How truck driving started in the beginning.

From having 2 female trainers and going solo and the different states that I had gone to.

Transcript

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Hey everybody, how are y'all doing? And welcome to WYSM where what you say matters. And today I would like to take you on it, it's going to be a four-part journey. So today will be part one of my journey into um the 19 years of truck driving. Okay. So let me let me go ahead and let me go ahead and start with that. Alright. So I started out truck driving in 2006. Uh the day that I started driving, I consider that my anniversary date, which is Halloween. So Halloween is my is my anniversary date for, you know, being a being a truck driver. So when I started out, I started out with a company called Warner Enterprises. Okay. And I I started out in uh Pennsylvania with a with a female trainer. Okay. When I got onto this young lady's uh truck, I noticed that she had like a little wooden coffin, okay, uh, on her truck. So I immediately paused and I was like, hey, what is this? What is going on here? And then she had um some necklaces with like little charms or medallions, and she explained to me that she is a Wiccan. Now I don't know per se at that time what a Wiccan was. So I'm like, okay, let this young lady explain, you know what she got going on here. Okay, so she explained to me, and I was like, oh, okay. So she's considered a good witch. Okay, you got good and bad. All right, fine. So that was my trainer. She is from Glen Burney, Maryland. Okay, so I was with her training or whatever for the accounts that she was on. So then when the guy, in the in the middle of training and everything, the guy that she knew that was coming on, well, she dropped me for him. So I had to go back to another hotel and stay and wait for another female trainer. Okay, so I waited for the other female trainer. Mind you, this young lady, she was uh bilingual, chain smoker, and as far as I knew, she you know, problems with her marriage. But I'm gonna say it benefited me because for each time her and her husband got into it, and I mean got into it because he was Hispanic, so therefore she knew how to speak Spanish. So when they would get into it, hello, I benefited from it. Yes, I did. I'm not even gonna tell that lie. I was eating, I was eating good in the hood. She was treating me, eating, I was eating good. So I, you know me, I ain't gonna say shit. My fat ass was eating. So back then I was like 300 plus pounds. Let me just say that. Okay, so uh I would be out there with her and you know, on the road, and I can recall when we were in downtown Chicago, freezing cold. When I say freezing cold, I mean freezing cold to the point where when I got out of the truck, it felt like my entire face froze and hit the ground. Boom! So at that time we were around um the the downtown district, and we were not far from Harpo Studios at the time, so that's when the the camera phones or nothing weren't even out back then. Okay, they came later on down the line because I had a chirp phone, so I was down there by Harpo Studios, mad. I couldn't take a picture, and then uh I believe my trainer at that time was uh on a Tyson Purdue account, and I I remember us going to like different places in between Maryland, Virginia, and then we also was in Washington, Indiana. Okay, yeah, we were in Washington, Indiana, and it it was a like chicken and turkey farm. So we were out there with that, and it was it was real interesting to drive through Indiana because just about every other car or pickup truck had a NASCAR sticker on it. So I'm like, oh, oh, okay, okay, I'm in the capital of NASCAR, okay. I'm out there, I'm I'm on the road. Um, so I'm out there, you know, and I'm I'm with my with my second trainer again. And uh that was something else with her. I can recall a couple of times where we're in we're we're in Chicago, but we're leaving out of Chicago, and the the overpass or whatnot that we had to drive through, well, she stopped boom, right in the front of it because it it was too low, you know, it was too low, and of course, if you go on the underpass, it's too low, chances are you are going to tear up the top of your trailer along with your tractor, and you can't get stuck under there. So your your local drivers that go through there on a regular one guy, he was like, Hey, drop your airbags. If you drop your airbags and you go slow, you'll make it. So we're looking like, nah, we ain't doing that. Like you go, we'll watch you. So lo and behold, he does exactly what he said, and he goes on through. So then he yells at the window, say, see, I told you you could do it. So I'm looking at my trainer and she's looking at me, and she got new ports lined up across her mouth, chain smoking like crazy. So I here I go. I I get out the truck, I get out the truck, and I'm like looking and listening, like for any scrapes, scrape, scratches, or anything along the way. So she makes it on through. I walk through it to get back in the truck. By the time I get up to the truck, again, like I said, she's a chain smoker, them cigarettes were going left and right, left and right, left and right. I'm like, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, with the with the smoking. But needless to say, that was her. All right. Um, another time I can recall is when we were in upstate New York. We were in upstate New York, and of course, it's sheets of ice out in the parking lot, and the the trailer that she was pulling was a split axle trailer. Now, mind you, I'm new out here, so I don't know the the ins and outs and how to operate really a split axle trailer when you're backing up into a parking space. So she wanted me to get out and guide her into the space so that she doesn't hit anything. Okay, apparently I was not guiding her into the space the correct way because she was yelling she couldn't see me, this, that, whatever, whatever. So she jumps, mind you, she's short. Now I'm five, five and a half. Okay, she's about five three, if that, okay. She jumps out of the truck and is yelling and screaming all in my face, mind you, mind you, I'm 300 plus pounds. So people, it looks like a chihuahua yelling at a big ass grizzly bear. Okay, let me put that in mind for you people, for you good people, okay. Yes, it's like a chihuahua yapping at a big ass grizzly bear. Mine, I'm standing there and I'm looking at her, and in my mind, I'm like, this bitch then lost her mind talking to me like this. Everything in me was like, Yvette, you are almost to the finish line here. Lo and behold, you know, if you put your hands on this woman, you are going to be out the door. You're gonna have a record, and it is going to cost you whatever little bit you have done. Meaning, I went to school at North America Trade School for truck driving, okay? My schooling, and from the first trainer, the hours that I was with with the first trainer, and then these hours that I accumulated with her are going all going to go down the drain. Stick to your purpose. So that woman did all of that. Okay, that's my mind thinking. My foot, before I knew it, didn't have nothing to do with my damn brain. Okay, my foot had nothing to do with my brain. I stepped forward, and you know, you know, truck drivers in parking lots, you know, you got some that that sit up in their chairs and they're you know watching everything that goes on. So this one particular driver, skinny, skinny dude, skinny older white gentleman, okay, saw what was going on, and jumped out of the truck and came over there. He didn't he had on a long sleeve shirt, it's freezing cold out there, but at that point, I guess he didn't care because he saw what was going on, so he jumped out of the truck and came over and was like, hey, don't worry about it. I got her. I'll I'll I'll got her in, you know, go on inside. Okay. Mind you, my eyes are locked on her. I didn't take my eyes off of her. You know, it wasn't until the guy tapped me on my forearm and I turned my head and I looked at him, and I was like, okay, and I walked away. I didn't say nothing to this woman, I walked away. So I'm gonna say it was about maybe 20 minutes later that my trainer, you know, came inside the truck stop, and at that time, and I don't even know, because it's 2026 right now, if they even still have that game. It was a game that I I love playing when I would go to the truck stop, and you have to use your finger to point on the screen, y'all. You see this finger right here? It should be broken, it should be all crooked up, bent up, everything. It should be broken. The way I was pressing my finger onto that screen should be broken. Okay, so mind you, like I said, 15, maybe 20 minutes later, my trainer comes in. Okay, my trainer comes in, and she's standing to the side of me and she's talking to me because this she knew she knew she done screwed up with me. Okay, so the more she's talking to me, the harder I am pressing my finger onto the screen. Okay, I could have broke that screen, you know. So she says to me, come on, let's go sit down and talk, and I'll buy you dinner. Oh I like dinner, I like dinner, so my fat ass is gonna eat on you, okay? So we sat there, ordered, we're talking. It wasn't until I got my food that I was like, I'm I'm not gonna say nothing till I put food in my mouth and I got my food or whatever, because I need to guarantee here, okay? Yeah, yeah, I do. I need a guarantee here, uh, that um I'm gonna respond to her in any kind of way. So after said and done, got my food, now I'm responding because I'm alright now. I got my food, so that goes on, and uh I can recall us being in Ohio. Now I'm I'm down to my last day. Okay, I'm down to my very last day of my hours of training before they, you know, release you on your own out here. So now I'm down to my last hours. I'm in Ohio. We get pulled over by the sheriff, either the sheriff or the state trooper. Y'all, this man had on overalls. I I remember distinctly, he had on overalls, and he looks like the actor, I believe his name is Carol O'Connor. We know him as Archie Bunker. Or um oh my god, what was his name? In the heat of the night. He also starred in the heat of the night. I forgot his name in the heat of the night, but if anybody knows, Archie Bunker. That is exactly who that man looks like. Okay, so my um trainer, because mind you, I'm the one who's driving. Okay, so we get pulled over for a a light being out on the tractor. So the the guy, the the officer, has me come back to his his car. Mind you, ladies and gentlemen, I have never been in a cop car before. No, I have not. I've never been in a cop car before. But that day was the first day, okay, that I was ever in a cop car sitting in the back, and it is it's cramped. You know, if you're a if you're a little person, you're not really gonna feel you know the the pain like that, okay? But if you're a big person or a a tall person, you're gonna feel it. You're you're gonna feel it. You're gonna be cramped back there because they got their equipment back there, so they got like the the printer that is back there. So I'm sitting back there, he has my license, and he's talking to me and getting all my information and whatnot or whatever. So as I'm cramped back there, and I'm sitting now he's starting to print out the the papers, right? And as he goes to print out the papers, he now he says nothing. He says nothing, he's just sitting there and watching and waiting for her response, okay. Mind you, that printer sounds like a a what do what do you call it? Um like a whole bunch of of bees. A whole bunch of bees. That is exactly what it sounds like. That printer sounds like it sounds like a whole bunch of bees are coming to attack you. Mind you, I'm in the back of this cop car and I am trying to open the door and get out. Okay, this man is sitting up there cracking the hell up because that apparently is a normal response from people once that printer gets to going. Okay, so once it's said, done, and over with, he's laughing. He's laughing. He says, I get a kick out of you drivers every time, every time, and I'm looking at him like that is not funny, that that is not funny at all, especially if somebody is allergic to bees. That is not funny at all. So that was said and done. Go back to the truck and go on. So now that my hours are over, we shut it down in Columbus, Ohio. Okay, we shut it down in Columbus, Ohio, and you know, I get my certificate of completion, and I get my truck, and now I'm out there on my own. I'm like Patty Little Bell and Michael McDonald. Now I'm I'm on my own. I'm out there, and you know, back then they had the as far as I remember the Qualcomms, the big giant-sized Qualcomms, okay, with the telephone like with the telephone cord or whatever to the to the truck. So needless to say, now I'm out there, I'm on my own, and I get sent up to it's not Akron, it's Cleveland. I get sent up to Cleveland, Ohio. My very first time up there, and I'm up there and I'm like, okay, this this is wild, but okay. Um then I came, I I came back down, and I wind up going over to Wisconsin, I believe. I know I made it over to Wiscons No, no, no, no, I'm sorry. I apologize. I was still in Ohio and I shut it down at a um Truck stop in Ohio that had the iron skillet. Because I went in there, I like the iron skillet, might I ask. I went in there and I sat down and I ate there at the the diner part. And as I'm in there and I'm I'm talking, you know, typical conversation apparently amongst drivers. You know, I got asked, you know, hey, how many years of driving do you have? Right? And I said, well, actually, I have none. I just finished my training and I'm just starting out here. So it was an older, older, older white guy. I I remember this. An older white guy, he was laughing. He was he was dying laughing. Now, mind you, this man had about a good at that time in 2006, a good 40 plus, almost 50 years, up under his belt. And he was from Tennessee. I remember that. He was from Tennessee. And he was laughing and he said, you know what? He said, How old are you? And at the time, I told him how old I was. I think I was in my maybe my late 30s. Mid to late 30s at that time. And he laughed at me. Mind you, I already told you how many by how many years he got. And he laughs and he says, I've been pissing longer than you've been living. I'm looking, I I wanted to I wanted to clunk him, like clunk him upside the head, or just hit him like God, like no, you didn't. You know, but it was just too, it was just too funny. You know, it was it was nothing to get mad about, but it was just one of the moments where you just want to clunk a person like ping. So, you know, that was that. And you know, everybody talking, you know, hey, be safe, you know, y'all be safe out here. All right, cool. So go on, you know, go on from there. Uh oh my god, that that was oh that was Ohio, and then I wind up venturing over to Wisconsin, and I was in Wisconsin, and over there at an at an at another truck stop, because mind you, you know, you gotta you have to stop, you have to fuel up, get yourself something to eat, you know, wash and dry your clothes, take showers, all that good stuff while you're out there, you know, you know, mind you, we're in a sleep, mind you're we're mind you, excuse me, we're in sleepers out here. So I'm over there in Wisconsin and I'm listening to the lady talk and I'm in awe, like, oh my god, it's a real thing. They really do sound like this. So if anybody re remembers the the um cartoon show, how we Howie's World or Harry Howie Mandel, they sound people in Wisconsin sound exactly like that. So I was just done, you know, don't you know, or yeah, or something like that. So, you know, you're in Wisconsin, you're in the cheese capital of the world, you know. I'm in, like I said, I'm in awe to to even be in Wisconsin and to hear those people actually talk like that. So that that was that was exciting, mind you. The dishes that they had with cheeses in them. Oh, yes. Cheese me, baby. Yeah, I loved it. No lie, I loved it. Uh that was that was there. Oh wow, it's it's so many adventures, uh, you know, that I have. Uh I remember going to um Montana. Like going, like going up in Montana. I remember going up in there, and I had to stop at this pilot. Because before you go into Canada, it's like you gotta get cleared, you know, with the company, you gotta make sure, you know, you got your birth certificate, your license, you gotta be on the up and up before you go into you know, Canada and everything, right? So at that pilot truck stop in Montana, you know, let me just say, for all of you cattle haulers out that way, I love you guys. Yes, I do, I love you guys, and the diner inside of the the pilot truck stop, the food, all I can say is the food was so wonderful, it was ridiculous. The it's it's like a like a burger steak. I want to say like a Salisbury steak, but it was like it was thick. I want to say like an inch to almost a quarter thick. A inch, am I saying that right? An inch to a quarter inch thick. There you go, and they topped it with gravy with the mushrooms in it. Y'all, it was like cutting through butter, and I was using my fork, I was sitting there enjoying my food with rice and vegetables. Okay, let me just say that. I sat there and I was eating that food. I mean, my head was down in the plate and the fork up to my mouth. I was eating. You talk about enjoying yourself, I was eating. Um the the person that served me asked me, is everything okay? Is your is your food alright? I couldn't answer. I couldn't answer if I wanted to, because it was just that good. Okay, so go on up, you know. I finish. I I call myself saying, All right, once you finish your food, you're gonna take off and go into Canada. Okay, people, that did not happen. I caught itis. Yes, I did. I caught itis. I got in the truck and laid down. I caught itis. I'm gonna say maybe an hour later, like I can hear my qualcomm going off. Let me know the messages that I'm cleared, I'm good to go. You know, we keep it moving. So I I get up, wipe my face off, get it together. Now I'm taking off into uh Canada. Okay, so I'm I'm up in I'm up in Canada. Mind you, I forgot. I'm sorry, I skipped over South Dakota. I was in South Dakota as well. I'm sorry I couldn't see Mount Rushmore at that time, but um now I'm back back to what I was saying, I'm in Canada, and I had to go up to Calgary. Okay, I had to go up to Calgary, so I'm in Canada. Mind you, I didn't have any service on my cell phone from South Dakota into Montana, but once I hit Canada, my phone comes back up. So I'm in Canada on my way up to Calgary, and I'm going to an auction place up in Calgary. So I open up because you don't know what's on your your trailer from time to time. So I go to open up the doors, and as I'm looking, I'm like, what the what? I see all of these electronics, lawn equipment, uh, kitchen appliances, household appliances, like vacuum cleaners, you know, dusters, stuff like that. All in the back of my truck. I'm like, oh my god. I know, oh my god. So, you know, I'm I'm there, so I leave from there, and then I go down to this truck stop, and apparently it's like a truck stop, and on the other side, it's like big and open. I guess they do like shows or something like that on the other side, right? And then they have uh what is it? Um a subway, they have a subway in there. So, mind you, if you're ever in Canada and you give them US dollars, they give you back Canadian money, and which I didn't know at that time because I'm like, hey, wait a minute, eight lady, what is this? I gave you American money, you know. So now I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do with this? You know, so I'm standing there where I'm standing, okay, I'm clean across the other side of the room because I had walked away from subway, and I'm now I'm standing there, okay, and I'm holding up a coin, and I'm like, what is this? Y'all, it is a short guy, short white guy, that's inebriated. He's having a ball, he's feeling it. He is clean across the other side of the room where the tables are, and he sees me, and I hold up, I'm like, what is this? And he yells out, that's a loony! So I'm like, well, okay, this is that's a loony, okay. So I hold up the other coin and I said, Well, I hold up the other coin, I said, Well, what is this? That's a toonie. Okay. So now, now I'm about to be an ass. And I'm being funny. Now I'm about to be an ass. So I'm going back and forth. I'm holding up the loony, he yells out, that's a Larry. Then I hold up the toonie, that's a toonie. So I'm going back and forth with it. Okay. So the guy that's drunk, that's yelling this out, he starts laughing because I'm being funny, and he knows, and then I wave him. I said, Thank you. And then it's two guys sitting at the table having a beer, right? They're sitting at the table and they're having a beer, and they are dying, cracking up, laughing, right? So I'm I'm having a ball, you know. I'm I'm like this, no fool, no fun. I I'm not out here for laughter to, you know, hurt anybody or no nothing like that. If you don't know how to laugh and enjoy and and have fun, what's the point? You know, I do understand and realize some people don't have a sense of humor, but um, it is what it is, and it was it was funny, and then I I go back to the truck and I'm out there and I'm driving, and might I say Canada is so beautiful, it no litter along the highway, no nothing. When I say snow capped mountains, that's exactly what it is. Snow capped mountains, it's so beautiful. It looked like you can just drive off into it if you're not paying attention. Okay, and then I was out there listening to Aborigines music. I've never heard that before until I went to Canada. So I'm listening to it, and it's almost like listening to uh Charlie Brown bring bring bring bring bring, you know, when Snoopy plays the little the little instrument, okay. So uh thank y'all for listening, and I'll be back with a part two, okay, to my adventures. I got plenty more people, plenty more. Y'all have a good day. This is W Y S M or what You Say Matters. All right.