Pre-Employment Urine Tests

Practically every legitimate employer will require that you undergo a urinalysis prior to being offered employment. This is to satisfy DOT regulations.

If you have anything in your system, you might as well not even bother taking a urinalysis, because you simply will not beat the test.

My first CDL employer, Reohl, even required a hair sample to be taken along with a urinalysis. The reason for the hair sample is simple: your hair serves as a testimony to any substances you may have ingested for the past four to six months, and even longer for longer strands of hair. Any substances you may have engaged in partaking within that time frame will show up in the hair follicle sample taken, and will show up in test results.

Back to the urinalysis, one driver confided to me that he was, at first, worried that a daily drug taken to combat the HIV virus might hinder his employment prospects. He soon found out that that the lab apparently only seeks out evidence of traces of illegal substances, because he passed every one of his pre-employment and random employment drug tests. Other than his regular HIV medication, he was clean, and apparently not even this daily regimen registered so much as a blip on his urinalysis, as the urinalysis test isn't designed to look for every known phamaceutical ever invented. The test only seeks out the illegal substances.

Still, he was worried about his employer finding out about his HIV status nonetheless. During the orientation, he, along with the other new indoctrinees, was asked to provide a list of current prescriptions. Providing the name of his HIV-related prescription would pretty much incriminate his HIV status, which he wasn't willing to do. I'd agree that it would be none of an employers' business about his medical state, and providing a list of medications would pretty much tell his employer things they didn't need to know. So he didn't provide the list of required medications. I mean, why should he? I wouldn't have.

Turns out, such a list was completely unnecessary, as he passed his first pre-employment test, and every subsequent, despite being on this daily HIV prescription.

Now, if you do have traces of illegal substances in your system, I can provide absolutely no advice whatsoever other than waiting until all traces have completely been flushed out of your system. You may need to seek medical advice to determine when such a timeframe will likely have passed, or seek out pertinent information on the web.

Making Sense of Highway Signage

There is a ton to be written about highway signage. You'll learn most of them by simply being observant as you drive. For example, you'll learn that road construction site signage is notoriously incorrect, ambiguous or missing altogether. If you see a sign that says "Left lane closed ahead", you can bank on not just the left most lane being closed, but maybe the two left-most lanes being closed. Or maybe the left lanes are open and one of the right ones will be closed. You'll see that road signage associated with road construction to be among the least reliable that you'll encounter day in and day out.

Other signage and sign formatting is less subtle.

For example, if you are driving along an interstate and see an overhead sign such as the one below (picture to be uploaded soon), what can you glean from it?

You can tell with 99% certainty on which side of the highway the exit will depart from by looking at the sign. All highway exits exit from either the left side or the right side of the highway. The key is looking at the placement of the "Exit # XX" header sign. If it is situated toward the upper left edge of the primary overhead sign, then the exit is off of the left lane.

Also noteworthy is highway numbering, and exit numbering.

If you pull out your US highway atlas, you'll notice that practically every roadway (with the exception of local routes and city streets) will have a numeric associated with it. Interstates 5, 64, 70, 75 and 95 are all examples of popular US highways. What can the numbers themselves tell you about the interstates?

First, ALL US highways route numbers, and most state and county route numbers follow the same general rule: East-west highways are even numbered, and north-south routes are odd. I-75 and I-95, thus, are north-south interstates, whereas I-40 and I-10 are east-west.

The same holds true for most other signage, although you will notice some mistakes here and there. For example, Route 52 runs through parts of West Virginia and Ohio. In some areas it runs north-south, and in others it runs east-west. Being an even number, it should be an east-west route, but through the Huntington, WV area, Route 52 is shown on overhead signage as being north-south routes. It's been that way for the past 25 years that I've passed through the area.

Also, with respect to interstate routes ONLY, all lower-numbered routes will be in the south and west. Conversely, the higher and higher one goes in terms of highway number, the further and further north and east the highway runs. Thus, I-4 runs east-west through Florida. I-8 runs through southern California. Likewise, I-5 runs north-south through California, and I-95 runs north-south all along the eastern seaboard.

Scattered throughout the US are other US interstates, all between the numbers 4 and 99. Mixed in with the federal interstates are countless state highways, which do not follow this numbering pattern.

State and county roads generally don't follow this system. Route 52 in Ohio is east west, but runs at the very bottom of the state, pretty much running parallel to the Ohio River.

ALL three-digit federal interstate highways will either be a loop around a city (such as 275 around Cincinnati), or a "spur" (a short connector length), such as 471 which runs for about five miles through northern Kentucky, connecting 275 in Ky with 71 in Ohio. There are other three-digit highways that don't follow this rule, but they're also not federal interstates, either; they are most likely state highways, such as Ohio State Route 315 through Columbus, Ohio. Rt. 315 is a highway, like any other, but is not a federal highway.

Not all highways are federal interstates. States can have their own typically-shorter length runs of highway, such as Route 315 in Columbus, Ohio, mentioned above. These shorter spans of highway typically tend to be near larger cities, and typically connect sections of town, or other major highways.

Now, a few notes about state and county routes. As a general rule, the more digits a route has, the worse a road will be. Not always, but typically. Open up your atlas, and look at any page. You'll see interstates, state highways, and local county highways and roads. Ignore the highways for a moment and look at the other routes. Let's look at the Washington, Pa area a little closer. I-70 and I-79 are the principal highways, and Route 40 is a secondary route through the area (Route 40 is also the National Highway, a historic roadway which was the first federally-funded long-range access roadway in the US). If you look closely, there are some three-digit roadways in the area: 519, 844 and 331. These are typically the less-traveled routes, often with lanes not as wide as other major roadways, probably with more curves and hills, and possibly passing through a greater number of three- and four-red light small towns. Some of these less-traveled routes may not even meet the standards for truck traffic, i.e., with low clearances and weight-restricted bridges, so be careful. Closer inspection will reveal even more routes, some with up to four digits. Keep in mind that just because a route has a number assigned to it, it may not necessarily be a truck route. It seems the more digits a route has, the less frequently it is used, and you would be wise to check these routes before ever attempting to land your eighteen wheels on them.

Now, some notes about highway exit numbers. It used to be that states themselves were in charge of setting up the numbering system for the exits on the highways in their states. As a result, in some states, the interstate exits were numbered based upon how far the exit is located from the state line. Other states based their exits strictly in a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... fashion, with little regard for allowances to be made for new exits added in the future.

I-79 in Pennsylvania is a prime example. Used to be that the first exit you came to while heading north upon entering the state from WV was exit #1. Sounds reasonable enough, right? So you drive another seven or eight miles and come to the next one, which was called #2. Well, what happens ten years later when it's decided that a new highway exit is needed between the two? What do you call that one? Exit 1 1/2? Years ago Pennsylvania got with the program and changed all its exit numbers to match the mile markers, so as you drive along I-79, with each exit you pass, you'll see a small sign added which says something like "Old Exit #3", which had been renamed exit 18 (I just made that up, as I have no clue what it really is in real life).

Now, pretty much everywhere that I can think of, exit numbers correspond to the mile marker where the exit is located.

Frequently, you'll see alphabetical suffixes added to exit numbers. If you are traveling north on I-75 and enter Ohio, you'll see exits 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, and 1G. I have no clue why there are no 1A or 1F. Anyways, the numbers represent different exits, if there is more than one exit per highway mile.

Just as importantly, it's worthwhile to note that although all these exits exist, they are not always accessible for every driver. By that I mean a driver headed north may only see 1B, 1C, and 1G. Drivers headed south on I-75 may see 1E, 1D, 1C and 1B, in that order. This is because there simply may not have been a need, nor the room for an exit ramp for the traffic in the opposite-headed direction.

Mile markers are another confusing aspect of the highway system. How are the mile markers based? Where do they begin?

Well, for federal and state highways and routes, the numbers will ALWAYS begin at either:
a) the eastern or southern-most point where the highway enters the state, or
b) the eastern or southern-most point where the highway or route actually begins.

I make the distinction, above, because not all routes and highways will begin at the state line. Let's look at West Virginia, for example. I-79 begins in Charleston and works its way north in to Pa. So, in West Virginia, the mile markers for I-79 will begin at Charleston, and end at the Pa-WV state line. I-79 continues north in to Pa, so the mile markers will reset at the state line and Pa will have its own mile markers, beginning, obviously, with MM 1 a mile in to the state.

Now, for a very tricky interstate numbering system: Let's look at I-94 in Illinois. I-94 is just one of those really weird highways. It's even-numbered, meaning it's overall designation is east-west. Yet, pretty much all the way through Illinois, it runs north-south. Naturally, one would assume, based upon what I said previously, as in practically every other example one can think of, that the highway mile markers would start at the Illinois-Indiana state line and work their way north.

Not so. Since I-94 is an east-west highway, the mile markers will start at the NORTH, at the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, and work their way south (east). Confusing, I know. It took me forever to figure this one out. I-94 actually begins way out west in Billings, Montana, and works its way eastward, ending up in Detroit. Since it runs, east-west, the mile markers are going to reset every time I-94 enters a new state as one heads eastward. Heading east to west on I-94, you would enter Illinois at just south of Kenosha, Wi, so, that's where the mile markers begin, although your car is pretty much heading south.

Loops around a city, such as 275 around Cincinnati, also have numbered exits, although I've never been able to determine just how the beginning of the loop was determined. The actual beginning of the loop, as far as where the mile markers begin, is where I-71/75 meets 275 near Florence, Ky. Seems to be in the south-western sector of the loop, because the 270 loop around Columbus also has its mile marker reset in the south western sector of the loop.

Another note about loops around cities: depending on where you are on the loop, your north/east/south/west designation can change. Someone heading north on 75 in Kentucky might get on 275 east or west. Someone approaching Cincinnati from the east, as on Route 32, for example, will see options for getting on to 275 north or south.

Making matters even more confusing is that you'll notice frequently that some stretches of highway with be shared by more than one route number. Beginning at the Ohio-Ky state line, I-71 and I-75 share the same stretch of  interstate for about fifteen or twenty miles, finally splitting off south of Florence, Ky, each highway going its' separate way.

If you look at the area on mapquest, the obvious question comes to mind: as the two highways merge, will the combined highway take on the exit numbering pattern established by I-71 or I-75? In such cases, the more dominant highway will take precedent. In this case, I-75 is the dominant, more-heavily traveled route, and, as such, the section of interstate shared by both I-71 and I-75 will assume the highway exits that I-75 had already established at the southern end of the state.

Thus, you could he headed north on I-71 in Ky, pass exit # 77, then merge on to I-71/75. Then, a few miles later, you see exit # 175. It's because the exit number is tied to the dominant highway when two highways share the same portion of roadway.  I-40 and I-75 share a portion of interstate in Tennessee, just west of Knoxville, and the same theory applies. One might think that I-75 would be the dominant highway of the two, but the section of shared highway assumes the exit numbering already established by I-40.

Another reason  I-40's exit numbering was used along the shared stretch is because something even more confusing could potentially happen had I-75's exit pattern been used. The last exit one sees while headed north of I-75 through Tenn is exit 84. Then I-75 and I-40 merge, and the first exit one sees is exit 368. They couldn't very well call this exit #88, for example, following I-75's exit pattern, because imagine the confusion if somewhere else on I-40, somewhere near Jackson, Tenn, there's already ANOTHER  exit 88. In this case, there would be an exit 88 along I-40 near Jackson, Tenn, and another exit 88 along I-40/I-75, near the I-40/I-75 merge. Obviously, I just made up exit #88 in this example. I have no clue if there even is an exit #88. But, you can see the potential problems that can arise if there are two similar-sounding exit numbers. Most drivers would not be able to distinguish between exit 88 on I-40 and exit 88 on I-40/I-75.

Tidbits of Advice to Make Your CDL-ing Easier

In no particular order, I am just rambling off the top of my head. I’ve begun to assemble a number of mental notes I’ve collected over the years which I think will be of some assistance to newbies just getting started. Some of these are fact, some are opinion. Please take them all with a grin of salt. You may find that what has worked for me may not be suitable for you or your circumstances.

With that said, let’s begin:

You’ll want to try to maintain your truck as well as you can. If you do nothing else, if you never do another pre-trip, at least look underneath once a day or leaks. Ignore water dripping from the AC unit in the summer months, but heed any other puddle you notice. Noticing and fixing a small leak now can save you an enormous amount of headache later.

Here’s what’s going to happen if you notice something and fail to get it fixed: It’s going to do one of two things: a) It’s going to cause a breakdown on the road, requiring you to sit idle for hours or days at a time while it gets serviced and parts ordered and installed, or b) it’s going to get noticed the next time you pull in for maintenance. There, too, you’ll sit idle for three or four days, if not 10 - 12 hours, waiting for parts, or for maintenance to get to it. As a newbie, maintenance is not going to know you from Adam. Maintenance is going to take care of their favorites first, meaning the drivers they see regularly. You? You’ll be a nobody. Why should maintenance worry about you? You’ll get your truck fixed when they get to it. Four days of sitting idle, at a loss of $150 a day in lost income = $600 in lost income. On top of that, you didn’t get to finish your 1100 mile run because your dispatcher or fleet manager handed off your trailer to another driver in order to get it delivered on time. Ideally, you'll notice problems and make a list, then, when it's time to park your truck for a few days of hometime, hopefully that's when maintenance can be taking care of the things you found wrong.

But back to looking for leaks, by no means limit your scrutiny to just liquid leaks. Also listen for air leaks. Air lines and brake chambers have a definite lifespan, and will rot and go bad after a while, resulting in leaks here and there. Do I need to tell you what can happen if you have an air leak, and your truck is relying on air brakes to stop?

Check your tires. Make sure they’re not bald, cracking, missing chunks of rubber, and are otherwise in good condition.

You never know when a State Trooper is going to signal you to pull over for a random DOT inspection. I had one done on me within six months of starting my OTR career. I managed to get a 100% on it, but by no means did I manage that on my own. The company maintenance crew did a good job maintaining my truck, and other drivers who had pulled the trailer I had then at least periodically looked it over as well, and turned it over to maintenance for repairs now and then.

Try to keep your dash board neat and orderly. Your dashboard will be the first thing seen as you pull across the scales, an believe me, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to pass over scales. You at least want to appear organized, and a messy dash board screams disorganization. Give the DOT at the scales a reason to flag you on and to ask the next driver whose truck is an utter mess to pull off to the side for a random.

Know before you go. Know precisely where you are going even before you pull away from the dock, if possible. Know what route you will take. Know where your turnoffs are. Know what towns you expect to pass through. Know the operating hours of the receiving dept where you’re headed. Find out where the closest scale is from where you are being loaded right now. Know the phone number of where you’re going, and a contact person to the place you’re headed.

Use your downtime efficiently. Clean your truck. Finish paperwork. Take a nap. Fax in some paperwork. Review your maps so you are absolutely sure where it is you are going. Be absolutely certain Route 219 through Maryland isn’t on your no-trucks list in your truck road atlas because it has a low clearance bridge on it at some point. Take a walk around your truck and look at the tires, look for leaks, check the lights and fluid levels. Grab a snack. Get online and pay some bills, or get online and check the weather between where you are now and where you‘re headed. Is a major snowstorm headed your way? Plan for it. Know where the truck stops an rest areas are. Plan where you think you will be when your hours run out, or when you plan to shut down for the night. Run your numbers and make sure you can safely deliver the load you’re under in the timeframe you have to get there. There is plenty you can be doing with your downtime while waiting to be loaded or unloaded besides twiddling your thumbs.

With respect to truck stops and rest areas, if you can manage it, I’d go with the rest areas. Truck stops were always my last choice of a place to stay overnight for lots of reasons. First, they’re dirty. On hot summer nights, the entire blacktop lot will smell like piss. That’s because of the lazy truckers who will either piss on the tires of the truck next to them, or piss in a cup and pour it out the window. The smell at truck stops can be nauseous. Second, they tend to be crowded. Some of the bigger ones can accommodate a couple hundred trucks. Of course, at rest areas, you generally don’t have restaurants. So keep that in mind. Turnpikes are a different story. Since turnpikes are limited access highways, they most likely will have restaurants at rest stops. And truck stops generally always have both showers and fuel.

Truck stops ten to start filling up early in the evening, particularly on the east coast. I would always try to plan my daily shut-down at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. This was so I would have a better chance at fining a good spot at a rest area or truck stop. You don’t want to spend two hours going from one truck stop to the next, circling, looking for a spot to shut down. And, at truck stops, just because all the marked spaces might be taken doesn’t necessarily mean there is no more room. If you can find a spot out-of-the-way which technically isn’t a spot, I’d say go for it. You can easily find these unofficial parking spots because of all the oil stains on the ground from all the other trucks which have parked there prior to you. I seriously doubt the truck stop manager is going to run out and ask you to move- unless you’re clearly blocking someone else in, or clearly blocking a necessary passage.

Since truck stops can often be quite confusing in terms of layout, you can do one of two things: simply follow the truck in front of you, or, my favorite, use the Maps feature on your smart phone and look for a satellite image of the truck stop. You’ll easily be able to see where the common entrances and exits are, as well as the general layout.

Backing in to dock doors seems to be every newbie’s biggest trouble spot. YouTube is full of videos, recorded by other seasoned truckers of all people, all showing hapless newbies struggling to get their trucks in to dock doors and such. I’ve made some videos on YouTube showing some of my techniques, and I’ll link to them here and here. Almost every place you go to will be different- a different layout, a different set-up. No two back ups are the same.

One of my most unusual back-ups to a dock door occurred at an underground storage facility near Independence, Missouri. The entire facility was underground. Trucks came and went via large tunnels carved out of the hillsides. My fleet manager sent me to these undergrounds as a relative newbie with just six months of experience, but I didn’t fret it. I simply asked the other truckers how they normally made the seemingly impossible corners in the tighter-than-tight confines.

I didn’t record any of my back-ups in there, but did record me exiting the two underground facilities. You can see them here and here. Definitely my two most unusual CDL driving encounters.

Each time you go in to a place to pick up a load, there is certain information you will want to walk in the door with. Bring your driver’s license. Some places make a photocopy of it. When you received your load information, you likely received what’s called a pick-up number. You’ll need that as well. You’ll also likely need to know the trailer number you brought with you, and you may also need to know the consignee name and address. You don’t want to make half a dozen trips to and from your truck, wasting time, getting all the pertinent information. Ok, so walk in with all the information you have, plus your cell phone, and a pen. You’ll likely have to sign something every single time you pick up and drop off a load, so you might as well start carrying pens everywhere you go.

If by chance you are missing a piece of information, call your fleet manager or dispatcher, right there, at the office window. This is especially important if there is a line of truckers after you waiting to talk to the office staff. If you step out of line to make a call, you’ll have to wait through the entire line of other truckers, because they won’t let you back up to the window, even if they saw you leave for a moment and come back. Just the way it is. Step to the side and make your call, but remain at the window or desk, or in the vicinity. When you get off the phone with your fleet manager or dispatcher with the needed info, you’ll be right there at the counter where you need to be, and simply clear your throat and say, “I have the information you requested,” before he or she proceeds to the next trucker in line.

When you are handed your paperwork, examine it closely. Is all the paperwork there? Is any of the material hazardous? This is extremely important, because in some cases you’ll be required to placard your trailer. Now, look at the consignee address on your paperwork. This is also extremely important. Sometimes the consignee (the place you are delivering to) is not necessarily the same place as what’s shown on your paperwork. Sometimes the loading and unloading dock is at an address across the street, or two blocks away, or whatever. Look at the address on your paperwork, and compare it to the address that your fleet manager told you to go to. If they are not the same, call your fleet manager and find out which one is correct. Nothing is worse than finding out you drove to the wrong address, when the correct address is two miles away. Two miles may not seem like a big problem, but it can amount to an hour or two when backing in and out of docks, finding the new address, finding the loading docks, fighting traffic, turning around if you have to (because you missed it the first time), and so on. It’s possible all this delay can add up to you arriving at the correct address at 5:15 pm, two hours late, and all the employees clocked out at 5pm. Guess what? You’re stuck there until they come back to work tomorrow at 8 am. Guess what? That little error on your part cost you $75 - $100 in lost mileage because now you had to sit and wait for 16 hours to get unloaded.

There are so many things that can go wrong in the trucking business. You need to make sure that the things you have control over (making sure your routing is correct, making sure you know the exact address where you are headed, and so on) is 100% perfect, to the “t”. The more in-control you are of the things you can control, the better shape you’ll be in, the less frustrated you’ll get, and the more money you’ll make. Trust me on this!

An speaking addresses, why not punch in the address on the map function on your smart phone? You’ll easily be able to see a satellite image of the facility to where you are headed, and you will have a real good handle on where the facility entrance and exits are, whether there is a gate you have to pass through, a guard shack where you’ll have to register with upon arrival, and so on. You will also likely be able to discern where the loading area(s) are, and where you will have room to maneuver and turn around.

One thing that really helped me when I was looking at these satellite maps on my cell phone was to find the one or two streets before the entrance to the facility I was looking for. For example, if, on the satellite image, I could clearly see that there is a Shelby Street and a Corbly Street, both on the right, immediately followed by the entrance to the Johnson & Johnson Company on the right, then when I got close, all I knew that I had to look for was Shelby and Corbly Streets on the right. The next entrance would be the one I needed to pull in to with 99% certainty.

Use technology to your advantage! Trucker GPS systems, smart phones…. All of it can make your job so much easier! Of course, I couldn’t totally rely on technology 100% of the time. In some cases the images might be old or outdated, but they certainly gave me a better understanding of where I needed to be, where I was headed, and what I was looking for once I arrived.

A couple points about backing to a dock door to consider:

First, before you do ANY backing, newbies should get out and scope the landscape. You are looking for obvious obstacles that are so easy to miss inside the cab of a truck. Any obstacle qualifies: a curb, telephone pole, light post, vehicles nearby, fire hydrants, other buildings, trees, stop signs. Getting out first and getting a mental picture of just where all your obstacles are situated will greatly simplify putting all those things in to your 3-D mental mapping system.

Second, if your trailer has swing doors (doors that have hinges and open just like your front door at home), don’t forget to open them before backing in to a dock. You don’t want to spend half an hour getting in to a dock to only to discover you forgot to open your swings. Then you have to pull forward at least five feet to open them, and maybe all the way out, if you need to clear the trailers on either side of yours.

Third, if you have room in front of a dock door to straighten out somewhat, do so as you slowly creep forward. It’s much, much easier to straighten out your semi moving forward than it is trying to wiggle it back and forth, trying to straighten it out in reverse. Once you get the truck lined up straight in front of your dock door, then all you need to do is straight line back, making only tiny, tiny adjustments to maintain the straight path to the door.

Forth, remember, if you are having trouble, ask someone- preferably another trucker, to spot you. Have him or her yell if you are going to hit something. Roll your windows down, and have your spotter walk alongside you, close to your cab, so he or she can shout directions to you over the truck engine. Lots of people put their spotter at the back of their trailer, which can work, but sometimes only if you can see your spotter in your mirror. If your spotter stands thirty feet from the right door of your cab, he should easily be able to see you and anything behind you, which will leave just one side for you to watch (the side easiest to see from the driver’s seat: the left side of the truck).

One pair of newbies had a neat system arranged: they bought a pair of walkie-talkies, and one stood outside and directed the other wirelessly. The same could be done with cell phones, of course. Anything works.

An important point about backing under a trailer: It is extremely important that you do so VERY slowly. I see a lot of experienced drivers who get in a hurry and try to speed through this process, which can be a very bad mistake. You see, it’s entirely possible for the shank of the trailer to miss its target. It’s possible for the shank of the trailer to literally glide up the slippery greasy slope of the fifth wheel. Obviously, you want to aim the fifth wheel towards the center of the trailer such that the shank lines up with the slot in the fifth wheel. Just be aware that if you’re off by a few inches, and if the trailer is raised just high enough, it’s possible for the tractor to go completely UNDER the trailer. The shank will have completely missed the fifth wheel. If your truck is still going in reverse when this happens, where do you think the trailer is going to end up? It’s going to end up coming at you through the back of the cab! It’s almost happened to me! The front of the trailer was mere inches from the rear window of my day cab. A few more inches and the front of the trailer would clearly have slammed in to the rear of the cab, shattering the rear window. Chances are it wouldn’t come through the cab, but I certainly didn’t want to find out!

When I got out of the truck to see what had happened, I could see the shank of the trailer now in front of the fifth wheel. Took me a while to get that straightened out. Just be aware that it can happen- it happened to me. Nothing got damaged, but it was a tense moment.

Common Mistakes of Newbie Truckers

One of the biggest mistakes is not budgeting time properly. So many factors come in to play to determine when you can drive, when you can't, what routes you can and can't take, and so on. I couldn't possibly list every possible scenario here, but I can list some of the ones I've encountered.

Passing through time zones always confused me as a beginner. If I was heading west and my delivery was in the next time zone, I had to plan accordingly. Pick-up and delivery times are always based upon the location of the shipper or receiver.

Early on I made the mistake of burning through my hours too fast. You want to try to budget your hours in such a way as to avoid having to take a 36-hour reset. Resets mess up everything. So, as I got better at budgeting my time, I would strive for driving no more than 10 hours a day, give or take. That way, I could count on picking up 10 hours every day. Some days I would use more, some days less. You'll find out what I mean as you get out on the road, what I mean by budgeting your hours.

Another mistake I made was not taking in to account the amount of fuel I had before making pick-ups. In one case my fuel gauges were registering about 1/4 tank, and I pulled in to a shipper who loaded me to the hilt with some heavy cargo. Then I went to the closest truck stop, filled up, then scaled. The load, plus all the additional fuel, put me overweight. Sliding my tandems had little effect. I had to go back to the shipper and have them take off some cargo. That cost me about four hours of driving time- time that I wasn't getting paid for.

A big mistake is routing. You MUST KNOW THE ROUTE YOU INTEND TO TAKE! One time the shipper handed me a piece of paper with the route (a short cut) to get back on the highway. Well, it was a route.... it just wasn't a route that a truck could take. The route was the route that the EMPLOYEE took to get to work, and involved an old bridge with a weigh restriction, and which I was was too heavy for. I had to find a place to turn around and head back the way I'd come. As a general rule, leave a facility in the same manner as you'd arrived. If signs are present directing truck traffic, follow them.

One time I followed the directions given to me by my company. The directions placed me on some windy narrow road which, as I soon found out, had a completely impossible railroad trestle up ahead. The road was chosen not because it was a truck route, but because it was a route that shaved a few miles off the overall distance to the next stop. Had I gone with my instincts and remained on the state route just a few miles away, I'd have avoided the windy country road and saved myself about three hours. I didn't check the route I'd been given against my truck road atlas. I assumed that since it was a route generated by my company, that they wouldn't put me on a road I shouldn't have been on in the first place. Wrong!

The First Thing to do When You Are Handed Keys to Your Truck

The absolute first thing you are going to want to do is whip our your cell phone and start taking  pictures. Preferably pictures with the date superimposed within the pic. Take pics of ANY damage on the truck. This will be your only evidence of existing damage on the truck prior to your acquisition. Save those pictures somewhere. Transfer them to your laptop hard drive, because it never fails: you will lose your phone, or it will get crushed as you run over it with your truck at some dark truck stop somewhere.

Next, you are going to want to hop inside and look for damage as well. Document everything.

Familiarize yourself with where all the buttons and switches are for everything, especially the headlights and windshield wipers.

Next, you are going to want to go to your company's maintenance department, either the day you get your truck, or as soon as you can, and stock up on maintenance supplies: a jug of motor oil, an oil filter, spare bulbs for each type of bulb that your tractor and trailer will likely use, some extra rubber grommets for where the air lines connect to the trailer, some seals to seal trailers up when needed, etc., etc.

Your company is probably going to route you towards home. They are probably going to tell you to grab a loaded trailer that some other driver has dropped in the trailer drop yard somewhere, and head home. Before you do that, fill up your fuel tanks, if possible. Then, grab an empty trailer, hook to it, and run your truck and trailer over the scale, if your company has one on-site. You will want an idea of how much your truck and trailer weighs empty. It's good to have a ball park idea of what your truck and trailer weigh, empty, but with both fuel tanks full.

This is important because later on you might pick up a load that puts you very close to your legal limit. Suppose your fuel tanks are near empty when you are getting loaded up. Then, you get loaded and find out you are near the limit. Then, you decide to fuel up. Fueling up can add several hundred pounds to your truck's weight, and can theoretically put you over the legal limit. If you find out you're over your legal limit, you'd better make some quick decisions: take the load, or risk going over the next scale along the highway, knowing you're overweight and risk getting a fine? You decide.

If you don't already have one, you will definitely need a good recent trucker highway map. These will help you tremendously. Also of great help are paperback guides to all the truck stops, rest areas and scales in every state. This is important because you will most likely want to scale some, if not most of your loads. My company reimbursed me for scale costs, so it didn't matter to me much. My logic was to scale everything, unless it was completely obvious that it was a load of cotton or some other negligible lightweight product. I scaled almost everything- and definitely everything if the paperwork suggested a heavy load- because, what if the paperwork I was given turned out to be wrong? What if the paperwork said the load weighed 55,000 pounds and it actually weighed 59,000, putting me overweight?

CAT scales are guaranteed to be accurate, and are located at almost every major truck stop. Your truck stop guide book will tell you if a scale is present at any given truck stop.

When in doubt, scale the load at the nearest scale. If it's overweight, take the load back to the shipper. Have them take weight off, or re-load the trailer to move the weight around (if one of your axles is heavy and another is light).

Another thing you are going to want to do when given the keys to the truck is to know how to contact your dispatcher, the maintenance dept, and so on. Get back up phone numbers, in case your in-truck communication module (if yours has a Qualcomm) fails.

How Is Life On the Road?

Life on the road is what you make it. It can be rough as hell, or as smooth as silk.

Take showering, for example. Showering on the road is fairly easy. Most truck stops of any decent size will have showers available. Most of the time they will be available to you for free.

Free? How so?

Well, the first thing you do when you get your CDL is stop at all the rest stops. Not every single one, of course, but at least one of each name. Somewhere in each one will be a kiosk or a display with rewards cards. Your company will pay for the fuel your truck uses, and you'll be stopping at these various truck stops all over the country. Sometimes your company will pull diesel prices from all around and will tell you, through your little communication module, which truck stop, at which exit to stop at, and how many gallons of diesel to buy.

Wherever you stop to get fuel (it's not "gas"... cars use gas. Semi's use "fuel"), swipe your rewards card at the pump. With each diesel fill-up, you rewards card will rack up one complimentary shower after another. Sometimes what I would do would be to fill-up once with 75 gallons of diesel, then pull through a second time and fill up again another 75 gallons. This would rack up two showers on my rewards card. Your showers will remain good on your card for a month or two, or until you redeem them. Check the fine print on the cards to find out when they expire. (Most larger chain truck stops have some sort of kiosk where you can swipe your card, just like at an ATM. Doing so will tell you how many shower credits you have remaining, and probably will tell you when they expire.)

When I first got my CDL, I didn't know how to work the system. There were a couple times when I didn't have the $11 at the time, or a credit card to use to pay for a shower. So, I would stand around outside the showers and wait til someone walked out of one. As soon as the previous user turned the corner, I'd grab the door, slip inside and have me a quick shower on the house. Of course I'd walk in with my own soap and towel.

Hey, you do what you gotta do, right? But, I didn't have to do that too many times- just a few times while I was an OTR driver.

In most other cases, life is as you make it. To keep your drinks cool, you'll obviously need to refill on ice every couple days (unless you happen to have an inverter and have a small DC-powered cooler). Pretty much every place on the planet will sell ice. Or, do what I did on occasion... I'd walk in to a nearby McD or Wendys with a small cooler and as the manager if he'd fill it with ice. Of course I wouldn't do this during the middle of lunch rush. I'd wait until 10 or 11 at night when the place was empty. Or I'd simply walk over to the do-it-yourself drink towers and grab me some ice.

Internet service is almost a necessity nowadays. Your smart phone is most likely internet-capable, but if you'd prefer to bring your laptop, as I normally did, simply find McDonald's restaurants that offered truck parking. I kept a road atlas handy, and I would circle the highway exits that had a McD present. Soon I had an atlas with a hundred little circles drawn all through it.

Why did I look for McD's? Because McD's offers free wifi, for whatever it's worth. Soon I upgraded to broadband for my laptop. When I pulled in to truck stops and pried open my old laptop, my wifi would be super fast for about two minutes, then would begin to crawl. This was because I hadn't secured my wifi connection and all the truckers around me had locked on to my signal and were downloading mass amounts of porn.

How did I know? It was a truck stop of all places. What else would they be downloading? Cooking recipes?

So, the moral of the story is, get your broadband secured and encrypted. If there was a way, I'd have tried to allow the truckers near me to lock on to my wifi, for a fee. Hey, no reason not to try to make a few extra bucks, right? I'd have just upgraded my broadband to an unlimited, super fast connection.

Laundry? Pretty much every truck stop will have laundry facilities. I never used them. I simply brought lots of undies and socks and stuff. Although I never used the washers and dryers, it was always fun to check for unclaimed quarters and such in the slots.

Trucks stops will be your home away from your home (your sleeper cab) away from home (your real home). Learn to use the facilities at the truck stops to your advantage.

Your company will also expect you to fax in your paperwork to their central office regularly. Make sure you fax in your paperwork ASAP. Try to stop in at least once a day to use the truck stop fax machines. Or even do one better... before you leave the facility where you got loaded up and got your paperwork, ask the lady handing you the paperwork to use the fax machine. Usually they'll say, "It's right over there," or "I can do it for you." Then fax it to your office headquarters. Be sure to get a confirmation that it was received at the other end, and be sure to get the original paperwork.

Obviously, you can fax it from most truck stops for free using their "TransFlo" machines, but if you can fax it from the office from the get go, you avoid two potential problems down the road: a) you stop at the one truck stop where the TransFlo is out of service, or b) you find one that does work, but you get stuck behind the one 77 year old trucker who has no clue how to use the thing. Probably the same guy who gets in front of you at the ATM line an has no clue how to use it.

What Will I Need as an OTR Driver?

Almost everything but your kitchen sink!

I've made a list of things I carried around in my truck as an OTR. Your needs may differ from my own.

-Cash, credit cards, and your CDL, of course. Leave high-end valuables at home. You may even spring for some restaurant gift cards. I would buy me several, for all the fast foods, Subway, etc. Fast foods, Subways, Pizza Huts- these are the types of restaurants that you'll find at or near rest areas and truck stops.

- Goodies and snacks to munch on. Unless you can plan your diet to grow an appetite when you pass a McDonald's, you'll need some easy to pack snacks to take along with you: potato chips, Doritoes, apples, oranges, bananas, pudding, granola bars, pretzels, etc., etc. Don't forget soft drinks, Kool Aid, etc. If you don't already have one, maybe grab a small cooler and a used microwave at a yard sale or thrift store (If your truck doesn't have a powerful enough inverter, you won't need a microwave.)

- Obviously, don't forget such essentials as medications, Tylenol, soap, deodorants, razor blades, towels, changes of clothing, spare change for doing laundry at truck stops, etc. Maybe buy some mosquito repellant if it is summertime.Clean pairs of socks, a spare spare of shoes

- A decent, detailed road atlas geared towards truckers. Don't use a cheaper model for ordinary passenger cars. The ones for truckers are well worth the small extra cost. If you have a truck-based GPS, bring it. DO NOT RELY ON A CHEAPER GPS DESIGNED FOR AN ORDINARY CAR!!!!

- Entertainment: A laptop, maybe some DVD movies, books, magazines, pens, paper, a writing surface (your sleeper may already have a slide-out desk-type arrangement). Don't forget your cell phone and it's charger. Maybe a 19" flat screen / DVD player combo.

- A heavy duty flashlight, spare batteries, work gloves, a tire gauge, a hammer and some basic tools, rubber bungies to tie down your loose wares as you are mobile, truck grade motor oil, windshield wiper fluid, a clean unused oil filter, etc., etc. Some of this stuff will be given to your at your company's maintenance dept for the asking. While you're at the maintenance desk, ask for a few spare bulbs for each of the types your truck uses. Ask for a few spare rubber grommets for the air line connectors, and some company seals, be they plastic or metal.

- The sleeper cab has a bed, obviously, but the one you are assigned likely won't have sheets, a pillow and blankets. Bring your own. And if it does come with those already supplied, would you really want to use them?

- Paper logs, if your company uses them.Grab a few extras as well. Grab a few of everything that your company is handing out. You will never know when you're going to need that stuff.

- Plastic bins for easy storage and carrying. You can buy them practically anywhere, and in almost every size imaginable. I used the ones that were about as big as a shoe box, since they could easily fit in overhead bins and such.


- Will you need internet service as your shut down for the night? If you use your laptop, you might spring for one of those USB-based broadband plug-ins and pay for monthly service. The truck stops you crash at each night will have wifi, but it will be costly, and you'll be sharing it with every other trucker out on the lot, so it'll likely be slow (those truckers are going to be downloading LOTS of bandwidth-heavy porn!). And be sure your internet is secured so the trucker next to you can't tap in to your account!

- Cleaning supplies: maybe some mirror and window cleaner, some paper towels, definitely some toilet paper. One trucker I met carried with him a 5-gallon bucket. When I asked him what it was for, he said it was his emergency porta-potty! Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!

- I always carried a bag of road salt with me in the winter to melt ice. A rain poncho isn't a bad idea, nor is an umbrella. I also carried nylon rope for those times when you never know when you're going to need it. As a CDL trucker, sometimes you are simply all on your own, until your company's help wagon arrives, or whoever they send to get you out of trouble.

- A CB. They're hardly used anymore. I never used them to listen to the mindless chatter amongst the truckers in close proximity. I used my cheap portable that I bought off ebay to listen for calls at large companies. Security might say, "Tune to channel 14 for your truck number." You don't want to miss hearing your truck number and risk missing your loading or unloading appt.

- Other odds and ends and misc supplies- a hand held calculator, erasers, white-out, cough drops, chewing gum, candy bars, band aids, condoms   (hey, you never know! LOL)