My Week As A Truck Driver
By Flat Stanley
This week I trained to be a truck driver. My trainers were Chris and Tara. Chris is the owner of Dobson Transport and Tara is his wife. They drive a truck together on the road. I went with them this past week.
On Monday, I got ready to go on our first trip. I was given a uniform
Then, we planned our route.
On Tuesday morning we got in the truck. We drove from Salt Lake City, Utah to Idaho Falls, Idaho. I drove some of the way.
And I talked on the CB.
In Idaho Falls we backed into a dock door so they could load our trailer.
Then we went inside to watch them put boxes of potatoes on our trailer.
Here I am trying to drive a forklift.
We had to count all the boxes to make sure there were 840 of them. That's a lot potatoes!
After we were loaded we signed some paperwork and scaled out. That means we had to see how much we weigh. When a truck is loaded it can only weigh 80,000 pounds.
Look how heavy we were!
When we left the shipper (that's what we call the people who load us) we stopped at Subway for lunch.
Every time a truck goes into a new state it has to drive by a weigh station. Sometimes you have to stop and go inside. At weigh stations they make sure you're not too heavy and sometimes they also do an inspection on your truck to make sure nothings broken.
This is part of every truck drivers job...
COSTRUCTION!
Sometimes it slows you down but I'm glad they want to fix the roads.
Another part of the job is fueling. Our truck holds 300 gallons of diesel fuel. It takes about ten minutes to fill our tanks. This picture is in York, Nebraska.
By Wednesday morning we were in Nebraska. I found there are lots of pretty places in America. This is in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Most states have signs saying "Welcome to our state" when you cross the border. I saw TEN different state signs. This is the one for Tennessee.
Wednesday evening we were in Nashville and by then there were lots of bugs on our windshield.
Earlier in the week there was so much rain in Tennessee that it flooded in many places. This picture is of a truck stop that still has a lot of water in the parking lot. There were some places where the water was up to the hood of the trucks. Too bad those pictures didn't turn out right.
On Thursday morning we were unloaded in Zebulon, North Carolina. It was cold in that warehouse, about 40 degrees, but I forgot my coat so I didn't stay inside very long.
After we were unloaded we drove to Raleigh where we got a check for delivering that load.
Next we headed to Mebane, North Carolina. By this time we had driven about 1450 miles so we had to get more fuel.
Every time we stopped we would "thump the tires." That means we hit them with a thing that looks like a baseball bat and listen to the sound it makes. If a tire is flat it makes a different sound. Then we know we need to get it fixed before we drive again.
Phew! Time for a shower. Many truck stops give you a free shower if you buy more than 50 gallons of fuel. The showers are nice. They're cleaned between every use and they provide towels and soap.
After I was clean I took a nap in the truck. This was my bed. There's also a bunk bed above me but you can only sleep there when the truck is not moving. You don't want to fall!
This was our fridge on the truck where we kept some drinks and food...
but on this day we went to a restaurant instead!
After we ate we went to our next shipper in Lexington, North Carolina to pick up some fabric and haul it back to Utah.
The fabric was on long rolls. Eventually it will be used as the outside material on mattresses.
We left North Carolina on Thursday night and by Friday morning we were crossing the border into Missouri. This is the Saint Louis Arch and the Mississippi River.
Crossing into Iowa Friday afternoon. We only drove in Iowa for 18 miles.
On Friday night we stopped to fuel again in York, Nebraska. The sun was setting as we started our last night of driving.
On Saturday morning we delivered our load in Salt Lake City. My training on the truck was over. I took some time to relax.
This is a picture of me with my souvenirs. I went through ten states and was able to get a souvenir from each one so I can always remember my time as a truck driver for Dobson Transport!
At the back of the journal we put the map of his travels and Chris wrote up a letter on official Dobson Transport stationary that said:
Stanley:
We are pleased to inform you that you have successfully completed driver's training at Dobson Transport, LLC. We enjoyed having you with is this past week. Please tell all the children in Julie's class hello from us. We hope you had a good time this week as well and that you will visit us again soon.
Keep on truckin'!
Regards,
Chris Dobson
President
Also, the souvenirs we got Stanley included magnets of each state as well as a Missouri keychain (for his truck keys) and a wallet from Kentucky. We filled the wallet with pictures of all his friends from his trip. These are their pictures:
10 comments:
Uh oh, did you get a flat?
I hope all is well:)
Happy May!
I wanted to hear all about Flat Stanley. Hurry and fix it :)
:(
I fixed it. Ü I didn't relize I had posted the title until I got these comments. Lol.
Wow! You were thorough! It's great. I hope Jules got an "A+" You certainly deserve it. I bet it was the best in the class (if not the best Flat Stanley projects ever)!
Thank you, Flat Stanley, for sharing your truck driving journal with us. It was interesting to find out what my sister does all week :)
Awesome :) Loved this!
I love Flat Stanley projects all of my kids have had to do this assignment so far. This is a fun way for kids to learn about other states... Great Job
This is mom and I loved hearing about Flat Stanley's experence as a truck driver. It sounds like you had fun with Stanley as well. I think all the people he met will remember him also. He certainly broke up the monotoney (sameness- since I can't spell.)
I have always wanted to see the inside of your truck! I always wondered how you can sleep in there! It looks pretty cozy!
Post a Comment