I had about 20 hours of on the road training and another 30 or so of classroom stuff, but that was it. I was never taught how any paperwork is done or the proper completion of log books. I had no idea how to back up a truck into a dock or parking spot. I had never driven in the States, except for a few small trips into northern Washington. I didn't even know how to fuel up a truck...
Also:
- I didn't have a cell phone that worked in the States, and my work didn't have a work phone to give to me yet.
- I didn't have a truck GPS (or any other type of GPS).
So I left late Thursday night to pick up my load for the next day in Kelowna, BC. It was so foggy out that I could barely see the road, and the highway I had to take was through the mountains and had many steep downgrades.
Part way through, I noticed my Jake wasn`t working most of the time. I don`t even want to know what my heart rate was at during those few hours... Visions of my brakes catching on fire and me careening down the hill kept running through my head. I threw on my engine fan to help slow myself down on the hills, keeping my brakes happy (It turns out that my clutch sticks a bit, so my Jake and cruise control won`t work until I hook my foot under the pedal and pull up on it).
I ended up taking the wrong highway part way through (apparently hwy 97 is not the same as the 97c) and added an extra couple hours to my run, so I pulled over in the middle of nowhere and went to bed. It definitely wasn`t the best sleep I`ve had, as this was the first time I`ve ever slept in a truck.
I made it to Kelowna the next day, picked up my load, and headed down across the border without a problem.
Washington
Dirty windshield in Washington
Finally, I hit the open road. I couldn`t believe I was doing this. I always wanted to do long haul, but once it was actually happening, it just seemed so surreal. Once I picked up my load, everything was going well on my trip, until Denver...
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