Everyone who drives a truck, or anything else for that matter, has been there. The first time. Something you\u2019ve trained for. Something you\u2019ve longer for. It\u2019s finally here. The big moment. It should feel amazing, right? Wrong. It can be terrifying.<\/p>\n
For months you study and practice. Learning everything you can about how to drive a rig solo across the country. Learning the road signs, the inspections, the laws. You hope it\u2019ll prepare you for the day that you get the keys to your own brand new truck and now it\u2019s here. Everything you\u2019ve learned seems to go out of the window and you doubt every move.<\/p>\n
Though you\u2019re not alone, it\u2019s an initiation into the world of trucking. Something you must go through to call yourself a trucker. It happened to the point I could barely get my mind straight and figure out how to turn the truck on! Though once you\u2019ve got it all sorted and you\u2019re on your way for your first job, it all makes sense. The open road.<\/p>\n
Lonely Road<\/strong><\/p>\n I imagined that my first time would be like getting my first car. Liberating. Not terrifying. I was wrong. Someone had given me the keys to a brand new rig. Now I longed for the instructor to be sat beside me, to make sure I didn\u2019t wreck it. Of course, I didn\u2019t wreck it, just 300 miles across the state to get to my first drop off. I even only got lost twice! Don\u2019t always rely on GPS, it\u2019s not always good at figuring out that you belong round back at the dock. I learned that the hard way. Trying to back up a trailer full of groceries without hitting anyone\u2019s car in the parking lot, trying my best to look like I knew what I was doing.<\/p>\n Every trucker I know seems to just know where they\u2019re going. It doesn\u2019t matter if they\u2019ve been there a hundred times or never. Like birds flying south for the winter. This is something that I had to learn. There\u2019s always a fast way, an easy way and a way for a truck. Figuring out which one is why they pay us truckers, to make sure it arrives in one piece and on time. In the early days it was easy to forget you\u2019re driving 18 wheels of steel, not a sedan, wondering why angry drivers are shouting at you for blocking the entire road. Oops. I thought I could get through. Now I always look ahead and just know what\u2019s coming. Don\u2019t fear, it gets easier! Promise.<\/p>\n The Rig To Riches<\/strong><\/p>\n In the early days, I always made sure I was early. I mean really early. Sometimes I\u2019d get there two hours before I was due, just so that our fleet manager didn\u2019t fire me the next day. Watching the other trucks come and go. Trying to figure out how they made it seem so easy! The first time I had to back up to the dock it took me 5 tries. I must have looked completely amateur. Though once docked, the laughs had faded and everyone knew I was the greenhorn, nobody cared. The job was done. Since then, I just learned to take my time. Don\u2019t overthink it and if you do mess it up? So what! Everyone has their off days. Just fix it and chalk it up to experience.<\/p>\n On the I-10 into Houston, traffic backed up for miles I ran out of hours. My planning had failed me. I pulled off at the nearest exit to find a place to park up for the night. I followed a few other trucks into what looked to be a truck stop. Wrong. It was a dockyard. So there I am, stuck at the gate, trying to explain to someone that I really wasn\u2019t meant to be there, with him not letting me in but 3 trucks behind me so I can\u2019t back out. I felt so ashamed. Luckily they finally felt my embarrassment and let me turn around and park on a lot opposite for the night. Finally! Some good luck. It can happen to anyone!<\/p>\n In It Together<\/strong><\/p>\n In everything that has ever happened, or almost happened, I\u2019ve had someone to call. I never felt completely alone. The best thing to do as a new trucker is make friends with the truckers around you. It doesn\u2019t matter what you think you know, you\u2019ll always find something that you\u2019ll have no idea how to rectify. For that, a quick call to someone who knows their stuff might just get you out of a bind, then you\u2019re off on your way to another load. Another paycheck.<\/p>\n So all I can say is just don\u2019t worry. We\u2019ve all been there, it\u2019s just part of the fun of becoming a trucker! Once you get over the nerves, it only gets easier. Good luck and stay safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everyone who drives a truck, or anything else for that matter, has been there. The first time. Something you\u2019ve trained for. Something you\u2019ve longer for. It\u2019s finally here. The big moment. It should feel amazing, right? Wrong. It can be terrifying. For months you study and practice. Learning everything you can about how to drive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gocapitaldiesel.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}