4/03/07

Hello again. It's been a few days since I last wrote. Here is what happened since I last wrote:

I hung around the motel on Friday and Saturday morning and got to the terminal at about 1:30 on Sat. I met my lead driver. She is a lady that knows what she wants and isn't affried to get it. At first I was scared of her because she told me that not a lot of students made it all the way though trainning with her, but after I got to know her better I relaxed.

She is a solo driver who trains students. When I met her she was under a load going up to Massachuchits. She ended up driving all night to get it there and once she started driving I knew she meant bussiness.

I stayed up watching her drive till about 1AM and then went to sleep. I woke up a few times when she was slowing down and what not but other then that I slept right on through. I woke up in MA at the cosighnes yard and was awake while she backed into the dock. After that I fell back asleep until we were unloaded and ready to leave. At that point I got up and we drove to a rest area which is where we are sitting right now waiting for a load.

Well once we get a load I am going to be driving, right on the Mass Pike, wish me luck. I know I'll be fine.

Anyway I'll keep updating whenever I get a chance. Until then keep driving and be safe.

Redapple

4/10/07

Hello again. Here's what's been going on:

So as it turned out we got a load a few days latter going to Fontana CA. Damn, that's a long way to drive. My trainer ended up driving in MA and I took over someplace in NY and drove us back to the yard in Charlisle PA. We then took showers and she drove us the rest of the way out to Fontana.

At that point I was getting discouraged because she was not letting me drive much, but I told myself that I would give it one more day and if she didn't let me drive then I would ask for a new trainer.

Once we got to Fontana we dropped the load at the Sports Athority warehouse and went bobtail to the suppermarket. By this point we had already gotten a load going to Kansas City MO which we needed to picked up by 4pm pacific time on Sunday the 8^th and be delivered on Monday the 9^th by 9PM.

Once we got the load she drove us to the highway and I took over. I drove about one hour and stopped because she needed to sleep. She slept until 5pm on the 9^th and then we got rolling again. I drove to Oklahoma City OK and we got fuel at a Pilot. Then I drove us out of OK City and drove until about 11pm. Then she took over and drove us into Kansas City. We got to Kansas City at around 3am. We were late for the drop, which didn't really matter since she notified CRST about it.

So we dropped the trailer at a USF warehouse and preceded to find a place to sleep for the night. She found a rest area on I-70 so we head toward it but before we got there we found a parking area off of 70 which is where we slept.

By the time we went to sleep it was about 3am and we didn't get up until 12pm on Tuesday the 10^th. Then we spent some time waiting for a load at the parking area. Then she got a call from CRST saying that she had to got for a random drug test. We drove to the testing site and she parked in a truck stop. I hung out in the truck stop while she took the test and then we found a Waffle House and got some food. Then we spent several more hours hanging out at a truck stop before going to a Wallmart.

Let me warn everyone now that Wallmarts are very dangerous because even if you go into one with the intention of not buying anything you will by something. I ended up buying over $100 worth of dvds. They will come in handy on the road during down time though.

So now we are sitting at a TA in Kansas City for the night. I just took a shower in a very nice clean shower room. I am adjusting well to this lifestyle and am really having fun. Also on the way out to Fontana I got to see a lot of butiful country that I have never seen before and would probably never have seen had I not decided to pursue this. All those states in the southern Midwest are really butiful.

Well that's all for now. I have to go to sleep, cause once we get loaded and get a trailer I am going to be driving and practicing alto of shifting so I can really get this driving down. My trainer does not want anyone coming off of her truck not knowing how to do the job. I can't wait.

Wish me luck.

Redapple