I survived orientation

I don't even know where to begin... Today I was thrown so much information it boggles my mind... We coverd so much stuff, signed so many papers... How many times do I need to write my adress and ss#? damn...

It all started with a road test this morning. I tester was a woman who drives from medford to portland on a dedicated run hauling beer. But she didn't have a trailer so we picked up a fully loaded trailer of paper rolls... She was in a century with drop axle. First of all, the way I have to have the steering wheel, it's so far forward ( I'm 6'8") that it blocks most of the guages... eek. Gotta work on adjusting it better when I head out with the trainer. Anyways, the first thing that I found was different was how amazingly TIGHT the gears were... it seems that the eaton 10spd at truck school had "rounded" gears... I don't know what the real name is but the gear shift went in so much smoother. But this thing was stiff and you totally didn't have to push the clutch in hardly at all.

I didn't do to bad but it's odd stepping in a newer truck that is totally ass backwards compared to old fld's we had at school. Really screwed me up but I will get better after I drive for longer than 15 minutes... We headed around town and got onto I-5 and headed south a couple exits and got off.. Everything was fine until I had to make a right onto sage (the road gordon is located off of) I was downshifting and was doing it good until she said to do it agian. The light was coming up quick as we were going down the overpass and I got the brakes and tried to rev it up. I couldn't get it in gear :shock: :shock: and coasted around in neutral... ooops... I was lost for some reason but we got around the corner and put it into 4th and kept on trucking.

Next up was the backing test. She had me park between to real expensive baby blue cones (trucks) Now, I've never driven a 53' and hardly any 48 footers but I got it back into the hole perfect. She said she hasn't had any other new student's ever make it without pulling up. I was happy and made me smile a bit after messing up around the turn. Now, I realize that the conditions were perfect, the and I had a lot of room to manuver and just because I did the "test" good, I know that hardly if not any docks will be as easy as this one... but I was pretty happy with how I did.

Around the back of the yard there is an older century that was involved in a crash and they are using it for parts, but behind it theres an old ex dick simon truck that appeared to of flipped over and it was all messed up on the drivers side. We walked outside to do the "dolly lift" test and to be shown the proper way to get in and out of the trailers when I asked what happend to the old dick simon truck. Apparently it was involved in a DUI crash. A student who was only out on his own for 30 days after training pulled behind a bar where he thought he was hidden and started drinking. Someone reported him and he was told to go to the terminal asap ( I suppose they didn't think he was drinking or something....) While going to the terminal he flipped the truck on an offramp and slid into two other trucks with very high dollar loads! He was arrested and off to jail he went...

I appears the chances of me getting a century or columbia are higher than I originally thought but they did say we could get a paddle tranny truck... I don't want that, I want to shift!

I'm heading back home in the morning but right now it's pouring outside and it's been cold all day. Ashland is covered in snow and they say they are going to get 17" tonight!!!! Hopefully I can make it home asap so I can get with my trainer on thurday/friday.

That's all for now, as soon as I get home I will post my photos from this trip. Until then,

Keep truckin'
Chris

Made it to Medford!

Well, I'm just checking in from a starbucks in medford. The drive here was good and damn, there are a TON of gordon trucks out there...Makes me real excited

The hotel that gordon puts you up in is a real piece... wow, I'm going to explore around town and see what's around here until it's time for bed. For some reason they reserved the room for 3 nights, even though orientation is just one day... So I made my way over to the terminal to ask what was happening. I got it all worked out and they just made the reservation longer if I wanted to stay and ejoy.... yeah right! I'm outta here first chance I get!

I'll come back here tomorrow and let everyone know what orientation was like...

Went back to school today...

I passed the tests and got my license a little over a month ago and couldn't start driving until I was 21. Well, I turned 21 a couple days ago and I leave on monday for gordon so I went back to school and practiced a bit with my shifting. I was really nervous that I was going to forget how to shift smoothly but I think I might of got a little better! Now that I have my license I am not so nervous... thank god. But I did have a little trouble with one thing today...

I drove over to the nearest truck stop to practice my backing in between two trucks. Now, at my school we hardly ever used the 48 footers ( Which I regret not asking to drive them more) we just used the little pups. So I have hardly any experience with backing a 48. Let me just say this, If it was a big truck stop that was busy, you guys would of been on the cb telling me " Hurry up driver". I made it but after a couple pull ups. It all really started with a bad approach, but from where the entrance is and where the empty spot was, it was the best I could do.

Now instead of being nervous about shifting for my road test with gordon on tuesday, I'm a bit weary of trying to dock a 53'!

Went back to truck school for a refresher...

On tuesday I will be in oregon for my orientation. Sometime tuesday I will have to do a drive test demonstrating that I can shift and safely drive it. So I went back to truck school today to get back in it and brush up on my shifting. I was a bit worried but as soon as we pulled out of the gate and onto the road I hit every gear right on, hardly any grinding during our whole hour out but I'm going to go back tomorrow to finish up.

I'll be gone on monday and tuesday and probably coming home on tuesday night from Medford, OR. Then I will meet my trainer at the Gordon yard in West Sacramento and I will be off!

It's official, I'm driving for Gordon Trucking!

Hey, just checking in and making my first blog update of my new career! This is where I will be checking in as often as possible to update you, my friends and family about how life on the road is going. Letting you know what it's like from various places around the country! If anyone would like to E-mail me, be sure to send it to me @ info@norcalphoto.com .

Gordon contacted me on December 21st and let me that my application had been processed and that I am hired! I now have to wait until I'm 21 to drive commercially out of state. So, around the 16th of january or some time around there I'm going to take my drug and physical tests and then the week of the 31st, I am driving to medford oregon for a day or two of orientation and paper signing. Then I get back in my truck and drive home to wait for my trainer to call me. Probably the next day I will meet him at the 49er truck stop in sacramento to begin my 4 week training process. He will teach me how gordon works and how to drive a truck professionally. After 4 weeks I will be assigned my very own to truck! I will be dispatched for my very first time and I will be be out for another two weeks until I go home for a couple days...

I will let you know how everything goes a little later on in january. Until then, see ya on the road!

If you see a truck like this cruising down the road, be sure to peek over... It could be ME!