Moving to America, the road to American Citizenship, Green Card, Dating, travel and marriage to an American amongst others; are what this blog is about. Living abroad - Georgia, Eastern Europe, near Russia, teaching English Second Language and other adventure filled experiences. Please, take a moment and indulge, if not live vicariously!
A few of the State lines I crossed for your perusal!
Utah rest area.
Carlos was nice enough to suggest this. I’d thought of it but didn’t wanna be too forward. I pencilled the idea for when I’m alone on the road in my own truck.
When he offered to take the pics, I wasn’t gonna say no. It was generous of him. The picture below was the first one he took of me. It was also my first time in Colorado.
Welcome to Colorful Colorado!
I totally recommend a drive through Colorado. It’s such a beautiful one! I don’t necessarily recommend driving a truck through Colorado in winter. If you’ve done this route before, you know exactly what I’m talking about!
Indiana
I believe Indiana is in the Midwest. This is an FYI that may not quite be useful cos I’m not too sure how factual it is.
Not a state line, obvi
I woke up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom. Carlos was driving. We were headed to North East. That’s the New York state region. Seeing us crossing Connecticut state on the GPS was a little nostalgic. I hadn’t been to Connecticut since I lived there. If you dig through, you will find blogs about my experiences there. I was fresh off the boat from South Africa. You. Can imagine the memories that flushed through my mind as We passed through. The above picture was taken in a restroom in New York. I was like man, I’m really cross country trucking! (Even though I wasn’t technically the one doing the driving!). We also drove through New Jersey. Even if just a bit. I did live there for a couple of months as well, back on the day.
Feeling Peachy in Georgia
It must be from all the reality TV shows I’ve been watching, but I was extra excited to set foot in Georgia… The state not the country! I’ve Already been to the country, still waiting for my T-shirt. Insert eye roll emoji here.
AZ.
St. Louis
Oklahoma
Nevada / California border
I parked right across the border and ran from California to Nevada to take the following picture.
Week three into training was very challenging. I may have been partially responsible for this! I have this thing at the back of my mind, that, when sharing space with someone; it’s all good for the first two weeks. Come week 3 and the tail pops right out of where they had been hiding it and you get to see their true colors. I might be wrong! Maybe it’s week 4 or year 7. This was my experience in my time of having roommates.
This is not my house, nor his, it’s a freaking tiny truck I better suck it up, butter cup! It was hard though. No pun! I got tired of the permanent whispers on the phone 24/7 between Carlos, My trainer and his wife, doing all the driving, while he parks at Walmart and buys more food, when it’s his turn, all the little things! We were still getting along. I just was sick of the situation.
One night, Carlos was driving, I was asleep. My routine was to wake up more than an hour before start and shower we would, obviously use separate showers. He would hang out in the truck shop after showering; I think he would be having breakfast. I would go straight back to the truck and have my breakfast, then, pre-trip inspection, preselect music, and drive. When my ten hours or so on duty was up, We would switch after I did my post- trip inspection of the truck.
I drove daytime as I mentioned before. He drove nights - but I would almost always wake up to the truck parked and everybody sleeping, so, there’s that.
One night, I was asleep and woke up on the side of the freeway! Don’t freak out! I was still in the sleeper berth of the truck, just, we were stopped on the side of the freeway. Carlos was outside. We had orange cones next to our truck like breakdown situation. “What happened?” Tire explosion!
Looking at the tire, I couldn’t even tell you how that must’ve happened. You’re probably smarter than me and have already figured it out. In which case, Bravo! It was much darker outside than it seems in these photos.
Luckily, nothing weird happened to the rest of the truck. I mean, I didn’t even realize what had happened. I slept right through it. Hopefully Carlos didn’t!
He waited for help while I went back to sleep. I needed my sleep. I’m the one doing most of the driving, plus he was on the phone... as usual.
Speaking of accidents and tire situations; I had one of my own!
One morning, I remember waking up in Oklahoma. We were in a random truck stop, in a fuel spot (I forget the name). Carlos was snacking on something delicious as usual, insert drooling emoji! He asked if I wanted to drive us to a truck stop with a shower. I wasn’t trying to say no in any learning opportunity as I was there to learn. This was not the norm. I was still in my night gown. I’m not sure what possessed him to make me drive braless in a night gown. It was such a weird predicament. I was half asleep. I miscalculated a turn and ended up hitting a random cement pillar with the back tires. All I heard was an explosion. That woke me up!
He freaked out! I didn’t. Delayed reaction, remember? I sometimes have to fake being upset when something happens and it’s my fault. I feel bad that the other person affected may think I don’t care. So, of course! I went ahead and put my hands over my head: OH MY GOSH! Oh nooo! I’m so sorry! I was sorry! I didn’t feel bad but I was not upset. It happens. I’ll be upset later or the following day!
That’s the damage caused to the rim
That wasn’t the time to point fingers about being made to drive half asleep in my nightgown. I put on decent clothing and called for help. We sat there for two to three hours. I wish he’d just let me sleep longer.
Eating deez nuts while waiting for mechanic. Press play!
While waiting for help, I went inside the convenience store to get hot water.
Maybe the tire explosion didn’t wake me up cos this happened:
Don’t try this at home! It burns like a mofo
Mofo is Short for mother fcker. You’re welcome! (I think!) i sat there and burned like heck while this think was shriveling in my hand (no pun intended). The guy was nice enough to offer me a foam cup. Much smarter than Our trucker in training here!
En route back to California , it’s the last week of my training. It was only a few days before I hit my total number of training hours. When I did the math, I realized that I’d still be in Texas when that happened. Both Carlos and I live in California. He had a Vegas tripped planned for after my training. At first, I was nervous that that was going to infringe upon my training time. But now that I was almost done, I was ready to head back. He was chilling. I overheard him talk to dispatch about how he didn’t mind another load that would take us out out of the way. He was in no rush. Well, I was! I wanted to get the heck out of that truck! Go take a bath in my apartment, sleep in my California king... and with him! Just be home, man!
I researched what my options were. Apparently, I would have had to start over with my training if I wanted to get out of that truck AFTER my training. Go figure that sht out and make it make sense! If you don’t like your trainer, you’re allowed to quit, good luck finding one that you like. There have been stories of mentors who shut the curtain and poop while you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, driving. Imagine that sht! Pun intended! Just so you know, there are no toilets inside semi trucks!
There have been other versions of weirdnesses as well. I hit the jackpot when it comes to that. Carlos had a nice personality, he liked to shower, he even wore cologne. He really wore that cologne one time we were in Denver, Colorado. We arrived in the evening. He told me he had friends from high school that he wanted to catch up with. Carlos is in his late forties. But I get it. I have contact with my high school people and I’m not that much younger than him. He really made himself nice! He looked better than when his wife came over. While he was gone, I looked at my map app, saw that there was a Walmart a mile away, and I walked there. 1mile=1.6km. I bought things I had no business eating, like buns and M & M chocolate slaps. I think I also bought a Cadbury’s slab. Those are hard to resist because I grew up on Cadbury and they don’t always have it here in the States. They never have my favorite, Top Deck. I settle for Dairy milk. I don’t know when Carlos came back because between eating myself to a comma and the walk, I was nice and relaxed.
I must say, it was nice to be home alone for a change. That was the second time. The first was when we were in California and he spent the night at hime with his lovely wife. He took his laundry with him that night.
I sucked it up, buttercupped some more until we got back to Cali. I was due to be tested on what I learned during training. We’re supposed to do no less than 40 backs while out there. I hope I did. Carlos had a notepad where be was ‘recording’ everything. Except, not really! He started to try to remember everything while we were back at the company base. I was amazed! What was this guy doing all along? He wasn’t driving, so!
Any who, They scheduled me for the test the following day. Carlos had promised to take me to the spot where we would be tested to reverse and let me practice a few times. After he finished fake remembering what we did on the road, he ran right out of that thing as if be heard another tire explosion. He screamed for me to lock the truck and text him where I left the key. I was shooken! This is how we part ways? Where’s my practice run?
I took my sht, which stayed in suitcases anyways. Story of my life. I placed the key somewhere safe, sent Carlos a text; blocked Carlos and left! See ya mutha trucker!
Two weeks into riding with my truck driving trainer, we went to this giant truck stop, Lord knows where. We were going to take a break and shower there. It was in the middle of the day, probably noon-ish. I browsed around, quickly for an open space or 3 side by side, for my amateur self to park. I found one where there were two side by side spots. I pulled up to set up, got out of the truck to double check all around my truck. Carlos freaked the freak out! He asked me where I learned how to set up like that? I literally set up the same way I’d been setting up since I started with him. It was so surprising to me that he saw something different about what I did. I was completely thrown off!
When I told him that that’s how he taught me to set up, he completely denied it and told me he wouldn’t have asked me if he’d seen me do that before. He was very frustrated by the whole thing, I could tell! I wanted to fix the problem but how? This is what we’ve been doing for two weeks. He’d complimented me on how improved I was on backing, based on the set up I was using. This was doing a number on my confidence on this person, and everything he’d taught me! I can’t stand inconsistent people! I can’t stand people who do one thing and then deny it. Imagine being in school and then halfway through it, being told everything you knew was false? Did you just waste half your training? What the eff?
Anywho, I set it up how he wanted to do me this time around. He was telling me how the way I did it was fine too but it was for well experienced people. That’s how HE does it but it doesn’t mean I should do it the same way. What the actual fck was going on here? Dude was freaking out over something that’s not wrong. That he himself does. He wonders where I could’ve learned it. Could it be he taught me? Long story short, If I was a countdown to the end of training before, i was Really was doing it now.
Cut to, one time we were going to be driving to Southern California. This was exciting cos we did most of our driving far from home. I was looking forward to the chance of perhaps bumping into my boo thang; Derrick. I told D that we were going to be Cali side. He was going to be in the desert, camping with his group of friends.
Lo and beFreaking Hold, turns out our route was going to pass by where they were. I called him: no answer. Left him a message s to why I called. I told him I could pull into a gas station if he wanted to come say hi. I was so excited by this spontaneous opportunity. Derrick not only didn’t pick up the phone, he didn’t text back either. It wasn’t until my mentor sympathized with me that I got sad over this. I wondered if there’s something about this relationship that I keep missing. People seem to have similar reaction towards this Derrick guy’s actions towards me and I seem to be bothered s much as outside people. Am I the fool here?
We went on to meet up Carlos’ wife who did show up. So, now, ure really getting to see what it’s like when people love each other. They show up, haha. I laugh because, oh well!
We parked at this giant Flying J, one of the national truck stop chains. They have a Denny’s restaurant and other spots. I’d met wifey before, remember Day One? I’ve now heard all kinds of stories about their relationship dynamics. It was interesting to see her under that light. Also, I was about to spend more time with her than before. She invited me to have breakfast with them at Denny’s. That was nice. I had a cobb salad and tea. They sat right across from me, he was being lovey dovey... Having heard his version of how they met, I thought it’d be interesting to hear hers. She told me that she had received random emails from dating sites who offered free happy hour membership. Her friend told her to join. She was going to be able to chat with guys for free during the happy hour window. She wasn’t looking as she was in a relationship the time.
She joined for the heck of it. Carlos had told me they met pn a truck driver’s dating site. The wife is considering being a truck driver, so she wanted someone on the same path to date (no pun). She told me that she started getting messages from truck drivers for some weird reason. She didn’t know why this was as she hadn’t joined a truck driver specific site. This was all news to Carlos. He was like: wait! So you weren’t ont he same truck driver’s site I was on?
She: no! For what?
He: I thought you joined it because you wanna become a trucker? Why did you think One of my first messages to you was about trucking?
She: It was?
He: I asked you if you had a CDL? (CDL stands for Commercial Driver License)
She: I had no idea what that was! I thought you meant California Driver License!
Listen! They don’t serve popcorn at Denny’s! This sht was movie material. I’d my own opinions about this relationship/ marriage based on the stories I heard. To be front row, viewing this mess first hand, was quite something! These people got married based on how they met and how they met was a pure misunderstanding. He thought she has plans to become a trucker. She doesn’t! He’s even told me she will join him on the road, to which I said: no offense but my gut feeling tells me she won’t! I mean, sorry!
The conversation ended up back on a normal footing, we ate, I took my leftovers with me, they paid. Very nice of them. Back on the Truck, back on the road again!
I heard back from Derrick. He told me he was backing, moving things into and out of truck and Camper. They were heading back home that morning. At that point, it didn’t really matter what was going on. The boat had been missed. Or the truck. I wasn’t mad. I think he didn’t want to go out of his way to go say hi. I can’t prove it, so I let it go. Also, he might have had to tell his friends who he was going to greet and nobody knew Of my existence. In my opinion. Derrick also told me that even if he hadn’t missed my calls, he wasn’t going to be able to haul an entire pick up truck and camper to meet me. Except, I was hauling an even bigger vehicle and trailer so, mh kay dude. This was not my ball and chain, the love of my life. That kind of thing stung a little but it wasn’t devastating. If any of this makes sense to ya.
Some of my over the road food as mentioned on this blog. Unfortunately, the truck didn’t have a refrigerator. I had to bring things that would survive not in it. I grew up without electricity, so, I know all about that life. Sidebar: I also grew up without indoor plumbing and running water, so I’m well equipped in that life as well!
Canned chicken breasts + Mayo
I ate so much canned chicken during this month on the road that I was off it for a while.... maybe I still am! Just the canned stuff. Don’t get it twisted! Chicken and I are still tight! Spoiler alert: I had chicken for lunch yesterday! It’s 4:30am right now as I type this. I’ve a little bit of time to kill, so I thought I’d see if I can squeeze in another blog before February ends. I’ll finish this later, God willing.
One of my goals for becoming a truck driver, was to continue to lose weight. For those of you who may not know, I’ve lost more than 100LBS so far. I hear all the stories about truck drivers and weight gain. I made a resolution to change the narrative. I love challenging myself to that kind of stuff. I lose weight in Winter, simply because, people will say that its harder to do so. So I prove them otherwise. For fun. When I lived in South Africa and would go home more often than I do now, I would make sure not to gain weight when I went to mom’s for holidays. Or during holiday period, period. It’s another way to make push you towards your goals. I’d love to hear what your “things” are that you’ve challenged yourself with.
When Carlos, my truck driving mentor, found out I’m someone who’s watching my weight, he got excited and told me that he needs to lose a few pounds. Maybe having me in the truck would motivate him to clean up his act, so to speak. Music to my ears. If anything, I like to try and inspire. One of my faves hashtags, that I made up for myself is #BeInspired. I use it so that, people who come with the negative mindset of, blah blah blah, so you’re posting another before and during weight loss picture! Good for you! No! Not just good for me! Good for you too! Not a lot of people are going to see this post, there’s a reason you came across it. Use that as inspiration in your own life to prove what can be achieved. It’s not just a weight loss thing, weight loss just happens to be something visible that you can show people, therefore I use that, amongst other things.
Carlos eats a lot of snacks. All kinds of nuts. The good ones! All kinds! I happen to love nuts. They’re one of those things I go out of my way to stay away from. If I have them or even nut butter around; that’ll be my sole focus! I will eat nothing but that until it’s finished. Carlos doesn’t seem to have that problem. Good for him. I envy people who don’t have problems with food. I mean, he must have some kind of an issue, hence being as big as he was before. But it’s probably a different one to the ones I have. Recently, someone told me that they’re inspired by my weight loss but aren’t as disciplined as I am. Uhm! If I were that disciplined, how come I got that big? Or they’ll say, they love food. Uhm, duh!
There are a few big truck stops our company works with. Those companies give out reward points for fueling. You can use these points to buy anything in the truck stops, including “premium parking”. You also get free showers, terms and conditions apply for showers. Because my trainer owns his truck, I believe they have a different rate for him. He gets more points, possibly even double at some spots. Don’t quote me on this. It was nice of Carlos to make sure when we did fuel, we used his payment card (I had one assigned to me by the company), and my rewards card, so that I can be rewarded in his scale, which was higher. Free money!
Eating Chesters chicken for the first time. Surprising amount of sugar!
I drove an average of 10 hours per day, that’s around 500 miles / 800km per day. Your body feels beat because you’re not used to it but you quickly build up stamina. It also helps to have a decent driver’s seat. Carlos had a few seat cushions to choose from. Honestly, though, I’m not sure if they helped but I definitely had my favorite one. Based on, well, it looked cleaner than others. I knew that he had been training students on his truck for seven years. The truck wasn’t the cleanest, so I didn’t know the pillows ever saw a washer. At the same time, you’re in someone’s home. You shouldn’t offend. I just white bubbled myself through it all.
Eating fried Frog Legs for first time. Carlos’ treat. I’d had cooked ones before in Palm Springs
I ate my precooked meats and boiled eggs asap as they were going to go bad if I didn’t. Not being in the fridge and all. The truck was freezing throughout the day. I guess that helped some. I like room temperature but I’m a trooper. I went with his temperature. I knew I was going to get used to it. We would stop at Walmart for groceries. As you may know, you don’t have fridge, you shop often. That helped. Kinda. It’s not really my style of financial management, shopping often. When I go shopping, I at least buy enough stuff to last me a week, as I didn’t know what lay (lied?) ahead. Carlos bought us 24 waters for the truck and kept the empty bottles to recycle. I’m all for going green and the earth and all that but it’s already a small space. There are already left over empty bottles from Lord knows whenever!
Nice view from Rest area where we stayed the night
I let him buy us the water once. I know he promised but I’m not used to feeling like I owe someone a favor. Next time we went to Walmart, I paid for the water. He didn’t like that, so we had those weird moments of, no I got it! One time, I let him pay for it but bought an extra couple of gallons of water. I don’t think he liked that. I get it: rude! But why is it polite to make someone else comfortable and rude to make myself comfy? Am I the narcissist here with this logic?
The air in the truck was nice. I think we were both matured enough to be able to co-mingle. At least, I hope he was ok as well. He taught me how to back. One thing I was the least good at. See what I did there? Haha. He would tell me to watch how I set up before I even start to back up. The thing about driving a tractor (truck) that is hauling a 53ft (16metres) trailer, is that, it’s longer than anything I’ve ever driven. And I learned to drive on a box truck (I think that’s what a lorry is called in America). That thing has nothing on an 18 wheeler truck! I would set up, look in the mirror and realize, sht! This thing is long! How in the world am I going to fit this in between those two trucks without causing any damage? It was intimidating for sure. Having Carlos there, with his nice demeanor, helped a lot. Also, we do what they call, in the industry, GOAL. WHich is an acronym for
Get
Out
And
Look.
I had asked from the beginning that Carlos let me do all the backing, even if he happens to be driving. As long as I’m awake, let me back that thang up! And he did. Lots of getting out to see what everything looks like from the back. No pun, and then back in the truck. About that though! Yeah, it’s nice to know you’re not about to hit anyone but the perspective is totally different. At least, from how my brain works. I see people measuring from the back, in person and then getting in the truck using that estimation to fit it in. That’s not how my brain works. The perspective is different from mirror, to in person from the left side of truck, to right side, etc. Sometimes, I’d get it the first time. Those days were exciting. We did a lot of counting to 4. Turn the wheel four times this way, back up, counting to four. One one thousand, two one thousand, the whole shebang. Going downhill? Foot on brake, count to 4 seconds, then release. Good teacher, that Carlos was. I got lucky! Trust me. I’ve heard the stories.
At least, he was a good teacher, until two weeks in. Everything changed as I knew it!
My driving coach / mentor and I are headed to our first delivery together. #TruckerBrook is in the driver’s seat. Honk! Honk! Destination: Atlanta, Georgia. I’m excited!
Press play!
It’s late afternoon. Carlos, my driver trainer had already asked what time of day I’d prefer, nights or days. I told him I’m more of a morning person, I can start as early as can be, as long as I get to work days. He told me a lot of his students prefer it that way( so he’s used to driving nights. Perfect!
Now, with our first load, we had started in the middle of the day. I had 11 hours of driving time ahead of me. We get maximum 11 hours of driving time and a total of 70 hours in a row. The moment you go on duty, to type on the computer or do whatever, the 70 hour clock starts. Maximum on duty time per day is 14 hours, that includes the 11 driving and whatever else, checking in with the guard, processing paperwork etc.
New Mexico... I think
We didn’t go that far, Carlos started vaping right next to me in the truck. There’s one thing I hate next to smoking cigarette in my fact... vaping in my face. I don’t care how amazing it smells to you. This is not about you, Sir! How would you like it if I sprayed my great smelling, expensive Christian Dior Poison perfume in your face? Exactly! When I requested a non smoking trainer to the job, I wasn’t kidding. Now, I’m a guest in your home, It’s our first day together. I wasn’t going to tell this man not to do whatever the fck he wanted in his own home. I was, however going to remember that he is that guy, moving forward! The truck was foggy from this vapor, or whatever its called.
Desert Life. I grew up around prickly pear. We used to sell it to road users on the road between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth (South Africa)
We drove until around midnight or so, then? We found a random truck stop? With hardly any services to crash for the night. I must tell ya, I went to bed with so much new information in my head. Carlos taught me so much just in that half a day. He was a good teacher, too.
Following morning, we freshened up, ish, and continued our journey east. I drove, he sat in the passenger seat. We had a lovely talk getting to know each other. Mainly, me getting to know him, cos I can be guarded. I like to ask questions, he was pretty open, so, we talked about his love life. One of my fave subjects. He’d recently been married to a woman he met on a truck driving dating site. Some people on there aren’t truckers but they’re looking to be in relationships with truckers. I guess, she was one of those people. Their ultimate goal as a couple, is to drive together, she will drive day tome, he will do nights. But that’ll be after her youngest goes to college or something to that effect. The whole story didn’t feel right to me, Being a woman, I just didn’t see this lady trying to drive trucks. But what do I know. I’m a lady who drives trucks. Right? I would ask questions, he had answers, he seemed in love. It was sweet. But I wondered about the other half of the couple. It gave me something to focus on other than driving on Route 66. P. S. Driving on Route 66 was super exciting. I felt like I was really exploring America. Which, I was!
Gratitude journal next to me. Oh and boobies!
I appreciated Carlos’ openness to a complete stranger. I found myself being protective of him and his finances in some of his story about this relationship with this woman with 4 kids, whom he moved into their own home. She had been living with her ex husband and father of the children. But after meeting Carlos, they thought it best for him to rent a house for she, her 4 kids and Carlos except, Carlos is never home. But I get it! Also, We won’t go into full details as this is not my story to tell. I was told thinking to myself, sure if yalls own home. Except, ure never home. Carlos also mentioned that he had a trip planned for a month from my first day of training. Which meant that A month was what I had with him. The guy needed to be in Vegas. Which means we would need to be back before then, so that he can go home, get his family and make it to Vegas in time. Wow! Okay! I better learn fast then; I thought to myself.
Carlos is making payments towards his truck. Eventually, he’s going to own it, meaning, the truck we were using is his own truck, not company owned.
He taught me a bunch more things about driving and what to do and when, scheduling, etc. we ended up stopping very late that night. There was a bit of night driving in there but I under. We did start late. Following morning, I wake up and go to the bathroom. I tell ya, I’d no idea where what was. These trucks are so tall and I’m trying to see where the actual building is for restrooms and showers etc. Good Luck with that! I eventually find and and, me, being myself (spoiler alert: I get lost everywhere), I couldn’t find my way back to the truck! All these trucks come in one of 4 or 5 colors. Golly!
#TruckerLife These are people’s homes!
We had spent the night in Texas, one of the largest states in America. It’s kinda fun going through a bunch of different states in one day. You really feel like you’re doing this sht! Carlos let me play my own music while I was driving, which I thought was nice. He was asleep most of the time. On the passenger’s seat. I’m over here, trying to peek the mirrors. You know how when you fall asleep, your neck becomes loose and your head bobbles al over the place? I wasn’t mad about that. You’re no the one driving, so you passed out! It can happen to anyone. Your job is to watch me but nature is nature.
It was my first time in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, in no particular order. we passed through a little bit of Arizona as well in this trip. I’d been there before. I remember waking up in Amarillo, TX with the song Amarillo by morning stuck in my head. Guess which song I played first when we headed out? No prizes for guessing. Arkansas, some song by Ray Charles, came to mind here, Tennessee, the home state of Dolly Parton (In my Tennessee mountain home. That song!); and of course, Elvis Presley / Chuck Berry’s song - Memphis Tennessee! , Alabama and finally- Georgia! This trip was over a week, like I mentioned before. I enjoyed every single bit of it. Learned a lot along the way. My trainer was decent. He talked a lot on the phone. When you don’t think he’s on the phone, because he uses Bluetooth headset, he’s still on the phone. If he’s snoring in bed, you will hear him respond to someone on the phone, as if he’s been talking to that person for a while. He was either on the phone or sleeping. Or snacking. He had the best snacks haha. Very hard when you’re trying to be skinny. Turns out, he had lost a lot of weight too a few years ago, and was trying to keep it off. He told me he goes off and on Keto. Mh kay!
Video taken in trainer’s truck. Day1.
Me: karaoke-ing Memphis Tennesse in Los Angeles. Press play!
I live in an apartment. Pay a decent amount of rent; more than $1000 (R15 000) per month, like, MORE! Los Angeles, resident, remember? I think to myself, since I had been working so hard on improving my credit score, why don’t I work on buying myself a home? Maybe then all these thousands of dollars in rent per year can go towards my own home!
If you’ve been following my story, you know that my credit score building didn’t start until only a few years ago. I started at zero, got a secure credit card and that got me to average score. That’s around the 500s that whole story is in this blog entry. My lovely husband (at the time), Calvin made me an authorized user of one of his credit cards that immediately lowered my score, probably from the bank doing a hard pull (checking my score). Weeks later, my credit score went back up and stayed there. But we had a much higher credit limit on Calvin’a card than mine. Like $10 000. Imagine! My secure card was only $200.
I never used The card Calvin put me on. I had him keep both cards. I am not a credit minded person. I prefer cash and would only use it if it weren’t for how much importance is placed on Credit score in America! I continued to use my credit car for all purchases and paying it back as soon as the charge cleared. A year after I had gotten my secure credit card, I got a check of $50 back. They were refunding me the deposit I’d put down to get the $200 credit score card. All of this is explained in the blog linked to above.
When things went south in our relationship, my sweet hubby, went straight for the joint credit card. He cancelled that! That messed up my score by a few points because now, I have a lower number of credit lines. Number of credit cards, loans, etc is important for your score. They pretty much want you to be i as much debt as possible. That’s the opposite of what I’ve always strived for all my life. At this point, my score was around 650. Decent for a little girl from a farm in Africa!
After I escaped prison, ahem, I mean my marriage , I applied for a second credit card. I had just moved into the apartment mentioned above, it had been two years since I got my first credit card. I was approved immediately with a limit of a couple of thousand bucks. What? Little ole me? I was floored! At this point, my first card’s limit had gone up by a hundred or so at a time. I had made my way up to $700 at this point on that card and it wouldn’t to any higher. Kinda frustrating because I would check other users online and find that they had much better luck with the same lender.
When I got my second card, my score was in the early 700s it was just going up, naturally, by itself haha. No pun intended. I only waited a few months before I applied for a credit line increases with my new bank and they obliged. I was like, dang, I love these guys. In fact, in the beginning, I set up automatic payment with them. I recommend this, even if you will pay per transaction. This will take care of the odd chance you forget to pay or whatever. Your credit card balance will then be paid in full, or whatever you will have preselected. I have mine for full payment because I don’t buy anything on credit, I don’t already have the cash to pay for in full. PLUS! I am cheap as all get out. Probably why my first credit folk aren’t trying to up my limit anytime soon. They’re like btch, for what? You don’t even spend this credit.
With two credit cards, I was getting slight points here and there. 1% if you spend money at Walmart, 1% if you pay for fuel anywhere but at Costco. Here’s the deal! I only fuel at Costco! They have some of the cheapest gas. I’ve got their membership card. Then I went on the road to become a truck driver. At that point, I wasn’t even going to use my car, so even Costco wasn’t really going to be getting my gas money! I didn’t pay my rent using the credit card because it was much too high for my credit limit. I try to keep my usage under 30%. I hear that’s the sweet spot for Debt to Credit Ratio. What I’ve learned is that, if my usage was 20% when they checked me out this month and 22% next month, they will deduct a point or even 4 from my score. They’ll say because my ratio has gone up! True story!
I had my cellphone account on one card and internet on another. Just in case, I end up not using the cards the whole month. There will still be usage and auto pay will take care of payment. I always did use them on food though.
With just these two cards, I’ve managed to get my score to 760. Some companies consider that Very good and some, Excellent! Those are the basics of how I’ve gotten a score that high. Not much usage on my part. Perhaps if you use yours more or get a car note on it, etc, you will get better mileage, so to speak.
I’m content with things the way they are. I do have one more major update on it, but I like to do things in chronological order, so, that story will come up later in the journey.
Thanks for riding this journey with me. Ask me anything, I’ll give you the best answer I know how to.
Day 1 on the road, or over the road, as they say in trucking. This applies to when you’re cross country. That’s what I was about to embark on. I grabbed my sht, got on the 10 freeway and headed east from my place in Los Angeles. I was asked to be at the company terminal around noon, by my new trainer. I did as asked. No traffic around that time, thankfully. During orientation, we were told to bring bedding for training period. There was going to be a period when I would be asleep whole the mentor is driving and vice versa. Imagine that! Sleeping with a brand spanking new driver on the wheel! Sweet dreams, sleeping beauty!
My bedding on the Trainer’s truck bed.
I took along bedding I used to use when I ran a small Air BnB business. Remember those days? I also brought my sleeping bag as u can see. I would put my bedding over the guy’s bedding when it’s my turn to sleep and take it pff when I’m done.
My luggage behind me in my apartment
How was I feeling on this day? Excited! Not to be stuck in a small space with a stranger for weeks but for what was to follow. I finally did it! I checked something off my list. Driving a truck is something that used to fascinate me when I was young. I am now about to drive one across The United states, on the right side of the road. It was a nee day in my life!
I quickly went to the ladies for this selfie
He called and told me to go meet him outside. I got there, he was with his wife, so I got to meet her as well. Kind of interesting that I was introduced to the wife as I was going to move in with her husband. Sidebar: this guy, we’ll call him, Carlos, looks like nobody I’ve ever met. He just does not have a familiar look at all! At all! His wife looked a little Eastern European. She was giving me Georgian vibes. The country, not the state. You know when you’re meeting someone for the first time? All your senses are alert, you’re sussing them out, wanting to see whether you’re going to get along or not, etc? I got nothing! I was like, dang! Just like during our phone call the previous day, I can’t read this guy! And I’m very good at reading people! No tea, no shade, haha!
I was to move my car to long term parking. They told me to go in front of them, so that they can just sneak in after me. I didn’t understand why they had to be sneaky. That made me feel funny. I’m already on high alert, like, come on now, guys! The truck was in the shop, getting something replaced. I quickly loaded my luggage while they were working on truck. Getting into that thing was a challenge! So high! Carlos gave me my set of keys. When the shop was done, he was like, come on, and pointed to the driver’s seat! My eyes almost fell out their sockets! I don’t know what I expected to happen, I knew I was there to drive but...!
Some of my groceries.
Carlos, my trainer, quickly changed his mind and told me he would drive to the shipper and I would take us to Atlanta from there. Huh? We’re going to Atlanta? It was going to be my first tome there! I was so excited to hear that. This is about to be fun! Let the adventure begin! Honk! Honk!
The drive was going to be 2300 miles. That’s 3700 km. That’s an entire week! I was told I was to drive us all the way there. That was the training part. From there on, we were going to take turns! Mhh kay! Lezzz go! He drove us 2 hours to pick up our load. It was around 2pm. Lots of traffic! His driving was not good, haha! Lots of driving between two lanes, like, right along the line! He was also on his phone a lot! He called some of his ex students and told them about me. He asked if he can give me their number, should I blah blah blah. I was thinking, I’d much rather you get us where we’re going safely than all this socializing. Like, I’m not even that social, this will not pay that much dividends for ya! But I had to make a good first impression. I was being nice. You know how when someone is not paying attention to the road, you end up doing so for them? That was me! In this big ole truck!
He had this voice that he used when he talked to his former students, all of whom were females, that was very sex phone line-esque. Then he would follow that by laughing longer than a normal person would, in a very Barry White voice. I was like what is going on? Am I being seduced? I sure hope not! Otherwise, this would be, what they refer to nowadays, a very toxic environment!
I didn’t wanna spend time on my phone as I was there to learn and I was still learning this person. I had sent my boo, Derrick texts when I got there and as we were about to head out. He had spent the previous night at my place. I missed him already. There’s a certain beauty in having someone you care about whom you miss so painfully when you leave.
We arrived at the Shipper, here in Southern California. They had signs that everyone needs to be in closed toe shoes and a safety vest. I had forgotten to get a vest. I saw it at the 99 cents store but here we are. Carlos offered to get me one. The customer, aka shipper, sells these required vests. Imagine that. They cell the 99 cents ones for $5. Golly! Carlos also bought us both lunch from a food truck outside the customer’s premises. We were there for a few hours. He spent that whole time on the on the phone.
P. S. When We arrived st the shipper, I offered to back the truck into the parking spot. That wasn’t that hard. No pun. Very open area. Carlos’ truck is different from the ones we learned on, so, learning something new again. Yay!
From there, I had to back into the doc, where they were going to load us. Now, that was not easy! Luckily, the lady at the window was nice enough to tell my trainer, Carlos that She only had the hardest door for me. I shouldn’t feel stupid if it’s hard to get into it. That made me feel better. Even though, I knew my track record. Backing and I weren’t friends... yet!
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Tax Deadline was during truck driving school. I got to do my taxes myself for the first time. Here’s how that went. Press play!
We got done loading, submitted the load info on the system and, Trucker Brook, take us to the East Coast!
Vroom! Vroon! Bop! Bop! (That’s my truck air horn!)
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Backing is one of the most important parts of trucking. The load that you’d be delivering is stored in the trailer. The door to the trailer is in the back, just like it is in the trunk of regular car. In order for receiving customer to unload, you, the truck driver, need to back your truck and trailer into the doc. Docs vary in accessibility. Some, I’m told, were designed back when trailers were 40 ft long. Trailers are now 53ft long and they expect us to be able to squeeze these into 40ft slots. It also matters if you’re driving a day cab; that’s ok the tractor without sleeping compartment, or not. I do, so, that’s more of a challenge, because my tractor is longer and I can’t use rear view mirror, I depend solely on the side mirrors.
All that said, backing was a mutha for me! I was one of, if not, THE WORST in my class, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Press Play!
I may have mentioned before that you get three chances to pass the test? Same applies to the driving part. I may or may not have needed some of these attempts to make it through. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. The ones in my class who were better than others, made sure they flaunted that in our faces.
Here’s a video I did on one my worst days in trucking school.
Cut to: I Got my trucking license! Whew! Talk about blood, sweat and all the rest of it!
The school sends us to paid orientation before we start backing. I don’t know whose idea this was because, what if you don’t make it? Anyway? It’s nice break from boot camp style learning. Two full days of more shenanigans. I was just glad they paid us... and fed us.
Now that I’ve passed, it’s the waiting part. Waiting for the company to find me a trainer who I was to go on the road with for 200 hours of driving experience. That can take up to 5/6 weeks. You will be living, eating, sleeping, farting in the same small truck with this stranger the whole entire time! Good luck!
The good thing about the waiting period was that, every day I was at home, in limbo, I got paid. I was able to tie some loose ends, go for walks, catch up on more Brooking.
Loquats. Used to eat them as a child
I had to grab me one loquat, if only for old time’s sakes!
Long walk to freedom
Speaking of Freedom, while on this long walk, 10km (6miles), I received a call from driver placement department. They had a trainer for me! They asked if I was ready to head out the very next day. I said: sure! Why wait? They gave him my number, few minutes later, ring, ring! It’s the guy who was about to show me the ropes of trucking. Here we go folks! He seemed OK. Sounded like someone who’s done this a couple of times. I was another driver he was assigned to. I asked him what I should bring. He told me he always buys water for drinking in the truck. That’s nice but I drink tap water, so! Hashtag, cheap af. One of the very first things I asked was whether he had a fridge. It’s important to me as someone who is watching her weight. I preplan my meals and eat at home. That would’ve been tricky without a fridge. Well, it WAS GOING to be tricky! Brotha didn’t have a fridge! He told me it was ‘getting fixed’. I knew there and then, he doesn’t have a fridge for the truck. I’m grown! I’ve lived. I know people. I knew what that line meant. I had to figure out what I was going to buy to eat on the road that didn’t require a refrigerator. It’s not enough that I was going to be learning something new. Now, I gotta worry about what on earth to eat! Whew!
On my walk, I also bought chargers for my cellphone and iPad. I wasn’t going to be caught with my pants down! No mam, Pam! I walked back home and did finishing touches. It was an exciting day. The sooner I went over the road with this stranger, the sooner I got my own truck! Knock on wood
The toilet stall behind me was pit of order the whole tome I went to school there!
My bags have been packed for a while, I had some food I could take along in the cupboard already, off to bed. Wake up, head off to the office, where I was to drop my car and get into the truck. Let the games begin!
Hello, my hearts and souls! First blog of 2021! I hope everyone and their loved ones made it! Mine did and I’m ever so grateful.
My birthday came a few days into truck driving school.My boo thang, Derrick took me to dinner for my birthday. I was excited that he set time aside to treat me on my special day he’s good with that kind of thing you get a gift for Christmas, Valentine’s day gift... if you’re lucky, you get dumped right around Valentine’s, but who’s counting? We went to one of his favorite spots, a nice steakhouse. He’s a very meat and potatoes guy and does a lot of home bbq-ing. We dressed up, the whole vibe was exciting! Derrick’s not the best compliment giver. At least not when it comes to me! This was his reaction when I came out of his bedroom looking nice: Where are you going? He had a huge smile on his face as he asked. I knew that was meant as a compliment.
He’s a screenshot of birthday dinner:
Birthday Dinner for Trucker Brook
Everything we ate was delicious as heck! I even got a box of complimentary truffle chocolates from the restaurant cos Derrick had told them ahead of time that it was going to be my birthday. We stuffed our faces silly with that ginormous tomahawk steak and still had leftovers. We couldn’t even pass out after dinner for how uncomfortable we were from being stuffed. I hadn’t eaten all day because of the fast I was on.
Birthday outfit
Next day, back to trucking school! It’s exercises after exercises, then homework, then tests, then then then! Before I knew it, it was time for Permit test or Learner’s license test.
There was so much to grasp as everything we were learning was totally brand new to me, I was about to lose my sht.
Here’s a youtube of that period in my life. ...
Press play!
We were going to test first thing in the morning. If you don’t make it the first time, you had a couple more time to retry. If you passed the first time, you had the rest of the weekend off. I was tired as heck and needed the long weekend. I studied like a mofo and was pretty much up all night.
Spoiler alert! ...
Mama, I made it!
I passed the first time, took my cute behind and went straight to the mall to spend some money! All I came out with, was a skipping rope / hump rope! Oh, to be me! I didn’t find anything exciting that I didn’t already have at Ontario Mall. Actually, I have a new great story to tell you about Ontario Mall.
I’d the weekend off and got a bunch done around the house. Lots of prepping for life on the road. Gotta think ahead, right?
Press Play!
Back to school the following week, straight into the truck for the first time! All along, we were confined in a classroom. Now, we get to really truck! A few students per truck. We learned what they call pre-trip. Basically, self explanatory. It’s things you routinely check before going on a trip. There are fcking 90 of them! We were going to get tested on these and could get up to 20 or so incorrect as a pass. 90 names of items you’ve never heard of in your life such as s-drum, this fcking belt,if it’s not broken, loose or missing. How in the hay will I know id something I don’t know is missing? Any who. Lots of memorising. That is not how my brain works. I need to understand what I’m learning, not memorize a bunch of things and then paste! Any who. It had to be done, so, buckle up trucker! They gave us a link online, if you’re in trucking, I mentioned that video in one of mine, you can check it. It’s very helpful. I was memorizing on my commute; to and fro.
We were going to be tested on this as part of driving test.
Driving test is in 3 sections- this long ass list of sht, backing and road test. We learned driving trucks on stick shift. Aka manual. 10 gears. There’s down shifting and double clutching. This is not your grandmother’s manual car! Nothing like you’ve done before. Everything was overwhelmingly new and jam packed.
Only a couple days of pretrip, then, boom, backing! Few students per truck; time for straight back. This is going to be when you just need to back straight into a dock or parking spot. Most truck parking is reverse. It’s crucial you know how to back / reverse. Sidebar: when you turn truck steering wheel to the left, the trailer goes to the right and vice versa. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
While you do that, let me go to lala land. Chat soon.
It’s Day 1 of Trucking school! I’m excited! Who doesn’t love a new adventure? The promise of what this can bring into my life! My love life? Well! We shall have to see what’ll come of that! One of the reasons I’m going on the road is to make sure that I do live my life and don’t stick around for what I consider a relationship, in case the other party doesn’t see it that way. Perhaps, the trucking adventure will also be a wake up call for my person, and or for our relationship.