I see by the listing that I have been remiss in writing about my progress. I shall fix that right now! I'm sitting here in a Flying J truck stop near West Rotterdam, NY, working my way through a 34-hour reset because I...well, let's just say there is a 70-hour maximum in 8 days and leave it at that. No need to talk about 71 1/2 hours or poor record keeping or elog misunderstanding, right?
What have I done on the past month? First, I successfully completed OTR training with Lee, though had I known then what I know now, I might have focused his attention on certain areas of my own development...like using the elog system properly. That would have been difficult because the company does not require ALL drivers to transition to electronic logs, only all NEW drivers like me. This is a problem because in my case, Lee kept paper logs and the day I finished my final road test with the Training Department, I went right on electronic logs. I had no training on the setup, the acronyms within the system, or how they interface. One could come to the conclusion that a new driver fresh to electronic logging and without adequate training and experience could, say, misunderstand WHEN to go "off duty" when at a receiver or shopper. Or the impact of not cutting those hours as much as legal because of the maximum duty time of 70-hours in 8 days.
Needless to say, this first solo week has been frustrating and not much fun. Tight schedules, bad weather - snow on I-88 in Western New York?!? Sup wi' dat, bro? - and not meeting my own high personal standards have not helped. In fact, I've cried out to the Great Freightliner In The Sky for one "normal" week like I had in training. Just one. I'm not greedy.
But I have seen Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois. I'm headed back to Penn to pick up some Kraft rejected goods to take to Byron Center, Michigan - not far from my house, though there is no convenient place to drop a trailer so going home is difficult. Maybe they'll let me leave it there for a day or two. Maybe not.
Oh. The best thing that happened to me this year happened on April 12...my daughter gave birth to my newest granddaughter, Macy! And if you think being here in West Rotterdam, NY, and not there in Oklahoma City with my kids isn't the toughest thing, let me assure you it is.
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