Newbie Run

[carpunky]

Hiya,

As I am getting exited about driving again wanted to pass on my 1st driving adventure for newbies who are just starting out.


I just graduated from my CDL school and really preferred NOT to drive the Semi- even though I had obtained my class "A "

I took a job with a O/O with a 60/40 split..

I was on my way..I picked up the truck to head out to Ogden,Utah from St.Louis ,Mo. The truck was empty so I stopped to fill her up and had a jehovas witness come over and give me a phamplet. That kind of scared or gave me comfort i'm not sure.

I thought to myself as driving down highway 270 in St.Louis..Ok..the truck was out of gas and i'm getting a message from god about something !

I had planned the route the night before and printed everything out. Being my 1st run in a straight truck....I was a little nervous.

I kept having thoughts that I looked up the wrong location and I was going the wrong way...so everytime that I stopped I would double check the atlas.

Then i felt natures call to releive myself as I pulled into a rest stop about 100 miles from Nebraska. Now , I am thinking to myself ..did I get the keys out of the ignition..did I lock the keys in the truck..oh my gosh...I stuck my hands in my pocket to find them there but I think one of the gentlemen standing next to me was thinking I must have been trying to give him a signal. He started enquiring about where I was going etc...Whelp...I told him goodbye and ran to my truck.

I was getting low on fuel by the time...I hit Nebraska. I pulled into the 1st gas station that served deisel. Of course, I couldnt figure out how to work the pumps and looked like a fool out there. I finally went inside to get some help. I was at the wrong side...I had no clue there were pumps for the secondary side and you had to activate the main pump 1st.

It started getting late and I pulled into rest stop in Nebraska. I stayed in my truck to check things out 1st and call my finacee to let her know that I was still alive and where I was located.

A tractor trailer pulled up next to me ,when I saw that he was getting out of the truck, I hopped out of my beast. I asked him if it was safe to park here...he laughed and told me that I was in Nebraska and that I would have no problems unless I was allergic to corn.

I went inside to get something to eat and get a disposable camera for my adventure. There was really not much to do so I went back to my truck and after a couple more hours of watching truckers drive up and drive away. I crawled back up in my sleeper and layed there wondering if I was going to die from affixiation if I kept my truck running.

ok...sorry...didnt know so much happened...i'm a little tired..but you get the point...

Jeff

 

[RichM]

Ok I have to ask this. If you were in St Louis going to Utah what made you go up to Nebraska. You could have taken I 70 West to Denver,I 25 N to Cheyenne Wyoming then I 80 W to Utah. Or stay on I 70 to Green River Utah,then US 6 to Salt Lake City and up to Odgen.
Perhaps those Jehovas Witnesses put a spell on you:+

 

[carpunky]

Absolutley correct...That is actually the way That i came back...I had never been west of St.Louis driving and Denver sounded like it had alot of mountains....so I chose to avoid it. I knew nebraska was flat. All I could think of was the horror stories of driving through the mountains and people letting there truck get away from them. The wind in wyoming was enough for me...lol

As it turned out , I would have had nothing to worry about if I had chose that way.


Jeff

 

[terryandrene]

Seems like Jeff is pulling our collective legs. CDL school must have discussed some of his 'Ettiquite' questions. If not I sure hope he logged and scaled his way thru Neb. Enjoyed the post; keep 'em coming.

 

[carpunky]

Hiya,

Terry and Rene...I see that you are from Mo also...Pulling your leg...No

I did keep a log and pulled into every weigh station and found a wealth of information.

I did get pulled into wyoming port of call, i think it was wyoming, I had no clue what to bring in with me, so I just took my log book.

the lady said she needed all kinds of other stuff and I asked her to write down what she needed and I would look in the truck for it.

Lol..honest to god...I had no clue and informed her of my situation. I never drove with anyone and just graduated from CDL school and was driving for the owner. She asked to see my log books and told me that everything looked fine and to get the rest of the stuff she needed.

I didnt have a fuel tag ( something like that for wyoming ) so I had to buy that.

She was really nice and asked me if I had any other questions .

I just asked if I was pointed in the right direction to St.Louis and she laughed.

Jeff

 

[terryandrene]

Hey neighbor, I sure believe you as we were equally ignorant during our first 6 mos or so. Gator tails, pickle parks and good buddies were all alien to our vocabulary. We thought a white wrapper was an entertainer then known as Vanilla Ice. We registered a 1 ton van in MO with 18,000 lb plates cause we avoided sales tax that way. Little did we know that that registered wt determined the need to scale and log also, required to apportion fuel tax $. Didnt take long to scale back the plate wt. You're lucky in that you have a web site to get answers to basic question. We had to trial and error our way thru the rules, regs and social graces.
Terry

 

[RichM]

Could this be the -Team playing with us??:+