Well...where to start...Guess I should have started this a year ago when it all began. So I guess I will summarize the last year...just to catch you up...than give you daily insights into my life on the road in a big rig. I'm from West Virginia and the job market there...like everywhere else is horrible and I was working for just above minimum wage as a truck stop cashier (husband is a truck driver). Husband says "Why don't you just get your CDL's and drive truck since the kid's are about grown. (Elizabeth was almost 18) For some unknown reason I said OK...LOL, so the journey began.
I got enrolled in a tech school that offered the CDL course. I learned how to drive a school bus first and then came the big rig...WOO HOO. It was interesting to say the least...but in the end I got my license with all my endorsements on June 29, 2012.
Well, it took 4 months for me to decide what I was going to do with it. I spoke with my brother and husband and decided that Knight Transportation was a good place to start...called them on Friday and was on a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, IN on Sunday for Monday orientation. 4 days later I was on a bus back home because they didn't have a trainer for me. I wanted one that smoked and bathed..would never have thought that it would be so difficult to find someone that smoked and bathed but this is trucking after all. After 3 weeks at home they called and said they found a trainer out of Tulsa, OK and she would meet me on Thursday in West Virginia at the Pilot truck stop...and so the journey was really beginning. I knew right from the start that Windy (my trainer) would be wonderful. She was patient, funny, kind and had my strange sense of humor...perfect...we had to be stuck in a truck for 4 weeks together so I was worried. We got along great and she is now my closest friend.
After I tested out of her truck and got my own I got to experience alot by working for Knight...they were very good to me and a wonderful company to work for. It helped that I had a great driver manager (Mike), and he let me spread my wings. I traveled all over the US and have seen beautiful places. Wyoming and Idaho in the winter are breathtaking. The northeast, not so fun.
But on July 28, 2013 that all changed. I lost my brother suddenly and got the call while in Tully, NY. Mike got me home for his service and I spent a week at home with my family. My father is 71 and was still driving truck and said that he was gonna retire (life's to short kinda thing) and wanted to know if I wanted to buy his truck. I wasn't so sure that was a good idea so I went back on the road with Knight...after about 2 weeks of discussions with my father about his truck he finally talked me into it...again I was in Tully, NY. My final load took me back to Columbus, OH where I took a leave of absence and cleaned out my truck and headed home to start a new adventure (Owner Operator).
I had decided to lease my new old truck on with the same company that my husband was leased to (Universal Am-Can). It took 4 long weeks to get leased on because I was 3 months shy of having a year over the road, but in the end I finally got leased on. Once I got leased on I decided that my husband should drive team with me and that we would make more money (HAHAHA) so he heads home...parks his truck and we prepare to go on the road. We put in a refrigerator, microwave and bought an electric skillet, toaster, waffle maker, coffee pot and some food. I really don't like eating at truck stops. We are finally ready to leave on August 9th.
We loaded in Clarksburg, WV heading to Pearland, TX. Load didn't deliver until Monday the 12th so I didn't have to drive...just sat in the passenger seat and enjoyed the view from the other side. We got to where we were delivering and pulled into a pipe yard...man couldn't speak English...so communication was very very limited but he pointed to where we could park for the night. The next morning when the business we were delivering to was supposed to open...low and behold...not open. Husband saw someone pulling out of connecting driveway and stopped him to ask how to get unloaded and he enlightened us that they had a death in the family and was unaware that we were coming. He was very nice and called his brothers in to unload us...they turned out to be great people.
Husband spoke to agents and got us a load to Lakeland, FL because we had to go pick up my 10 year old step-son that had spent the summer there. I had it all planned out so that husband would have to drive clear to Florida but that didn't work the way I planned it and I ended up driving the last 50 miles into the receiver and delivered. After we were unloaded we went to the 301 Truck stop in Tampa to wait for Austin and his mother. We had been in many discussions about who would care for him while he was in school and we were on the road and in the end everyone thought it would be a wonderful idea if he went to virtual school and rode in the truck with us with me overseeing his education (start of journey 2).
We couldn't find a load on Wednesday, or Thursday so husband decided on Friday we would take a partial to get out of Florida and would go up into Georgia and wait till Monday to find another partial and head to Oklahoma City for Wednesday delivery...not sure it's gonna happen but we'll see...so here I sit in Lake Park, GA at the TA truck stop.
So, Its 10 year old, husband, and myself in this truck (never knew so much junk would fit) and we are going to school and trucking up and down the road. The journey has had a rough start and I am hoping that it only gets better from here. I will keep everyone posted on where we are at...what we are doing, how we are doing and our adventures or mis-adventures along the way. Hope you all enjoy the ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment