior starts to cool off. Once the temperature drops a few degrees, the engine automatically starts up, and the heater warms up the interior again. Although the Opti-Idle feature worked well, it could be a little disconcerting when the engine started all by itself. I remember one night having a nightmare that the truck was rolling away with no driver, and jumping up out of bed in a panic.
The next day, we unloaded the rest of the cars in Springfield and Ramsey, then went back to Port Newark to await our next load assignment. Jimmy guessed (correctly) that we would be picking up cars at Port Newark, which has a major facility for importing cars. While we were waiting, another Swift autohaul driver nicknamed "Chief" came over for a pow-wow. Chief is a native American from northern Canada, far enough north that they go whale hunting and could be called Eskimos. He looked the part, with Indian features and long, dark hair. He and Jimmy smoked up a storm and gossiped until our load assignment came in. We would be picking up six Volvos at Port Newark, and delivering them to Bristol, VA, Spartanburg, SC, and two locations in Charleston, SC. After making the deliveries, Jimmy would get some home time in Summerville, SC, which is not far from Charleston.
The procedure to load cars into the trailer was quite a bit more complicated than unloading. You had to slide the tandems all the way forward, dump the trailer's air suspension, lower the landing gear, and uncouple the trailer. Then you had to crank the landing gear down even more, which raised the front of the trailer and lowered the rear of the trailer. You kept cranking until the rear bumper of the trailer was resting on the ground (the bumper on an autohaul trailer comes down lower than a regular trailer). The goal was to make the trailer rock-solid and to decrease the angle between the ramps and the ground.
Based on the load assignment, you had to figure out the correct order to load the cars - the car to be delivered last had to be loaded first, at the front of the moveable steel rack. Now you had to find the correct car, parked somewhere in a vast lot of similar cars. Luckily, the lot had a grid system and the load paperwork told you where the cars were parked. Other companies had shuttle vans, but we had to walk to the cars. Jimmy let me help drive the cars to our truck, but he always drove them up the ramps. (In theory, I was only learning how to drive a tractor-trailer truck, and wasn't supposed to learn autohaul procedures, but I liked to help when possible.) After loading three cars on the steel rack, you would use electrical controls to raise the rack, then go into the trailer to latch the locking pins. After repositioning the ramps, you would load three more cars into the trailer, then stow the ramps, close the doors, couple the trailer, etc.
We left the port around dusk, and I drove us over to the Swift terminal in Jonestown, PA (on I-81 north of Harrisburg) where we got fuel and each took a shower. Most Swift terminals have showers, but as it would turn out, some were too scummy to use, and at other terminals, the showers were too busy and we couldn't wait. I drove for several hours that night, rolling along through the dark Virginia countryside down I-81. At one point, we noticed a headlight had burned out, so we stopped at a rest area and Jimmy fixed it (the Columbia uses easy-to-change "peanut" halogen bulbs). In the wee hours, we stopped at a Pilot truckstop in Greenville, VA to change drivers. After 427 miles, I went to the sleeper and Jimmy drove on to Bristol.
Now I discovered a problem that was to bother me all through training. I am a fairly light sleeper, and I found it nearly impossible to get good restful sleep while the truck was moving. In fact, many times, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep at all. The constant motion and noise were such distractions that I just couldn't drop off to sleep. As a result, I went through training feeling tired most of the time, although it didn't cause me any serious problems. I guess this shouldn't have surprised me, since I have never been able to fall asleep on car, bus, or airplane trips. I really looked forward to the times when our schedule would allow us to shut the truck down for the night, or even just a few hours, so we both could get some sleep.
Later in the morning, we pulled in to Bristol, VA, deep in southwestern Virginia just across the border from Bristol, TN. We delivered one car, then Jimmy drove on to Spartanburg, SC, taking a shortcut through the mountains. We traveled on local roads through snow-covered mountain scenery, and at one point encountered a descending 9% grade (very educational for me, just watching). We passed through rural towns with interesting names, like Flag Pond, Mars Hill, and Forks of Ivy. Many towns had hillbilly shacks and homey local restaurants. To entertain us while he was driving, Jimmy did his animal impressions: cow, dove, monkey, turkey, etc., all very good imitations. Later we listened to "Click and Clack" on the local public radio station. Jimmy also made lots of cell-phone calls, since on the weekend, all his calls were free. He always used a hands-free headset and phoned only when the driving workload was low. When we got to Spartanburg, SC, we followed signs for the airport, since we were delivering three cars to the Hertz rental-car agency. The lot manager wasn't too happy to see us. It was the weekend, and not many people rent cars on the weekend. The lot was already jam-packed full, and he had to find room for three more cars.
Jimmy drove us over to the Swift terminal in Greer, SC, which is his home terminal. The terminal was pretty nice, but we had trouble finding a place to park. After a brief stop, I drove to Summerville, SC, via I-26, arriving around dusk. This is where Jimmy lives, and he is owed some hometime. We dropped the trailer at a local shopping mall (keeping it well out of the way) and Jimmy bobtailed home. On the way, he dropped me off at a Sleep Inn where I stayed for two nights (paid-for by Swift). The motel was in a very convenient location, with stores and restaurants all around, so I didn't mind not having "wheels". Sunday was "Superbowl Sunday", but I can't stand TV sports and completely ignored it.
On Monday, Jimmy picked me up bright and early and we drove down to Charleston, delivering cars at the airport Hertz and at a local Volvo dealer. Jimmy drove back to Summerville to take care of some banking business that couldn't be handled on the weekend. Unfortunately, on the way, he had a small accident. As it would turn out, there is no such thing as a "small" accident - any accident involving a commercial vehicle is a major headache. We were empty, and Jimmy was driving along a local road. Traffic ahead suddenly stopped due to road construction activity. Jimmy braked, then braked hard, then braked really hard, locking up the wheels. The truck just didn't stop in time. We needed about five more feet, but the space just wasn't available. At slow speed, we bumped into a pickup truck ahead of us. The pickup moved forward and bumped the car in front of him. No one was injured, and all the vehicles were driveable (we couldn't even see any damage to our truck). But we all had to pull over, and the police came by, and everybody had to exchange information. Jimmy notified Swift by sending an "accident" macro on the Qualcomm satellite terminal, then he used the truck's "accident kit" to document the event. The kit contained a simple camera to take pictures of everything, and a pamphlet to guide the driver through all the procedures, with blank spaces for all the information (including a drawing of the accident scene). The whole time, I stayed in the truck and kept my mouth shut, which I thought would be the best thing to do. As expected, Jimmy received a Qualcomm message ordering him back to the Greer terminal for the mandatory post-accident drug and alcohol test. He also got a $200 ticket from the police.
From this point forward, my training session with Jimmy was in limbo. According to Swift policy, when a driver trainer has a rear-end collision - no matter how minor - the driver trainer loses his trainer status for a year. This would be a major loss for Jimmy, since he gets paid 35 cents a mile for all the miles that he and his trainees drive (the trainee gets a flat-rate salary of $350 a week). We figured out how many miles his trainees drive in a year, and he could lose up to $15,000, which is a big chunk of change. We both thought that the truck had been unusually difficult to stop. To be sure, it was empty, and empty rigs have longer stopping distances. But as slowly as we were going (35 mph or so), it shouldn't have taken that long. Later on, when the truck went into the shop, the mechanics found two air brake chambers on the trailer that were completely broken - one was sheared off and just hanging by its linkage and air hose. This certainly could have contributed to the excessively long stopping distance. Jimmy tried very hard to hang on to his training status, appealing to managers up the chain of command. Eventually, however, he lost his training status and had to go back to solo driving.
But due to the lengthy appeal process, that decision was still days away, and we continued driving together for the time being. Now we started on a great adventure: picking up cars in Brunswick, GA, practically within sight of the Atlantic Ocean, and delivering the cars all the way over in California, practically within sight of the Pacific Ocean. I found it hard to believe that the company could make money on an odyssey like that - paying two drivers to take a tractor-trailer truck thousands of miles across the country, just to deliver six cars. But they must make money, since Jimmy has done trips like this before. I won't continue the day-by-day details, but will just tell you about the high points (literally and figuratively).
We crossed the entire continent, state by state. Here are some of the places we stopped, from my logbook: Brunswick, Georgia; Lithia Springs, Georgia; Oxford, Mississippi; Mulberry, Arkansas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; McLean, Texas; Moriarty, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Winslow, Arizona ("...there's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me..."); Essex, California; Buttonwillow, California; Lathrop, California. All that in three days. The dreary wet night slogging our way across Mississippi, passing through Tupelo - the birthplace of Elvis Presley. The wild ride across the Mississippi River on a high steel bridge, in the pre-dawn darkness during a gusty downpour - sheets of rain flying through the headlights, with inky blackness to each side. The long wait at the Oklahoma City terminal while the truck was being fixed - how many times can you play the "Push-Push" game on my cell phone before you go bonkers with boredom. The flat plains of the Texas panhandle with an uninterrupted hemisphere of sky - just like being on a nearly calm ocean frozen in time. The spectacular "Wild West" scenery of western New Mexico - as wild and rugged for us as for the early settlers. The clean, crisp air in the high desert of Arizona - air that's a deep, ultramarine blue. Driving across the Mojave Desert in the wee hours of the morning - stars blazing in the night sky. Descending Tehachapi Pass at the tail-end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in ninth gear with the jake brake on - I didn't even have to step on the brake (jakes are great!). The scary ride up I-5 in California - pea-soup fog at 60 mph (Jimmy was driving).
By this time, I was really enjoying the trip, and considered it to be a great "introduction to trucking" as well as a fascinating adventure. Jimmy and I got along well and enjoyed each other's company. I was learning a lot and getting better all the time. I was even getting better at sleeping while the truck was moving. (Eventually, you get tired enough to sleep through anything.) We delivered the cars in suburban Walnut Creek, CA, just east of San Francisco Bay, and waited for our next dispatch: pick up cars in Southern California, then head back east to Michigan, delivering cars along the way.
We headed south and picked up cars in Oxnard (north of L.A.) and in National City (south of San Diego). Along the way, we drove on a stretch of highway that paralleled the coast, within sight of the Pacific Ocean (which was truly "Pacific" - peaceful - that day). We saw palm trees, an aircraft carrier, and lots and lots of highways and cars. After loading up, we headed east on I-8, and at one point, passed within a few miles of Baja California, Mexico. On our way through Southern California, we heard, to our shock, that the Space Shuttle had crashed. It seemed hard to believe that such a terrible tragedy could occur, and we continued to follow the story as we worked our way east.
We entered Arizona, stopping for the night at the Swift terminal in Phoenix, which is at the company headquarters. I noticed that the Phoenix terminal was very fancy, with beautiful facilities including a 24-hour restaurant. I guess they figured that nothing was too good for the top brass. They ought to show as much concern for the other terminals, too. The next day, we headed north to I-40, passing through Flagstaff. I was again dazzled by the beauty of the desert southwest, although you have to wonder how long can they keep building cities and towns before they finally run out of drinking water. On the stretch from Winslow, AZ to Albuquerque, NM, it was very windy, and numerous tumbleweeds were bouncing and rolling across the highway. I could feel the truck shaking in the gusts, and could actually see the trailer leaning over as well as weathervaning. (When the trailer weathervanes, it doesn't travel in a straight line behind the tractor. Instead, the rear of the trailer gets blown several inches out of line, due to the force of the wind.)
After delivering a car in Albuquerque, we headed north on I-25 into Colorado. Along the way, we passed through Cuba, Trinidad, and Las Vegas, although these were small local towns rather than their more famous counterparts. I noticed something that I thought was rather amusing - the futility of high speed limits. Out west, the speed limits were frequently 75 mph, but they might as well have been 175 mph - our Swift truck was goverened at 60 mph. You see a sign, "Reduce Speed Ahead", and you prepare to slow down. But the speed limit only drops from 75 to 65, so you can still keep it floored, the "Swift" truck moseying along at a measley 60. We delivered a car in Colorado Springs, CO, then stopped at the Swift terminal in Denver for some chores. The Denver terminal was a little weird. When I walked into the driver's lounge and looked around, I saw a strange collection of misfits hanging out in the lounge. Each table had exactly one person, each of whom was morose-looking and weird in his own way. Everybody was silently staring at the TV set, which was spewing out some banal non-entertainment. I couldn't help thinking to myself, is this going to happen to me, too? Will I turn into a morose weirdo?
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