Solo and soreness I arrived at the warehouse this morning around 3:00 AM. I wanted to have plenty of time to prepare for my first solo trip with the new company. I through some belongings into the truck, fired it up, got my paperwork, and then located the loaded trailer in the yard. I started to my stop just before 4:00 AM and arrived there just before 4:30 AM.
Backing the truck into the dock took a bit longer than I anticipated (I'm still learning how this truck steers/handles.) Once in the dock, I received help getting the trailer unloaded--it was a good workout for us all. We unloaded the entire trailer (one and one-half hours) as well as loading some items back on the truck to go back to the warehouse. Then I headed to the warehouse to drop the returns and pick up two stops bound for Iowa.
I back on the road by 8:00 AM and fueled in Madison, WI. Later that afternoon I arrived in Ames, IA where I settled down for the evening. The truck handles well. The only major gripe I have is the driver's side windshield wiper system. I noticed both on this truck and my trainer's truck (we have identical trucks) that the passenger side wiper system works absolutely flawlessly--the wiper clears the entire window and the windshield wiper fluid is distributed evenly over the window when utilized. It's perfect. The driver's side window is another story. The top of the wiper fails to wipe the window clean and the fluid cleans the bottom of the glass but not the top of the glass. It's got to be a design flaw that Freightliner needs to fix in the Columbia series. When you think about it, it's a no-brainer safety issue. I sure wish truck engineers would ride at least a few weeks in the trucks they design. I guarantee you that there would be changes in truck design!
During the late afternoon and evening hours, my muscles began to let me know that they did not appreciate having a workout earlier in the day. I will definitely have some sore shoulder muscles come tomorrow morning! Tomorrow I'll unload about one-half of the trailer before driving to the next stop and unloading the rest of the trailer. Hopefully my muscles will live up to the challenge and have enough of a rest between stops.
I'm getting used (to some degree) to the tight quarters in the new truck. One thing that will be nice is that I'll have a darker cab at night. The condo unit I had with the other company had a skylight allowing light from the truckstop light poles to shine in at night. Otherwise, I have to really watch where I'm going or I'm bound to bounce my head off the ceiling or bang my shins into the wooden crate next to the passenger seat.
miles driven = 393
8:24:11 PM
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