Question:
I'm a recent graduate of a private trucking school and am scheduled to begin OTR with a trainer in one week. There are a few things I kind of worry about.
1. When my hours are up as I pull into my planned truckstop and I find there is absolutely no place to park, what do I do, park on the service road? If I just find myself out in the middle of nowhere and I'm out of hours, what do I do?
2. Getting lost in a strange neighborhood of a strange city. Finding myself on little streets with low-hanging tree branches. Trying to follow my route over unfamiliar interstate highways in large cities. Taking an exit off an interstate to find it dead-ends. Just getting lost, period.
3. Learning effective, best trip and time planning. How best to use split-sleeper time.
4. What is it really like to be away from family and friends for weeks at a time only to have a day or two (or four) out of each month to be with them. My children are two daughters, ages of 19 and 17, and still at home. Can they help their mom with any unplanned happenings and together take care of everything.

Answer:
1. Don't fall into the 11:00.0000000 driving hours are up and what do I do???? 'trap'. I don't think anyone drives with a Swiss stopwatch (well, by the posts of some here, maybe they do ). You'll learn not to cut it too close, but if it does happen, you'll learn of creative places to park (which you'll see a lot of while out on the road with your trainer). The trick is to block the No Parking sign with your trailer....
2. Good trip planning will avoid most of this. You may or may not learn it from your trainer, so take the initiative and practice trip planning on your own when out with the trainer. Otherwise, it sometimes happens -- learn to stop somewhere reasonably safe and turn on the hazards (four-way flashers) before you get in too deep.
3. Practice and experience. For me, split sleeper has not been too much of an advantage, and 'when' to use it has not been too much of a choice (usually taken at a shipper/receiver when things are going to be drawn out).
4. This is something you and your family will get used to or you won't, and the main reason that this job is not for everyone (by far).

Answer:
Hi beatnik
1) Just because you have 11 hours does not mean you need to use them all up at once. I don’t recall that many trips that required I pick up and drive 11 hours just to make the delivery. Okay, I had a couple in 2.5 years. But I was told ahead of time before I accepted them.
I usually plan my stops in advance. Get a truck stop guide. I take a dry erase board marker and write the days trips down the left side of my windshield with the mile markers with truck stop across the top. I know a driver that writes the same information on a yellow sticky and sticks it on his dashboard.
2) Getting lost, well its going to happen. There is not one answer fits all. I wound up going up a hill that had a NO TRUCKS over 12 TONS sign. The only way out was to back up on to a freeway exit ramp, blindside. Hit the 4 ways and called 911. The officer showed up, said they gave him the wrong address, but from what the call was he knew where to find me. Said he has to come out 3-4 times a month to get a truck off the hill. He got traffic stopped, got me off the hill and everybody lived happily ever after.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS DON’T MAKE A BAD SITUATION WORST. Yes I screwed up, my options were to continue past the sign, back up onto the freeway (not an option!), or get some help.
In talking to the officer, he said the last time he came out to help a trucker, it took two cranes to get the truck and trailer back onto the road. The previous driver tried to make a U-turn and missed the 50 foot drop, well, no he didn’t, if you get my point.
You are just going to have to learn to get good directions. If gotten directions via street names, some by land marks, “Okay you see, at the third McDonalds your gonna turn right, you see… uhm, then go to the Arbys, or Hardies, which ever one it is, then your gonna head east…. Till you come to the Wendy’s, we’re 300 feet on the right.”
I had one set of directions based on a restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant had been torn down. I’ve gotten directions based on “turn away from the mountain…”
I’ve had drivers lead me to a place and I have done the same. You can always ask for assistance on the CB, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The best thing is to get as much information as you can. Ask for landmarks. If you can, get the street name before you make your turn. Get as much information as you can.
3) I don’t do too much sleeper split. It doesn’t work for me, I avoid it. There are those that live and swear by it…
4) Most of the people that I see struggling are people that want to be with their family. I left home when I was 16, never married, all of my brothers and sisters had left home around the time they turned 18. My family was not close knit. For me trucking is perfect. I have family and friends all over the world and I am always within a day or two’s drive to visit somebody and take a little time off.
If your daughters are responsible they should be able to help mom out with any problems that come up.
Good luck,
-J

Answer:
Don't worry about the kids,
Teenage girls just need the $$$$ (I have 3 BTW)
You'll learn to plan your trips and stops.
So relax and keep reading, you can learn a lot on here from the old farts.
Answer:
A lot of your questions can be summed up with plan, plan, plan. Have a primary trip plan and have a secondary backup plan in case something goes wrong.
As stated do not wait until you are almost out of hours to start looking for a place to park. The regs say that you can drive 11 hours. They do not say you MUST drive 11 hours. The smart thing to do is to plan your trip to know where you want to stop by the time you hit 10 hours (or 1 hour before you are going to be out of hours), and then know of alternate locations to park for the night within an hours drive of your 1st choice.
Double/triple check your directions. If need be call the local police department (of the city you are going into) or Department of Transportation if you have major concerns with a route. If you find yourself in a bad situation do not panic. Stop and think things through. Call for help if you really need to.
Time away from home. That depends on you and the policy at the company you are going to work for. In general expect to be away from home during your entire training phase. Then you can expect to be able to be home every 12-14 days or so with most companies, though your company may have a different home time policy.
As far as effective trip planning, using split sleeper time etc. Discuss this with your trainer. That is what he/she is being paid for. TO TRAIN YOU!!!!! They are not expecting you to know much of anything. So ask questions. If you can't get an answer go to your dispatcher, safety department, whoever within your company. For questions about HOS you can also stop in and talk to the folks at the scale house or if you see an office having a cup of coffee strike up a conversation and ask. Most are willing to help you keep yourself out of trouble. Takes less time for them to explain something than to write a ticket later on.
Answer:
Over time, You'll make mistakes, count on it. It happens to all of us, even vets.
The real challenge is to use your brain. Your brain can be your worst enemy or your best friend. Try to use common sense, I know that sounds simple, but you would not believe the truck drivers out here today with no common sense at all.
If you get into a jam, do not panic, think it through like a puzzle. Make a plan or two. It's always good to have plan B and C worked out in case plan A doesn't seem to be working very well.
Take things is small chunks, one step at a time. It's a big Country to travel around, you have much to learn in your travels. Not everything is written out simple in a book. Imagination, perseverance , your wit, and yes some luck, will see you through. But don't make a habit of having to rely on luck, or you'll fail.
I often say, Stress is the end result of people not knowing what the F^^%% their doing!!!
Your going to experience stress for awhile!!

Answer:
Trip planning is your answer to issue #1.
You figure how far you expect to drive for the shift then look at where that is going to place you on the road.
Then you pick 3 different places to stop at.
The middle place you pick is where you stop if everything goes according to plan and you make your miles.
The last place you picked is where you stop if everything is going well and you are up for a few more miles. It is also the place you head to if there is no parking to be found at all at your middle stop.
The first place you picked is before the middle spot on the road. This is where you stop if you don't make good time, get tired, etc etc.
You can find your rest areas on the maps and the truck stops with a truck stop directory. It is rough when you start out, but gets easier as you build on your experience and certainly much easier as you roll on the same routes a few times.

Answer:
All excellent replies, with great advice.
I have the large type truckstop guide, but I also have the little pocket guide for truck stops. Let me tell you it is so much easier thumbing through a small booklet than a big book. It tells you the basics...highway, mile marker, size of parking lot, and if they have a scale or not.
When I started this job I was handed the keys,cell phone, and paperwork with no training other than my 9 weeks in school. I was terrified and then some. I have learned a lot in the 7 months I have been here, and still learning.
If it feels like you are lost....you probably are. If you can do it safely stop the truck. There is nothing worse than knowing you are lost and continuing on. You will learn quickly that it isn't anywhere near fun getting lost in this big truck. I have used the assistance of the local police once to stop traffic, and get me out of a pickle I got myself into.
there will be days when this job is a total butt kicking. It does get better. You will still get a whoopin, but you'll be well prepared to handle it.

Answer:

I agree. Thanks to all who posted and helped put me at ease. I really feel I'm going to enjoy OTR. I start orientation Monday. Trucknet is the greatest as are the members who hang out here.