I went to truck driving school in Indianapolis in the Fall of 1994. I had recently gotten our of the U.S. Army and was looking for something better to do than to work in a factory. Nothing wrong with a factory, but after being a twenty-one year old Sergeant in the Army, I was looking for a little bit more of a challenge. I always wanted to drive a truck since I was a child, so I thought I would give it a try.
A fellow soldier told me about Schneider National’s cdl training course and I never looked back. After I finished my training, I had to ride along with a trainer for two weeks. We left Elizabethtown Ky and headed out for Wichita Falls TX with a load of empty glass racks. We made our way to Texas, up through Oklahoma, across Pennsylvania, and back to Kentucky. It was an interesting two weeks.
Once my trainer approved my performance, I headed back to Indianapolis to get my own truck and hit the road. My first load was to Northlake IL., a suburb of Chicago, and as I got off the interstate, I made a left turn towards my destination. The police officer apparently thought I was doing something wrong and thought it was a good time to have a chat with me.Officer: “Do you know why I stopped you?”
Me: “No, sir!”
Officer: “Well, you look like you are overweight for this road.”
Me: “I know I just started driving a truck, but how do I LOOK like I’m overweight?”
Officer: “We are going to find out. Follow me.”
(Rule #1 – Never get smart with a police officer. It will rarely end good for you.)
As he took my drivers license, I had no choice but to follow him. We went through some city streets for a couple of blocks until we reached what had to be the most run down set of scales I had ever seen. I pulled onto the scales one axle at a time and I went inside to hear what would be the damage. Apparently, I was 5000# over gross weight for a class II truck route. A $483 fine. Lucky for me, I was follow the directions the company had given me so Schneider paid the fine.
(Rule #2 – Not only do you have to know Federal transportation laws, but each state has its own set of regulations too. Who knew?)
Driving a truck had given me the challenge I was looking for, but this is not what I had in mind. This was an expensive learning experience but it would not be the last…especially in Illinois.
