The day wasn't perfect though, as I realized I am having to really think about my trailer and where it is at when making turns. I got used to driving a 4 wheeler for a while, so I am having to re-adjust my turning style back to a rig. Not that I made any crazy mistakes, though I did lightly swipe a sign making a right hand turn, I had all the space in the world, I just didn't pull out enough before cutting the wheel, and I am making sure that never happens again.
As far as my backing skills go, they do need some work, specifically my 45. I did 2 blindside backs today without a single problem and on the first shot, once to get into a hole at a yard to wait to get loaded, the second to bump dock. Though I get to the Flying J in Carlisle, and couldn't 45 it into the first hole I saw. I probably could of got it, but so many trucks floating around trying to find a spot that I just got frustrated, and luckily found a hole that was super easy to get into.
My actual drive time today was pretty nice. I felt it could of been better, but it was more then satisfactory anyway. I drove from Bloomsbury, NJ to Gettysburg, PA to get loaded, and from there to Carlisle, PA for the night. I drove up 34 to get to Carlisle, which was a bit nerve racking considering it is just a 1 lane road that is very winding, and hilly. I drove it fine, but I was just nervous. I never really did like driving back roads, and try to avoid them when possible, but it was a good way to help me get comfortable with this truck.
While getting loaded in Gettysburg, there was a flatbed driver there getting loaded via a forklift inside of the warehouse, he was backed into a sunken open dock. He was quite the chit chatty type, so we talked pretty much the entire time we where both in there, which happened to be about 2 hours. The guy loading him was to load us, but we had to wait for him to get loaded. It was a pretty interesting time as the forklift kept breaking his wooden deck, and at one point broke a hole through about a foot by a foot big, causing the forklift to get stuck in the hole and having to have another forklift lift him out! I was going to take a picture to post up, but my phone was dead so I couldn't.
This load was supposed to be a 2 stop load, but they couldn't fit it all in the trailer, so we only have the one stop. A bit of a bummer as that means less money for the load. Though because this is a warehouse we will probably pick up at fairly often, my boss decided to buy pizza for everyone, for it we where pretty much guaranteed quick load times in the future :). We got two complete elevators going to the same location, a children's psychiatric hospital in Orangeburg, NY. We aren't supposed to deliver until Thursday afternoon, but tomorrow we are going to see if we can deliver early. We already have a load that is to be picked up Thursday in Hatfield, PA, to be delivered to Florida by the next day. We will have to run that load as a true team to make it on time, so we are really hoping we can deliver in NY quicker so we can get loaded quicker to have a little extra buffer time. Though it will be nice to have a descent run, instead of this floating around NJ, PA, and NY hardly moving.
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