Hard to believe

truckergirl · Feb 4, 2007

Well, hard to believe but we are starting our new adventure tomorrow! We are driving from Texas to Ohio for orientation, then driving the truck back to Texas so I can get my license here. Within about a week and a half from now we will be "in service" and on the road.
I have just spent the better part of my morning re-reading archived posts on this site so I can feel even more prepared. Its amazing how much info is on here! I have bookmarked the KOA website and Zak has already ordered frequent fueler/reward cards for the major truckstop gas stations. We got a GPS unit that is a lot of fun to use and will certainly save tons of time in the future!
Thanks to everyone for their support and continued help to the "newbies". We appreciate it all!

terryandrene · Feb 4, 2007

We're all rootin' for you and Zak's continued involvement in EO. We thank you for the post and the kind words; that's why all the members frequent this site..to give a little and take a little

Good Luck at orientation.

nightcreacher · Feb 4, 2007

>Well, hard to believe but we are starting our new adventure
>tomorrow! We are driving from Texas to Ohio for orientation,
>then driving the truck back to Texas so I can get my license
>here. Within about a week and a half from now we will be "in
>service" and on the road.
>I have just spent the better part of my morning re-reading
>archived posts on this site so I can feel even more
>prepared. Its amazing how much info is on here! I have
>bookmarked the KOA website and Zak has already ordered
>frequent fueler/reward cards for the major truckstop gas
>stations. We got a GPS unit that is a lot of fun to use and
>will certainly save tons of time in the future!
>Thanks to everyone for their support and continued help to
>the "newbies". We appreciate it all!
i hate to say this,but round trip air fare would be cheaper

truckergirl · Feb 4, 2007

Well it would be one way since we would be driving the truck home...But we would have to rent a car, and we have the dog...My car gets pretty good gas mileage so it works out better this way. Although flying would certainly be quicker.

zman3k · Feb 5, 2007

I did actually investigate the cost of flying up there, b/c frankly that's the way I would have wanted to go because we refuse to ride a bus, and Amtrak...well, it's Amtrak, comfortable ride, but the timetable is, at best, inaccurate due to things within and beyond Amtrak's control. I mean I guess we could have left today on Amtrak and probably made it on time, or we could leave tomorrow and be scheduled to arrive in Cleveland at 0207 the first day of orientation. But we do drive a relatively fuel efficient car, and we were first decided to do this, we examined all available transportation options and figured that driving would be the best way to go, if not the least expensive, b/c as I said we refuse to ride a bus, and Amtrak is Amtrak, and airfare was well out of our range to still have money to start comfortably down this road.

And we're driving straight through to Ohio, so it'll be good practice for the new job.

zman3k · Feb 7, 2007

Well, we finally made it to Seville....at about 9:30AM, and for those keeping score that'd be 2.5 hours late. But in our defense when we got to Cincinnati they had a freak snow storm that left about 6" of snow behind. It took us about 3 hours to get from I-275 on the south to north of downtown Cincinatti. Needless to say we had been on the road for about 24 hours due to the delay, and I convinced my teammate that we should shut down for the night, so we grabbed a motel room and slept it off, and when we left this morning, ODOT had done a reasonably good job of clearing the highways, but Holly says that typical and she would know because she spent her highschool years there. I, however, have never lived north of Arlington, TX; although, the snow and stuff is pretty, it's the temperatures in the teens, single digits and sub-zero that rattle me bones. Or shiver...whatever.

Now about orientation, I like what they have to say thus far. They're picky about the right things. And their drivers' manual/handbook, I've read ahead, has some pretty good information about their operation and other aspects of expediting. After the class day was over, we went over to where the trucks were parked and we found two trucks owned by our fleet owners, and they appear to be nice little jobs ('06 KW T300, 96" sleeper, 22' box, automatic transmission [assuming a 6 speed]). I can't wait to get my hands on it and give it a good once over and do a little driving.

We've decided that instead of going straight back to Texas, we're going to run for a couple of weeks, and then try to get something heading south so we can get home to get Holly tested. So after the last day of orientation we're going to head down to Dayton and leave her car at her parents house and probably wait in that area and see if we can't get loaded and running, as well as get Holly started on some driving practice whilst we're waiting around.

davekc · Feb 7, 2007

Good luck on your new gig. Let us know how that KW works for you.
We have had real good luck with ours.

Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

zman3k · Feb 9, 2007

Well, we finished orientation today, and got to take a test drive in the truck. It's lot different than I thought it would be, but it'll be manageable. However, I got used to the smooth ride of a tour bus, and this truck rides so darn rough, thank goodness for air ride. Tomorrow we're going to head down to Dayton, drop off Holly's car, get our last home cooked meal for some time, and then go into service from Dayton tomorrow evening. We're planning on running regular for about a week and a half and then go on a search for a load to or near home to get Holly to DPS to have her take and pass her test, and in addition we're probably going to get the ball rolling on our HazMat endorsements.

zman3k · Feb 9, 2007

And another thing, I'm going to have to dump fuel in this thing tomorrow, as I've never had to fuel at a truck stop before, save a few times in San Marcos where we had a contract, how does one go about doing that without making a total NCP of him/herself?

x06col · Feb 9, 2007

OOOOOBOY! this'll be a good read too. Jes pull up there an stick that pumper thing in there, an lett'er go.
Good luck folks!!

highway star · Feb 10, 2007

Not all have the same procedure, but most of the time you'll pick up the phone by the pumps, answer the questions they ask, and then begin transferring the liquid gold into your tanks. Or, did you need to know how to get the caps off?:+

:+

Broompilot · Feb 10, 2007

Go ahead and laugh. I had a *%^$## the first time. Yep I shut off the pump before going over to the Satelite Pump.

Honestly if a rookie were to walk up to me and explaine hey can ya help me out I would be glad to show you the steps. Ask and most likely ones gona get a helping hand.

I could list about 10 other mistakes just starting out. Ones enough.

TeamBud8 · Feb 10, 2007

Whatever happened to Zak driving a bus,and Truckergirl going on her own? That was a thread that lasted way too long.Good luck,y'all !!

catshavestaff · Feb 10, 2007

>Go ahead and laugh. I had a *%^$## the first time. Yep I
>shut off the pump before going over to the Satelite Pump.
>
>Honestly if a rookie were to walk up to me and explaine hey
>can ya help me out I would be glad to show you the steps.
>Ask and most likely ones gona get a helping hand.
>
>I could list about 10 other mistakes just starting out.
>Ones enough.

Wayne did that the first time, too! We had to call our owner, ES, to authorize an override on the Tchek fuel card, and pay for the satellite side separately. We were on a load and a very tight time schedule, too. Isn't it Cheri that says no question is a dumb one? She's right!;-)

ATeam · Apr 10, 2007

Diane and I met truckergirl and zman3K yesterday. We were parked at a Steak and Shake. They saw the truck and approached us to introduce themselves. We ate dinner together. These two are off to a promising start in the business. It was fun getting to know them.