Out w/ TE… Days 1 to 7

Well, when they said we’d be busy they weren’t kidding!  I’m typing this a little at a time whenever we’re stopped, or Curtis is driving (and the road’s smooth enough.  Here’s a brief rundown of the first half of my ‘TE’ time.

Wednesday, 10/11:

Met Val (my TE) and Curtis (my fellow trainee) at the Charlotte OC at 11am.  Once we got our stuff loaded into the tractor and somewhat settled the three of us had the usual chat about expectations, introduced ourselves to each other, etc.

Our first load; pick up a trailer at the OC and deliver it to a Sam’s Club Distribution Center in South Charlotte at 11pm.  Val hit the roof and called his STL, who was going to try to get us assigned to something else.  However the load stayed with us and we ended up doing a little backing practice, then just hung around the OC until time to leave.  When we finally did get to the delivery it turned out that there was a scheduling SNAFU and they wouldn’t accept the load, so we hauled the trailer back to the OC.

Once that load was delivered we were out of hours for the day, so Val and I just went home for the evening and Curtis stayed in the truck.

Thursday, 10/12:

Got back to the truck ~10am and we’re finally off.  We’re picking up a load in Whitsett, NC bound for Iowa City, IA.  Now THAT’S more like it!  Val drove bobtail to Whitsett, then had me couple the trailer and head out.  I drove until we got through NC, VA, WV, and into Ohio where Curtis took over*.  We ended up spending the night in Jackson, OH.  As stated earlier, Val stays in a motel room and Curtis and I share the truck’s sleeping quarters, so we stayed in a gravel lot behind the motel.

*Since I was the first to drive on Wednesday night, Val has me driving first each day.  About half way through our time with him he’ll have us switch.

Friday, 10/13:

Started out ~8:30am, drove to the Indianapolis, IN OC.  We stopped long enough to get fuel and grab a quick lunch, then Curtis drove us as far as Iowa City, IA and we were able to deliver our load before stopping for the evening.  We parked at a fancier motel in town this time, and there were a few fast food places nearby.

Saturday, 10/14:

Val drove us bobtail to neighboring West Branch, IA first thing this morning where we picked up our next load headed for New Braunfels, TX.  I coupled the trailer when we got to the shipper and drove as far as Lamoni, IA before Curtis took over for the evening.  We spent our evening in another motel’s gravel parking area in Big Cabin, OK.

Sunday, 10/15:

Up until now the weather has been quite nice, but it was raining when we got up this morning.  We left at 11am and I drove across the TX border as far as Preston, TX in on and off driving rain.  Curtis took over, and after a brief stop at the Dallas OC took us to our destination.  We dropped our load in New Brunfels and stopped for the night at (you guessed it) a motel parking lot.

Monday, 10/16:

Once again Val drove bobtail to get our next load at the Laredo OC in Laredo, TX.  This shipment was coming from across the Mexican border and headed to Browns Summit, NC.  From our route plan it looks like we’ll be able to grab one of our 10 hour DOT breaks at the Charlotte, OC (WOOHOO!). 

I coupled and pretripped the trailer while Val went into the OC for our paperwork.  I found a flat on the trailer and had to take it to maintenance for a replacement, and in the mean time Val found that the Bill of Lading for this shipment was still in Mexico.  We were told to expect about an hour delay while it was faxed to us.

About an hour and a half later Val got tired of waiting, so he filled out a local BOL form to get us started (we’ll pick up a faxed copy at another OC down the road).  It was about 3:30pm before we left, and I drive us as far as Seguin, TX before switching with Curtis.  He took us to Sealy, TX where we stopped for the evening.

Tuesday, 10/17:

This morning Val had us switch ’shifts’, so Curtis took us out.  It was raining again this morning but started clearing shortly after we got on the road.  We made one stop at the Houston OC, then around 2pm stopped again for lunch at a huge Petro Truck Stop in Beaumont, TX.  I took over from there and drove us to the Evergreen OC in Evergreen, AL.  This was a personal best, by the way, since I took us ~320 miles before stopping for the evening.