First Week Solo

I've just finished up my first week of driving.  I've driven my butt off and am taking my first 34 hour reset.  Luckily, the delivery window for my current load is a few days wide, so I can take my reset and still deliver on-time.  My route took me through Kentucky near a friend's house, so I'll be able to get some much-needed time out of the truck and it'll be good so see a familiar face.

I've driven from North Carolina to Michigan to Georgia to Kentucky to Indiana and right now I'm in Kentucky on my way to Mississippi.  Sometime soon, I'm hoping to get a load going to the northwest. That's where the company headquarters are and the truck I'm in is going to be sold (and I have no idea which truck I'll be in next) whenever I can get it there. 

It's been a really good week.  The low point was at the end of my first day.  I was pulling into a Walmart parking lot and I hit a post (you know those 3' high yellow posts that protect the light poles?  I hit one of those).  It bent my tandem release arm into one of my tires.  So not only did I have to report an incident on my first day, I had to wait around the next morning until someone could come and change out the damaged tire. 

I haven't managed to get home yet (because we're trying to get this truck to the northwest as soon as possible).  I don't want to take hometime, but I would like to go by my house to pick up a few things (my 12v cooler and CB radio amongst others) for the truck.  I live near an interstate, so I'm hoping I can get a load going through that area sometime in the next few weeks.

Things I've learned:

Rest stops are much quieter (and less-crowded) than truck stops at night. Unless I specifically need a shower or laundry, I will always try to plan so that I can end my day at a rest stop. After dark, truck stops get full and it's difficult (and sometimes impossible) to find an open space. Also, if you're a newbie like me, there might be an open space.... but you and your primitive parking skills will never be able to get your truck into it. Much easier to get there earlier in the day (to beat the rush) or skip the truck stop altogether.  Keep in mind that fewer people at a rest stop means that if there's an emergency, there aren't as many people around to help. 

Also, if you wait until night time to take a shower, you'll have a long wait. If you stop at a truck stop in the middle of the day, there's lots of open parking and often no wait at all for the shower. So much easier.

Take along more than a week's worth of clothing. I've been on the road for a week and (and to three of our terminals after I left Conover) and this truck stop that I'm at now is the first place that I could do laundry. If I had a few more changes of clothes, it wouldn't have been such a pain. Again, plan ahead.

Oh, and a bit of advice: if you can't find your underarm deodorant, never EVER think "oh, I'll just use this spray dry shampoo... it's practically the same thing!" because you will chemically burn your armpits.

Learn from my mistakes, people. They're hilarious!