Week 3

This week started early with a phone call for us to leave staurday night instead of early sunday morning. No problem I am packed and ready at a moments notice. I am thinking this is the life of a trucker so get used to it.
Sunday. Our first load was to go to Ardmore, Oklahoma. We delivered early and then we DH to our next load which is in Pryor, OK. When we get there we find out that there are no papers for the load and we would have to come back the next morning. So this early start just shot us in the foot. So now we are at a convenience store with truck parking in the middle of nowhere oklahoma. My trainer sits in his truck, watching his tv, sitting on his bed, and calls in on his layover pay. Meanwhile I am bored out of my mind and there wasn't anything interesting within walking distance. It was only five PM and we were due to the shipper until 8 am which is just five minutes drive away. About 6pm we go to eat at this hole in the wall within walking distance and I payed $12 for 12 hours of serious heartburn and greasy nauseia. About 9pm I settle in the bunk and tryed not to throw up and get some sleep in.
This is where training kinda stinks. I am a guest in someone's home. My trainer is considerate to me but I have no control where we sleep or eat. As we were leaving Pryor I see just a couple of miles down the road were plenty of better restaurants and a superwalmart. If I had known that existed in this town and I was in my own truck I would have spent my time and money a lot better. Hell I would have at least bought a dvd player and some movies to watch at the walmart. At least I brought my MP3 player and could listen to my music on my headphones. I had that and a deck of cards for solitaire for my entertainment.
Monday rolls around FINALLY and we get our papers. While we were there switching trailers a lady at the dock kindly tells us that we could have gotten the papers early if security had done their job right. How was this info supposed to help us now? Great now we are even angrier about it. Yay. Thanks! (sarcasm)
Finally I get behind the wheel and I drive almost the whole trip up to Franklin, Indiana. We get lost due to bad directions and started seeing roads where big trucks were never meant to be. Luckily we find a construction site for a housing development to turn around in and after a quick phone call we found the right way. We do a L/UL and head to the shipper which is just down the road. Going back to Pryor. My trainer drives to about an hour outside of St. Louis and it's sleeper time.
Tuesday. In the morning he drives to Pacific, MO where we shower. I drive afterwards and we get a call to drop this at the yard in Springfield. After I drive to the yard we drop and then we pick up another trailer in the yard which goes to Olathe, KS. Since we are home I eat dinner at my house and spend a couple of hours with the family. I head back to the yard and trainer drives to KS.
Wednesday. We arrive at the shipper late tuesday night and we hit the sleeper until 5 am which is our appointment time. Then he drives to Independence, MO for our second pt of the load which goes back to Springfield. I drive to the shipper in SGF and then we pick up another load that goes back to KC in which I drive again. Finally I feel like I am getting more seat time. In KC we pick up and have another load back to Springfield. He drives all the way to Springfield. We get in and our next load is ready at the yard to go to Nowata, OK. We wait for maintenence to fix the lights and then he drives to Joplin where we get sleeper time.
Thursday he drives to the little don't blink town and we do a double drop. After that we get deliver that load in Joplin. They refuse the load and we take it back to the yard. I get to drive from Joplin. Now I am home until Sunday.
This week was more driving for me. Especially in rainy weather which was the case most of the week. I am looking at training as boot camp but I am definitely wanting to be in my own truck. Good news is that my trainer says since I am doing so well that I won't have to go the whole 10 weeks to train I just need to get the paperwork aspect down and build up my stamina. That part's hard when I am on someone else's schedule. Let's see what next week brings.