Driving Day 4.........

Hello from the road,

I titled this Driving Day 4, but that's a little misleading.  It should probably be called sitting on my @$$ Day 4.  I drove for about 7 hours on Friday, as a trainee I am not allowed to drive between the hours of 12:00am and 6:00am, so went to sleep in the truck at a truck stop.  The Trainer got us going again around 5:00am to El Paso, TX with our load of beer.  In the 1920's I would have been called a bootlegger, haha!  We arrived about 8:30am at the location, then waited in line while the six trucks in front of us were unloaded.  Two hours later, we were next and there was a line of trucks behind that was beginning to impede traffic.  I guess they saw the problem and began moving us and the line in and out so fast that there was only 2 trucks left in line when we left.  Wish they had been moving that fast when we were at the back of the line.

Took our now empty trailer down the road a bit, dropped it at a yard and picked up another trailer with a load of Air Filters bound for Detroit, MI.  I typed that fast Huh, I could have typed that last sentence 2 million times in the time it took to actually do it.  Seems that Truck Driving has the same motto as the Military Service, HURRY UP THEN WAIT.  Finally got going again, I forget what time I got in the drivers seat, I think it was about 2:30pm, drove for a little more than 9 hours.  Trainer was dead tired from lack of sleep, wouldn't want his job, makes more money than a regular solo company driver, but less than a team company driver.  To me has alot more self inflicted stress!  Stopped at a Truck Stop for the night and then headed out again.  Trainer started driving, we went directly to refuel, certain stations give patrons amenities like showers if you buy their fuel.  However, every other truck driver knows that too.  So sat again, for again about 2 hours, now I'm all clean and ready to move this load down the road.

The Trainer got us going, 2 minutes later were pulled over due to a check engine light, that from my understanding, has been an on going problem for a few days now.  So this is Sunday, guess what's open on Sunday's in Oklahoma City, not Truck repair stations.  So to make a long boring story short, stayed the night in the truck at a truck stop, Monday, repair station says, although they haven't looked at it, that they have to keep the truck over night, so here I sit in a Starbucks, drinking coffee and blogging, with my bags in a hotel room with my Trainer.  Me, I went exploring on foot, had a good lunch at a Mexican fast food restaurant (Good Burrito), plan on leaving Starbucks in a minute to go over to the happiest place in Oklahoma "Walmart", then treat myself to nice steak dinner.  Darn, I wish I could drink, but not while training, it's going to be a long 6 to 8 weeks!  Wish me luck!