INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Holy crap! I seem to have actually completed training! I'd be bouncing off the walls if I weren't so exhausted from running nonstop on very little sleep for the past several days.
Last trainer dropped me off at the Indy terminal last night, and this morning I did several hours' worth of computer tests and training modules to qualify me out of student status. Now I am on a waiting list for a truck. A truck for ME. No one else would get to drive it or put their stuff in it or make rules about it. Within the confines of my getting my job done and delivering loads on time, I can make my own decisions about my time. Imagine that!
My plan after getting my own truck has been to take my first home time in Portland next weekend so I could attend a friend's wedding, but instead I'm going to ask for a load to take me home as soon I get a truck and talk to my dispatcher. Because drivers are eligible for three days off per three weeks of being out on the road, taking time off in Portland would mean that I wouldn't get home for another three weeks, for a total of about two months away from home. That's more than I can really handle.
I'm getting to know the deep-set existential darkness that sets in when you wake up every day in motion without any idea where you are. That moment just sort of pulls everything else into its own black hole, because you JUST HAVE NO IDEA about anything, and this sets the tone for the rest of the day. I am holding on to the hope that having my own truck, one that does not move unless I am driving it myself, will keep this feeling at bay.
Next update: hopefully from privacy of own truck!
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4 comments:
Woot, congratulations! I'm so happy for you, having your own truck. Thanks for continuing to post about your adventures... I really do love living vicariously through you on the road.
Dave just shared a dream with me, about riding his bike across the country, and my immediately response was, "Hell YES, I would support that. Because I would fly out to CA and meet you, and then we could drive up the coast." It's a two-year plan, but I'm hoping that it happens. :)
I'm really proud of you for sticking through some tough shit and getting to this milestone. You certainly deserve some home time! I'd love to know your thoughts on coming home, what it feels like after being away....I've always found that a hard and unsettling transistion.
I was just thinking the other day that you must be close to finally finishing training and getting your own truck.
Watch out for the scam on home time - the first day is considered one of your off days if they get your load delivered and set you free by 6:00PM!!!!! Not.
Then, on your third day they will call you and set up a pick up for, oh, say 1:00am that night so you have to leave home and go sit at the shipper's place...I'm just saying...
That's the game they used to play with me - and that is why I stayed out for 4-6 weeks in order to get a few days off.
I can remember getting my first pumpkin truck. I to trained in Indy and waited a week for my truck, which turned out ot me in Seville, OH. Had to ride greyhound 1 and 1/2 days to get there. My luggage was a well stuffed duffel bag and a CB radio, still in the box.
Good luck to you!
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