Truckers in California

I realized just how crazy some drivers are in California. I also realized how crazy some truckers are in California. I have been driving nights for a week now and in just the short time I have seen the crazy driving of night truckers. Don't they realize that there seeing distance has been cut down. I have been getting so pissed off when a trucker decides to pass me his ass end barely gets passed me and bam he is right in front of me with a space cushion of 5 feet WTF is that all about. I'm constantly backing off of them. I don't want to be a cross on the side of the road thank you. Then there is the speed they are going. I know 55 seems slow to them but its posted for a reason SAFETY! Thats why you see more and more California truckers getting into accidents and more then one because they follow to damn close to each other.

Cruising down the highways with Betsy!

Well I have started me dedicated run and it's working out great so far. I was given Betsy the Rookie truck. I'm sure this is what is given to all drivers who first start out lol. She is doing good for me so far taking me from point A to point B. I have no complaints here! I'm just very happy now that I'm back in the work force. I will continue to update my blog regularly. I just been trying to get into the groove of things with work and all.

Training wheels are off!

Wow where do I begin 19 days ago I started my second wave of training. After my week long battle with a intense kidney stone attack that I got while on my first two weeks on the truck. Well I started out with a very important load going out to Ohio. It was another trip to the east I was very excited. Let me jump back a little and say this first. If your not okay about being away from family and friends this job is not for you. If you cant deal with living in a smaller confined space this job is not for you. If your not used to taking a shower every other day this job is not for you. there are many other things that I could say but will keep it at that lol. Well back to my trip. I started off in california working my way to washington to get a load going to ohio. We hit rain right off the bat in washington pouring down like crazy early in the morning. not only at night but on a mountain heading into idaho.i was nervous. It was late and raining and i could barely see the road it was all wet. we slept at a walmart pulled in about 2am in the morning. it was the only safe spot at the time. The next morning we were off and it was a great day sun was shining and we were able to get all the way to Montana and it started to rain again. You gotta love the rain if your going to be a OTR driver. so let me jump ahead a few states. We delivered our load to Ohio and got a pretrip assignment We were on our way to Mississippi. Whoohooo we were off we traveled through a few more states Kentucky was humid tennessee was worse but when we hit Mississippi it was 100 percent humidity and 105 and raining thunderstorms. I was like OMG this sucks lol. I could hardly breath it took me a whole day to get used to the humidity somewhat lol. We slept with the AC on all night at 50 degrees. Shower felt great that night. made the delivery the next day and then we finally got our pretrip heading to Nevada I was excited that i was heading west. It took us 2 1/2 days to get to nevada from Mississippi. I was able to drive more hours now since I was in my last week of training. I needed to get back to Washington by Tuesday for orientation. One day we drove 900 miles. One thing I will say if your afraid of major storms in the east don't get on the US fleet because you will be in some major storms like I was. 4 states of storms in one day. in went from 105 with 100 percent humidity to 36 degrees and snowing in one day. well Im finally here in washington and ready to start my last 2 days of classes in the morning. The training wheels are off and I'm ready to go. Oh I got a phone call from my recruiter in Modesto today and he informed me there was a dedicated run opening up from Modesto to wheeler ridge. I took him up on that offer this will get me home every night. so now I wont be living in my truck unless i choose to go back out on the road. So in the end it all worked out for me. Alot of long hours of training and sleepless night and many miles.

Heading back east again!

Well I had a stone attack in Nevada a couple weeks ago. I was rushed to the hospital that was 30 miles away and boy was I in pain. It passed 10 days later and I'm back on the truck. Since then i have went to LA with a load and I'm now in Washington. I just dropped of a Costco load here in Washington at the distribution center. I was given the thumbs up and passed my driving test and now I'm officially a GTI employee. Im heading to Ohio tomorrow for a 10 day trip up and back. This will finish my training and I will come back to Washington to finish my orientation and get my truck. it has been a long process from going to truck driving school and GTI training to getting my truck. It is well worth it all though. I was given the opportunity to work for Gordon.

Well heading to southern California Sunday

I'm on the road again Sunday by noon. I will be heading towards southern California. LA here I come. I will be on the truck for another 2 weeks. This will complete my training then I will head up to Washington to finish my orientation and get the keys to my truck.

Wow its been a week

Well Its been a week since I posted on my blog. Well we picked up a load in Grand Falls, Montana. close to 40,000 pounds of flour headed towards California. The first thing we had to do was scale it to make sure we were legal weight. This all had to be done before we were able to add fuel to the truck. Wow the scale reading was very close by the time we added fuel to the truck 120 gallons we were at 79880 pounds total weight . and the limit is 80000 pounds oh my! I felt the weight the first time we went up a hill wow did I get to do allot of shifting all the way to Nevada. We ended up spending the night at Mills City, Nevada. I got my first call back at a scale house "chicken coup" lol. I was coming into the scale I thought a little fast and popped the clutch on the scale. That pissed off the scale master and he red lighted me and said back up and do it all over one axle at a time. My trainer was pissed at me but I was like shit I thought I was going to fast. What I learned out of this was take your damn foot off the clutch completely and let it go on its own. That will never happen to me again! at the truck stop in mills city around 10:30 that night I felt a pain hit me in my right side and groin area that was getting very painful. The first thing I thought was food poison. I was starting to hurt more and more and said oh my this is something more. to make a long story short I ended up calling a ambulance and ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone OUCH! I told my trainer to take the load to California without me. I am officially of the truck right now until I get a clearance from my doctor. I am so pissed. So today I'm home relaxing and waiting for this stone to pass. So I can get back to work.

Heading home soon

Well I'm heading home in the next few days. Its been a challenging week so far. over 4000 plus miles and another 3000 to go this week coming up. I have a load going to billings, Montana and then im off to the canadian border to pick up a load. then off to California. I had some trouble with downshifting but it finally hit me and im downshifting good now. I had to get used to the newer trucks. The school trucks are very very old so the shifting is a whole lot different then the newer trucks. So its west ward bound I go!.I am so happy that I'm getting the chance to work for Gordon Trucking. I would recommend this company to any new and upcoming trucker.

I'm trying to update my blog but I'm so tired. Went through Idaho, Montana andended up in North Dakota. Rain, Snow, sun and more rain 650 miles today. I'm exahasted starting to gradually get my down shifting in check. The trucks are so low geared compared to school it's unreal. That has been my difficulty getting used to the truck. I will get it. It's been only my third day really driving. I went through my first weight station and was freaking out lol. Looking at the green light praying it did not turn red. I don't need any violations. Tomorrow it's through the rest of North Dakota, Minnisota and Wisconsin. Then it's on to illinoise then Greenbay to get a load. Then back to Montana. Whooohooo by Monday I will have about 4300 miles in 9 days.


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Heading towards Chicago

Well I'm getting tired. My brain is on overload already getting all the information about trucking. Excuse my typing or what I say in this post it's early in the morning in Montana. Butte Montana that is yes 500 miles later and I'm two states away from Washington. Today will be another long day I'm going to try to make it to North Dakota. Montana is a big state so I'm about 480 miles to the Montana/ North Dakota border. Anyway it's been a long and trying few days. I have 20 tests to complete still and so much more to learn and time us ticking away. Getting used to the shifting is trying at times way different then school. But today will be a learning day more time to downshift and upshift. I'm praying this starts to all fit together. So much to process. So much paperwork to keep track of. Qualcom macros. To know. Logbook to keep straight and that's whew allot within it self watching your trailer will driving making sure it's tracking good. Making sure you have the right paperwork from state to state regulations truck weight , truck length. Moving the fith wheel hutch ho adjust length of the trailer because your trailer can't move anymore you already reached it's max. Wow I can keep going and going. So much to know and remember.


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A trying day!!

Well it was a 2am wake up call and boy was it cold. I rolled out the top bunk and threw my clothes on and walked outside and said ...damn its fookin cold 36 degrees in the mountains of Oregon. Went to get my daily wash up done in the truck stop and some morning coffee mmmmmmm. I defintley will need to get my act together on what i need when i get my own truck. Coffee 1.95 for a cup when you bring your own its 99 cents lol.
Usually 50 percent off the price when you use your own cup. 2:20am and I'm doing a pre-trip inspection and its cold. 2:45 I'm on the road rolling north to Washington its starting to snow a little. Its wet and cold and I'm freaking out a bit about ice on the roads in the mountains. The temp is holding between 36 and 44 through out I'm happy because Its not freezing outside yet to cause ice. It's hard to see the roads a bit through the higher areas because the roads are all wet and the markings are not the greatest. I cross the Washington/Oregon bridge over the Columbia river and its a steep ass climb. we get to our destination and all hell breaks lose. the load was late due to the shipper being overweight ..but we have to wait around for the load to be inspected. I wont go into detail.It was just a bad day. I'm at a rest stop waiting for a 1am wake up. next stop Idaho then off to the east..yeah


Update first load 760 miles
next load 2024 miles. I will be arriving Friday... 6 days 2784 miles not bad for the first week when I get there this Friday.

Early morning rise!

Well my true first official full day on the road a full 14 hours. I started out at 2:15am... wake up call off to the bathroom to clean up out of the sink wtf lol. then off to the coffee station to fuel me up in the morning. A 30 minute trip to the shipper to have them re-adjust my load because it was 1600 pounds overweight on the back Axel. Two hours later were off down I5 north. The load is headed towards Washington. I took over the rig a little past Sacramento. I started out great until it was time to get off the freeway and downshift a bit. I will be needing to work on that a bit. I been 3 weeks out school and the trucks are way different then the school trucks. RPM's are geared lowered for one. I'm sure it will all fit like a glove eventually. I'm just not happy I'm having some trouble on day one. I know I'm hard on myself ...but that's how I am. we are half way through Oregon and had to stop our hours ran out. It's possibly calling for snow in the morning. I am at the 5200 ft elevation tonight. We will see what tomorrow brings. I had a good dinner , Hot Shower and free wifi. I could not ask for anything more. Good night all.

1st night at the truck stop

Well I received my first load and went to scale it and it was overweight. to much weight on the back. Boy not a happy camper went back to the shipper and everyone went home. Well I'm having to spend the night at my first truck stop till 3am tomorrow morning. I have to go back and have them unload and readjust the load so I can hit the road towards Washington. I found out Im not taking I5 all the way up I'm going to be hitting some pretty wild mountains. Once we drop this load off we will be heading East. I have 20 test's to take during my 28 day training period as well. oh boy gotta love those tests!. I'm very happy that i got the trainer I did...He is great. I will keep you all updated when I can.

Here we go again...

My trainer is on his way down from Seattle,Washington. I'm about 24 hours from departure for my 28 day training. He called me this morning sounding all eager and excited. So far by the tone of his voice since we been talking the last few weeks he seems very very nice. I'm already happy I have him as my trainer. The first words out of his mouth was"Mike I'm on my way I have sandwiches and oranges and bananas for us". I was very happy, A trainer who cares for his student. That alone made me feel very comfortable with him. He already has given me a warning that it will be tough at first till I get used to the routine. Im jumping into this journey head and shoulders first with open eyes and a brain that is ready to be filled up with knowledge about the trucking industry. WOW do I feel excited tomorrow at this time I will be on the road. The schedule looks like this 2 weeks on the road a couple days home then 2 more weeks on the road. Then after the final 2nd week I shoot straight up to Washington for 2 days to finish my orientation. Upon completion of orientation I will be given my key to my very own GTI truck (GORDON TRUCKING INC). Ready or not...hell I'm ready lets GOOOOOOO!

Going crazy...

Have you ever wanted something so bad it just drives you crazy!. I am so ready to get on the road.
Call me crazy..but I'm tired of just sitting around running out of home projects to do. Saturday afternoon my trainer will
be here to start my 28 day training. I will then get my own truck around the first week of June. YIPEEEEEEE!
I have waited so long for this since the first thought of me going to trucking school back in November 09. It's time to hit the road of my endless journeys.

Heavy Duty 2500 truck slams into Semi

Im getting closer to taking off and one thing that worries me is other drivers on the road. So many 4 wheel drivers don't follow the rules of the road. Look at what happened to a heavy duty truck and a semi. Look at the damage of both vehicles. The lucky thing is both occupants in the smaller truck survived this. So please be careful when driving. Don't be in such a hurry...we watch you all the time when we are driving our rigs...please watch us.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Well I was checking out some videos on youtube and came across this trucker video lol. Either he had to many Coronas to drink or not enough sleep. HAHAHAHA

Slingbox on the road

Okay I'm looking into the slingbox for when I'm on the road. Has anyone tried out the slingbox or have any suggestions about the system. I have a DVR HD from dish network and was wondering if i can run a slingbox solo on it. I dont care about the HD on the road from my laptop or iphone. I just want to be able view my content from my home DVR.

Here I come East Coast

Finally!... I got the call from the trainer he has some minor issues with his truck that needs to get repaired. We will be hitting the road and heading towards the East Coast this weekend!

A Very Funny Video

Im on standby

Well I have been waiting for my trainer for a couple days. He was in Arizona stuck in a sandstorm. I waited through the weekend hoping to be on the road Monday. I just got off the phone with him...he informed me that he had a blowout and had to call for a truck to come get his load. He has not been home yet so he still needs his 36 hours off. So now I'm looking at Thursday at the earliest to be on the road. Its a hurry up and wait. I told him to not worry about me and get home safely. So this is where I am at the moment.In the mean time I'm going to repack my gear. I figured out i don't need all of the stuff. I will wait till I get my truck to pack good.

Looking for good driving glasses

Well im heading to the annual street fair in my hometown. I will be looking for some glasses for driving at night. Not the old blue blockers...I guess something with the yellow tint that blocks headlight glare at night. Any ideas out there?

JUST A RELAXING DAY@HOME

One of the things I found out while I was on my way home from Washington was internet can be pricey at truck stops. What I did was went to T-mobile and opened up a data account. AT&T gives 5 gigs for 60 a month and if you go over they charge you. The usb card is also 100 dollars. T-mobile charged me 49.99 for 5 gigs and no over charge usage. so basically unlimited and I got the usb card for free. So if your looking for laptop internet service and you cant tether you phone to your laptop this is a great deal. Also you may want to put a small tool bag together before you go and also a backpack with the daily essentials. I have two large bags for my month out but I realized when your with a trainer you will have to live out of your bags. and to have a quick bag to keep a daily change of clothes and bathroom essentials its so much easier when your making that 1/4 mile trek to the bathroom at 5am in the morning.

Here is the Classic I will be training on!

Wow I cant wait to be driving this during training!

Home for a couple days

Well I came home for a couple of days. Let me try to break this down a little. When your a new driver with Gordon you do orientation for one day. After that you go out with your trainer for 28 days. Then you come back to orientation and finish off your remaining two days. This is all done if your trainer informed Gordon that your ready. During your first day you have a long day of information that you will soak in about Gordon. Well I was sent back home to wait for my trainer. I'm going to be trained in one of gordons bad ass trucks. There classics. I will get pics when I can. It was a long ride home from Washington but I can't wait to hit the road again.


UPDATE....My trainer called me tonight and said he will be picking me up Sunday or Monday. I will go out for 2 weeks come home for a day and a half then go back out for 2 weeks. I will then go back to Washington for 2 days orientation.

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Waiting in Pacific Washington

Well yesterday was what I call hell day at Gordon. 11.5 hours of classroom training. It was very informative and interesting. I learned alot. I am back at the terminal waiting for my ride back to California. We should be picking up a load somewhere here in Washington then heading to California. I might be coming home for a couple days then heading out east hopefully New York bound.


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Early morning wakeup

Well its a early morning wake up here in Washington. I'm getting readyto go to orientation day 1. It should consist of some classroom film and possibly my driving test with the truck. I will also take some pics of the truck I had mentioned in my earlier post. Wow I cant believe I'm here. I'm so excited!

Arrived finally

Well it was the longest train ride I ever experienced in my life. Met some other Gordon drivers along the way. These drivers worked for other companies and decided to come work for Gordon. They all said they heard great things about Gordon. Our hotel driver picked us up at Amtrack and drove us to Gordon's terminal and there we seen her the Shiny new powder blue truck and trailer ..All I have to say is WOWWWWWW! I will be taking pics of it tomorrow and post them to the blog. Well i better get to bed I have a 5am wake up call.

A long train ride

Well I'm almost at my destination. It will have taken almost 22 hours to arrive. I would not recommend
this ride to anyone lol. Unless your coming to work for Gordon Trucking. I have about 7 hours to go. It will all be worth it in the long run. I will update my blog when I get there. I'm tired.

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A beautiful morning

I opened my eyes this morning to a beautiful blue sky morning. I looked out the window and realized the day has arrived. Sitting here looking around my home sucking in all the visual with my eyes to hold me over until I come back home. I have a long journey ahead of me. I can feel my chest and stomach starting to knot up and tingle with excitement. I'm so ready for this next phase in my life..its been a long time coming. The past few day's I have had great days with my friends and family. I had breakfast with my kids and grand kids...as I looked around the table I realized just how blessed I am. They will truly be missed but I do all this for them. Yeah I can fell the nervousness as I'm getting closer to leaving my comfort zone of home and family. I remember the last time I felt this way. It was back in October of 1984 when I flew out to Oklahoma for boot camp "U.S. Army". Well it's time to double check my bags and make sure I have everything I need. Don't forget to bookmark this blog to follow my journey into a whole new career! I'm ready Gordon Trucking let's get those loads to there destination on time!

Thank you all for following my Blog

Liteguy I'm sorry to hear that it was very tough for the family when you were going through a career change. I know this is a very hard industry being away at times. I'm in a little different situation my children are grown 23/24 and are moved out. My wife is sorta used to this situation of me being gone. I was in the military years ago and was always gone. It was harder for me back in my military days being gone then for her.
I have been out of work for over a year so we both knew that I had to do something. So this is my 1 to 2 year plan. I plan to go over the road for a minimum 1 year on the road then come closer to home and work local for them "Gordon". This is why I chose Gordon because you have the option when something becomes available. It is tuff being 45 and applying for different types of jobs and they look at you like your to old or over qualified. like I said in a earlier post this was not my first choice but I will make it work. I always give 120 percent in whatever I do. I know I will do orientation for 1 or 2 days and then go straight to the road with a trainer for 28 days/10,000 miles. I will be updating this blog daily if I can when time permits and let you know what and how I'm doing.

A bittersweet moment

I woke up this morning knowing that I only have a little over 24 hours until I leave for Washington. It's definitely a bittersweet moment. I'm so thrilled, excited, anxious, happy and sad all in one package. I wanted this job so bad and cant wait to get on the road...but at the same time I'm sad to leave my family behind. It's been a long tough year trying to figure out what to do with my life as far as work. So many thoughts and ideas pop through your mind. When I chose trucking school I can say it was not my first choice but I had to do something I knew would be around for awhile. OTR or over the road commercial driving is not for everyone. I know there will be many challenges ahead in this industry some good some bad. I will experience all types of people, weather, drivers etc etc. I have a great family and wonderful friends who have supported me through these trying times. You all will be in my thoughts as I travel the highways and biways. So all I have left to say is ...LETS DO THIS!

Leaving a comment for a daily post is set up now

I set up the comment feature. When you leave a comment... write the comment then select the comment as... Select "Anonymous" at the bottom of the tab. Then post comment... It's that easy. I hope to hear from some of you.


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IM READY TO ROCK AND ROLL

Everything is packed and ready to go. Actually I just need one more thing a coat. I'm not sure if I will need one but I better play it safe and bring one. I'm leaving on the Amtrack Sunday night they informed me its about a 22 hour trip Oh Myyyyy. I'm so happy and excited and a little nervous at the same time. I know once I get there and start my training it will all smooth out. I'm heading to Washington with another driver so that will be cool at least I'm not alone.

Getting things ready for the weekend

Well last night I had to go out and get my gear together for my Orientation/Training. So its like all in a pile lol. Gordon gives you a list of stuff that you need to bring. So I will have spent about 400 dollars on stuff just to get going and I have not even seen a pay check yet hehe. Oh well it will all pay off in the end for sure! I don't think I ever been this excited with a new job ever. I guess that's what happens when you been out of work for over a year.

UPDATE: Almost packed and ready to go.I'm trying to get a weeks worth of clothes and all my necessities in 1 bag it's like Wow! I fell like I'm moving out haha.

iPhone is set up

Okay I set up my iPhone so I can blog. So this will work out great because if I can't recieve a Internet connection on the road. I still can use 3g to upload a blog. This is going to be great.


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On my way to Orientation

Well I passed my physical and I'm on my way to my orientation with Gordon Trucking. I should be leaving sometime this weekend and on my way to a whole new career. I will be taking pics along the way and possibly some video to get posted soon. I should be leaving orientation and hitting the road with my trainer. I should be out 28 days before i get to see some home time. Well ready or not here we go....this is what i been waiting for.

Physical and drug test today!

Well today is the big day. at around 11:00am i will be making my way to the doctors clinic to take my DOT Physical and DOT drug test. One more step to check off before my road trip to Washington.

The Phone Rang Today

It was around 11:00am and my phone rang and it was Gordon Trucking on the other end. They informed me that I would be having a physical and drug test on Thursday. They also said that I would possibly be hitching a ride with another trucker to Washington for next weeks orientation.

Blog was created

This blog was created to keep friends, family and new truckers with information about my 1st year out as a new trucker. You will see pictures, videos and audio of different things I go through. So make sure you bookmark this blog. It sure to get interesting as the months go by.

My trucker name Zyphor

Well my name that I decided to use when I'm on the road is Zyphor. Im sure some of you are like where the hell did you pick that name from lol. I started this 3D game about 2 1/2 years ago and I had to name my avatar. So I named him Zyphor. I wanted something that stood out and was rememberable. Later on as time went by in the game I started my own online radio station and Dj Zyphor was born. My station runs off and on during certain times of the day. Sometimes I'm Live and sometimes I'm recorded. So this is where Zyphor came from.

The Weekend

Enjoying one of my last weekends before I get going here sometime soon. I got together last night with some friends at Las Margaritas for a few drinks and some tacos. yummmy

School is done!!

Well I finally finished school.I graduated from the trucking school and on my way to Gordon Trucking to drop off my paperwork. wow they are hiring here. The season is picking up. Now its a sit and wait for a orientation date phone call.

Looking for a truck school in California?

If your looking for a great truck school program with awesome instructors. Check out Western Pacific Truck School. There are 3 locations in California and 1 in Washington

http://www.wptruckschool.com/

Just a quick video

Here is a video I'm testing with some software I'm trying to learn before I hit the road lol.

New Commercial Driver

Hello everyone my name is Mike aka" Trucker Zyphor". I will be updating this blog to let all new and upcoming truckers read and see what I go through my first year out.

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