Me And My Shadow (Week 5 Training)

As part of the Kriska training program, your assigned trainer follows you for one week to ensure that you are capable of driving on your own as well as to be a close resource if you have any questions. This is a great idea especially for newly licensed drivers given that so many drivers like myself have never driven alone in a truck. It also gives the trainer a different point of view as to a drivers’ skill level.

Being alone for the first time in the truck was certainly different. It was like the first time I flew an airplane solo, nervous but very focused on not screwing up. As the hours went by, I became more and more comfortable with being alone and my ability to do the job by myself. I did miss the entertainment that Sylvain provided from time to time but I also like the feeling that I was not invading his space in his truck.

I met Sylvain and his new trainee at the Prescott terminal on Monday morning for a trip into PA. Just like the first day that I was a trainee, Sylvain spent some time showing the trainee around the terminal. While Sylvain was busy doing his thing, I pretripped my truck and trailer, hooked to the trailer, pulled the truck around to the front of the terminal and planned our route to our destination. I also took advantage of the time to organize a few more items in the truck.

Once Sylvain was finished his duties, we were ready to head out on the road, though Sylvain did need to stop for fuel. This became the first hiccup of the trip as Sylvain headed to fuel; I needed to go to maintenance to fill up my fluid jugs. In that short amount of time, I became separated from Sylvain as he had to go to another fueling location as the one close to the terminal was down. For some reason, my phone does not work well in the Prescott area and I did not get the message from Sylvain about his situation. The one good thing about being shadowed by your trainer is that you get used the trainers habits. One of Sylvain’s’ habits is to stop at the On Route in Mallorytown for his coffee and donut. Knowing this, I went to the On Route and waited for him there. Sure enough, a short time later in rolled Sylvain and he explained to me what happened.

On this trip, we made a few more stop than normal as Sylvain’s’ trainee was a smoker and he needed his fix about every couple of hours. The trip down was uneventful with the weather being bright and sunny with very little traffic. We got to our destination around 9 pm and with the dark, I over shot the customer parking lot entrance but not by much so I was able to back up enough to make the turn. Safely parked for the night, it was time to spend my first night alone in my truck.

I was awakened by one of the employees of the customer who said I could back up to the dock to get unloaded. Great! I looked over at Sylvain truck and there did not seem like there was any life so I decided to proceed with docking on my own with no help from anyone. My first approach and set up was not correct so I went around again to set up better. This time the set up was much better, not perfect but better. I was stoked with the back up that I forgot one important thing, opening the damn doors, so I had to pull forward to open them.

My Truck After Off Loading At Customer

Once the trailer was docked, I went inside with my paperwork. I got to talk with one of the employees about the place and asked a bunch of questions. (I do not like to disclose what I am hauling or the customer name for safety and business reason) This customer was a printer and the operation was very impressive. In the corner of the warehouse I saw these great big touts with color bands on them. I asked the guy if that was ink and he said it was. Wow, these things looked like great big inkjet cartridges, almost like the ones from an old HP600 printer. The guy told me I was not far off and asked if I wanted to see them change one out and me being me I said you bet. I tell you, the change out was just like an inkjet printer but instead of using their fingers, they used a forklift. I said to the guy that you must go through a lot of black but he said no, that actually they go through more yellow than any other color. I guess because yellow is blended to make a lot of other colors.

Once we were both off loaded, it was time to head to the next customer to pick up a load for Ontario, well to drop at our Mississauga terminal. This was my first time doing what is called a CSA load where we did not have to produce any paperwork at the border but a few different barcode cards and away we could go. I wish all load were like this as it was simple, fast and easy.

We got to the terminal late so it was time to drop the trailers and find a place to park for the night. The next morning we were given our next assignment to Chicago area. This was my second time in the Chicago area and I have heard all about the drivers in this area, but so far I have not encountered anything worse than I have in the GTA. I have been lucky so far with the weather being sunny most days so I get the chance to take in a lot of great scenery along the routes I have traveled. In some places, the temperatures were so warm, I had to change to a short sleeve shirt.

Once off loaded, it was only a short trip to our next customer to drop the empty trailer and pick up a loaded one for a trip back to the GTA. I love the drop and hook as it makes for good use of time, especially with it being late Thursday; I was looking forward to getting home. We only traveled a short distance before we called it a night. The next morning, we were homeward bound but part way home, we would split off as Sylvain was actually headed back to Prescott as he was going to be crossing at a different border crossing than myself so he was not going to be shadowing me for the last leg of this trip. He told me I was ready to be solo but if I had any questions to contact him.

I made sure all my paperwork was complete before heading to the border and that I had all the right messages on the Qualcomm, that is our in truck computer system. Thinking everything was in order off to the border I went. Well apparently I missed one message that my e-manifest had not been accepted so once at the border, I was sent to the penalty box. It would seem that the computers were not talking to one another very well and it took some time to clear up, but it got resolved. Lesson learned the hard way, but I will never do that again. I continued on to our Mississauga terminal to drop the trailer and spend the night. Finding a place for the trailer was no problem, but a place for me to park was another thing. At Kriska, a lot of the drivers work Monday to Friday with weekends off so the truck parking area was packed by the time I got there. I managed to wedge myself into a place and called it a night.

The next morning, I bobtailed to a customer to pick up a loaded trailer that would get me home for the weekend. The yard guy was in a hurry to go home himself by the time I got there that he pulled out the loaded trailer for me so I could get out of there fast. I thanked him, completed my computer work and headed for home. The weather turned for the first time and it started to rain pretty hard but luckily, the traffic was light and I was able to get home in good time.

At the beginning of the week, I set up my “GoPro” type of camera to get some videos and hopefully some screen captures of my journey, well between the vibration of the truck and the low quality I had the camera set at, there was not much worth sharing on this edition of the blog. I need to get a vibration reduction mount and a bigger memory card so I get record at higher resolution.

I got home late afternoon on Saturday and once again, I was not sure who was happier to see me, the wife or the dog, either way it was nice to be home. Renee gave me the mail and I noticed a letter from Kriska in the pile. I opened the letter to find out that all the drivers were getting a pay raise. Not bad, one with the company and I got a pay raise.

Photo Courtesy Kriska Transportation Group

So, all in all a very good week.

What learned this trip……..,make sure all border crossing messages and paperwork are in order.

What I need to work on…… setting up a system to help manage my time better