Saturday, March 17, 2012
Happy St. Paddy's Day!
I haven't written in a while and I'm sorry about that. I'm on the road in a trainer's truck and right now, we're sitting at a Love's truck stop in Hogansville, Georgia. Since finishing orientation with WEL Companies last week, I spent a weekend running from De Pere, Wisconsin, to Quincy, Michigan and back via Kalamazoo and a place with an unpronounceable Indian name in Wisconsin with lots of O's in it. That was a great trip, what with dealing with an 80,000 pound truck, almost hitting several deer, and a blinding snow storm that completely obscured the road. It's amazing how "fast" 10 mph can seem at 2:00 a.m. On a backcountry, rural road in near-whiteout conditions. I also spent the week making local deliveries around the Green Bay area, which was fun. Then it was on the road for three weeks and three days, which is what I'm doing now.
I have a really good trainer, Lee. He's a quiet Georgia boy who pretty much lets me drive as much as I want and make all the mistakes I can. It's the best way to learn all this and I appreciate him for it. He hasn't been home for more than two weeks, so he's visiting his wife about 10 miles away; that's why I'm here, alone in the truck until this afternoon. The company does not force routing or fuel stops and the load we have delivers in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on Monday. How we get there is up to us as long as we make our delivery at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. That's good to know since I have children and grandchildren in Oklahoma City.
So far, I've put 4,179 miles on the truck and have about 7-8,000 or so training miles to go. I get off the training truck on April 2 and take the final road test on April 3. After that, I get my own truck, driver manager, and deliveries. I'm pretty excited.
Oh. And I get a new granddaughter in early April, too! And you KNOW I'm excited about that!
Friday, March 2, 2012
Very big week
As I write this, it is Friday afternoon and I am mostly done for the week - more about that later - and there is much to tell because I haven't written at all this week. So let me get to it.
I got on the 'Hound - that would Greyhound Bus - last Saturday and arrived shortly in Green Bay after 1:00 a.m. Central Time. I had Sunday off and went to WEL Companies' training facility to meet the others in the new drivers class. There were six of us altogether; among them, I had the least experience. Two had less than 6 months and three had more than 5 years. One was going to lease and the rest would be company drivers. One driver was from Washington, DC, one was from Chicago, one from Milwaukee, two were "between houses" and planned to live in his truck, one was from Columbus, Ohio, and there was me from Western Michigan.
The first order of business was drug tests and physicals, which we all passed. Then there were a series of flexibility and strength tests given by a physical therapist to simulate lifting, pulling, pushing, and climbing things we might have to do on a daily basis. Again, we all passed.
The rest of Monday was spent watching safety videos and receiving briefings from company reps on all sorts of topics.
Tuesday was all about two things: more videos and PowerPoint presentations and the company's pre-employment road test that consisted of a 20-minute trip around the local area to see where we all were on the ability range. Though I did well enough to continue, I repeated two weaknesses I had in training...I missed a couple of gears and cut a right turn too close. But as before, we all did well enough to continue. It turns out this was a wee bit unusual. The company is very careful in the hiring process, but most classes lose one or two at various phases; not ours.
We became employees on Wednesday when the road, drug, and physical results were received and evaluate. We got our driver codes, which is how we're identified in all company databases and paperwork. Things like proper pay and legal logging depends on it.
Thursday was more training and visits to the Safety Department and we met our driver managers, the people with whom we would communicate before, during, and after every trip. We also met the supervisor of driver managers who basically said, 'If you have any problem your driver manager can't handle, call me.' We learned that four of the six drivers would be leaving with their trainers Thursday night and the other two, another student and me, would stay in town for next week, which is what we all planned on, anyway.
Which brings me to today, Friday. The snow has begun to fall and we spent the morning on the range learning how the company wants a pre trip inspection to be done how to move the tandems - the tires on the back of the trailer to make small adjustments in weight distribution - and how to secure freight inside the reefer trailers they operate.
I also learned that I will be team-driving with one of the senior drivers to and from Michigan starting Saturday evening. I am excited.
Oh. Did I mention he also happens to be the CEO's brother and the grandson of the founder. No pressure there.
I got on the 'Hound - that would Greyhound Bus - last Saturday and arrived shortly in Green Bay after 1:00 a.m. Central Time. I had Sunday off and went to WEL Companies' training facility to meet the others in the new drivers class. There were six of us altogether; among them, I had the least experience. Two had less than 6 months and three had more than 5 years. One was going to lease and the rest would be company drivers. One driver was from Washington, DC, one was from Chicago, one from Milwaukee, two were "between houses" and planned to live in his truck, one was from Columbus, Ohio, and there was me from Western Michigan.
The first order of business was drug tests and physicals, which we all passed. Then there were a series of flexibility and strength tests given by a physical therapist to simulate lifting, pulling, pushing, and climbing things we might have to do on a daily basis. Again, we all passed.
The rest of Monday was spent watching safety videos and receiving briefings from company reps on all sorts of topics.
Tuesday was all about two things: more videos and PowerPoint presentations and the company's pre-employment road test that consisted of a 20-minute trip around the local area to see where we all were on the ability range. Though I did well enough to continue, I repeated two weaknesses I had in training...I missed a couple of gears and cut a right turn too close. But as before, we all did well enough to continue. It turns out this was a wee bit unusual. The company is very careful in the hiring process, but most classes lose one or two at various phases; not ours.
We became employees on Wednesday when the road, drug, and physical results were received and evaluate. We got our driver codes, which is how we're identified in all company databases and paperwork. Things like proper pay and legal logging depends on it.
Thursday was more training and visits to the Safety Department and we met our driver managers, the people with whom we would communicate before, during, and after every trip. We also met the supervisor of driver managers who basically said, 'If you have any problem your driver manager can't handle, call me.' We learned that four of the six drivers would be leaving with their trainers Thursday night and the other two, another student and me, would stay in town for next week, which is what we all planned on, anyway.
Which brings me to today, Friday. The snow has begun to fall and we spent the morning on the range learning how the company wants a pre trip inspection to be done how to move the tandems - the tires on the back of the trailer to make small adjustments in weight distribution - and how to secure freight inside the reefer trailers they operate.
I also learned that I will be team-driving with one of the senior drivers to and from Michigan starting Saturday evening. I am excited.
Oh. Did I mention he also happens to be the CEO's brother and the grandson of the founder. No pressure there.
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